2017 Draft: Harry Giles Could Be Worth Drafting Big, Again

Drafting a big man after three consecutive years of Sam Hinkie’s madness on draft night might seem ludicrous to some, but Harry Giles has the upside needed to be worth a potential gamble.

Harry Giles found himself at the center of college basketball news with his commitment to Duke, garnering possibly the most attention of any upcoming freshman expected to enter the 2017 NBA Draft.

As a superiorly athletic power forward with incredible physical tools and a budding all-around game, he has been lauded as someone with the potential to be the best prospect in years, and alongside Coach K and the Duke developmental program, will be somebody that should be on every team’s radar — even the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Sixers have had extensive criticism over the past several seasons after Sam Hinkie’s method of pure asset collection in the NBA draft, a process that yielded three lottery-level centers in Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, and Joel Embiid alongside a stark lack of available minutes and overarching team fit. They clogged the lane with their massive lack of spacing, and have struggled to overcome some of the most persistent hindrances that have derived from Hinkie’s unique appraoch to the draft.

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Now, with Colangelo clearly setting his standards towards winning and a more cohesive unit, it seems, and quite frankly is, unlikely that he’d pull the trigger on Giles on draft night. They’re already looking to offload a big for the time being, and adding on another contributor who carves out the bulk of his offensive production around the basket would seem odd in the mind’s of many. That being said, Giles is a truly special talent at the four spot, and somebody with the raw potential to develop into a prospect that’s better than any current piece on their roster.

Standing around 6-10 with a lanky 7-3 wingspan and athletic tools that far outmatch the vast majority of those at his position, Giles has the mobility on the court to overpower and out-finesse his opposition on almost any given possession.

He’s a killer threat in pick-and-roll situations given his fluidity in stride to the basket, and has a budding set of post moves that makes him highly difficult to contain when he’s able to get the ball in route to the basket and make a move.

Most athletes of Giles’ caliber aren’t nearly as polished from an offensive perspective as he is coming into Duke, and that program should only aid in reassuring that. His decision making can falter at times and he does have some hitches in his shot motion — especially from outside 15 feet or so — but he’s among the most dangerous post scorers we’ve seen coming into college basketball since, perhaps, Jahlil Okafor himself.

He compounds that with the defensive presence needed to provide ample shot blocking underneath the rim while still retaining the flexibility needed to stretch out to the perimeter at times as well. He can bite on pump fakes from time to time and needs to work on rounding out his defensive skill set, but his physical profile alone makes that something that’s more than feasible considering his solid basketball I.Q. overall.

Giles will be highly encouraged to straighten out his step-out jumper, as that would add an entirely new dynamic to his offensive game and truly make him a generational skill set all-around. With that said, even with his weaknesses in mind, it difficult not to get excited about Giles’ NBA future if he is able to maximize his upside with the Blue Devils next season. He has the tools to be an effective power forward in almost every capacity, and plenty of room to improve his most pressing weaknesses in the process.

Not much is set in proverbial stone at this point, with a full season of college basketball left ahead of us before we can definitively make a final assessment on Giles’ draft projections, but his upside is among the highest we’ve seen at the four spot since Anthony Davis. While Joel Embiid has the ability to be a very good basketball player, his injury concerns could make him someone well worth moving in a draft night scenario if the Sixers aren’t able to get their hands on a top tier point guard, while Noel doesn’t have the same two-way impact that Giles does by any stretch.

There is reason to search for the best fit on draft night, and I am a huge fan of doing so, but there is always a fine line between drafting the better fit and simply losing out on quality talent. If the Sixers find themselves with two upper echelon lottery picks or find Giles available outside the top two or three, they should likely be putting heavy consideration into selecting him for future reward.

This may seem like looking too far ahead, but in reality, with an organization as dependent upon the future as Philly currently is, it’s truly important that we look ahead at the moves that could shape the franchise for the next decade, rather than solely ponder the possibilities of a solitary season spent in expedited rebuild.

Harry Giles wouldn’t be the best fit, but he could be the best talent depending on draft spot. The Lakers could very well cough up a second lottery pick to the Sixers, and their pick swapping ability with Sacramento almost assures their placement in the lottery almost regardless of how an unpredictable season plays out.

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This is likely a possibility most Sixer fans have already counted out, or will at the very least disregard by the time the draft rolls around in 2017. However, it’s something the organization will likely take a look at and is something everyone should consider a legitimate plausibility moving forwards. This is a draft class filled with a handful of truly special talents, and Giles is one of them. You can’t overlook guys like that.