NBA: Ranking every team’s best player in 2019-20

One of the great eccentricities of the 2018 NBA Draft is that the first five players taken appear after one year to be the five best players in the class. The last 10 All-Rookie first teams have all contained at least one player selected outside of the lottery, except for last season, when the top five picks took the top five places.

Four of those five players will make their money on offense, but the Memphis Grizzlies likely came away with the best defensive player in the draft. Jaren Jackson Jr. has the versatility to protect the rim as the center or slide out onto the perimeter as a stretch-4. Offensively he is no slouch, shooting 50.6 percent from the floor despite launching 3.4 3-pointers per 36 minutes.

Jackson loves the pick-and-pop at the top of the key, but has utility to shoot anywhere on the court or around the basket. His versatility means he can pair with a ground-bound center (such as Memphis center Jonas Valanciunas), a small-ball 4 (Kyle Anderson) or a rim-running athletic hybrid big (Brandon Clarke).

Being the team’s best player means the Grizzlies are unlikely to be a playoff team this year, but it means great things in the future.

Looking Ahead: Jaren Jackson Jr. looks like a player who will only get better, but he may never handle a large offensive load. Second overall pick Ja Morant has plenty of upside and will have the ball in his hands a lot as a rookie. Fellow rookie Brandon Clarke explodes off the statistical page and is a dark horse to become a star.