The NBA continues to evolve
During the 2019 NBA Draft, teams continued to shy away from the more traditional big men. One wasn’t taken until late in the first round when the Indiana Pacers selected Goga Bitadze. Then a handful were taken. However, the message was clear.
The NBA continues to evolve, and the traditional big man is no longer worthy of being selected in the top half of the first round. Additionally, players were afraid to draft Bol Bol, the 7-foot-3 big that sports an impressive skill set, but comes with somewhat of an injury history.
This shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise but was something that clearly was a trend. And it will likely continue to be moving forward. Big men, learn to shoot. If you can’t, no amount of athleticism can save you as we saw with Brandon Clarke, who was being mocked in the lottery but ultimately fell into the 20s.