I don't think anyone could've predicted Giannis being what he is today. Personally, I had him as the guy Portland should've gone after but my floor for him was to be a Tayshaun Prince and mid would be Shawn Marion type player while his max potential would be Scottie Pippen without the playmaking. Realistically thought he'd be closer to Shawn Marion. Instead, he is better than all those players.
And so, what I've learned from being a "Giannis fan from the get go" and trying to find similar players to him over the years (two way wings/forwards) is that
6'8" wing/forwards with 7'2" wingspans tend to be highly successful. Naturally, they ought to have first round pick talent and the more skills and athleticism they have, the better. Big hands help tremendously, as well.
At the least, you get
Rui Hachimura, De'Andre Hunter, Kyle Anderson, OG Anunoby, Nic Batum possibly (unconfirmed wingspan).
A potential rising star version of that is
Tari Eason, who drew interest from Portland in 2022.
And the ones that do have good athleticism and all-around skillsets?
Giannis, Pippen, Ingram, Siakam, Kawhi, Scottie Barnes, Kevin Durant. All Stars.
Technically,
Jerami Grant was a second round talent but he matches these traits, as well, and these traits probably played a role in him becoming what he is today.
Don't believe me? You can go and look yourself and sort by SF+PF and look at the actual wing/forwards (not the PFs or PF/Cs....also, use shoe height rather than real height):
https://craftednba.com/player-traits/length
This year? It
should be
Cody Williams, who is rumored to have a 7'2" wingspan (we'll have to confirm it at the combine). His athleticism is fluid and deceptive, he has a reputation as having point-forward skills, his 3pt% is good, he can handle the ball well for his position, and he can play defense. Weakness is lack of aggression and low rebounding rate.
If all this is correct, I'd expect him to follow a Tari Eason/De'Andre Hunter trajectory and maybe blossom into something greater if he figures it out.
So, if you want to talk about homework, I think looking at what makes this archetype highly successful would probably benefit Portland. And I think it'll be foolish if Portland simply ignores him just because he is a freshman wing (and they tend to be more quiet) whose statistics got ruined due to him being hurt and playing in an offense that limited his role.
Because if not, I'm willing to bet Sam Presti will trade upwards and pick him.
