2019 NBA Mock Draft: Getting familiar with the top of the 2019 class

Gafford returned to school to the chagrin of many draft experts last season who believed he could have been a lottery pick in the 2018 class. Indeed, seeing now how the dearth of wings outside the top 10 combined with Robert Williams III’s peculiar fall into the 20s left many big-needy teams unsatisfied last June, Gafford surely could have helped some team plenty. It also means he could be taken even higher than this in the weaker 2019 draft.

The sophomore has been even better in 2019, averaging 24.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per 40 minutes. He is maintaining a stellar block rate, swatting nearly 10 percent of opponent shots while he’s on the court while simultaneously slicing his foul rate considerably. The result is a more polished Gafford, one who could easily fit into the modern NBA despite the relative lack of rim-running big men around the league.

Players like Gafford, especially with the Spurs and other squads that still rely on traditional big men quite a bit, still have a place in the league. When they defend the rim and finish over the defense at the level of Gafford, it’s tough to take them off the floor in all but the most versatile, Golden State-ian lineups.

The Spurs need to look past their present with LaMarcus Aldridge toward a future centered around Dejounte Murray and Lonnie Walker IV. Finding more versatile, two-way players to build with is the priority in San Antonio and Gafford does the job.