The Step Back’s Official 2017 Twitter NBA Mock Draft

Basketball Twitter is one of the best communities on the internet. The group loves the sport and is both vocal and funny about it. They’re also impressively informed about the game.

As the calendar turns, so does Basketball Twitter’s topic of conversation and with the NBA Finals done and dusted, the group is focused on the offseason, including free agency rumors and the NBA Draft. This time of year, debates about which prospects are actually good and who each team should select run rampant on the website, so we decided we’d settle things by letting Twitter be the general manager for all of the teams with first round picks.

Related: FanSided’s NBA Draft Tracker is now live!

Last week, we ran a series of polls from our Twitter account asking users to vote on who each team should take. The first day, which consisted of most of the lottery selections, ran each poll for an hour while everything else ran for 30 minutes.

The goal was to get a sampling of the public consensus surrounding the draft despite the understood limitation that Twitter only allowed us to used four options per pick. To that end, we tried to include a variety of positions for each selection and used our own big board as a guide to help narrow down the choices.

A few things about the process stuck out:

• The most voted on pick was the Los Angeles Lakers’ selection at No. 2. The result of that selection wasn’t necessarily controversial, but it was competitive.
• The biggest margin of victory came unsurprisingly on the No. 1 pick as a ridiculously high 78 percent of voters said the Boston Celtics should select Markelle Fultz.
• The closest race was actually a tie for the Brooklyn Nets’ No. 27 pick. Anzejs Pasecniks and Derrick White each finished with 33 percent of the vote. We had to flip a coin to decide the result.
• There were also a few trends. Early on, there was a clear preference for guards and wings as the third big man didn’t go until pick No. 18 with TJ Leaf heading to the Indiana Pacers. Things flipped in the 20s, though. There was a run of seven straight big men who came off the board between picks No. 22 and 28.

Here a look at the full results, including all of the polls. If you’d like to learn more about a player, you can click on the scouting report link below the poll.

1. Boston Celtics – Markelle Fultz, Washington

For the scouting report on Markelle Fultz, click here.

2. Los Angeles Lakers – Lonzo Ball, UCLA

For the scouting report on Lonzo Ball, click here.

3. Philadelphia 76ers – Josh Jackson, Kansas

For the scouting report on Josh Jackson, click here.

4. Phoenix Suns – Jayson Tatum, Duke

For the scouting report on Jayson Tatum, click here.

5. Sacramento Kings – De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky

For the scouting report on De’Aaron Fox, click here.

6. Orlando Magic – Dennis Smith Jr., North Carolina State

For the scouting report on Dennis Smith Jr., click here.

7. Minnesota Timberwolves – Jonathan Isaac, Florida State

For the scouting report on Jonathan Isaac, click here.

8. New York Knicks – Malik Monk, Kentucky

For the scouting report on Malik Monk, click here.

9. Dallas Mavericks – Frank Ntilikina, Strasbourg

For the scouting report on Frank Ntilikina, click here.

10. Sacramento Kings – Lauri Markkanen, Arizona

For the scouting report on Lauri Markkanen, click here.

11. Charlotte Hornets – Donovan Mitchell, Louisville

For the scouting report on Donovan Mitchell, click here.

12. Detroit Pistons – Luke Kennard, Duke

For the scouting report on Luke Kennard, click here.

13. Denver Nuggets – OG Anunoby, Indiana

For the scouting report on OG Anunoby, click here.

14. Miami Heat – Zach Collins, Gonzaga

For the scouting report on Zach Collins, click here.

15. Portland Trail Blazers – Justin Jackson, North Carolina

For the scouting report on Justin Jackson, click here.

16. Chicago Bulls – Terrance Ferguson, Adelaide

For the scouting report on Terrance Ferguson, click here.

17. Milwaukee Bucks – Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State

For the scouting report on Jawun Evans, click here.

18. Indiana Pacers – TJ Leaf, UCLA

For the scouting report on TJ Leaf, click here.

19. Atlanta Hawks – Jarrett Allen, Texas

For the scouting report on Jarrett Allen, click here.

20. Portland Trail Blazers – Semi Ojeleye, SMU

For the scouting report on Semi Ojeleye, click here.

21. Oklahoma City Thunder – Josh Hart, Villanova

For the scouting report on Josh Hart, click here.

22. Brooklyn Nets – Harry Giles, Duke

For the scouting report on Harry Giles, click here.

23. Toronto Raptors – Justin Patton, Creighton

For the scouting report on Justin Patton, click here.

24. Utah Jazz – John Collins, Wake Forest

For the scouting report on John Collins, click here.

25. Orlando Magic – Bam Adebayo, Kentucky

For the scouting report on Bam Adebayo, click here.

26. Portland Trail Blazers – Ike Anigbogu, UCLA

Next: The NBA Draft prospects who will defeat the Warriors

27. Brooklyn Nets – Anzejs Pasecniks, Gran Canaria

For the scouting report on Anzejs Pasecniks, click here.

28. Los Angeles Lakers – Jordan Bell, Oregon

29. San Antonio Spurs – Derrick White, Colorado

30. Utah Jazz – Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina

For the scouting report on Sindarius Thornwell, click here.

We were also not the only ones to come up with this idea. See here, for a different version done by @416Basketball.