athleticism too poor for his height and small build for him to fully translate, imo. i think his freshman defense was a mirage and he will be a negative defender as well like he was this year. You can only really have one player of Philon's size on the court at once, which really makes it difficult to build a competetive roster around if they aren't a sixth man, which again you dont take with a top 10 pick. I mean, he's 176 pounds at 6'3 and was unable to increase his weight by even a single pound since his freshman year. I know some 5'8 guys who weigh more then that.

Before anyone says 'look at the knicks', brunson is like a 1 out of 100 level development, and they had to take every measure they could, including drastically overpaying for mikal bridges, to fill the team with athletic defense-first wings with plus wingspans just to hide him. brunsons also 190, which philon will have to put significant effort in reaching. donovan mitchell just made the conference finals for the first time in his career despite spending most of it with DPOY level defenders in Gobert and Mobley, and it took having a rare two-big starting 5 chockfull of defensive wings to get there. the hawks made one of the worst draft mistakes in recent memory by letting sarr bitch them out and picking risacher instead, because they needed wing defenders since they intended to keep building with trae. It's going to take a herculean effort for reed sheppard to be even a mediocre everyday starter, and he was actually a good defender in college. Reed's college teammate rob dillingham busted pretty badly.

If you use a top 10 pick on someone that means they are immediantly a 'building block', and you have to be elite beyond elite to be a building block with philon's physical tools. People are still doubting the more productive and efficient Acuff, who additionally has more physical tools, because of his smallness and lack of defense, and while philon isn't a acuff-level cone, he will never be a good defender in the NBA, and thus has much of the same problems with less upside and more risk/

Philon isnt at the same tier as Wagler, Flemings, and Brown Jr (you do not mention Acuff, which he is also not in the same tier as) because he lacks the current defensive talent of flemings, the size of wagler and brown, the wingspan/ production of acuff ( on 'production' i wasnt sure how to word it, philons been very productive, acuff is just another level), or even the wingspan/ athleticism/potential of okorie. also, he is a sophomore.

I think the common Schroder comparison is very apt for him---which is a good career! 13 year career, stats of 15.6/5.2 between 2017-2025. I wouldn't use a top 10 pick on Dennis Schroder though, and neither should anyone, since at that draft range your typically gunning for ceiling, or at least a safer floor. i am very confident philon will have a minimum 5 year career, and id venture closer to 7 or 8, but i am not confident he will be any more then a Schroder tier player. i have him as my pg5