NBA Draft Lottery 2018: Who each team should take with the No. 1 pick
By Ian Levy
Thirteen teams have a chance to jump to the top of the 2018 NBA Draft at Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery. What should each team do if they win?
Winning the NBA Draft Lottery is a blessing from the Basketball Gods, a chance to exert as much control as possible over the destiny of your franchise, selecting from a pool of potentially elite talents. This year’s draft is especially deep with several talented bigs and ball-handlers who could potentially take over the top spot. Still, realistically, the list of potential No. 1 picks is only four or five names long. There may not be much variance in each team’s draft board by pure talent, but if we factor in some roster context and fit there are some interesting possibilities (even if some of them are relatively unlikely).
So, who should each team target if they are lucky enough to leap to the head of the line?
13. Denver Nuggets — Luka Doncic (0.5% chance)
Doncic is one of the few players with the talent to realistically land the top spot in the draft. He’s a 19-year-old, 6-foot-7 wing who is finishing up his third season in the Spain’s Liga ACB, the second-best professional basketball league in the world. Doncic’s stats have taken a nosedive in the second half of this Europrean season but he projects as a strong shooter and playmaker out of the pick-and-roll. He’s not overwhelming defensively but he has good instincts and could be an excellent team defender.
The Nuggets are already flush with young players but sliding into the No. 1 spot gives them a chance to solidify their young core. Doncic’s size and offensive versatility makes him a perfect fit alongside Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. He’s big enough to start at the 3, with Gary Harris staying at shooting guard. Doncic’s ball-handling will complement Jokic and Murray nicely allowing all three to slide back and forth between facilitating and taking advantage of defensive lapses off the ball.