Even more snubbing occurred
The snubs didn’t stop there.
While there weren’t any other categories where Fultz deserved to win, there were times when players were slotted ahead of him in undeserving fashion — perhaps most clearly in a poll asking for the draft’s best shooter.
While the results went overwhelmingly in Luke Kennard‘s favor — which is far from an issue — Fultz wasn’t quite able to crack the top five. As a 42.3 percent shooter from deep during his time at Washington, there’s reason to believe that Fultz deserved a more prominent spot in that conversation.
Kyle Kuzma was, however, slotted in the top five, finishing with 5.4 percent of the vote. The difference between the two was likely slight, but Kuzma’s resume from deep is far shorter than Fultz’s. He was an inconsistent threat at Utah (32.1 percent), and it wasn’t until an explosive Summer League run that Kuzma looked the part of an above-average NBA shooter — and even that came while on the receiving end of Lonzo Ball’s playmaking brilliance.
Lauri Markkanen also deserved a higher placement, while names like Tyler Dorsey and Justin Jackson were left out of the top five as well. I was a sizable Kuzma stan leading up to the draft, but he shouldn’t be placed into that tier as a shooter. At least not yet.
Furthermore, Fultz only received 7.7 percent of the “Best Playmaker” vote, although that was still good enough for second place behind Ball’s (well-deserved) 71.8 percent mark.
Fultz is highly underrated as a playmaker, as his combination of size and control allows him to exploit passing angles most rookies can’t. There’s no debating that Ball is better, but a higher total (if folks are going to give Jawun Evans 5.1 percent of the vote) isn’t an unrealistic expectation.
Next: A Sixers, Pelicans trade proposal
I’d also like to point out that Simmons didn’t make that list, and he’s more qualified than anybody else to take a sizable chunk out of Ball’s portion of the vote. Simmons has a basketball I.Q. that’s only paralleled by Ball between the last two drafts, while his size and mobility at 6-foot-10 gives him the same advantages Fultz has — only on a much more impressive, and unmatched, scale.