Former Duke forward and current Boston Celtic Jayson Tatum recently made an interesting pick for who he thought would be the best player of his draft class.
Tatum had a tough choice to pick from in a class that included a handful of very talented point guards. Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz, De'Aaron Fox, Dennis Smith Jr. and Donovan Mitchell were all picked in the lottery of the 2017 NBA draft.
Instead, Tatum selected a former college teammate who has yet to score an official NBA regular season point in Sacramento Kings forward Harry Giles.
Giles was a top prospect who was significantly limited by knee injuries in his basketball career. Due to these injuries, he played limited minutes at Duke and has yet to suit up for the Kings.
Even though he rarely played at 100 percent, Tatum was clearly blown away by the potential he saw in Giles.
Here's Tatum on The Bill Simmons podcast:
You can ask anybody that was in our [draft] class. Harry was the only player I would've said in high school, ”Yeah, he might be better than me. I used to call him Chris Webber. That's who I thought he used to play like.”
This is high praise from one of the best players of the draft class. Tatum impressed many with his mature playing style and composure on the court, both in the regular season and the playoffs. When Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving went down with injuries, Tatum became the main scorer on a Celtics team that took LeBron James' Cleveland Cavalier's to seven games before falling in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tatum knows his friend and ex-teammate can be a great player as well. Hopefully, Giles can shake the injury bug and perform up to his potential in Sacramento when the regular season comes around.
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