Los Angeles Lakers: Complete 2018 NBA Draft first round grades
Center. Villanova. Omari Spellman. 30. player. 125.
With the final pick of the first round, the Atlanta Hawks continued their trend of drafting players that can shoot at their position. At No.30, the Hawks took Omari Spellman from Villanova. While Spellman played center at Villanova, he is a bit undersized to play that in the NBA at just 6’9”.
For Spellman, he will likely be playing at power forward in the NBA. However, in order to do this Spellman will have to work on his quickness to guard players on the perimeter. Spellman was able to stretch the floor very nicely for Villanova, as he shot 43.3 percent from three-point range.
If Spellman is able to drop some weight and work on his quickness, he has the ability to be a great stretch four in the NBA. While he was a good player for Villanova, this pick was a bit of a reach for the Hawks. As a player that has some work to do on his body in order to succeed in the NBA, the Hawks could have gone in a few other directions.
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However, with shooting clearly being a priority for them in the draft, Spellman can certainly do that well, but he could be a big liability on the defensive end early on.