The 2021 NBA draft is only six days away! The depth of success in the 2018 NBA draft serves as a guide for how to build a team to maximize the chances NBA draft success. Players like Deandre Ayton, Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson Jr., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Miles Bridges, and Trae Young are current or future all-stars. However, high draft picks such as Mo Bamba and Kevin Knox have failed to pan out. While much of the praise for the stars and blame for the busts has been put on the players themselves, a lack of attention is paid to how teams did or did not put these prospects in a position to succeed. Prospects who are going to be cornerstones for a franchise need teammates around them who compliment their stregnths and help mitigate their weaknesses. If you look at that draft, all the highly selected prospects who panned out had teams built to do this and all those who did not were thrown to the wolves so to speak. Teams in this year's draft as well as future ones would be wise to use the 2018 NBA draft as a guide for how to build a team around a lottery player so they fulfill their potential.
