Re-drafting the 2017 NBA Draft lottery

The Bulls nailed this pick. This wasn’t a sentence I expected to be typing in 2018.

Markkanen looks every bit the part of a top-seven pick, combining elite shooting with some improved scoring around the rim and promising flashes defensively. He’ll never be a high-end defender, but he’s not nearly as lost as most people expected coming out of Arizona.

As a 7-footer, Markkanen’s shooting ability is already a rare weapon. He joined Dirk Nowitzki as the only player of that height to hit eight threes in a game a few days ago, which isn’t something any rookie should be capable of doing. He’s also averaging the most 3-point makes of any rookie all-time. Again, somebody his size shouldn’t be doing that.

If nothing else, Markkanen’s size and shooting allows him to bend defenses to their breaking point as a pick-and-pop threat. If he continues to add more off the dribble and rounds out the rest of his game, Lauri could be the Bulls’ first All-Star in the post-Jimmy Butler era in the not-so-distant future.