3. Boston: Jonathan Isaac, Forward, Florida State
The Celtics pull the first stunner of the draft, passing up Josh Jackson and Jayson Tatum for the other forward in the draft, Jonathan Isaac. Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reported this week that Isaac “has crept into the speculation” for the No. 3 pick and, I for one, believe it. The Celtics like to go against the grain–they did so by selecting Jaylen Brown with the third pick last summer.
Isaac simply checks too many boxes–length, 3-point shooting, possible rim protection–to ignore, and Boston is forward-looking enough to see that the future of the NBA looks like players like Isaac.
4. Phoenix: Jayson Tatum, Small Forward, Duke
The Suns could take Josh Jackson here, but you need to score to keep up in the Western Conference. So they take the Duke forward Jayson Tatum instead. Tatum has been compared to Paul Pierce and Danny Granger and, if has that short of gets-buckets-ness to him, he’ll be an awesome complement to Devin Booker on the wing.
The Suns would have a young core of Booker, Tatum, Marquise Chriss and Dragan Bender, with Eric Bledsoe in place to lead the charge. That’s a long, athletic group with a bright future. Sure, the Suns pass up on Jackson’s potential elite defense, but Tatum should be good enough on that end. Booker was sensational in his first two seasons, but he can’t shoulder the scoring load all on his own. Tatum’s scoring is just too good to pass up.