LaMelo Ball and Cole Anthony:
With Trae Young, Cam Reddish and Kevin Huerter looking like long-term plays at guard, the Hawks wouldn’t necessarily need to add another one in the Draft, let alone with a top-five pick.
Ball, brother of Lonzo, is a long, lanky point guard, a position locked up by Trae Young for years to come. While Cole Anthony is more of a combo guard, he’s four inches shorter than LaMelo. The Hawks would have to play some major small ball minutes if Trae and Anthony were to ever share the court.
Both bring high potential to the league however, LaMelo would still be just 18 when drafted, gaining valuable professional experience in the NBL rather than College. He seems to be done with the Illawarra Hawks after suffering a foot injury, finishing with averages of 17.0 points and 6.8 assists.
He has the potential to be almost a Russell Westbrook type point guard on the boards, averaging more rebounds than assists at 7.4. The Hawks are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league this year, and getting production from the point guard spot in that category would be fantastic.
Cole Anthony has been slipping down draft boards a bit of late, likely due to his knee injury and UNC’s poor play this season. He’s shot just 34% from the field this season, still managing to average nearly 20 points on 17.2 attempts per game.
While he sill has the potential that made him coveted out of High School, he doesn’t project to be a top-tier defender, and hasn’t shown enough flashes of offensive stardom to warrant taking him to be a backup.
While LaMelo could be a “take the best player not the best fit” type draft pick, Anthony could wind up on the Hawks if they fall in the Lottery (like last year).