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Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Not quite. He's not an exceptional athlete but he's game on the defensive end and he's long enough to be at least okay in that regard. Anthony Davis is a unicorn. Or Karl Anthony Towns. But to me, those guys need to have the athletic tools to do literally anything and excel anywhere. I don't see that in Markannen. Additionally, Markannen isn't really much of a passer so I don't see him leading a break or being a primary ballhandler any time soon (whereas Town and Davis could absolutely do that).
But he's a hell of a shooter. And there are worse things to be than a shorter Kristaps.
If Markkanen is a 'unicorn' then the term has been watered down enough to mean very little. There are more than a dozen of your supposedly mythical creatures at that point.
But he's a much better player than I figured he'd be, I'll grant you. I didn't see him being able to get his shot off the dribble as easily and successfully as he does. I kinda saw a rich man's Raef LaFrentz; a taller spot-up shooter with defensive limitations and a relative indifference to rebounding. He's definitely better than that.
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I might be overrating him a bit, but he makes that Butler trade look a lot better than it originally did. If Lavine can get/stay healthy, and we get a top 3 pick, we might just have something there.