Who wants to take a big man in the 2017 NBA draft?

The NBA is getting smaller, faster, and more skilled. You can’t follow the league without noticing this development over the last few years, especially after the Warriors just rampaged through the playoffs using Draymond Green and even Kevin Durant at center.

It puts the big men in the 2017 NBA draft in a new light.

The days of the plodding big man are over. Now it’s all about mobility, skill, and two-way production. Which of these draft prospects fits the NBA’s new paradigm? Who risks getting left behind?

One thing is for sure: This draft is heavy on big men after the top 10. The latest mock at DraftExpress has 17 big men projected to go between No. 10 and No. 34. That’s excluding players like Indiana’s OG Anunoby and SMU’s Semi Ojeleye — nominal wings who will certainly log minutes at power forward.

One of the biggest storylines heading into Thursday’s draft is what happens to all these bigs. This is our best attempt to break it down.

If Creighton’s Justin Patton and Texas’ Jarrett Allen entered the draft 10 years ago, both would be sure-fire lottery picks. Each enjoyed a breakout freshman season and have ideal measurements for a center. The question is how much teams really value a traditional center prospects in today’s changing landscape.

Allen has superior defensive upside. He comes equipped with a massive 7’5 wingspan and the lateral quickness required to hedge a pick-and-roll. He can also clean the glass on both ends and has soft enough hands to finish around the rim.

The problem with Allen is that doesn’t have much perimeter skill. He went 0 for 7 on three-pointers this season and only made 56 percent of his free throws.

Patton profiles better offensively. He shot 68 percent from the floor and drained eight of the 15 three-pointers he attempted. He’s also a fluid athlete with good speed who runs the floor hard. It feels like Patton is just scratching the surface as a prospect after getting hit with a redshirt at Creighton when he first entered the program. He flashed the ability to put the ball on the floor, pass, and shoot a little bit, even if those skills are still rough around the edges.

Patton’s question marks come on the glass and the defensive end. If he can’t anchor that end of the floor, a non-traditional center (think, like, Aaron Gordon or Jonathan Isaac) might steal some of his minutes.

There’s still a place in the NBA for a defense-first center who sets a good screen and can catch a lob on offense. Think Houston’s Clint Capela, Dallas’ Nerlens Noel, or even Utah’s Rudy Gobert.

Ike Anigbogu is the most obvious example in this draft class. He measured at 6’10, 252 pounds, and with a 7’6 wingspan at the combine. He only played 13 minutes per game as a freshman at UCLA, but he flashed a serious ability to protect the rim. If you stretch his numbers out to per-40 minutes, Anigbogu would have averaged 3.7 blocks per game.

Anigbogu’s question marks defensively are more focused on his lateral quickness than his explosiveness. There are also questions about his hands. He ended the season with only six assists and five steals. Offensively, he simply doesn’t have much skill yet. He didn’t even attempt a three-pointer and shot only 53 percent from the foul line.

There’s a place for a shot blocker and lob catcher like Anigbogu in the league, but only if he proves he’s quick enough to stay on the floor against smaller and more fluid athletes.

Every team wants shooting out for the power forward spot in today’s game. There are two quality stretch fours available after the lottery: UCLA’s T.J. Leaf and Syracuse’s Tyler Lydon.

Leaf was quietly the leading scorer on UCLA last season, averaging 16.3 points per game and making 47 percent of his threes. He was a major beneficiary of playing with Lonzo Ball, sure, but Ball wouldn’t have been able to dominate without a shooter like Leaf in the front court.

Lydon broke out as a freshman during Syracuse’s shocking Final Four run as a No. 10 seed, but flew under the radar a bit this past year as the Orange missed the NCAA tournament. He’s also a reliable shooter — 40 percent from three over two seasons.

But both players have the same weaknesses: defense and rebounding. Why not just try a more athletic, taller wing at power forward instead?

John Collins has some of the best advanced numbers of any player in this draft. The Wake Forest sophomore led the country in PER at 35.9 mostly on the strength of his inside scoring and rebounding ability. Collins finished with a sparkling true shooting percentage of 65.8 and was one of the 10 most efficient offensive rebounders in the country.

Sounds great, right? Well, yes, but there are also shortcomings in his game. Namely: He has no shooting range and struggles to defend in space.

This draft has a few other players who fit into the same mold. Take Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan, who blossomed into a double-double machine and one of the country’s best players as a sophomore. Swanigan made incredible strides as a shooter this year (44.7 percent, up from 29 percent as a freshman), but NBA scouts will question his mobility.

North Carolina’s Tony Bradley and Kentucky’s Bam Adebayo fit in here, too. Bradley is a monster rebounder who has limited shooting range and questions about his quickness. Adebayo was a high-profile recruit with productive numbers, but his offensive skill is limited and he’s not exactly a rim protector.

Who is 7’3, fluid athletically, and “shows great promise from the perimeter”? That’s Latvian center Anzejs Pasecniks. He looked great at his pro day workout earlier this month:

Isaiah Hartenstein is another intriguing international big. Here’s what DraftExpress wrote about him in April:

Hartenstein has developed the reputation as a 7-footer who can space the floor and attack from the perimeter but after a week in Portland he showed his initial value may be more as a hard-playing, 250-pound big who can make his presence felt on the glass and play with activity defensively as his offensive skill set continues to develop. Hartenstein may very well turn into a threat from NBA three down the road, but he showed that he has quite a bit of room to improve in that regard. His overall skill set offensively could use some polishing. With that said, Hartenstein has NBA tools to fall back on at 7’1 with a great frame and impressive mobility

Want a center with incredible lateral quickness and good strength? Oregon’s Jordan Bell fits the bill. He just doesn’t have the length for the position.

Ivan Rabb could have been a lottery pick if he left Cal after his freshman year. Instead he returned for his sophomore season, his numbers stagnated, and now he might even slip to the second round. Indiana’s Thomas Bryant has fantastic length (7’6 wingspan) and a developing face-up game, but he’s slow laterally.

Then, there’s Harry Giles. The former No. 1 recruit in the country has seen his game devastated by repeated knee injuries. He didn’t make much of an impact at Duke, but still offers lots of promise if he can finally get healthy.

We didn’t even mention Gonzaga’s Zach Collins yet, but he’s a projected lottery pick for a reason. Collins posted an impressive block rate and showed a developing three-point stroke that makes him a great fit for the new NBA. He could go as high as the top 10.

For the rest of these big men: I like Patton over Allen, Lydon over Leaf, and Pasecniks over Hartenstein. Can I talk myself into Swanigan as the next Kevin Love? Why not. Bell’s quickness should also help him carve out a bench role somewhere.

In the end, teams will have to weigh if they’d rather “reach” for a potential two-way wing like Sterling Brown or take a player higher on traditional boards like one of these big men. We’ll know soon enough.