NBA Draft: Luka Doncic rises to first in 2018 NBA Redraft

Sometimes the darlings of “NBA Twitter” fly up draft boards, and other times they stay hidden in the shadows. Leading into the 2018 NBA Draft De’Anthony Melton was one such player who got a lot of love from amateur draft analysts posting their rankings online; in this case, it seems they were correct.

A throw-in for a couple of trades in his first calendar year in the league, Melton arrived in Memphis and promptly became one of the better backups guards in the league. He has enough ball-handling verve to play point guard at times, but the presence of Tyus Jones in Memphis has pushed him to the 2, where he has developed into a multi-faceted impact player for the Grizzlies.

Melton is a willing and accurate shooter, hitting 41.2 percent of his 3-pointers. Per-36 minutes he drops in 16.3 points per game and dishes out 4.5 assists, particularly impactful in transition on either end of the ball. Defensively he is everywhere, leaping into passing lanes (his steal percentage would rank in the top 5 each of the past three seasons if he played enough minutes to qualify) and even blocking shots as a 6’2″ guard.

In our redraft, the Atlanta Hawks get Melton and instantly plug a spot in their rotation. He can play off DeAndre Ayton (the Hawks’ pick at No. 5 in this redraft), roving the court on defense generating turnovers and trusting in Ayton behind him to wall off the rim. Melton doesn’t have the offensive upside of Kevin Huerter, the Hawks’ original pick here, but his defensive impact makes the swap close to a wash.