Pippen Ain’t Easy’s 2017 NBA Draft: Mocking the first round for every team
. PF. Wake Forest. John Collins. 23. player. 81
This seems like it’s been a problem for a while for the Toronto Raptors, but their front court needs addressed. Wake Forest big man John Collins can help fill a need. Kyle Lowry could look for a huge payday elsewhere, but both Serge Ibaka and Patrick Patterson are free agents this summer. There’s no telling if one or both players will be back, so Collins could be that backup plan should Ibaka, Patterson or both look to play in a different uniform next season. He’s more of an old-school power forward, using the low blocks to generate offense. He’s not made from the stretch-four mold that Ibaka and Patterson are, but he’s got the potential to have a solid career at the pro level.
RELATED: SB Nation‘s Blazers Edge broke down John Collins as a potential target
118. . C. France. Jonathan Jeanne. 24. player
Who’s going to take the French player that basically reminds everyone of Rudy Gobert? How about the team that drafted Rudy Gobert themselves in the Utah Jazz? To be clear, Jeanne is not Gobert. He’s nowhere near as sturdy as Gobert was and is today as one of the league’s best defensive players. But, with time and patience, Jeanne can be a huge asset defensively as a 7-foot-2 big with an absurd wingspan that could alter an endless amount of shots and log more deflections that most big men in the NBA. Like Kurucs, he’s probably a “draft-and-stash” guy, meaning that a team could take him, but he won’t join their roster for at least a year or so. But, reports have come in saying that Jeanne wants to be a guy that plays right away, so he’s even more interesting.