Lauri Markkanen

After a long, eventful offseason, we finally have basketball to watch. We’re a week into the season and we’ve already had multiple season-changing injuries, team controversies, major rookie impacts, and a couple of breakouts from former top-10 picks, including Orlando's Aaron Gordon. As always, feel free to ask me any questions on Twitter, @JonSauber. Season-Changing Injuries Gordon Hayward, Boston Celtics Not even a quarter into their opener, the Celtics’ season was turned on its head. Gordon Hayward went down with a…

We opened the NBA and fantasy basketball season on Tuesday with two potential conference finals matchups. Sounds great, right? Well, just a little over five minutes into the first quarter of the Boston/Cleveland showdown, Gordon Hayward came down hard. It looked like he just hurt his back at first, but then you heard Marv Albert break the news, “Heyward broke his leg! Hayward has broken his leg.” No matter what team you root for, you never want to see something like this happen. Unfortunately, Hayward wasn’t the only…

The dust has finally settled, and the 2017 NBA Draft has come and gone. This year’s draft was one of the most loaded in recent memory and could be fruitful for a good chunk of the league. With six potential stars in the draft, 20 percent of the league may have just added a vital piece to winning a championship. Note: The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards did not have a selection in the 2017 NBA Draft. Atlanta Hawks: B- John Collins, Tyler Dorsey, Alpha Kaba The Hawks' selection of John Collins makes…

With the draft in sight, it's time to take a look at potential landing spots for this year's top prospects. Fit, talent, and draft history of teams were all taken into account with this mock, which includes a franchise cornerstone at the top, an international riser falling out of the top 10, and a downtrodden franchise landing some serious upside. 1. Philadelphia 76ers (from Celtics) – Markelle Fultz, Guard, Washington After completing a trade to move up to the first pick, the Sixers will almost assuredly take Fultz. Fultz…

Although this draft class is touted as one of the best in recent memory, it’s lacking big men. This week, I’ll lay out my top-10 bigs with a small scouting report on each. The class may lack the elite talent in bigs, but it makes up for it in the depth of quality role players. Many of these guys will find a team and stick for a long time because they have one trait that puts them over the top. I will split this top-10 into tiers. First up, tier one. All measurements are from DraftExpress. Tier One These are players that…