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Through the history of the NBA, the league was dominated by big-men. From Chamberlain, Russell and Kareem to Olajuwon, Robinson, Shaq and Duncan. However, it is not the case in recent years.
With the growing recognition of the importance of the three-pointers and the faster style of play, the classic centers and forwards lost the spotlight to guards and wing players. There is even an apparent change in MVP winners between the centuries; in the 20th century, 27 of the league's 44 winners of this individual title were centers - more than 60 percent.
In the 21st century, however, out of the 18 Most Valuable Players, only four were classic big-men. The last big man to win the title is Dirk Nowitzki - the prototype for modern day stretch-four and stretch-five players, but even that happened 11 years ago.
In order to adjust to the 3-point crazy basketball of today, a new creation has been born - "The Unicorn". A unicorn is basically a player who can do anything - shoot threes, rebound, play in the post, defend the rim, and all of that in a 6-10 tall package or more. Players like Davis, Embiid, Towns and Porzingis are the unicorn pioneers, but let's take a look at the ones who will join them this summer and possibly make this a league-wide phenomenon.
#1 Marvin Bagley III
Height: 6-11 (2.11m)
Weight: 234lb (106kg)
Wingspan: 7-1 (2.15m)
Date of Birth: March 14, 1999
College: Duke, Fr.
We didn’t have to wait until his freshman year to know Marvin Bagley is a star basketball player. He received his first college basketball scholarship at the unbelievable age of 14 and was the top recruit of his high school class. He followed the path of previous high school stars and committed to play for Duke University.
Under the guidance of the Hall of Fame coach, Mike Krzyzewski, Bagley was only one of four players in the entire NCAA to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. He also led the league in offensive rebounds per-game among three-point shooters. An example of his all-around play abilities came in a game against Wake Forest, where he put up 30 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks.
Bagley was one of the nation's top-10 scorers and rebounders at a collegiate level, and led the Blue Devils to an NCAA tournament run that ended only at the Elite Eight phase. Playing against professional players will be harder on him, but will also help him toughen up and upgrade his defense, an important weapon for a unicorn.
As a consensus All-American, ACC Player of the Year and a finalist for the All-NCAA Naismith Player of the Year award, Bagley enters the league as a future star, and is expected to be a top-3 pick in the 2018 draft. He has the size and offensive prowess an NBA superstar need, if he can upgrade his defensive presence, he could control the league for years.
#2 DeAndre Ayton
Height: 7-1 (2.16m)
Weight: 260lb (118kg)
Wingspan: 7-5 (2.27m)
Date of Birth: July 23, 1998
College: Arizona, Fr.
This is another contender for the best player on this list. DeAndre Ayton also was a high school star, a top-5 recruit among different websites and magazines, even though he originally was a soccer player. Ayton too went with a "big dog" for his college career, Pac-12 conference champion, Arizona.
Like Bagley, who also was his high school teammate, he was one of the only four players in the NCAA to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. His dominance in the paint ranked him third in the league in total rebounds and second in two-point field goals and player efficiency rating.
His two best games of the season came in the conference tournament Final Four, where he averaged 32 points, 16 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1 steal and 1.5 blocks, while shooting 75 percent from the field, leading Arizona to win the tournament. He didn’t come as clutch in the NCAA tournament, where he scored only 14 points in the Wildcats' early exit game in the first round.
If his game lacks something, it is a more consistent threat from deep. Ayton proved he can shoot three-pointers, but made only 12 of those all season in 34.3 percent. It won't hurt his chances to be a top-3 pick in the 2018 draft, but in the NBA he will face bigger and better players and will find it difficult to score the shots he lived off in college. He has the foundations to become a solid shooter and create havoc around the league for years to come.
#3 Wendell Carter Jr.
Height: 6-10 (2.08m)
Weight: 260lb (117kg)
Wingspan: 7-3 (2.21m)
Date of Birth: April 16, 1999
College: Duke, Fr.
Another player who comes off Coach K's production line in Duke, Carter was also a highly sought-after recruit in high school, eventually creating the powerful frontcourt duo of him and Bagley. One of his premium traits already in high school was shot-blocking, averaging 5.8 blocks per-game in his senior year.
This continued into his college career, where he averaged 2.1 blocks per-game on only 26.8 minutes of average playing time. His influence on his team is reflective on his box plus/minus rating. BPM is a stat evaluating a players' contribution to the team, relative to league average, which is set at zero. His box plus/minus of 13.5 was the teams' best and the NCAA's third best, even though he often was in the shadow of some of his teammates.
Carter had an impressive 41.3% from three this season, but tallied only 19 three-pointers in 37 games. This falls to their style of play and the fact that Duke's starting backcourt took about 75% of the teams' three-point attempts. He showed his potential from beyond the arc when he managed to shoot 4 of 7 from deep in just 18 minutes during a home win against Evansville this year.
His ability to do all of those things, while staying relatively out of the spotlight, show what a valuable player he can be on any roster. It places him between sixth and ninth among the different draft boards and he will just have to prove he is capable of producing at the highest level.
#4 Jaren Jackson Jr.
Height: 6-11 (2.11m)
Weight: 240lb (109kg)
Wingspan: 7-4 (2.24m)
Date of Birth: September 15, 1999
College: Michigan State, Fr.
Jaren Jackson is another top high school recruit. One of his class' best rim protectors, Jackson drew attention when he put up 15 points and nine blocks in a high school game. Eighteen different colleges offered him a scholarship, before he decided to commit to Tom Izzo's Michigan State.
In college, he accumulated 106 blocks in 764 minutes this season, one every 7.2 minutes. Jackson is one of eight players since 2009 to make at least 100 blocks in 800 minutes or less, and he is the only of them to score three-pointers. His value to the team is apparent in his box plus/minus stat, second best in the league at 15.4, even though he played only 21.8 minutes per-game.
The only red flag about Jackson is his performance in the conference and NCAA tournaments. Michigan State lost in the conference semi-finals and in the national second round, while Jackson averaged only seven points and a single block in those tournaments. A 39.6 percent three-point shooter in the regular season, Jackson shot only 1 of 7 from deep in his four tournament games.
Jackson is still an expected third to seventh pick in this draft, thanks to his versatility and efficiency, but what distinguishes between an NBA-level player and an NBA superstar is the ability to show up in money time.
#5 Moritz Wagner
Height: 6-10 (2.08m)
Weight: 235lb (107kg)
Wingspan: 7-0 (2.13m)
Date of Birth: April 26, 1997
College: Michigan, Jr.
Moritz Wagner is definitely the exception on this list. First, he is the only one not coming off his freshman year. Second, he played for a professional team; he had a minor role for the German club Alba Berlin before moving to America and joining Michigan.
He didn’t become a main rotation player until his sophomore season, when he averaged a solid 12.1 points in 23.9 minutes. His junior year wasn’t too special either, until the conference tournament. Wagner had a standout performance in the quarterfinals with 20 points, 13 rebounds (tournament single-game high), 2 blocks and a steal. He led Michigan to win the tournament and was named the MVP.
In the following NCAA tournament, Michigan made it all the way to the national finals, thanks to another fantastic game from Wagner. The German scored 24 points, along with 15 rebounds and 3 steals in the semifinals. His all-around performance awarded him a place in the Final Four All-Tournament team.
Riding the wave of his recent success, Wagner declared for the 2018 NBA draft. Unlucky for him, recent trends show teams prefer to draft players as young as they can. Having played three years in college, Wagner is at a disadvantage in comparison to fellow draft entrants. He will probably be picked late in the first round or early in the second and it will be up to him to prove he can be a real unicorn in the NBA.
