Kevin O'Connor and Jonathan Tjarks are doing a series of podcasts on the Ringer NBA feed previewing the NBA draft. The first one focused on top forwards in the draft, but O'Connor started out by listing his current top 10, which surprised me:
1. Fultz
2. Tatum
3. Ball
4. Fox
5. Jackson
6. Monk
7. Isaac
8. D.Smith
9. Markkanen
10. Anunoby
(Tjarks' list was similar overall, except that he had Isaac near the top of the draft and Tatum much lower.)
I've been a fan of O'Connor's prospect coverage for a while, so found it very interesting that he has Tatum and Fox rated higher (and Jackson lower) than most previous consensus rankings that I have seen.
Jackson slipped for him bacause of his shot. Fox they didn't discuss, as the podcast focused on forwards, but I found it interesting that O'Connor had him so high, especially since, like Jackson, shooting is a potential issue. (As an aside, my brother, a HS track coach, always hones in on players' athleticism and has been raving nonstop about Fox since the tournament.)
Most interesting for me was O'Connor's take on Tatum. While noting that Tatum was, athletically, not the equal of some of the other guys on the list (Jackson, Isaac), he noted Tatum's offensive ability, footwork, etc., and thought that among the forwards, Tatum was the guy with the best potential as a scorer. He suggested that some of Tatum's offensive actions reminded him of Paul Pierce (note that this wasn't offered as a straight comparison). He added that the Celtics, in particular, should be thinking about Tatum because, among the available forwards, he could best fill the Celtics' need for another scorer to take some of the heat off of IT.