Jonathan Isaac suffered a severe left knee sprain on January 1 while playing the Wizards in Washington, D.C. and suddenly, a player who was enjoying a breakout season had even more question marks.
The 22-year-old, who is expected to make a full recovery, will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension during the 2020 offseason and there are varying opinions on his value in the league, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic reports.
“Before he got hurt, I thought he was the best defensive player in the league,” one NBA scout told Robbins. “His ability to defend multiple positions, his size, his length, quickness, understanding of what was going on and how to guard people, recovery, instincts — I think he has a potential to be a premier defensive player in the league. I just think the sky’s the limit for him.”
The Magic will try to lock him up long-term, but it’s unclear how much they are willing to pay the former No. 6 overall pick. Isaac only played 27 games during his rookie season. He managed to participate in 75 games during the 2018/19 campaign before his knee woes limited him to just 32 this season.
“The durability remains a huge issue,” a second NBA scout said. “His scoring and shooting still is problematic. He’s not a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 (option on offense), and that’s what they drafted him to be at sixth in the draft. He’s another guy who was somewhat over-drafted. He’s young and all that, but to me, you’ve got to have a scoring and shooting component.”
This a perfect example of drafting 19 yr old potential players. So called boom or bust. 90% of these players of these players. Haven’t even grown up yet. You really have to your homework. Make sure they want it. While their body catches up to them. Look at 2017 draft and see where they are now. Even Tatum took awhile. Simmons won ROY, should have been Mitchell. And he came out as a Junior already 20-21 yrs old. You look at that draft. You will see most are still finding their way. Physically you can tell if he can ball. But you have to wait for his body to grow NBA. But his head and attitude. You better know. You need a kid like Tatum who only wants to be best he can be. So I look at this draft. Where they say no clear #1. I disagree. I see Wiseman as clear #1. Edwards with a ready body, not sure about head. LaMello not ready body, talented but sure about head. Toppin looks like a solid pick. But not a lot of upside, Top if draft teams always trying to hit HR. Some drafts it’s best to fit your team need with a rope doubles hitter. Long term this can be a HR.
Aging decreases your chances of getting injured? That’s a new one. It decreases your ability to recover.
The muscle I pulled during the hiccups agrees with you.
This draft I think Cole Anthony is being majorly slept on. I think he’s going to be top 3 with Wiseman and Anthony Edwards.
Edwards I think is the best player in this draft, he’s very smart, can score in many ways and has that it factor.
Wiseman I don’t doubt his talent or ability but as a big, he’s not elite defensively and doesn’t have a much of a 3 ball that I’ve seen, so what’s he going to be.. Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol without a shot, a very poor mans Anthony Davis…
I can see him being good but as a first overall pick I don’t want Andre Drummond, I want the next Bradley Beal, the next Kemba Walker, the next Paul Peirce or whatever…
Toppin looks set to be NBA ready without a high ceiling but even he if it goes to plan might be the next Tobias Harris, the next Tatum, I’d rather have that.
Avdija he seems alright I haven’t seen much of him but he could be promising. Issac Okoro looks like he could be the biggest bust.
LaMelo ball has the talent and size to be amazing but does he have maturity and the mentals…
Cole antony maybe will be a great scoring but not playmaker.okoro maybe not a decent scoring but his defense is good.next mkg in the wrong team.but can be next issac in the right team.i dont think mello ball will be a better player than lonzo ball.toppin will be a good but not great. Avdija…i have no idea with him.limitted minutes in europe but shown a good performance.not great.edward is great scoring but sometimes lazy in defense.good defender but just sometimes lazy.he will be best player in this draft.but i hope my bulls draft haliburton or avdija.bulls lack with playmaking player.sato to on off player.or maybe wiseman.trade lauri and put wcj at 4.
I’ve talked about how high I am on Jonathan Isaac since before the draft, and nothing I’ve seen from him in the league changes my mind
I don’t see him reaching that lofty KD pre-draft comp ever. I don’t see him reaching the Rashard Lewis comp. He may be a decent role player, his defense has improved. His slower development helps the Magic bc he shouldn’t cost a lot to extend. And he could turn into a good value based on that. I was high on him too, if the Sixers had stayed at 3 I wanted them to go Tatum or Isaac. I thought they could have done the trade for 5 and 10 and still got him. Still wish they had done that vs trading up.
Yeah I was so shocked to see the KD comparison going to a pick 7, I was like surely that can’t be right. If he’s the next KD he’s not going 7th haha
I also though as a Sixers fan Fultz was going to be great and that if we didn’t trade up Tatum or Issacs would be good fallback options. Instead Fultz wasn’t ready and was frankly a busy, Tatum was a great pick up for Boston and Isaacs clearly hasn’t turned into half of what KD is.
Simmons Tatum and Embiid would’ve been very impressive and had we kept Butler and not traded for anyone else I would’ve been extremely happy with that big 4 but life goes on