Why the Orlando Magic should draft Jayson Tatum

Professional scorer

Say what you want about Jayson Tatum’s defense, but the man can score. He will be able to get buckets in the NBA. It is just a matter of how many.

Although his footwork in the mid-post is excellent, some have argued he is over-reliant on scoring from that area in isolation.

That is not totally incorrect. At the next level, he would be much better served to expand his offensive game. Doing so is within his reach, but he needs to improve his decision-making, passing and his 34.2 percent 3-point shooting mark.

It is highly likely Tatum never becomes good enough at scoring in isolation to justify playing him heavy minutes and consistently giving him the ball to go to work one-on-one. No team should draft him expecting him to score with Kawhi Leonard-like volume and efficiency in isolations, especially not if they want to have a fluid and efficient offense.

Isolations in general tend to bog down offensive fluidity. It only gets worse if those isolations are taken by scorers who are not the cream of the crop.

But sometimes, even the most efficient offenses are forced to bog down. Maybe it is crunch time in a crucial game and the refs have swallowed their whistles, making off-ball movement more difficult. It is hard to get good shots in those situations without guys who can go one-on-one.

That is where Tatum’s primary skill set is most valuable: sometimes teams just need a guy who can get a bucket.

Tatum’s post moves and size give him a smorgasbord of ways to exploit various mismatches, especially if he can build some lower body strength to improve his explosiveness. He can use his quickness and lightness of feet to get around or create space away from bulkier defenders, or he can use his size to shoot over or bully smaller, quicker defenders.

He got most of his offense at Duke that way. It will obviously be far more difficult in the NBA. He will need lots of time and work to develop those skills enough to count on them at the next level, but its within his reach.

Believing Jayson Tatum can improve his lower body strength is not like believing De’Aaron Fox can become a lights-out 3-point shooter. It is realistic and it provides a distinct source of value

That said, unless he reaches his ceiling, his isolation scoring will not be a viable primary option for an NBA offense. Do not expect to see a good team let him go to work in the mid-post with the volume he did at Duke.

At the end of the day, outside of maybe one or two players, there is no one in the 2017 draft who is as polished of a scorer. Plus he is only 19. He will only get better.

If he is available when the Magic are on the clock, he will be the most surefire bet left on the board to turn into a guy who can consistently score in a pinch. Whether it is with the efficiency of Kawhi Leonard, of Danilo Gallinari or of Rudy Gay remains to be seen. But in either case, that is a valuable skill that often comes at a premium.