2014 DBR Mock Draft

[JasonEvans]

And we are off to the races!

The 2014 DBR Mock Draft is ready to begin. Because we are starting a little earlier than planned, I am not going to hold people to the regular "clock" for their picks. From now until Monday, you will have 10 hours to make your pick (not counting the overnight hours of 8pm - 8am ET). Of course, if you want to pick fast, there is nothing wrong with that!! Starting Monday we will go to the normal clock of 6 hours. There will be more of a grace period over the weekend, but if you kill the draft for an entire day, I'm going to make your pick for you.

Here is our draft order and all the GMs names...

First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach LaVine, UCLA

11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusuf Nurkic, Bosnia
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Michigan State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Nik Stauskas, Michigan
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Elfrid Payton, Louisiana Lafayette
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu - James Young, Kentucky
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Adreian Payne, Michigan State
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Glenn Robinson III, Michigan
22. Memphis Grizzlies - roywhite - TJ Warren, NC State
23. Utah Jazz - tommy - Jordan Adams, UCLA
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Shabazz Napier, UConn
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - KJ McDaniels, Clemson
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517 - Cleanthony Early, Wichita State
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Clint Capela, Switzerland
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14 - Jerami Grant, Syracuse
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Artem Klimenko, Russia
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Vasilije Micic, Serbia

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, North Carolina
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Thanasis Antetokoumpo, Greece
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78 - Markel Brown, Oklahoma State
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke - Walter Tavares, Cape Verde
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Russdiculous, Louisville
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - Isaiah Austin, Baylor
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Jordan Clarkson, Missouri
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Patric Young, Florida
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Jabari Brown, Missouri
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla - Jahii Carson, Arizona State
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Damien Inglis, French Guiana
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Semaj Christon, Xavier
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Deonte Burton, Nevada
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - James Michael McAdoo, UNC
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Nikola Jokic, Serbia
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Dwight Powell, Stanford
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Nick Johnson, Arizona
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517 - Khem Birch, UNLV
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - DeAndre Kane, Iowa State
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111 - Josh Huestis, Stanford
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Andre Dawkins, Duke
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

In terms of the format of this thread, I think it looks best if you put your team name and pick in the "Headline" of the post, so it is easily visible. Also, I strongly encourage each GM to explain the pick and his rationalization for selecting that player for his team. Critiques and discussions of picks are also always welcome.

Lastly, I urge you to be thoughtful about your picks. The community will probably frown on you if you take Rodney Hood 4th overall or Andre Dawkins with a late 1st round pick as doing something like that would get you fired as a NBA GM and does not reflect your true judgement of the NBA talent of this year's draft class.

With that said, thanks to all of you for playing along. BlueDevilBrowns is up!!

-Jason "Wiggins, Embiid, or Parker -- I look forward to the explanation of who gets picked first!" Evans

[mattman91]

The Cleveland GM must be having a hard time deciding.

[CDu]

The Cleveland GM must be having a hard time deciding.

Well, it IS the deepest draft in years at the top...

[brevity]

The Cleveland GM must be having a hard time deciding.

This would be a good time to remind the Cleveland GM that, in accordance with Dan Gilbert's policy, your announcement must be written in Comic Sans.

(Yes, I will make this joke every year.)

[BlueDevilBrowns]

This would be a good time to remind the Cleveland GM that, in accordance with Dan Gilbert's policy, your announcement must be written in Comic Sans.

(Yes, I will make this joke every year.)

Unfortunately, I, the Cleveland GM, am on vacation this week and this morning my laptop decided to die, probably because it came in contact with my 4 year old.

So, I'm having to use my phone which is slower than dirt.

I'll give a complete breakdown of the Wiggins pick when I get access to a keyboard.

But at least everyone else can proceed now.

Deepest apologies for the delay.

[Turk]

The Bucks are a complete mess, earning the worst record in the league during the 2013-14 season, despite the directive from ownership (just as in Cleveland) to make all moves with the goal of reaching the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference. Over the last few years, the moves resulted in drafting raw athletes of limited skill, overpaying for mediocre veteran free agents, and trading away the wrong players.

Of the current roster heading into 2014-15 (such as it is), center Larry Sanders converted one breakout year into a big contract, and then started getting into bar fights without any of the wit and charm of Charles Barkley, plus failing drug tests as an added bonus. Because of his excellent advanced metrics as a center, Grantland’s Zach Lowe often gleefully referred to him as LARRY SANDERS!, but he is now just overpaid injury-prone Sanders with a toxic $44M left on his contract. No one knows if Sanders has his head screwed on straight after last year’s lost season. O.J. Mayo displayed a talent for overeating, indifference, bad basketball, and contractually mandated money-stealing not seen since the twilight years of Rasheed Wallace.

Hard-core roto heads might recognize Ersan Ilyasova and Zaza Pachulia as versatile players capable of making significant contributions. Last year in the first round, the team drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo, a.k.a. “The Greek Freak”, a teenager who displayed infrequent flashes of athletic ability while averaging a sparkling 6.8 PPG. Perhaps the Milwaukee front office noticed that the Spurs have a lot of European players, and tried to replicate their formula, without bothering to find out whether the Europeans they signed were actually good at basketball. As for the rest, Brandon Knight is on the last year of his rookie contract holding down the PG position, Khris Middleton displayed potential as a 3-point specialist at an economy price, and John Henson provided a bit of shot-blocking and rebounding off the bench.

Despite four picks in this year’s draft, the Bucks are not planning to compete at a high level this year, and another year of player development (tanking, cough, cough) is in their future while they work to get a new arena built. Leading up to the draft, the Bucks attended workouts for the Big Three of Embiid, Parker, and Wiggins, and rounded up the usual suspects for additional in-house workouts. Of those, there are rumors of strong interest in Australian PG Dante Exum, which would allow the Bucks to move Brandon Knight to a more natural role as the 2 guard.

Most draft projections presumed that the Cavs would take Embiid both for need and for the highest ceiling. Since the Cavs once again decided to go against conventional wisdom, the Bucks are delighted at their good fortune (a good omen!) and select Joel Embiid, C, Kansas. Embiid’s versatility, offensive skill set, and athleticism will allow him to also play the 4 should Sanders transform back to LARRY SANDERS! The Bucks will consult with every shrink in the Midwest, but if Sanders continues to self-destruct, they'll dump his contract, play Embiid at C and keep Ilyasova at PF. The Bucks will bet that the infusion of young talent will re-energize Ilyasova, who is only 26 and averaged 17 ppg / 11 reb with good percentages just two years ago. Jabari Parker received strong consideration, especially with his polished game and Chicago roots, but the Bucks concluded that Embiid can be the cornerstone of the franchise in ways that Parker cannot. Based on all accounts from the workouts, Embiid’s back is fine. The Spurs will be the model to follow (even if the Bucks' actual execution has been terrible). A lot of people have been comparing Embiid to Hakeem, but the Bucks see Embiid more like David Robinson.

[pfrduke]

The 76ers went Sorry for Jabari with more gusto than any team in the league, and despite falling to #3 in the draft, we get our man. Parker immediately becomes either our best or second-best scorer (depending on what you think of Thaddeus Young's game). There is a bit of overlap between Parker and Young, but there's so much need for talent - and Parker is so far ahead of anyone else left on the board - that this is an extremely easy pick.

[Duvall]

With the fourth pick in the 2014 DBR Mock Draft, the Orlando Magic select Dante Exum, PG/SG.

Last year the Orlando Magic used the #2 pick to select Indiana's Victor Oladipo, in hopes of converting him into an NBA point guard. This produced mixed results in year one. Rather than abandoning the Oladipo Project completely, the Magic have elected to pick another athletic young combo guard, because the odds favor at least one of them learning to shoot. Eventually.

[tommy]

Here's our situation: We need everything, folks. We have only two guards we could give a rat's patooie about: last year's #1 pick Trey Burke out of Michigan, who was hurt at the start of the year, but came on to have a solid freshman campaign (other than his shooting, which we think will improve) and 2011 first rounder Alec Burks, who most view as a solid NBA starter. That's it. Oh, and we also have Quin Snyder. If Burke or Burks gets hurt or tired, we can always have our new coach suit up and give us a few minutes in a pinch.

Up front, we're letting a bunch of guys with expiring contracts leave, which is why we acquired them in the first place: Marvin Williams, Richard Jefferson, and I think Andre Biedrins was ours too. Oh, and Brandon Rush can go as well. That means we've got a TON of cap space. I mean, a ton. The bigs we have under contract that we care if they show up for the games or not are Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors, and 7'1" backup Rudy Gobert, who we still feel can develop. Perhaps our best player last year was SF Gordon Heyward. Gordo is a restricted free agent right now, and we're hopeful of re-signing him, and we're really hopeful of re-signing him at less than a max contract, cuz we're not sure he's worth a max contract to a team in our position. But we may not have a choice -- we really can't lose him at this stage. We've got the money, as Favors's $12M is the only big salary we're carrying.

So, the draft pick. We're thin both in the backcourt and inside. But we're going to go with Noah Vonleh, the rangy freshman forward out of Indiana. We definitely thought long and hard about Julius Randle. Randle is a much more polished offensive player than is Vonleh right now, but Vonleh is a much better athlete -- he killed it the combine -- and more versatile (he's actually bigger too) and we think that Vonleh could play both the 3 and the 4, which is nice in case we lose Gordy. We could be making a mistake here, if Randle turns out to be Z-Bo. But rumors are that Randle actually needs foot surgery, and will have it after the draft. That doesn't thrill us. Close call, but we're going with Vonleh.

[Henderson]

There are three things the Celtics have going that impact their draft choices this year: (1) The possibility of attracting Kevin Love; (2) The decision whether to trade Rajon Rondo or try to re-sign him; and (3) The fact that the Celtics are building a young team with a young coach whose emphasis is on a motion offense.

With those moving pieces, the most important thing is to maintain flexibility. The Celtics have banked a ton of top draft choices over the next few years, and that helps. But anyone chosen in this draft either has to fit into the current building program or has to be good trade bait in a position that they already have covered. Preferably both.

Aaron Gordon fits the bill beautifully. He's very young (still 18) with incredible physical skills. He has some things that definitely need work (e.g. offensive efficiency and that gawdawful 40% FT percentage). But he's coachable, has a great attitude, and will be a great team mate. A real positive influence while he continues to learn. Great rebounder with a great motor. Decent 3PT shooter. And Brad Stevens is young and eager to teach. Gordon could easily be a superstar in the league given his physical talents and attitude. At PF/SF, right now the Celtics have Jeff Green (good but inconsistent and not a young player), Brandon Bass (ditto), and Jared Sullinger (still a young work in progress and more of a pure post player). So if the Celtics wanted to keep Gordon and build a team around him and the other young players they already have, it's an intriguing possibility for the next 6 years or so. Gordon is so young and so gifted athletically, so smart and such a hard worker, his upside is extremely high. Team him with Brad Stevens, and the upside is even higher. And if they have to trade him, they still have Green, Bass, and Sulinger + whomever they get in that trade.

If on the other hand, the Celtics needed to package something up to get Kevin Love and/or get a new PG to replace Rondo (whose contract is up next year and will be 29 years old at the start of the next one) and his $13M salary with a young PG who is more of a scoring threat as well as a good distributor of the ball, Gordon could be pretty incredible trade bait.

So keep him or trade him, Aaron Gordon is a perfect pick for the Celtics at #6.

P.S. The Celtics had him higher than Exum and Vonleh (though Exum was close), so Gordon's availability at #6 was very good news.

[kAzE]

This is a formal warning. Unlike most of you guys, I'm already an accomplished NBA GM. Check out my sick management of the Cleveland Cavs in NBA 2K14:4165

For those of you who are familiar with the game, I began an association mode with the Cleveland Cavaliers (GM mode for those of you who aren't versed) with an extremely realistic 2014 draft class including over 50 real life prospects with incredibly accurate ratings and player playstyles (I swear Jabari's dribble moves and jump shot are DEAD on). I simulated the 2014 season while making transactions throughout the year and doing 3 player development drills every month (But no practices, because I think it's bugged, it does crazy stuff with player stats), 29 game seasons, on Hall of Fame Difficulty without the ability to override trades. We decided to part ways with Mike Brown 5 games into the season, hiring Doug Collins as head coach for the remainder of the year on an affordable 3 year deal. In 2014, we went 14-15 and made the playoffs as the #8 seed and managed to defeat the #1 seeded Chicago Bulls (In this reality, Derrick Rose did not injure himself) en route to a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the #2 Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

During the offseason, I pull off the deal of all deals, moving nearly my entire roster, and ending up with the #2 pick in the 2014 draft. With the #1 pick, the Boston Celtics took Joel Embiid, and we went with Jabari Parker at #2. The Toronto Raptors were delighted to take countryman Andrew Wiggins with the 3rd pick. Then, in another trade, we acquired the #12 pick, where we took Nik Stauskas. Kyrie Irving tested the free agent waters, but in the end, we re-signed him to a 4 year deal with an additional 1 year player option for about 21 Million a year, making him the highest paid PG in the league. We also managed to acquire Nicolas Batum in the final year of his deal in the offseason. We really needed his defense to make a serious playoff run. We started a Lineup in 2015 of Miles Plumlee, Jabari at the 4, Batum, Stauskas, and Irving with Austin Rivers as the 6th man off the bench.

In 2015, I manually played each game as the Cleveland Cavaliers, going 23-6, winning the Cavaliers their first ever NBA championship, beating the Miami Heat (which somehow brought back the big 3 on new contracts) in 7 games in the Eastern Finals, then defeating the OKC Thunder in 6 in the NBA Finals. In addition to being the Finals MVP, Kyrie Irving won the regular season MVP award, averaging 26 points 11 assists and 3 steals. He was also an all-star starter. Jabari Parker won the rookie of the year award in a landslide over Andrew Wiggins, who unfortunately tore his left MCL with 5 games to go in the regular season for the Raptors. Jabari also made the all-star roster as a reserve, averaging 29 points, (2nd in the league in scoring behind Kevin Durant) 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Austin Rivers won the 6th man of the year award as well as coming in 2nd for the most improved player award, dramatically turning around his career after a brutal start in New Orleans, averaging 14 points, 4 assist, and 2 steals a game in 2015. We used Austin as the first option on the second unit, playing about 18-20 minutes a game, but taking almost as many shots as Jabari or Kyrie. He excelled in the role, and became a very dangerous scorer off the bench, shooting 38% from 3 and 43% overall. We also acquired Ryan Anderson in the deal for Rivers, and he was also a valuable contributor throughout the year off the bench. MP1 had an excellent year, averaging 9 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks, finishing 5th in the voting for defensive player of the year.

This picture is taken towards the end of the next season, which I am also playing out manually. (You can see the date at the top left, is March 2016) The Cavs are currently 25-0 with 4 games left on the regular season schedule. The game currently ranks Jabari Parker as the 4th best player in the league, 3rd best Small Forward behind LBJ and Durant, and Kyrie as the 5th best, and the best point guard. (our player development is the BOMB) The center in the screenshot, Pierre Girbaud, is a rookie from a downloaded draft class of randomized players, a 7'0", 260 pound French center (Think Nikola Pekovic with a crazy motor and some post moves) who we took with the 6th pick in the 2015 draft. We acquired the pick from Golden State for Nik Stauskas, Austin Rivers, and Miles Plumlee. We also manged to snag Klay Thompson in the deal with the Warriors, who was disgruntled in Golden State after a mediocre year in 2015, and forced the Warriors to trade him. Girbaud turned out to be the biggest steal in the draft, as you can see, he's averaging 21, 13, and 2, running away with the rookie of the year award. We also managed to re-sign Batum in the offseson on a 5 year deal worth about 11 million a year, and managing to stay under the cap by about $600k. We are the 2nd highest rated team in the league , and are the heavy favorites to win the title again. The only team rated higher is OKC, who somehow worked out a deal for Kobe Bryant while keeping Durant, Westbrook, AND Ibaka. (I never figured out how they managed to pay all those guys)

So long story short, I'm pretty much the GM who made the biggest turnaround in a franchise of all time. Ya'll better watch out, I'm might draft a future Hall of Famer for the Mavs in the 2nd round.

[theAlaskanBear]

This is a formal warning. Unlike most of you guys, I'm already an accomplished NBA GM. Check out my sick management of the Cleveland Cavs in NBA 2K14:4165

.......(hot air)......

So long story short, I'm pretty much the GM who made the biggest turnaround in a franchise of all time. Ya'll better watch out, I'm might draft a future Hall of Famer for the Mavs in the 2nd round.

Wow not just 2014 NBA mock draft trash talk, but NBA 2k14 fantasy draft trash talk. It gets real. :rolleyes:

[kAzE]

Wow not just 2014 NBA mock draft trash talk, but NBA 2k14 fantasy draft trash talk. It gets real. :rolleyes:

In all seriousness though, if you are a basketball junkie and you own a video game console, you doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't own a NBA 2K game. It really is an incredible basketball simulator.

[pfrduke]

We'll update the first post in the thread to show who has been picked.

[theschwartz]

It was a rough season for the Lake Show. They saw themselves supplanted by the cross-arena Clippers for LA supremacy. This is a critical pick for them as they need help pretty much everywhere and they're most likely only going to have one first-round pick between 2015-2017. At this point in the draft though, I'm not sure there's a "sure thing." Believe me, I was praying during the lottery that the Lakers would end up with a top-4 pick so we could get a shot at Embiid/Parker/Wiggins/Exum but the balls didn't bounce in our favor. At #7, I'm sure the Lakers are looking hard at Aaron Gordon, Marcus Smart, Julius Randle and possibly Dougie McBuckets. With Gordon gone, the choice here is Smart. I thought hard about Randle, but frankly, the foot thing (http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/11070671/nba-executives-worried-julius-randle-improperly-healed-foot)concerns me. Of course, it could be a smoke screen being sent out by certain GMs drafting in the 8-12 range who want to take a shot at Randle, but the Lakers need a sure thing next year, not a guy who may only play 40-50 games due to injury. A guy like Randle is someone who needs the ball in the post to be effective, which is not going to happen next season with Kobe Bryant in full-on F-U mode. Also, the free agents who the Lakers will be going after in 2015 will predominantly be PFs and Cs (i.e., Love, Marc Gasol, etc.).

So next year, the Lakers backcourt is shaping up to be Nash & Kobe in the starting lineup, with Kendall Marshall & Kent Bazemore coming back to fill out the rotation. If next year is anything like the past 2 years, then Lakers aren't getting more than 20-30 games out of Nash, and although Marshall had some good moments last season, I wouldn't say he's the long-term solution at the point. Smart definitely has the potential to get a lot of starter minutes next year and learn under guys like Kobe and Nash. Good thing is that he can make an impact without necessarily having the ball in his hands all the time, cause he's probably not getting it with Kobe out there. He'll also be a huge defensive upgrade over Nash (but frankly, Michael Olowokandi's chair would be an upgrade over Nash). Yeah, the frontcourt is filled with a ton of question marks but I'm actually starting to talk myself into Ryan Kelly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHi3cbEKfkk)as our starting PF next year (and beyond!). Kelly showed some great flashes last year and just as soon as the Heat lose one more game and Shane Battier moves over to ESPN, he'll become probably my favorite former Blue Devil in the NBA. Lakers can bring him back as a RFA at a nice bargain. We should be able to re-sign Kaman at a decent price to man the middle, then sign a quality SF off free agency (Deng?). Of course we also need a coach, but I have a feeling whoever they bring in will be a significant upgrade over D'Antoni. D'Antoni was just the wrong coach for the wrong team during the wrong year. Sure, it was fun watching the Lakers just run and gun and put up gaudy point totals, but it was not enjoyable watching them show complete indifference on defense. I think Marcus Smart, with the right coach, can do a lot to change the tone of this Lakers team.

Anyway, I would have preferred to get Gordon here, but Smart strikes me as the "safe" choice over Randle. Next year, the 8-seed is ours!

[JasonEvans]

Oh, and we also have Quin Snyder. If Burke or Burks gets hurt or tired, we can always have our new coach suit up and give us a few minutes in a pinch.

Just make sure everyone sitting in the first couple rows is paying attention at all times and has their hands up, ready to catch the pass ;)

-Jason "I keed, I keed" Evans

[Ichabod Drain]

With the 8th pick in the 2014 NBA draft the Sac Kings select Doug McDermott of Creighton Univeristy.

To be honest I wanted to select Randle here. There's a little uncertainty regarding his foot if/when he'll have surgery and how much it would affect him. Also Cousins is far and away our best player. He's an all-star level player who put up 23 and 12 last year. Let's be honest a player like Randle doesn't compliment Cousins that well having no game outside of eight feet to speak of at the moment.

This brings us to Dougie. There's only really been one knock on Doug since the season ended and that's the fact he measured 6'6.25" at the combine. This leaves him labeled as a tweener in the NBA but that really only applies on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive side he's a matchup nightmare. He has range out to the parking lot, a solid set of post moves, great footwork, and an incredible basketball IQ. In all seriousness McDermott can score from almost anywhere on the floor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fpbKYyEOiE&feature=kp).

Doug will never be the best player on an NBA team but we don't need him to be. We were one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league last year (28th in 3FGM and 3FG%). Doug is an immediate answer for that. He's experienced coming off four great years of college ball. We expect him to step in as immediate role player and scorer which we don't believe will be a problem for him at all.

Dougie gets buckets!

[JasonEvans]

Julius Randle was just spotted in the DBR Mock Draft Green room yelling at his agent and wiping a bit of a tear away from his eye. He is not a happy camper at this moment.

-Jason "how awesome would it be if Mattman and pfr took Levine, Saric, Stauskus, Harris, or Hood at this point?!?!" Evans

[pfrduke]

With the 8th pick in the 2014 NBA draft the Sac Kings select Doug McDermott of Creighton Univeristy.

To be honest I wanted to select Randle here. There's a little uncertainty regarding his foot if/when he'll have surgery and how much it would affect him. Also Cousins is far and away our best player. He's an all-star level player who put up 23 and 12 last year. Let's be honest a player like Randle doesn't compliment Cousins that well having no game outside of eight feet to speak of at the moment.

This brings us to Dougie. There's only really been one knock on Doug since the season ended and that's the fact he measured 6'6.25" at the combine. This leaves him labeled as a tweener in the NBA but that really only applies on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive side he's a matchup nightmare. He has range out to the parking lot, a solid set of post moves, great footwork, and an incredible basketball IQ. In all seriousness McDermott can score from almost anywhere on the floor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fpbKYyEOiE&feature=kp).

Doug will never be the best player on an NBA team but we don't need him to be. We were one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league last year (28th in 3FGM and 3FG%). Doug is an immediate answer for that. He's experienced coming off four great years of college ball. We expect him to step in as immediate role player and scorer which we don't believe will be a problem for him at all.

Dougie gets buckets!

I find it somehow appropriate that the team that drafted Jimmer* also drafted McBuckets.

*technically, Jimmer was drafted by the Bucks, but it was part of a draft day trade and they were making that selection at the Kings' request.

[JasonEvans]

I find it somehow appropriate that the team that drafted Jimmer* also drafted McBuckets.

*technically, Jimmer was drafted by the Bucks, but it was part of a draft day trade and they were making that selection at the Kings' request.

I'll freely admit to being more than a little surprised at Jimmer's inability to be more of an impact player in the NBA. After watching him score in college, I truly felt his abilities would translate better at the next level.

That said, his carer is still young. His first three years are not at all dissimilar from JJ Redick's first few seasons and JJ has turned into a very solid starting NBA 2-guard at this point.

-Jason "I think McBuckets size and physical play make him better suited to have a bit more of immediate impact than Jimmer or JJ" Evans

[flyingdutchdevil]

I'll freely admit to being more than a little surprised at Jimmer's inability to be more of an impact player in the NBA. After watching him score in college, I truly felt his abilities would translate better at the next level.

That said, his carer is still young. His first three years are not at all dissimilar from JJ Redick's first few seasons and JJ has turned into a very solid starting NBA 2-guard at this point.

-Jason "I think McBuckets size and physical play make him better suited to have a bit more of immediate impact than Jimmer or JJ" Evans

Jimmer is too similar to porn-stach Adam Morrison: insanely high scorer for a mid-major who is too one dimensional.

I may be in the minority, but I think this applies to McBuckets. In college, McBuckets torched people by being bigger, smarter, and having an insanely good shot. How is this different than Jimmer or Morrison?

Other players who fit this bill are Wayne Ellington and Doron Lamb: amazing but one-dimension shooters. And they are struggling in the league.

High-usage and high-scoring college players who fit this mold are much more multi-dimensional. The two that come to mind is JJ (good passer, good defender, high IQ, all of which could be seen in college) and Stephen Curry (do-it all offensive player, a lot of which could be seen in college. I have to admit I'm surprised Curry made it to superstar status).

Anywho, I like McBuckets, but I wouldn't draft him in the lottery, especially with such a deep draft.

[JasonEvans]

So folks don't have to back-reference the first page of this thread to know where we stand...


First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
22. Memphis Grizzlies - Roywhite
23. Utah Jazz - tommy
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
35. Utah Jazz - tommy
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

-Jason

[mattman91]

Sorry for the delay...I have been "on the clock" in more than one way...

This pick wasn't nearly as easy as it seems, but a talent like Randle can't be passed on at the 9th pick. We went with who we believe is the best available, even though we desperately need a shooter/scorer. Luckily, we have another 1st round pick and a few guys on our radar that we feel will be around at the 24th pick that can fill the void at that role. There were some rumors about his foot surgery not going well, but those allegations were shot down from both Julius and his mother. Even if he does need another surgery, looking at his track record at Kentucky, he played in all 40 games and had no major injuries. Randle already has the body of an NBA PF, and should be able to start from day one. He, along with Al Jefferson, should be able to become one of the best front courts in the league. Jefferson, Randle, Zeller, McRoberts, and Biyombo will give us scoring (Jefferson), rebounding (Randle), defense (Biyombo) and a 'stretch" 4 (McBob).

[mattman91]

Sorry for the delay...I have been "on the clock" in more than one way...

This pick wasn't nearly as easy as it seems, but a talent like Randle can't be passed on at the 9th pick. We went with who we believe is the best available, even though we desperately need a shooter/scorer. Luckily, we have another 1st round pick and a few guys on our radar that we feel will be around at the 24th pick that can fill the void at that role. There were some rumors about his foot surgery not going well, but those allegations were shot down from both Julius and his mother. Even if he does need another surgery, looking at his track record at Kentucky, he played in all 40 games and had no major injuries. Randle already has the body of an NBA PF, and should be able to start from day one. He, along with Al Jefferson, should be able to become one of the best front courts in the league. Jefferson, Randle, Zeller, McRoberts, and Biyombo will give us scoring (Jefferson), rebounding (Randle), defense (Biyombo) and a 'stretch" 4 (McBob).

I did toy with the idea of taking Stauskas, but passed. I feel like Randle is one of the most NBA ready players, and has loads of potential.

[pfrduke]

The Sixers were very much hoping that one more team chose to pass on Julius Randle, but alas that is not to be. Just as we thought there was a clear break between 3 and 4, we also thought there was a clear break between 9 and 10.* Here, unfortunately, we're on the wrong side of the line. We see a lot of viable options with this pick, and for all of them we wish we weren't using the #10 pick of the draft on them. So how did we land where we did?

We considered Dario Saric, but found him duplicative of Parker, presenting many of the same skillsets (offensive versatility and creativity) with many of the same weaknesses (big enough to defend 4? quick enough to defend 3? reliable enough outside shot?). If we thought he was clearly better than the other options, we may have rolled the dice, but we were concerned that a lineup starting Parker at 3 and Saric at 4 would get shredded defensively, even with Noel on the back line.

We considered Rodney Hood quite a bit. We think he's the safest pick here; the most likely to have a long and fruitful NBA career. But we can't shake this nagging concern that taking the two best players off of a team that lost to Mercer in the first round of the NCAA tournament isn't the best approach to team building. And, we're so bad and have such low expectations for next season that we can afford to roll the dice on a riskier choice with a higher upside. We're thinking long term.

We considered Gary Harris. We like his shooting and toughness, we like guys who have come through Tom Izzo's program, and while he's undersized as a 2, we think he can be effective guarding the 1 and MCW's size allows us to play him on shooting guards on the defensive side of the ball. But we are concerned that he's one dimensional on offense and won't be able to get to the rim and we think his athleticism is not sufficiently elite to make him a plus defender.

We briefly considered Stauskas, and we're simply not enamored with his prospects.

So we landed on Zach Levine as a high-risk, high-reward pick. He has a terrific shooting stroke and can jump out of the gym. We love the idea of pairing him with MCW in the back court - it's long, quick, and can be disruptive. We think that Levine is still on the upswing of a high growth curve. He won't turn into Russell Westbrook, but we hope that his development proceeds in similar leaps and bounds. If everything breaks right, we think Levine can be the best player of those we considered, so we're betting on him with the #10 pick.

*to be honest, we thought it was between 8 and 9 with McDermott on the wrong side of that line. We would not have taken McDermott with this pick; we would have taken any of the others that already have been drafted.

[CDu]

Jimmer is too similar to porn-stach Adam Morrison: insanely high scorer for a mid-major who is too one dimensional.

I may be in the minority, but I think this applies to McBuckets. In college, McBuckets torched people by being bigger, smarter, and having an insanely good shot. How is this different than Jimmer or Morrison?

Other players who fit this bill are Wayne Ellington and Doron Lamb: amazing but one-dimension shooters. And they are struggling in the league.

High-usage and high-scoring college players who fit this mold are much more multi-dimensional. The two that come to mind is JJ (good passer, good defender, high IQ, all of which could be seen in college) and Stephen Curry (do-it all offensive player, a lot of which could be seen in college. I have to admit I'm surprised Curry made it to superstar status).

Anywho, I like McBuckets, but I wouldn't draft him in the lottery, especially with such a deep draft.

I see McDermott as a more talented Kyle Korver. Or maybe like a more-efficient Chuck Person. There is a definitely place for a guy like him in the NBA, and it's not on the fringe. There would be a place for a guy like Fredette, too. He just has to find the right team that would use him as a spot-minutes gunner on the second/third unit.

[Henderson]

We considered Dario Saric, but found him duplicative of Parker, presenting many of the same skillsets (offensive versatility and creativity) with many of the same weaknesses (big enough to defend 4? quick enough to defend 3? reliable enough outside shot?). If we thought he was clearly better than the other options, we may have rolled the dice, but we were concerned that a lineup starting Parker at 3 and Saric at 4 would get shredded defensively, even with Noel on the back line.


I've read that Saric may not come over right away. His agent says he wants to play a year or two more in Europe to gain more experience. Seems like an odd thing for an agent to say, since that statement can't help Saric's draft stock. Maybe the agent doesn't understand rookie salary structures in the NBA and thought playing hard to get would help him negotiate a better salary. Then again, maybe he was just being an honest guy.

If a team drafts Saric in 2014, does that team hold Saric's NBA rights indefinitely? And how is salary determined if there is a delay between draft year and the first NBA year? if Saric decides to play in the NBA, say, two years from now, is his salary the 2014 rookie salary for that draft position? The 2016 rookie salary for that draft position? Or does he get credit for post-draft European play somehow? Or is there some other salary rule for internationals who play in the NBA?

[Kedsy]

But we can't shake this nagging concern that taking the two best players off of a team that lost to Mercer in the first round of the NCAA tournament isn't the best approach to team building.

Do you think an NBA GM would really care about something like this? It would surprise me.

[brevity]

We considered Rodney Hood quite a bit. We think he's the safest pick here; the most likely to have a long and fruitful NBA career. But we can't shake this nagging concern that taking the two best players off of a team that lost to Mercer in the first round of the NCAA tournament isn't the best approach to team building.


Do you think an NBA GM would really care about something like this? It would surprise me.

An NBA GM would not care about Mercer or any of Duke's losses. But he probably would care about being perceived as putting all of his lottery eggs into one Duke basket. If draft picks are considered investments, then selecting Parker and Hood would show a lack of diversification. Hypothetically speaking, a draft pair of Jabari Parker and Gary Harris would "feel" more successful than a draft pair of Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood, if the stats were identical.

Now, if the Sixers or some other team does draft Parker and Hood, and they blow up the NBA with their psychic twin abilities, I'm happy to be wrong.

ETA: Maybe Gary Harris isn't the best example. I was looking for an established wing that could plausibly be selected in the lottery. But the combine measurements have Harris almost 5 inches shorter than Hood.

[CDu]

An NBA GM would not care about Mercer or any of Duke's losses. But he probably would care about being perceived as putting all of his lottery eggs into one Duke basket. If draft picks are considered investments, then selecting Parker and Hood would show a lack of diversification. Hypothetically speaking, a draft pair of Jabari Parker and Gary Harris would "feel" more successful than a draft pair of Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood, if the stats were identical.

Now, if the Sixers or some other team does draft Parker and Hood, and they blow up the NBA with their psychic twin abilities, I'm happy to be wrong.

ETA: Maybe Gary Harris isn't the best example. I was looking for an established wing that could plausibly be selected in the lottery. But the combine measurements have Harris almost 5 inches shorter than Hood.

Interestingly, Harris is considered a lottery pick by almost everyone, while Hood's value ranges from late-lottery to late-first round. I find this strange because the two players essentially play the same position (SG), with similar skill sets (Hood a better ballhandler, Harris a better defender). But as you noted, Hood is 5 inches taller and has a 7" standing reach advantage. Harris is an undersized SG. Hood is a perfectly-sized SG/SF.

[pfrduke]

Do you think an NBA GM would really care about something like this? It would surprise me.

It was a shorthand way of saying that I've seen how these two play together and it raises concerns about pairing them up again. There were clear defensive problems, and both will be asked to defend quicker people in the NBA than they were in college. While both are very talented offensive players, I'm not sure their offensive skill sets mesh perfectly with each other - at least not so much as to overcome the defensive issues.

And, to be clear, my concerns are not giant red flag concerns. As I said, I thought long and hard about Hood here. But there's enough suggesting that, while they are two great players in their own right, they may not be the best fit, combined with the appeal of Levine's upside, to tip the scales slightly toward Levine.

[mattman91]

I think the Nuggets GM fell asleep...

[Henderson]

I think the Nuggets GM fell asleep...

Hey, at least the Nuggets GM didn't get his president of basketball operations fired (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11078372/rod-higgins-steps-charlotte-hornets-president-basketball-operations?ex_cid=espnapi_public) by picking Julius Randle today. :cool:

[awhom111]

I've read that Saric may not come over right away. His agent says he wants to play a year or two more in Europe to gain more experience. Seems like an odd thing for an agent to say, since that statement can't help Saric's draft stock. Maybe the agent doesn't understand rookie salary structures in the NBA and thought playing hard to get would help him negotiate a better salary. Then again, maybe he was just being an honest guy.

If a team drafts Saric in 2014, does that team hold Saric's NBA rights indefinitely? And how is salary determined if there is a delay between draft year and the first NBA year? if Saric decides to play in the NBA, say, two years from now, is his salary the 2014 rookie salary for that draft position? The 2016 rookie salary for that draft position? Or does he get credit for post-draft European play somehow? Or is there some other salary rule for internationals who play in the NBA?

Rights are held indefinitely unless they are renounced. If you do not sign for three years, you are not bound by any rookie scale (which is why the Mirotic rumors have always been strong for this specific summer). I am not sure about signing between now and three years.

Agents play all kinds of games, some of which work better than others. He may be trying to dissuade certain teams to let Saric drop to a specific team whose situation he likes. Most people assumed that he would not come over immediately anyways.

[brevity]

I think the Nuggets GM fell asleep...

The Alaskan Bear doesn't sleep. He hibernates. Do not poke him!

[theAlaskanBear]

The Nuggets have depth, and need shooting. But we can in improve in many areas and will take the best player available. Jusuf Nurkic is a load on the blocks, and was one of the most efficient bigs in Europe. Only 19, he has a lot of room for improvement, but is a naturally skilled offensive player. At 6-11 with a 7'2'' wingspan and 270 pounds, no one will be able to move him off the block. He shoots an extremely good percentage and is a solid free throw shooter. We think he will become a knockdown baseline/midrange shooter. With better conditioning and more discipline on defense he can be one of the better PFs/centers in the league. Plus, this gives us more competition for McGee Vesely and Mozgov. We can go big and we can go deep (or move some of these bigman assets).

[Ichabod Drain]

Jimmer is too similar to porn-stach Adam Morrison: insanely high scorer for a mid-major who is too one dimensional.

I may be in the minority, but I think this applies to McBuckets. In college, McBuckets torched people by being bigger, smarter, and having an insanely good shot. How is this different than Jimmer or Morrison?

Other players who fit this bill are Wayne Ellington and Doron Lamb: amazing but one-dimension shooters. And they are struggling in the league.

High-usage and high-scoring college players who fit this mold are much more multi-dimensional. The two that come to mind is JJ (good passer, good defender, high IQ, all of which could be seen in college) and Stephen Curry (do-it all offensive player, a lot of which could be seen in college. I have to admit I'm surprised Curry made it to superstar status).

Anywho, I like McBuckets, but I wouldn't draft him in the lottery, especially with such a deep draft.

Adam Morrison averaged 12 points his rookie season and had five 25 point games. He blew out his ACL at the beginning of his second season and was never the same. Probably wouldn't of been an All-Star but would of had a decent career.

[awhom111]

The Nuggets have depth, and need shooting. But we can in improve in many areas and will take the best player available. Jusuf Nurkic is a load on the blocks, and was one of the most efficient bigs in Europe. Only 19, he has a lot of room for improvement, but is a naturally skilled offensive player. At 6-11 with a 7'2'' wingspan and 270 pounds, no one will be able to move him off the block. He shoots an extremely good percentage and is a solid free throw shooter. We think he will become a knockdown baseline/midrange shooter. With better conditioning and more discipline on defense he can be one of the better PFs/centers in the league. Plus, this gives us more competition for McGee Vesely and Mozgov. We can go big and we can go deep (or move some of these bigman assets).

Interesting to see Nurkic drafted ahead of Saric by our draft. I guess he benefitted from being Nolan's teammate and beating Saric this past week. Vesely is probably on his way back to Europe, but noise around the Nuggets suggest that they will probably try to bring Joffrey "Don't call me Lannister" Lauvergne over to play the 4/5. The team certainly has some interesting Euro-stash (remember Virginia Tech star Erick Green?) and this would certainly add to it.

[Duvall]

With the 12th pick in the 2014 DBR Mock Draft, the Orlando Magic stay international and select Dario Saric, SF/PF from Croatia. We would have considered a center like Nurkic if he were still available, but are happy to land one of the toolsier prospects in this draft to pair with our versatile young backcourt.

[theAlaskanBear]

Interesting to see Nurkic drafted ahead of Saric by our draft. I guess he benefitted from being Nolan's teammate and beating Saric this past week. Vesely is probably on his way back to Europe, but noise around the Nuggets suggest that they will probably try to bring Joffrey "Don't call me Lannister" Lauvergne over to play the 4/5. The team certainly has some interesting Euro-stash (remember Virginia Tech star Erick Green?) and this would certainly add to it.

We are happy with Gallinari/Fournier (provided Gal can get healthy), and also the "team engineering" that Saric's agent is trying to manipulate gave us pause.

[Henderson]

We are happy with Gallinari/Fournier (provided Gal can get healthy), and also the "team engineering" that Saric's agent is trying to manipulate gave us pause.

I like the Nurkic pick. Nurkic is a beast. Reminds me of Bill Laimbeer or Rick Mahorn. I don't care if he doesn't play above the rim, because no one is getting to the rim if he has any say in the matter. Dude occupies real estate. And he has skills. Hardly seems fair.

[brevity]

With the 12th pick in the 2014 DBR Mock Draft, the Orlando Magic stay international and select Dario Saric, SF/PF from Croatia. We would have considered a center like Nurkic if he were still available, but are happy to land one of the toolsier prospects in this draft to pair with our versatile young backcourt.

Interesting choice of words, but you must acknowledge that the biggest tool in this draft is PJ Hairston.

[awhom111]

With the 12th pick in the 2014 DBR Mock Draft, the Orlando Magic stay international and select Dario Saric, SF/PF from Croatia. We would have considered a center like Nurkic if he were still available, but are happy to land one of the toolsier prospects in this draft to pair with our versatile young backcourt.

I have seen this pick for them in a few other places. What interests me in real life would be whether the Magic would shy away from a pick like this since the last time they picked an international player in this range that was not coming over right away, they ended up with Fran Vazquez, who is certainly not any closer to showing up one decade later.

[roywhite]

Only 2 picks made in the last 1 day+

Come on, guys.

[Duke3517]

No one better take my guy

[Kedsy]

No one better take my guy

There are 15 picks until your turn? Good luck with that.

[FerryFor50]

Twolves pick Rodney Hood.

Will type more up later but don't want to hold the draft up longer...

[Li_Duke]

Going into last season, expectations were that the Phoenix Suns would be one of the NBA's worst team after jettisoning veterans Luis Scola to Indiana and Marcin Gortat to Washington and trading Jared Dudley for the young and unproven Eric Bledsoe. Instead, they became the feel-good story for much of the first half of the regular season. Bledsoe proved to be a defensive demon and paired well with starting point guard Goran Dragic. The returns from the Indiana trade, Miles Plumlee and Gerald Green, were revelations - the former proved to be a solid NBA big man, the latter a valuable 3 and D wing.

While, Phoenix's surprising bid for a playoff spot in the ultra-competitive Western Conference fell short after injuries to key players, their future is bright with a team built with young likeable players at every position and an exciting, selfless style of play. The front-court is anchored by Plumlee, promising young big Alex Len, and 3 stretch forwards: Channing Fyre and the Morris twins. The backcourt has Dragic, Bledsoe (a restricted free agent), and promising young combo guard Archie Goodwin. Green will likely inherit the starting small forward spot from departing free agent PJ Tucker. Shavlick Randolph and Ish Smith provide big man and point guard depth respectively. With 3 non-lottery first round picks and 1 2nd round pick, the Suns will aim to add some additional young pieces to their roster.

Gary Harris reminds us of Bradley Beal or a young Eric Gordon - an aggressive SG with a well-rounded game offensively, can play PG in a pinch, and can defend. We feel lucky to get this kind of player with the 14th pick (Beal went 3rd and Gordon 7th in previous drafts). He'll be our first guard off the bench and will look good playing beside either of Dragic or Bledsoe. Despite 2 years under Izzo at Michigan State, he's still only 19 years old so he has lots of room for improvement (imagine just how much 21 year old Rodney Hood improved in 2 years).

[FerryFor50]

Twolves pick Rodney Hood.

Will type more up later but don't want to hold the draft up longer...

As promised, analysis...

Minnesota Timberwolves pick Rodney Hood, G/F from Duke

Last season, the T-Wolves had no issues scoring, but with Kevin Martin turning 32 and Corey Brewer an offensive liability (outside of his career high 51 points (http://nba.si.com/2014/04/12/corey-brewer-51-points-video-timberwolves-rockets/) on April 12) and uncertainty about the future of Kevin Love, the Wolves need to win now and will roll the dice on 6'9" Rodney Hood. Hood is a far better shooter than Brewer, can create his own shot, and he plays above average defense at multiple positions.

With the pace the Wolves play and Rickey Rubio setting him up, Hood is primed to have a solid rookie campaign with the Wolves.

[brevity]

There will be more of a grace period over the weekend, but if you kill the draft for an entire day, I'm going to make your pick for you.

15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans

So... who watches the commissioner?

I know the Hawks GM has another 21 hours, but I'm sorely tempted to commandeer this pick right now to draft Roy Devyn Marble. 25 years later (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Marble), it's just too perfect.

NOTE: this is not a real pick. (Which is pretty much what I said about the Hawks drafting his father in 1989.) Jason Evans is still on the clock.

[JasonEvans]

I have to tell you, I was sorely tempted to take Nick Stauskus, who I think is the best player on the board at this point. But, I see him as little more than a carbon copy of Kyle Korver, one of the best 3 pt shooters in the NBA, and I already have Korver. So, I am going with Kyle Anderson, PG UCLA.

I can't even tell you how much I love Anderson. He's got PG skills in a SF body. No, he does not have elite athleticism -- heck, he barely has ordinary athleticism -- but when I watch him play I really am reminded at times of Magic Johnson. He sees the floor beautifully and uses his length to his advantage as a PG. He can play PG or a point-forward kind of position, which could be very useful to the Hawks, who will probably want to team him with Jeff Teague plenty of time. This is a very deep draft, so it is not like Anderson is a steal at this point, but in most years drafts I think Anderson is more like a mid-lottery pick, so getting him at #15 suits me just fine.

-Jason "I'll update the draft list in the next post, so folks know who is still available" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Here is the most up-to-date list of who has been taken --

First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach Levine, UCLA
11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusef Nurkic, Boz & H
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Mich State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
22. Memphis Grizzlies - Roywhite
23. Utah Jazz - tommy
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
35. Utah Jazz - tommy
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[awhom111]

Because I am me, I have to point out that it is Jusuf Nurkic and Zach LaVine.

[CDu]

With the 16th pick in the draft, the Bulls select Nik Stauskas, SG, Michigan. It is no secret what the Bulls lack. It is offense. Stauskas is one of the best shooters in the draft. But we are gambling that he is more than just the next Kyle Korver. He dramatically improved his game over the past year, adding the ability to score off the dribble. That devotion to improve along with surprisingly solid athletic measurements at the combine give us hope that he can do more than just catch and shoot.

The concerns with Stauskas are defense. But defense is one thing the Bulls know best, so Thibs will just have to figure a way to make it work.

Basically, we are thrilled that Stauskas fell here as we were actually trying to trade up to get him. Now we get a bonus pick at #19.

[Henderson]

The Celts are very happy to see Tyler Ennis still available.* In choosing Aaron Gordon #6, I said this about the Celtics' draft strategy:


There are three things the Celtics have going that impact their draft choices this year: (1) The possibility of attracting Kevin Love; (2) The decision whether to trade Rajon Rondo or try to re-sign him; and (3) The fact that the Celtics are building a young team with a young coach whose emphasis is on a motion offense.

With those moving pieces, the most important thing is to maintain flexibility. The Celtics have banked a ton of top draft choices over the next few years, and that helps. But anyone chosen in this draft either has to fit into the current building program or has to be good trade bait in a position that they already have covered. Preferably both.


Ennis fits those criteria perfectly, because now the Celts have a true quality backup at PG. They suffered mightily when Rondo went down with a torn ACL, which also made it impossible for Rondo to play on back-to-back nights when recovering. Rondo will be healthy this year, but an unrestricted free agent at the end of this coming season. He says he wants to stay in Boston, but he also says he wants to test the free agency market. Translation: He wants the Celts to win an auction for his services. But he's making $12.9 million already. So Ennis will be his backup, but also a potential replacement. That increases Boston's flexibility in dealing for Love (and don't we all want flexibility when dealing for love?). But it also increases flexibility in dealing with Rondo. And on top of that, the Celtics get a terrific pure point guard who can distribute to the bigs: Sullinger, Olynyk, Gordon, and Green, not to mention Love if the Celts can make a deal there. And he's a reasonably good shooter with long arms (6-7 wingspan) with which to play defense. Ennis is a smart, fierce competitor whose worst case scenario is long-time back-up PG. Upside potential = star PG. Brad Stevens is going to love coaching him.

Aaron Gordon and Tyler Ennis. Not a bad draft for the Celtics. And Lord knows they needed one.

*The steal of the draft was Stauskas to the Bulls. I thought the Bulls might take Ennis, because their need for a backup PG is similar to the Celtics'. But I agree with CDu that you can't pass on Stauskas at #16. And the Celtics needed a backup PG worse than they needed another SG. So, as much as the Celts would have been very happy with Stauskas, the Celtics weren't unhappy that the Bulls took him instead of Ennis.

[Li_Duke]

We gave James Young a long look here as he could become a 3-and-D wing down the road, or perhaps even more as he is only 19. However, right now his 3-ball is streaky, his D is non-existent, his dribble and passing skills are mediocre, and despite his size, he rebounds like a shooting guard. We already have a good 3-and-D wing in Gerald Green.

We had Payton ranked as the 3rd best PG on the board with many of the supposed positives of Marcus Smart (big, athletic, selfless, excellent defender, can get to the basket, and is a leader) but none of the worrying temper issues. He's also young (20), has lots of potential, and reminds us a bit of another Payton who played in Seattle. We're not yet sure how we're going to distribute minutes between 5 young promising guards in Dragic, Bledsoe, Gary Harris, Elfrid Payton, and Archie Goodwin -- we may need to send young Archie to the D-league, but lots of young talent is a good problem to have.

[CDu]

With the #19 pick in the 2014 DBR Fantasy NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls select James Young, SF, Kentucky. We are doubling down on the wing position in this draft, hoping that one of them sticks. Young is, well, young, as just one of 3 prospects in the draft who is still 18. Despite this, he is somewhat well-seasoned at the college level, playing on a Kentucky team that made the final game of the tournament. He has ideal size and athleticism for the SG/SF position. He's a good shooter whose results belie his capabilities due to the fact that Kentucky lacked shooting options last year.

Young is a work in progress, but his upside is tremendous. We feel he could become the next Paul George. But even if he falls short of that, we have no doubt that he'll make for a nice, versatile, SG/SF rotation with Jimmy Butler, Stauskas, and Tony Snell.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

Unfortunately, I, the Cleveland GM, am on vacation this week and this morning my laptop decided to die, probably because it came in contact with my 4 year old.

So, I'm having to use my phone which is slower than dirt.

I'll give a complete breakdown of the Wiggins pick when I get access to a keyboard.

But at least everyone else can proceed now.

Deepest apologies for the delay.

Finally got my laptop back up and running after getting home today(my brother-in-law's pretty good at fixing computers, fortunately).

So, without further delay, here's my analysis for "why" we went "riggin' for Wiggins" instead of "flaccid for Embiid" in 2014:

As we all know, my predecessor, Chris Grant, tried too hard to be the smartest guy in the room when it came to drafting and surprise everyone for the sake of surprising over actually making the best pick. His philosophy seemed to be "acquire the most talent possible and screw worrying about team chemistry" as KI, Waiters, Thompson, and, to a lesser extent, Zeller, are all talented players(for those that think Barnes would have been the better pick over Waiters, Dion actually had a better shooting % and higher PPG this year than Harry, who really regressed his 2nd year) but just don't seem to fit well together.

Having said that, we all know that Embiid has the most raw talent in this years' draft(big men that can block shots, rebound, and shoot smooth jumpers don't come along very often). But, he also has the most risk as his back is a huge question mark(despite what some "reports" have claimed). History has repeatedly shown that when a big man has injury questions(Sam Bowie, Greg Oden), you better take the potentially elite wing player right behind him(MJ, KD).

Being a new GM and knowing I'm on a, shall we say, short leash(considering my owner made a major push for Coach Cal - try an offer of $80 million and Team President title!), I'm going with the safest pick possible without also taking a major drop in upside(sorry Jabari, love ya, but I'm afraid you're a "tweener").

So, the pick had to be Wiggins. Andrew Wiggins isn't only insanely athletic, he's also a natural 2 or 3, but not in the dreaded tweener sense(as mentioned above). He's tall enough, at 6'8", to play the 3 and athletic enough to drop down to the SG spot if necessary. I envision his ceiling as Scottie Pippen - a do-everything swiss army knife of a wing that may play most effectively as the #2 option when paired with a certain Mega-Star from near-by Akron.

Pipedream? Maybe, but when I mentioned this to my well-intentioned but delusional owner, he gave me the immediate green-light to make the pick, so I'll believe my own BS for now, too.

[NovaScotian]

as "we the north" enter into a new era, we are led by a new general manager. one who is not as obsessed with international players as his predecessor (colangelo the younger). one who is not afraid to use some NSFW language (http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/4/19/5631252/masai-ujiri-shouts-f-brooklyn-before-raptors-nets) to ruffle some feathers. one who is focused on winning now, with his current players who've made considerable strides, and left some ripples in the (albeit shallow) eastern conference. with a weak boston, a pathetic new york, and an aging nets team, the atlantic division is theirs for the taking. where are toronto's needs? without an obvious superstar/franchise player left at this stage, the raptors are looking for someone to step in now, and contribute right away. that man is mr. payne, a four year player from michigan state. he has a big body, rebounds well, can shoot the lights out and will nicely complement jonas valanchooonas inside. meanwhile, his presence would supplant a certain power forward from north carolina, whose psycho antics and lack offense will not be missed.

[flyingdutchdevil]

As there is no more low hanging fruit, OKC needs to think strategically about what they need rather than get the best player on the board.

And what they need is a real, steady PG who can a) distribute, b) create, and c) defend. Ennis should to be a smart, heady player at his sole year at Syracuse. He doesn't have the highest potential, but he is reliable.

The "Westbrook at PG" experiment is now over. We need to shift him to the 2, start Ennis at the 1, and have the talented Reggie Jackson come on as the sixth man. Derek Fisher retired, and now we need a player who can not only fill his shoes, but also move this team to the Finals.

[brevity]

As there is no more low hanging fruit, OKC needs to think strategically about what they need rather than get the best player on the board.

And what they need is a real, steady PG who can a) distribute, b) create, and c) defend. Ennis should to be a smart, heady player at his sole year at Syracuse. He doesn't have the highest potential, but he is reliable.

The "Westbrook at PG" experiment is now over. We need to shift him to the 2, start Ennis at the 1, and have the talented Reggie Jackson come on as the sixth man. Derek Fisher retired, and now we need a player who can not only fill his shoes, but also move this team to the Finals.

Solid reasoning. Too bad Tyler Ennis was already drafted at #17.

OKC is still on the clock.

ETA: I sent a PM to flyingdutchdevil.

[theAlaskanBear]

Solid reasoning. Too bad Tyler Ennis was already drafted at #17.

OKC is still on the clock.

ETA: I sent a PM to flyingdutchdevil.

I think you ''misunderstand''....flyingdutchdevil was drafting a clone of Tyler Ennis. If the Dutch can clone muscles to make hamburgers, who is to say they cant clone muscles to make athletes? Besides, flyingdutchdevil is also a flying devil, maybe there is magic involved.

[pfrduke]

First page is updated through yesterday's results. For convenience, here's the current state of the first round:

First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach LaVine, UCLA

11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusuf Nurkic, Bosnia
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Michigan State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Nick Stauskas, Michigan
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Elfrid Payton, Louisiana Lafayette
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu - James Young, Kentucky
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Adreian Payne, Michigan State
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
22. Memphis Grizzlies - Roywhite
23. Utah Jazz - tommy
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[flyingdutchdevil]

The OKC front office has been fired on the spot for failing to understand how the draft works. Also, solid pick by the Celtics.

With that, OKC takes Glenn Robinson III. The Swiss Miss, Thabo Sefolosha, is not the answer at the 3. He's a good defender, but his offense is awful. We're rolling the dice on a high risk, high reward candidate who is crazy athletic and comes from great genes. He can defend, get to the rim, and is getting better at shooting. On top of that, he doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective, which is perfect.

[brevity]

The OKC front office has been fired on the spot for failing to understand how the draft works. Also, solid pick by the Celtics.

With that, OKC takes Glenn Robinson III. The Swiss Miss, Thabo Sefolosha, is not the answer at the 3. He's a good defender, but his offense is awful. We're rolling the dice on a high risk, high reward candidate who is crazy athletic and comes from great genes. He can defend, get to the rim, and is getting better at shooting. On top of that, he doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective, which is perfect.

Solid reasoning. Too bad Glenn Robinson was already drafted #1 in the 1994 NBA Draft.

Kidding. The draft continues with Memphis on the clock...

[roywhite]

Memphis Grizzlies 2013-14 Season: 50-32; lost in 7 games in 1st round to OKC

Strong Points: Strong inside game with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph; PG Mike Conley has improved and provides 17 pts/ 6 assists

Areas for improvement: Young talent and scoring needed on the perimeter and wings; Tayshaun Prince and Mike Miller are both 34 yrs old at SF; could use a good back PG

The pick: Warren has shown good scoring ability; is a legitimate 6'8" or better in shoes and at 230# has enough strength to get some rebounds and score mid-range or going to the basket; 3-point shooting needs some work; seems to have decent defensive ability; demonstrated hard work by making big jump in conditioning from freshman year to soph year at NCSU; good basketball IQ and finds ways to score

[Li_Duke]

Memphis Grizzlies 2013-14 Season: 50-32; lost in 7 games in 1st round to OKC

Strong Points: Strong inside game with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph; PG Mike Conley has improved and provides 17 pts/ 6 assists

Areas for improvement: Young talent and scoring needed on the perimeter and wings; Tayshaun Prince and Mike Miller are both 34 yrs old at SF; could use a good back PG

The pick: Warren has shown good scoring ability; is a legitimate 6'8" or better in shoes and at 230# has enough strength to get some rebounds and score mid-range or going to the basket; 3-point shooting needs some work; seems to have decent defensive ability; demonstrated hard work by making big jump in conditioning from freshman year to soph year at NCSU; good basketball IQ and finds ways to score

Darn, was really hoping he'd last all the way to 27.

[tommy]

We definitely need a guard, as after having selected Noah Vonleh in the lottery, we're still sitting here with just Trey Burke and Alec Burks in the backcourt. Our decision came down to Jordan Adams and PJ Hairston, though we thought a little about CJ Fair too, but lacked confidence in his shooting at the NBA level. Hairston has a lot of positives. He's an outstanding shooter who will have no trouble adjusting to the longer-distance NBA three-point line, and he has an NBA body that he knows how to use to get to the hoop. He has ability defensively when he puts his mind to it. Very good athlete, very physical -- just like we like em in the NBA.

Of course, there are issues with Hairston as well, well-documented ones that do cause us concern in terms of his personal discipline and other off court issues.

We really like Jordan Adams. He's 6'5", so we wish he were an inch or two taller, but he's got really long arms and a solid body. He's got very good skills too. He can shoot it, drive it, he moves very well without the ball. We definitely can see him coming off screens set by Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors, receiving crisp, well-timed passes from Trey Burke, and burying jumpshots. Adams has a really good motor, which helps make up for athleticism which is good but not elite. He is an excellent offensive rebounder for his position -- which we need -- and he likes taking the challenge at the defensive end. He is also only 19 years old, one of the youngest players in this draft, really, so there's plenty of time and opportunity for growth. Adams is a solid citizen, he'll be really good in the community, which is important to us, and overall we just feel like he's a better fit with what we're trying to build here than is PJ Hairston. UCLA's Jordan Adams it is.

[CDu]

In the spirit of awhom111, it's Nik Stauskas, not Nick Stauskas.

[JasonEvans]

With the 16th pick in the draft, the Bulls select Nik Stauskas, SG, Michigan. It is no secret what the Bulls lack. It is offense. Stauskas is one of the best shooters in the draft. But we are gambling that he is more than just the next Kyle Korver. He dramatically improved his game over the past year, adding the ability to score off the dribble. That devotion to improve along with surprisingly solid athletic measurements at the combine give us hope that he can do more than just catch and shoot.

The concerns with Stauskas are defense. But defense is one thing the Bulls know best, so Thibs will just have to figure a way to make it work.

Basically, we are thrilled that Stauskas fell here as we were actually trying to trade up to get him. Now we get a bonus pick at #19.

I want to address the decision by the Hawks to pass on Stauskas, because I sorta can't believe he fell to the Bulls either.

My draft philosophy is always to look to see who inexplicably slipped down the draft and then pounce on that guy. If you can get a top 10 player with a top 15 pick, you are doing well. There's always a GM or two who think they are smarter than everyone else who takes a player 5 picks too early (or, in the case of Isaiah Thomas, 15 picks too early). I try to pounce when that happens and the guy who should have gone earlier falls into my lap.

This happened to the Hawks a few years ago when Luol Deng, who everyone knew was a top 3 pick in the draft, somehow fell into the team's lap with the #6 pick in the 2004 draft (thanks to the Bulls overvaluing Ben Gordon). Somehow, Atlanta took Josh Childress instead. I almost lost my mind watching this happen. It was such an inexplicable decision that the team tried to justify it in the newspaper by saying that Childress had that valuable commodity "length" even though Luol Deng's arms are the very definition of length!

Anyway, I digress. As the Hawks GM, when the time came for my pick I was sure that Stauskas was the guy who had slipped (I've seen him as high as #8 or #9 in some mock drafts) and I was all set to take him, but I just could not shake the feeling that I might be getting something very similar to Korver. I may regret the decision, but I went with Anderson instead... even though I suspect I could have gotten Anderson 3-5 picks later in the draft. Can anyone drafting after me tell me if you would have taken Kyle Anderson instead of who you eventually picked? I really do love what Anderson brings to the table and think I may have a future all-star on my hands.

So, that's the end of the story. I knew the Bulls would jump all over Stauskas the moment I passed on him. I the real world, I probably would have traded back a few picks (perhaps to the Bulls #19 spot) and picked up some kind of additional asset (the #49 pick) to let them get Stauskas.

-Jason "seriously, is anyone as high on Kyle Anderson as I am?" Evans

[roywhite]

I want to address the decision by the Hawks to pass on Stauskas, because I sorta can't believe he fell to the Bulls either.

. Can anyone drafting after me tell me if you would have taken Kyle Anderson instead of who you eventually picked? I really do love what Anderson brings to the table and think I may have a future all-star on my hands.

So, that's the end of the story. I knew the Bulls would jump all over Stauskas the moment I passed on him. I the real world, I probably would have traded back a few picks (perhaps to the Bulls #19 spot) and picked up some kind of additional asset (the #49 pick) to let them get Stauskas.

-Jason "seriously, is anyone as high on Kyle Anderson as I am?" Evans

Yeah, sitting at #22, I would have taken Kyle Anderson, and was not surprised to see him go earlier. Of the 3 UCLA prospects that have gone already, I liked Anderson the best. LaVine is interesting and jumps out of the gym, but Anderson has such versatility and basketball smarts.

[Duke3517]

Love the Kyle Anderson pick, UCLA will miss him this year.

[Henderson]

I think the Kyle Anderson pick was solid. Offensively, he's so multi-dimensional it's scary. Primary question for both him and Stauskas is: Can you guard anyone in the NBA? We'll find out.

The Celts weren't going to take Anderson at #17 had he been available because of the possible defense problem. Brad Stevens has made defense a bit of a religion, and I as GM don't want to tick the guy off. We also thought Stauskas would be easier to make into a good defender, because he has underrated athleticism. Anderson just seems slow on defense. Maybe he can overcome that problem with positioning and long arms. We'll find that out too. The Celtics ended up taking Ennis at #17 but would have been happy if the Bulls had passed on Stauskas rather than taking him at #16.

[Li_Duke]

They have much of the same skill-set and weaknesses, and I think we'll see that his success will largely depend on how a team uses him.

[tbyers11]

Yeah, sitting at #22, I would have taken Kyle Anderson, and was not surprised to see him go earlier. Of the 3 UCLA prospects that have gone already, I liked Anderson the best. LaVine is interesting and jumps out of the gym, but Anderson has such versatility and basketball smarts.

I also like Anderson the best of the 3 UCLA prospects. I am totally not sold on Lavine. Sure he has great athleticism for a SG but so do a lot of other players who accomplished a lot more in college and never sniff the 1st round of the draft. He says he wants to play PG in the pros and that is a great selling point for him. However, in the 5-6 games I saw him play this year I didn't see him display a remotely good enough handle.

I freely admit that I haven't seen him enough to be totally sure in my evaluation of him. He could develop consistency and a handle in the pros and become a really good pro. However, the list of athletic prospects who underachieve in college that crash and burn in the pros is a lot longer than the ones that excel. I think he is getting a big bump because Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday didn't set the world on fire at UCLA but have developed into a superstar and a great player, respectively.

I know this has been debated a bit on the boards before, but since he went #10 in this mock and is pretty much in the top 20 in all mock drafts I was wondering the opinion of others. Am I missing something in him besides the obvious "potential".

[CDu]

I want to address the decision by the Hawks to pass on Stauskas, because I sorta can't believe he fell to the Bulls either.

My draft philosophy is always to look to see who inexplicably slipped down the draft and then pounce on that guy. If you can get a top 10 player with a top 15 pick, you are doing well. There's always a GM or two who think they are smarter than everyone else who takes a player 5 picks too early (or, in the case of Isaiah Thomas, 15 picks too early). I try to pounce when that happens and the guy who should have gone earlier falls into my lap.

This happened to the Hawks a few years ago when Luol Deng, who everyone knew was a top 3 pick in the draft, somehow fell into the team's lap with the #6 pick in the 2004 draft (thanks to the Bulls overvaluing Ben Gordon). Somehow, Atlanta took Josh Childress instead. I almost lost my mind watching this happen. It was such an inexplicable decision that the team tried to justify it in the newspaper by saying that Childress had that valuable commodity "length" even though Luol Deng's arms are the very definition of length!

Anyway, I digress. As the Hawks GM, when the time came for my pick I was sure that Stauskas was the guy who had slipped (I've seen him as high as #8 or #9 in some mock drafts) and I was all set to take him, but I just could not shake the feeling that I might be getting something very similar to Korver. I may regret the decision, but I went with Anderson instead... even though I suspect I could have gotten Anderson 3-5 picks later in the draft. Can anyone drafting after me tell me if you would have taken Kyle Anderson instead of who you eventually picked? I really do love what Anderson brings to the table and think I may have a future all-star on my hands.

So, that's the end of the story. I knew the Bulls would jump all over Stauskas the moment I passed on him. I the real world, I probably would have traded back a few picks (perhaps to the Bulls #19 spot) and picked up some kind of additional asset (the #49 pick) to let them get Stauskas.

-Jason "seriously, is anyone as high on Kyle Anderson as I am?" Evans

Don't second-guess yourself. Anderson was a very solid pick. Had you taken Stauskas, I would have taken either Anderson or Young.

[mattman91]

This was a tough pick, even tougher than the number 9 selection. We have decided to continue with the same strategy by selecting who we feel is the best available prospect, regardless of position. Since Kemba Walker is the only guaranteed PG on our roster at the start of the season, this pick makes perfect sense. Napier is a big game player, a proven winner, and has a great relationship already with Kemba, so we feel that he would be a valuable backup PG. We looked very hard at C.J Wilcox from Washington for his NBA 3 point range, but felt like he was too one dimensional the 24th pick. Jordan Clarkson was another candidate as a combo guard, but we felt like his sub-par shooting ability was a big knock, and the fact that he probably won't be a great NBA PG scared us away.

Julius Randle and Shabazz Napier should definitely generate a lot of BUZZ for Charlotte.

With a mid second round pick, we can possibly fix our three point shooting woes. We have been pretty lucky so far with top prospects falling in our lap. After all, whatever immediate needs we don't fill in the draft, there is always free agency.

[flyingdutchdevil]

This was a tough pick, even tougher than the number 9 selection. We have decided to continue with the same strategy by selecting who we feel is the best available prospect, regardless of position. Since Kemba Walker is the only guaranteed PG on our roster at the start of the season, this pick makes perfect sense. Napier is a big game player, a proven winner, and has a great relationship already with Kemba, so we feel that he would be a valuable backup PG. We looked very hard at C.J Wilcox from Washington for his NBA 3 point range, but felt like he was too one dimensional the 24th pick. Jordan Clarkson was another candidate as a combo guard, but we felt like his sub-par shooting ability was a big knock, and the fact that he probably won't be a great NBA PG scared us away.

Julius Randle and Shabazz Napier should definitely generate a lot of BUZZ for Charlotte.

With a mid second round pick, we can possibly fix our three point shooting woes. We have been pretty lucky so far with top prospects falling in our lap. After all, whatever immediate needs we don't fill in the draft, there is always free agency.

I'm sure that you can also get AJ Price from the Wolves at a cheap price and sign Marcus Williams to the veteran's minimum. Charlotte might as well have a monopoly on UCONN PGs.

[Turk]

I also like Anderson the best of the 3 UCLA prospects. I am totally not sold on Lavine. Sure he has great athleticism for a SG but so do a lot of other players who accomplished a lot more in college and never sniff the 1st round of the draft. He says he wants to play PG in the pros and that is a great selling point for him. However, in the 5-6 games I saw him play this year I didn't see him display a remotely good enough handle.

I freely admit that I haven't seen him enough to be totally sure in my evaluation of him. He could develop consistency and a handle in the pros and become a really good pro. However, the list of athletic prospects who underachieve in college that crash and burn in the pros is a lot longer than the ones that excel. I think he is getting a big bump because Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday didn't set the world on fire at UCLA but have developed into a superstar and a great player, respectively.

I know this has been debated a bit on the boards before, but since he went #10 in this mock and is pretty much in the top 20 in all mock drafts I was wondering the opinion of others. Am I missing something in him besides the obvious "potential".

With all due respect to our friend pfrduke, I didn't like Lavine at the #10 to the Sixers in the mock. I think that's way too high for him, and pairing him with MCW will result in a pair of guards that will produce turnover-fests with dreadful percentages despite their athleticism. I think Stauskas or maybe Gary Harris are better matches for what the Sixers need if they do get Jabari at #3.

Perhaps Westbrook and Holiday didn't set the world on fire at UCLA because of Ben Howland's coaching style threw a wet blanket on them. (huh? someone call the Metaphor Police - violations in progress!)

My opinion is that you can draft "potential" for the front line; offensively limited athletic big men can still fill a role blocking shots, rebounding, and dunking putbacks / fast break alley oops. That list is pretty long. Guards and wing players need to have actual basketball skills and/or IQ to be established starters or even all-stars.

[Duke3517]

This was a tough pick, even tougher than the number 9 selection. We have decided to continue with the same strategy by selecting who we feel is the best available prospect, regardless of position. Since Kemba Walker is the only guaranteed PG on our roster at the start of the season, this pick makes perfect sense. Napier is a big game player, a proven winner, and has a great relationship already with Kemba, so we feel that he would be a valuable backup PG. We looked very hard at C.J Wilcox from Washington for his NBA 3 point range, but felt like he was too one dimensional the 24th pick. Jordan Clarkson was another candidate as a combo guard, but we felt like his sub-par shooting ability was a big knock, and the fact that he probably won't be a great NBA PG scared us away.

Julius Randle and Shabazz Napier should definitely generate a lot of BUZZ for Charlotte.

With a mid second round pick, we can possibly fix our three point shooting woes. We have been pretty lucky so far with top prospects falling in our lap. After all, whatever immediate needs we don't fill in the draft, there is always free agency.

Andre Dawkins?

[flyingdutchdevil]

With all due respect to our friend pfrduke, I didn't like Lavine at the #10 to the Sixers in the mock. I think that's way too high for him, and pairing him with MCW will result in a pair of guards that will produce turnover-fests with dreadful percentages despite their athleticism. I think Stauskas or maybe Gary Harris are better matches for what the Sixers need if they do get Jabari at #3.

Perhaps Westbrook and Holiday didn't set the world on fire at UCLA because of Ben Howland's coaching style threw a wet blanket on them. (huh? someone call the Metaphor Police - violations in progress!)

My opinion is that you can draft "potential" for the front line; offensively limited athletic big men can still fill a role blocking shots, rebounding, and dunking putbacks / fast break alley oops. That list is pretty long. Guards and wing players need to have actual basketball skills and/or IQ to be established starters or even all-stars.

I also think that LaVine at 10 is too high, but his is a high-risk, high-reward type player. He could be an 5-time All-Star or he could be a massive dud.

I really like Gary Harris. He is a 3-and-D player who could end up being better than Danny Green (huge compliment for a 3-and-D player). With Jabari being a defensive liability, a player like Harris makes so much sense. Stauskas is a bad choice for the Sixers, simply because his D is on par with Jabari (that is to say non-existent). A core of MWC-Harris-Jabari-Young-Noel is very nice and balanced on both O and D, and you can move Young and future draft picks for a borderline All-Star.

[pfrduke]

I also think that LaVine at 10 is too high, but his is a high-risk, high-reward type player. He could be an 5-time All-Star or he could be a massive dud.

I really like Gary Harris. He is a 3-and-D player who could end up being better than Danny Green (huge compliment for a 3-and-D player). With Jabari being a defensive liability, a player like Harris makes so much sense. Stauskas is a bad choice for the Sixers, simply because his D is on par with Jabari (that is to say non-existent). A core of MWC-Harris-Jabari-Young-Noel is very nice and balanced on both O and D, and you can move Young and future draft picks for a borderline All-Star.

The pick for me came down to Harris vs. LaVine. It was very close to 50/50. I'm actually not sold on Harris as a plus NBA defender, at least not at the 2 - he's a little undersized there and doesn't make up for it with elite speed or athleticism (although his fundamentals are strong enough that he is unlikely to be a minus defender). At the end of the day, it was a ceiling pick - who did I think could be the best player if all the cards broke right. Given that the Sixers are not likely to be in any kind of contention next year regardless of who they take at 10, it's a risk that helps both ways - if he's great, I add a great player; if he's terrible, I'm back at the top of the lottery. Then again, I'm also the guy who drafted Jerryd Bayless over Russell Westbrook for the fake Sonics in this mock draft 6 years ago. No one's ever accused me of being a great judge of talent.

Also, I was serious about what I said in terms of #10 offering a lot of reasonable options. Were it an option in our draft, I would have been calling the GMs below me to see who was interested in moving up, as I could have gotten someone I would be happy with anywhere over the next 4-5 picks.

[NSDukeFan]

Houston has some size upfront with Asik and Howard, who both somehow stayed on the team all year. Having two bigs like that isn't necessarily a bad thing (see Spurs). With Beverly being a menace defensively in the backcourt and the size upfront, this team is getting a few solid defensive pieces to go with fantastic offensive player Harden and solid swing man Parsons. Although Cleanthony Earlyand Jarnell Stokes were strongly considered, we felt McDaniels would quickly learn to defend 1 or 2 positions at an NBA level, be able to learn our team's help side responsibilities and run the floor, hit the open jumper and work on his ball handling to quickly be a solid contributor with potential for more.

[Duke3517]

#26 Miami Heat, Cleanthony Early, SF/PF, Wichita State

We really need a point guard in the biggest way. Of the ones available we did not have one that we considered first round potential. We had our sights on Shabazz Napier. Unfortunately we were not able to grab him. We may also need a center who specializes in traffic rebounding. So Mitch McGary was highly considered for this pick. The Spurs beat us down in 5 games because we did not have quality role players who contributed around us. We choose this player because he is highly athletic, fast, and is tremendous at creating his own shot. His defense against post players really needs to improve. We feel once he gets bigger, rebounding will become one of his strengths. He needs to also work on driving to the basket with traffic in front of him. He reminds us of Kawhai Leonard offensively. Tremondous scorer. He certainly is not the defender Kawhai is but we feel he has room to improve. We are very excited about developing into his true potential. But he needs more seasoning.

We go into this off season with a lot of questions. Will LeBron and Wade stay? Will we get to keep them and bring in Melo? Or should we get quality players around us and build a team that closely resembles the Spurs? But for right now we are excited to be able to land a guy with supreme potential.

[Newton_14]

Here is the updated view of the first round. The Phoenix Suns are now on the clock

First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach LaVine, UCLA

11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusuf Nurkic, Bosnia
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Michigan State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Nick Stauskas, Michigan
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Elfrid Payton, Louisiana Lafayette
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu - James Young, Kentucky
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Adreian Payne, Michigan State
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil- Glenn Robinson III- Michigan
22. Memphis Grizzlies - Roywhite- TJ Warren- NC State
23. Utah Jazz - tommy- Jordan Adams- UCLA
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91- Shabazz Napier- UConn
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan- KJ McDaniels - Clemson
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517- Cleanthony Early - Wichita St
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[Duvall]

#26 Miami Heat, Cleanthony Early, SF/PF, Wichita State



Was that the guy you wanted earlier?

[Duke3517]

Was that the guy you wanted earlier?

2nd guy...Shabazz Napier was my first choice at where I was picking. The Heat need a point guard badly.

[awhom111]

The official early entry list will presumably be available by tomorrow at the latest now that the deadline has passed. Good thing nobody has mock drafted Porzingis yet. We are starting to hit the part of the draft where the internationals would fly off the board in real life although I assume we will be more likely to stick with the college guys.


In the spirit of awhom111, it's Nik Stauskas, not Nick Stauskas.

That was an important one to point out. No basketball fan wants to alienate the Lithuanian community.

[Henderson]

The official early entry list will presumably be available by tomorrow at the latest now that the deadline has passed. Good thing nobody has mock drafted Porzingis yet. We are starting to hit the part of the draft where the internationals would fly off the board in real life although I assume we will be more likely to stick with the college guys.


So let me get this straight. The NBA established 5 pm ET today for all early entries to withdraw, right? That applies to both college players and internationals. But the NCAA recently changed its rules to establish its own early entry withdrawal deadline in late May? So there's no longer any reason for the college players to withdraw if the team workouts go poorly, because they can't go back to school? Do I have that right? If so, it seems pretty harsh for U.S. kids who'd like to test the waters and not very conducive to the educational mission of the NCAA (if it still has one) to be discouraging kids from going back to school. OTOH, the internationals have much more flexibility to wait and see how things look? That's what the NCAA has done for its athletes?

I admit I'm not very knowledgable here, so someone correct my assumptions if I have them wrong. And which internationals count as "early entry"? Could a 25 year old, 5 year Euro-pro withdraw by the early entry date? I'm thinking about guys like Splitter and Faverani, who came to the NBA after establishing themselves in leagues abroad.

[Turk]

The pick for me came down to Harris vs. LaVine. It was very close to 50/50. I'm actually not sold on Harris as a plus NBA defender, at least not at the 2 - he's a little undersized there and doesn't make up for it with elite speed or athleticism (although his fundamentals are strong enough that he is unlikely to be a minus defender). At the end of the day, it was a ceiling pick - who did I think could be the best player if all the cards broke right. Given that the Sixers are not likely to be in any kind of contention next year regardless of who they take at 10, it's a risk that helps both ways - if he's great, I add a great player; if he's terrible, I'm back at the top of the lottery. Then again, I'm also the guy who drafted Jerryd Bayless over Russell Westbrook for the fake Sonics in this mock draft 6 years ago. No one's ever accused me of being a great judge of talent.

Also, I was serious about what I said in terms of #10 offering a lot of reasonable options. Were it an option in our draft, I would have been calling the GMs below me to see who was interested in moving up, as I could have gotten someone I would be happy with anywhere over the next 4-5 picks.

Yep, you could go either way with Harris or LaVine, makes sense. As for shopping picks, there have been rumblings (nothing worth linking that I've read so far) where the Sixers will be trying to make deals using that #10 and all the second rounders they have.

[CDu]

So let me get this straight. The NBA established 5 pm ET today for all early entries to withdraw, right? That applies to both college players and internationals. But the NCAA recently changed its rules to establish its own early entry withdrawal deadline in late May? So there's no longer any reason for the college players to withdraw if the team workouts go poorly, because they can't go back to school? Do I have that right? If so, it seems pretty harsh for U.S. kids who'd like to test the waters and not very conducive to the educational mission of the NCAA (if it still has one) to be discouraging kids from going back to school. OTOH, the internationals have much more flexibility to wait and see how things look? That's what the NCAA has done for its athletes?

That pretty much sums it up, yes. College coaches complained that the June deadline left them hanging in the wind, so to speak. So the NCAA changed their rules.


I admit I'm not very knowledgable here, so someone correct my assumptions if I have them wrong. And which internationals count as "early entry"? Could a 25 year old, 5 year Euro-pro withdraw by the early entry date? I'm thinking about guys like Splitter and Faverani, who came to the NBA after establishing themselves in leagues abroad.

A 25-year-old international is automatically eligible for the draft (all internationals over 22 years of age). So they aren't "early entry" candidates at that point. So they wouldn't pull out of the draft.

In fact, I believe that a 25 year old international wouldn't have to be drafted, because he'd have already been eligible to be drafted. So he would be free to sign a contract with any team.

[Henderson]

Excellent info. Thanks.

[Li_Duke]

The official early entry list will presumably be available by tomorrow at the latest now that the deadline has passed. Good thing nobody has mock drafted Porzingis yet. We are starting to hit the part of the draft where the internationals would fly off the board in real life although I assume we will be more likely to stick with the college guys.


Yep, I just picked an international player. Let's hope he's still on the official early entry list later today.

Capela is a long athletic big man who is a good defender and great in transition. We have a precedent for that type of player performing well in the Suns system (Plumlee I). We also considered Mitch McGary with this pick as Mitch's strength makes him more NBA-ready than the much weaker, still raw Capela (at least in regards to holding his ground in the post). In the end though, we see Mitch's upside as a bench big who can come into the game for 5-10 energy-filled minutes for a playoff team. While that is pretty good return for the 27th pick, we see the 20-year old Capela's upside as a Serge Ibaka type player. With four rotation bigs already (Plumlee, Fyre, Morris, Morris), we can afford to gamble.

[Newton_14]

With the 28th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers select forward Jerami Grant, from Syracuse University. At this point in the draft, we believe in taking the best talent available and believe Grant is that guy. We love his basketbal IQ, athletic ability, and skill set. Grant has the potential to develop into a solid NBA player for years to come.

Had Napier been available I would have taken in him to backup Chris Paul with Collison soon departing, but I am more than thrilled that Grant was still there for the taking. I like both kids a lot actually, so happy either way.

[flyingdutchdevil]

We need size, but we are confident we can get size on the cheap in free agency. Right now, we also need no unnecessary contracts. Since we can't shop this pick, we'll draft an international center with great size (7'1") and try to store him in Europe for another year.

Artem Kilmenko is our guy. Big, goofy, and unathletic...kinda like a taller version of Kendrick Perkins (with hopefully a lot more upside!).

[GGLC]

I think KJ McDaniels will turn out to be incredible value here. I know several extremely knowledgeable draft guys who think that he's got top-10 talent in terms of translation to the NBA.

I also think that McDermott, LaVine, and Hood will ultimately be too high in this draft in terms of retrospective value, while Anderson, Napier, Stauskas, and Capela will be seen as having gone too low. Maybe Nurkic too.

[CDu]

I think KJ McDaniels will turn out to be incredible value here. I know several extremely knowledgeable draft guys who think that he's got top-10 talent in terms of translation to the NBA.

I agree. He has elite athelticism, excellent defensive skills, and good size for his position. At the very worst, he's a defensive stopper as a rotation SG/SF. If he can continue to improve offensively, he's a steal.

It should be noted that he excels in two of the skills that most directly translate to NBA success: steals and blocks.

[FerryFor50]

I agree. He has elite athelticism, excellent defensive skills, and good size for his position. At the very worst, he's a defensive stopper as a rotation SG/SF. If he can continue to improve offensively, he's a steal.

It should be noted that he excels in two of the skills that most directly translate to NBA success: steals and blocks.

I think he projects as a Tony Allen clone, which is not shabby at all.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I think KJ McDaniels will turn out to be incredible value here. I know several extremely knowledgeable draft guys who think that he's got top-10 talent in terms of translation to the NBA.

I also think that McDermott, LaVine, and Hood will ultimately be too high in this draft in terms of retrospective value, while Anderson, Napier, Stauskas, and Capela will be seen as having gone too low. Maybe Nurkic too.

Can someone please explain the appeal of Stauskas? He's got a great shot, good size, and high IQ, but that's it. He can't play D, he can't post, he can't drive that well....

I don't see the appeal. I'm staying away from Stauskas with a 10-foot pole if I can.

[Newton_14]

Would be curious to hear details as to why he cannot defend?

[Henderson]

Can someone please explain the appeal of Stauskas? He's got a great shot, good size, and high IQ, but that's it. He can't play D, he can't post, he can't drive that well....

I don't see the appeal. I'm staying away from Stauskas with a 10-foot pole if I can.

I was thinking the same thing a few weeks ago, but I've come around. And here's why.

He's got a great shot (like 45% from 3), good size, and high IQ (as you say). He's also more athletic and has better handle than people give him credit for. The problem in criticizing him is finding a player who has all that and even more and available at his spot in the draft. Imagine a player who shoots lights out from distance, has good size, high IQ, decent athleticism and a pretty good ball hander who also plays great D, can post up players and can drive. You're talking about a consensus #1 pick in any draft ever. All players are compromises, and you can't reject players as unworthy of consideration just because there are some things they can't do. It really helps if the player has a good attitude, is coachable, and has the physical skills to get better through hard work. I'd argue Stauskas is one of those guys. He's not top 5, maybe not top 10. But he's easy top 15 in my view. If nothing else, every team needs a guy who can spot up and reliably drain the 3. That makes him a pick guaranteed not to be a total disaster. Other players drafted in the top 15 end up being total disasters.

[CDu]

Can someone please explain the appeal of Stauskas? He's got a great shot, good size, and high IQ, but that's it. He can't play D, he can't post, he can't drive that well....

I don't see the appeal. I'm staying away from Stauskas with a 10-foot pole if I can.

As the fantasy GM of the team who drafted him, I'll provide the response.

As you've said, he has a great shot. One of the two best shooters in the draft along with McDermott. He can shoot from anywhere. He can shoot either in a catch-and-shoot or off the dribble. That skill set can't be stated enough. There is no doubt he projects as at least a guy who can stretch a defense like Kyle Korver. That alone gets him to the middle of the first round.

Where he gets more interesting is that his measurables tested out better than expected. He has basically the same size and standing reach as Rodney Hood. So as a SG, he has ideal size. But athletically, he surprised many with his numbers. He's not as limited athletically as many thought.

And where he gets really interesting is that he greatly improved his offensive game from freshman to sophomore year. As a freshman, he was merely a catch-and-shoot player. As a sophomore, he became a capable scorer off the dribble. And he expanded his playmaking ability as well. That improvement along with his size/athleticism, bball IQ, and shooting ability, suggest there is room for growth offensively.

Similarly, given his size and athleticism, there is no reason to assume he can't become a capable defender. I don't think he'll ever by Kawhi Leonard, but he doesn't have to be that good defensively to be a top 15 value pick.

For a comparison, I could easily see him being the next Klay Thompson.

[brevity]

First and foremost, the truth. I'm a mock GM. Many of you can embrace your roles and think that you know better than your real GM counterparts, and many of you are probably right. But I can tell you right now that my decisions will probably not be as good as whatever mind-blowing moves the San Antonio Spurs are planning. They're playing chess, the other teams are playing checkers, and I'm playing Chutes and Ladders.

I chose the Spurs because I wanted the challenge of picking at the end of each round, where there's a lot of uncertainty. But since then I've realized that I might just be out of my depth here. The Spurs won a title in dominating fashion, grounded by experience but lifted by youth. Gregg Popovich mentioned during the Finals that he'd like to return next season, but you never know. It is logical to believe that Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will stick around until Tony Parker wears down, but I can't be sure. I've got no inside info. Mock GM problems.

The selection at #30 is Vasilije Micić, a 20-year-old pass-first point guard from Serbia. He's about 6'5" and change, and while not the fastest player on the court, he appears to make smart, team-oriented decisions. (Fran Fraschilla apparently calls him "The Maestro.") He's a reasonable pick to add depth to the Spurs' point guard position, and offers some insurance in case unrestricted free agent Patty Mills decides to move on.

There you go. Oh, and I did not consider PJ Hairston because I saw no reason to give him mock guaranteed money.

So concludes the first round of the DBR Mock NBA Draft.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Would be curious to hear details as to why he cannot defend?

http://www.csnphilly.com/basketball-philadelphia-76ers/sixers-draft-target-sg-nik-stauskas

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/nik-stauskas

http://deanondraft.com/2014/01/27/nik-stauskas-makes-a-case-for-defense-being-unimportant/

You cannot really find literature stating that Stauskus is a good or even okay defender. Right now, at this point in time, he is a bad defender.

However, as CDu mentioned, analysts feel that Stauskas can become an okay defender, especially as he gets bigger. He's never going to be Gary Harris, but he can become okay.

Color me suspect. Thank you to Henderson and CDu for providing the rationale, but I still don't see it.

[flyingdutchdevil]

First and foremost, the truth. I'm a mock GM. Many of you can embrace your roles and think that you know better than your real GM counterparts, and many of you are probably right. But I can tell you right now that my decisions will probably not be as good as whatever mind-blowing moves the San Antonio Spurs are planning. They're playing chess, the other teams are playing checkers, and I'm playing Chutes and Ladders.

I chose the Spurs because I wanted the challenge of picking at the end of each round, where there's a lot of uncertainty. But since then I've realized that I might just be out of my depth here. The Spurs won a title in dominating fashion, grounded by experience but lifted by youth. Gregg Popovich mentioned during the Finals that he'd like to return next season, but you never know. It is logical to believe that Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will stick around until Tony Parker wears down, but I can't be sure. I've got no inside info. Mock GM problems.

The selection at #30 is Vasilije Micić, a 20-year-old pass-first point guard from Serbia. He's about 6'5" and change, and while not the fastest player on the court, he appears to make smart, team-oriented decisions. (Fran Fraschilla apparently calls him "The Maestro.") He's a reasonable pick to add depth to the Spurs' point guard position, and offers some insurance in case unrestricted free agent Patty Mills decides to move on.

There you go. Oh, and I did not consider PJ Hairston because I saw no reason to give him mock guaranteed money.

So concludes the first round of the NBA Draft.

Do you want to move the United Nations to San Antonio? European club soccer teams aren't as international as the Spurs (exaggeration, but you get my point). You may not be a real GM or get this pick right, but I'd be baffled if SA didn't draft an international player with the 30th pick this year.

Nice pick and rationale, btw.

[pfrduke]

First round is done - the final list is below.

First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach LaVine, UCLA

11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusuf Nurkic, Bosnia
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Michigan State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Nik Stauskas, Michigan
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Elfrid Payton, Louisiana Lafayette
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu - James Young, Kentucky
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Adreian Payne, Michigan State
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Glenn Robinson III, Michigan
22. Memphis Grizzlies - roywhite - TJ Warren, NC State
23. Utah Jazz - tommy - Jordan Adams, UCLA
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Shabazz Napier, UConn
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - KJ McDaniels, Clemson
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517 - Cleanthony Early, Wichita State
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Clint Capela, Switzerland
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14 - Jerami Grant, Syracuse
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Artem Klimenko, Russia
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Vasilije Micic, Serbia


Second round now is on the clock, starting with the Bucks.

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
35. Utah Jazz - tommy
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[CDu]

http://www.csnphilly.com/basketball-philadelphia-76ers/sixers-draft-target-sg-nik-stauskas

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/nik-stauskas

http://deanondraft.com/2014/01/27/nik-stauskas-makes-a-case-for-defense-being-unimportant/

You cannot really find literature stating that Stauskus is a good or even okay defender. Right now, at this point in time, he is a bad defender.

However, as CDu mentioned, analysts feel that Stauskas can become an okay defender, especially as he gets bigger. He's never going to be Gary Harris, but he can become okay.

Color me suspect. Thank you to Henderson and CDu for providing the rationale, but I still don't see it.

I don't think anyone would say that Stauskas IS a good defender. The question is can he become a capable defender. And I don't see a reasonable argument as to why he can't become adequate, especially with good coaching (and you aren't going to get better defensive coaching than in Chicago).

As for your "he's never going to be Gary Harris" point, I have two counterpoints:
1. Harris is probably never going to be Nik Stauskas on offense, either; and
2. Harris might not be Harris on defense at SG, either (he's quite undersized for SG in the NBA)

But really, it comes down to this:
- would you take Kyle Korver with a mid-first round pick?
- would you take Klay Thompson with a mid-first round pick?
- would you take Doug McDermott with a mid-first round pick?

All of the arguments you've made against Stauskas could be made against those three guys. Yet I don't know anyone who would say they wouldn't take those first two in the mid-first round, and McDermott is pretty uniformly considered a top 10-12 pick.

[kAzE]

I don't think anyone would say that Stauskas IS a good defender. The question is can he become a capable defender. And I don't see a reasonable argument as to why he can't become adequate, especially with good coaching (and you aren't going to get better defensive coaching than in Chicago).

As for your "he's never going to be Gary Harris" point, I have two counterpoints:
1. Harris is probably never going to be Nik Stauskas on offense, either; and
2. Harris might not be Harris on defense at SG, either (he's quite undersized for SG in the NBA)

But really, it comes down to this:
- would you take Kyle Korver with a mid-first round pick?
- would you take Klay Thompson with a mid-first round pick?
- would you take Doug McDermott with a mid-first round pick?

All of the arguments you've made against Stauskas could be made against those three guys. Yet I don't know anyone who would say they wouldn't take those first two in the mid-first round, and McDermott is pretty uniformly considered a top 10-12 pick.

Totally agree with CDu . . . Stauskas is 6'6", maybe even 6'7" in shoes, so he's going to a superior defender over Harris just because os his size advantage alone. Is he a better defender RIGHT NOW? No, but he's 4 inches taller, he's quite athletic, and he'll get better. Meanwhile, he's a WAY better shooter than Harris, and can play a little point guard as a big guard. I'd have Staukas over Harris on any draft board.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I don't think anyone would say that Stauskas IS a good defender. The question is can he become a capable defender. And I don't see a reasonable argument as to why he can't become adequate, especially with good coaching (and you aren't going to get better defensive coaching than in Chicago).

As for your "he's never going to be Gary Harris" point, I have two counterpoints:
1. Harris is probably never going to be Nik Stauskas on offense, either; and
2. Harris might not be Harris on defense at SG, either (he's quite undersized for SG in the NBA)

But really, it comes down to this:
- would you take Kyle Korver with a mid-first round pick?
- would you take Klay Thompson with a mid-first round pick?
- would you take Doug McDermott with a mid-first round pick?

All of the arguments you've made against Stauskas could be made against those three guys. Yet I don't know anyone who would say they wouldn't take those first two in the mid-first round, and McDermott is pretty uniformly considered a top 10-12 pick.

I think we're more in agreement than you think. I too believe all that you say about Stauskas and Harris (although I would take Harris over Stauskas, but that's more of a potential issue rather than an offense v defense issue).

I would take Korver in the mid first round (the greatest 3pt shooter in the NBA, bar none). I would definitely take Klay Thompson (another great shooter with more versatile offense). I wouldn't take McBuckets, who I think is overrated. And in this deep draft, I wouldn't take Stauskas in the lottery due to potential defense liabilities and lack of other intangibles.

Here's my question: do players enter the draft with analysts saying that they can't become better defenders in the league? I feel like this has become cliched somewhat.

[Turk]

With Joel Embiid as our centerpiece in Round #1, the Bucks have a solid front line and multiple options for playing rotations and personnel moves, depending on how the players mesh (or not). Now it's time to address the next black hole in the lineup, which is scoring from the wing.

Milwaukee finished the season with Ramon Sessions as the starting 2 guard, whose picture is found in the NBA dictionary next to the word "journeyman". O.J. Mayo is also on the roster, and the Bucks have $8 million reasons (and 2 seasons - ugh!) to find out if Mayo still wants to be an NBA player. Personally, I have never been a fan going back to his early years as a walking NCAA violation, and last year's 11.7 ppg isn't helping his cause. As the late great Chuck Noll used to say, it might be time for Mayo "to get on with his life's work."

P.J. Hairston was projected in the teens / mid 20's on many draft boards. Given his starring role in "Wheels for Heels", his ejection from the Carolina program, and Milwaukee's current issues with resident head case Larry Sanders, concerns about Hairston's maturity and its impact on the Bucks' chemistry are legitimate. However, the risk is mitigated because his rookie contract will not be guaranteed, and the Bucks will expect former Tar Heel teammate John Henson to provide some veteran guidance and mentoring. There are no questions about Hairston's game on the court. In the D-league, he averaged 21.8 PPG, shot 45.3 percent from the field, and 35.8 percent on 3s. Many scouts feel that Hairston is one of the most immediate NBA-ready players in the draft. Milwaukee will impress upon this young man that he has been given a second chance after his UNC debacle to be part of a core group of exciting young players, and to help restore a proud franchise back to the top of the Eastern Conference.

[awhom111]

Here is the official list give or take:
http://www.nba.com/2014/news/06/17/early-entry-candidates-withdraw-official-release/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

When I have the time I will point out the automatically eligible players not listed, at least one of whom might be a late pick.

[Henderson]

Here is the official list give or take:
http://www.nba.com/2014/news/06/17/early-entry-candidates-withdraw-official-release/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

When I have the time I will point out the automatically eligible players not listed, at least one of whom might be a late pick.

Ooh, good call on Porzingis, awhom. Looks like he's withdrawn.

[brevity]

#27: The Phoenix Suns pick Clint Capela

Yep, I just picked an international player. Let's hope he's still on the official early entry list later today.

He is. The list is now available (thanks, awhom111), but there were tweets last night from several sources, including his agent. I didn't want to say anything for selfish reasons.

I think Clint Capela, figured by some to crack the late lottery, might be a steal at #27. It was a longshot to see him slip to #30, but my idle mind was already picking out nicknames for the versatile big man from Switzerland:

8. Swiss Army Knife
7. In Like Clint
6. Ahh Capela
5. Eastwood
4. Swissair
3. Clint Roller
2. The Swiss Mister
1. Net Neutrality

[CDu]

I think we're more in agreement than you think. I too believe all that you say about Stauskas and Harris (although I would take Harris over Stauskas, but that's more of a potential issue rather than an offense v defense issue).

I'm not sure I see "potential" as an advantage for Harris. He's 6'2.5" without shoes. He wore high heels and got to 6'4.5" in shoes at the combine. But his standing reach is only 8'0". Those are PG numbers in the NBA. But he doesn't have good ballhandling skills or a passing game. So with Harris you have a SG/SF in a PG body. And he's not an elite athlete or shooter. And he's a sure-fire top-15 pick (possible top-10) in this draft. What is the "potential" argument for him?


I would take Korver in the mid first round (the greatest 3pt shooter in the NBA, bar none). I would definitely take Klay Thompson (another great shooter with more versatile offense). I wouldn't take McBuckets, who I think is overrated. And in this deep draft, I wouldn't take Stauskas in the lottery due to potential defense liabilities and lack of other intangibles.

See, here's the thing. I don't think this draft is that deep after the top-8 or so. There are probably 7 or 8 "sure-fire" guys in this draft. After that? EVERYONE has question marks. There literally isn't a guy in the draft that you can be at all sure about after about pick 8. So I don't buy the "not in this draft" argument for McDermott or Stauskas.

Take Harris for example. There are definite questions as to whether he has the size to defend the SG position. Conversely, he has yet to show any proficiency as a ballhandler/playmaker, so there are definite questions about his ability to play PG. Yet he's uniformly considered at top-15 pick. I'd consider those questions (lack of size to play SG, lack of ballhandling to play PG) to be just as concerning as Stauskas, who is a better ballhandler and perfectly sized for his position.

I mean, to each their own I guess. I just don't think you're going to find any slam dunks after the first 6-8 picks in this draft.


Here's my question: do players enter the draft with analysts saying that they can't become better defenders in the league? I feel like this has become cliched somewhat.

I think the challenge with defense is that it is really hard to determine what guys will get better at it and what guys won't. So unless you have a guy that is a clear, can't-miss defender (think Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Rajon Rondo, Michael Jordan), you're sort of stuck doing hand-waving on a player's defensive future with whatever info you can glean. And one of the major things you can use are the measurables.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I'm not sure I see "potential" as an advantage for Harris. He's 6'2.5" without shoes. He wore high heels and got to 6'4.5" in shoes at the combine. But his standing reach is only 8'0". Those are PG numbers in the NBA. But he doesn't have good ballhandling skills or a passing game. So with Harris you have a SG/SF in a PG body. And he's not an elite athlete or shooter. And he's a sure-fire top-15 pick (possible top-10) in this draft. What is the "potential" argument for him?

Gary Harris is a Swiss Army Knife. He reminds me of a poor man's Dwayne Wade (with knees, not the 2014 version). Harris isn't an elite athlete or shooter, but he's good at both. In his freshman year, he shot 41% from deep, so there is talent on that end of the ball. Harris is also an insanely good defender, and should get better. His potential comes from the ability that he's an above average athlete, a great defender, and can be a really good shooter. His handle will get better (like Stauskas's defense). I see Gary Harris, at minimum, a Tony Allen-type player with the ability to be a worse version of Wade.



See, here's the thing. I don't think this draft is that deep after the top-8 or so. There are probably 7 or 8 "sure-fire" guys in this draft. After that? EVERYONE has question marks. There literally isn't a guy in the draft that you can be at all sure about after about pick 8. So I don't buy the "not in this draft" argument for McDermott or Stauskas.

Take Harris for example. There are definite questions as to whether he has the size to defend the SG position. Conversely, he has yet to show any proficiency as a ballhandler/playmaker, so there are definite questions about his ability to play PG. Yet he's uniformly considered at top-15 pick. I'd consider those questions (lack of size to play SG, lack of ballhandling to play PG) to be just as concerning as Stauskas, who is a better ballhandler and perfectly sized for his position.

I mean, to each their own I guess. I just don't think you're going to find any slam dunks after the first 6-8 picks in this draft.

And you may be right. I think it's deep to the 20s, especially compared to the last few years. Getting a player like Ennis or Glenn Robinson III in the 20s is great value, IMO.



I think the challenge with defense is that it is really hard to determine what guys will get better at it and what guys won't. So unless you have a guy that is a clear, can't-miss defender (think Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Rajon Rondo, Michael Jordan), you're sort of stuck doing hand-waving on a player's defensive future with whatever info you can glean. And one of the major things you can use are the measurables.

And you're right, but I would benchmark Stauskas against fairly unathletic, high-scoring guards: Jimmer, Morrison, Wayne Ellington (not a perfect comp), Klay Thompson. None of these players are even considered adequate at D.

[pfrduke]

Once the first round ended, we knew we would be happy with our draw at 32. We liked both Hairston and Stokes here, and while we would have picked Hairston if both were available, we don't at all feel like we're settling. Because we really like Jarnell Stokes. Every team needs a dirty work guy, and Stokes may be the best on the entire draft board (not just what's left). He's got a lot of developing to do on the offensive end, but his rebounding - on both ends of the court - is already NBA level, he has the strength and reach to frustrate post players (even at 6'8"), and he has a terrific work ethic, expanding his game each season. He's also young for a junior (more than a year and a half younger than sophomore Mitch McGary) so we project some healthy upside in his development.

[GGLC]

Hate to say it, but I think PJ Hairston will be an absolute steal if he slips to the second round in the real draft.

[mattman91]

Hate to say it, but I think PJ Hairston will be an absolute steal if he slips to the second round in the real draft.

You're absolutely right. I considered taking him with my second pick. I'm shocked he's still available.

[CDu]

Gary Harris is a Swiss Army Knife. He reminds me of a poor man's Dwayne Wade (with knees, not the 2014 version). Harris isn't an elite athlete or shooter, but he's good at both. In his freshman year, he shot 41% from deep, so there is talent on that end of the ball. Harris is also an insanely good defender, and should get better. His potential comes from the ability that he's an above average athlete, a great defender, and can be a really good shooter. His handle will get better (like Stauskas's defense). I see Gary Harris, at minimum, a Tony Allen-type player with the ability to be a worse version of Wade.

First, let me caveat the important thing that we're both guessing futures here, and either of us could be right (or both could be wrong).

Having said that, I will say that it is much more likely that Stauskas becomes an adequate defender than it is that Harris develops the bball IQ and ballhandling skills to be even a poor man's Wade.

I would also note that I don't think Tony Allen is a good comp either. Allen (Wade also) has a good 6-inch reach advantage on Harris (Allen and Wade reach 8'6", Harris 8'0"). That's a LOT of length that Harris is giving up.

I don't have any doubt that Harris can be an elite defensive PG. I have lots of doubt that he can be an elite defensive SG.


And you may be right. I think it's deep to the 20s, especially compared to the last few years. Getting a player like Ennis or Glenn Robinson III in the 20s is great value, IMO.

Oh I think there are lots of guys who could be useful NBA players. Well into the 40s perhaps. But all of those guys have serious questions outside of the top 6-8.


And you're right, but I would benchmark Stauskas against fairly unathletic, high-scoring guards: Jimmer, Morrison, Wayne Ellington (not a perfect comp), Klay Thompson. None of these players are even considered adequate at D.

See, here's where I think we need to be careful. Is Stauskas really unathletic? By what measure? Here are the combine measurements for some of the guys you mentioned in the athletic dept and Stauskas as well:

Allen: 8'6" standing reach, 36.5 max vertical (31.5" standing vertical)
Wade: 8'6" standing reach, 35 max vertical (31.5" standing vertical)
Stauskas: 8'6" standing reach, 35.5 max vertical (29.5" standing vertical)

Why are we so quick to assume that Stauskas is unathletic?

Furthermore, do you have to be an elite athlete to be a good defender? Bruce Bowen was by no means uber-athletic, but that didn't stop him from being awesome at defense. Same thing for Derek Fisher and Raja Bell. Same for John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek.

[JasonEvans]

Hate to say it, but I think PJ Hairston will be an absolute steal if he slips to the second round in the real draft.

Co-sign... the talent level in the D-League is easily better than most of what you face day-to-day in even high level college baskeball. PJ averaged 21+ ppg in that environment, playing against guys who are older and more mature than college players. That's truly impressive. He is going to score in the NBA. I'll be shocked if he is not an effective scoring wing who becomes one of the top offensive players off the bench for whatever team drafts him (or perhaps even a starter). I would not have let him slip past the mid-20s if I had a pick in this draft.

-Jason "Embiid and Hairston... that's a heck of a draft for the Bucks!" Evans

[theAlaskanBear]

All I gotta say, I am getting WAAAY too anxious for my second round picks in a message board mock draft. If anyone messes it up for me, I threaten a hail of poisoned pitchforks.


Alaskan "LEEEET'S GO ALREEEADY" Bender Rodriguez Bear

[Henderson]

Co-sign... the talent level in the D-League is easily better than most of what you face day-to-day in even high level college baskeball. PJ averaged 21+ ppg in that environment, playing against guys who are older and more mature than college players. That's truly impressive. He is going to score in the NBA. I'll be shocked if he is not an effective scoring wing who becomes one of the top offensive players off the bench for whatever team drafts him (or perhaps even a starter). I would not have let him slip past the mid-20s if I had a pick in this draft.

-Jason "Embiid and Hairston... that's a heck of a draft for the Bucks!" Evans

Agreed. If he has his personal life under control, he's going to be a bargain for some GM. Plus, in addition to playing basketball, we know he can score. He probably can shoot too, but not if he keeps dropping his tools at the checkpoint.

[kAzE]

For page 7 reference:

First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach LaVine, UCLA
11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusuf Nurkic, Bosnia
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Michigan State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Nik Stauskas, Michigan
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Elfrid Payton, Louisiana Lafayette
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu - James Young, Kentucky
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Adreian Payne, Michigan State
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Glenn Robinson III, Michigan
22. Memphis Grizzlies - roywhite - TJ Warren, NC State
23. Utah Jazz - tommy - Jordan Adams, UCLA
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Shabazz Napier, UConn
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - KJ McDaniels, Clemson
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517 - Cleanthony Early, Wichita State
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Clint Capela, Switzerland
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14 - Jerami Grant, Syracuse
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Artem Klimenko, Russia
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Vasilije Micic, Serbia

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, NBDL, Texas Legends
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tenessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[Turk]

Once the first round ended, we knew we would be happy with our draw at 32. We liked both Hairston and Stokes here, and while we would have picked Hairston if both were available, we don't at all feel like we're settling. Because we really like Jarnell Stokes. Every team needs a dirty work guy, and Stokes may be the best on the entire draft board (not just what's left). He's got a lot of developing to do on the offensive end, but his rebounding - on both ends of the court - is already NBA level, he has the strength and reach to frustrate post players (even at 6'8"), and he has a terrific work ethic, expanding his game each season. He's also young for a junior (more than a year and a half younger than sophomore Mitch McGary) so we project some healthy upside in his development.

I like this pick, too. For the Sixers, I worry that Noel will get outmuscled for his first couple years in the league, and if they get Jabari at #3, they'll need a banger.

[Newton_14]

Hate to say it, but I think PJ Hairston will be an absolute steal if he slips to the second round in the real draft.


Co-sign... the talent level in the D-League is easily better than most of what you face day-to-day in even high level college baskeball. PJ averaged 21+ ppg in that environment, playing against guys who are older and more mature than college players. That's truly impressive. He is going to score in the NBA. I'll be shocked if he is not an effective scoring wing who becomes one of the top offensive players off the bench for whatever team drafts him (or perhaps even a starter). I would not have let him slip past the mid-20s if I had a pick in this draft.

-Jason "Embiid and Hairston... that's a heck of a draft for the Bucks!" Evans

I hear you, and respect the opinions of both of you, but no thanks. I would not touch him, even if I were the real GM of the Clips. Too much risk. There have been lots of guys over the years, who could produce like crazy on the court, but could not for the life of them (or their teams) stay out of trouble. I believe PJ will be penciled in with that group sooner than later. He could not stay out of trouble with modest money, and a few, free, hot rides, yet we are expected he is going to straighten enough with lots of cash in his pocket, and lots of free time in multiple NBA cities? I'm not buying it until he can prove that he has matured a lot in the last 12 months.

Not arguing against the talent at all. Fully agree on that part. Just don't trust him not to do something stupid often.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

Having resisted the urge to select an insanely talented center with back issues at the top of the draft, we decide to go with a talented big with back issues with our 2nd round pick.

Had Mitch McGary declared in 2013, he would have been a lock for the lottery so we feel we're getting solid value at the top of the 2nd round this year. He has average height for a center at 6'10" but has a 7' wing span and very long reach at nearly 9'.

The downside is he only played a handful of games this year after hurting his back and having surgery to repair it but we were impressed with his most recent workouts, showing that he's well on his way to being healthy and building on his breakout NCAAT performance in 2013 when he was arguably the MVP of his team instead of Trey Burke.

Overall, we view McGary as a late bloomer(not really heavily recruited by top teams until late in his HS career) who has only shown a glimpse of what he can become, which in our view is a high-quality NBA big, not a star, but a solid top rotational player and maybe the first big off the bench.

***NOTE*** Cleveland strongly needs improved shooting(especially spot-up shooters) so we were heavily considering PJ Hairston had he been available. With him off the table, we went with size.

[Duke3517]

Having resisted the urge to select an insanely talented center with back issues at the top of the draft, we decide to go with a talented big with back issues with our 2nd round pick.

Had Mitch McGary declared in 2013, he would have been a lock for the lottery so we feel we're getting solid value at the top of the 2nd round this year. He has average height for a center at 6'10" but has a 7' wing span and very long reach at nearly 9'.

The downside is he only played a handful of games this year after hurting his back and having surgery to repair it but we were impressed with his most recent workouts, showing that he's well on his way to being healthy and building on his breakout NCAAT performance in 2013 when he was arguably the MVP of his team instead of Trey Burke.

Overall, we view McGary as a late bloomer(not really heavily recruited by top teams until late in his HS career) who has only shown a glimpse of what he can become, which in our view is a high-quality NBA big, not a star, but a solid top rotational player and maybe the first big off the bench.

***NOTE*** Cleveland strongly needs improved shooting(especially spot-up shooters) so we were heavily considering PJ Hairston had he been available. With him off the table, we went with size.

I thought about him...

[FerryFor50]

I hear you, and respect the opinions of both of you, but no thanks. I would not touch him, even if I were the real GM of the Clips. Too much risk. There have been lots of guys over the years, who could produce like crazy on the court, but could not for the life of them (or their teams) stay out of trouble. I believe PJ will be penciled in with that group sooner than later. He could not stay out of trouble with modest money, and a few, free, hot rides, yet we are expected he is going to straighten enough with lots of cash in his pocket, and lots of free time in multiple NBA cities? I'm not buying it until he can prove that he has matured a lot in the last 12 months.

Not arguing against the talent at all. Fully agree on that part. Just don't trust him not to do something stupid often.

Well, consider this...

Is owning a gun really "trouble" unless it wasn't registered? Or underage drinking in college?

And is getting free car rentals as a benefit of being an athlete considered being in "trouble" by anyone other than the NCAA?

The only red flags for NBA teams would be the Fats Thomas (ex-con) connection and the pot. But in the NBA, both of those things are much more common than you'd realize.

While I was happy to see the fall of the Heels, and Hairston proved himself to be a bonehead as far as college is concerned, but I'm not sure you can call his transgressions that alarming.

[awhom111]

Automatic Eligibility:
Besides players listed on the early entry list, other players are automatically available to be picked. All international players who were born in 1992, but have never elected early entry to a draft are eligible.

The following players are also available (list may not be complete):

P.J. Hairston UNC/Texas Legends
Cleveland Melvin DePaul/Erie Bayhawks
Elijah Pittman Marshall/Delaware 76ers

Aquille Carr High School/Delaware 76ers
Norvel Pelle High School/Delaware 76ers

Boubacar Moungoro High School/Fuenlabrada (Spain)

Thanasis Antetokounmpo Delaware 76ers/Greece

Sidiki Johnson Providence/Verviers-Pepinster (Belgium)
Ioannis Papapetrou Texas/Olympiakos (Greece)
Amadeo Della Valle Ohio State/Reggio Emilia (Italy)

[kAzE]

We were really hoping for Cleanthony Early to fall into this pick, as he was our guy, but our scouts are nearly just as high on Bogdanovic, who we think can eventually become a very good player in this league. He got all the physical tools: 6'6", 205 pounds with long arms (6'11" wingspan), which really allows him to get into the passing lanes to be disruptive on defense. His excellent feet along with his size also allow him to defend multiple positions. He's gotten consistently stronger over his career, and his body can still fill out a bit more. When he's locked in, he can really play some smothering individual on the ball defense. Right now, his effort on D isn't always there, and he's still one of the better defensive players in the Adriatic league. (1.7 steals) We think he can really become a nice perimeter defender over time.

How often do you start with defense when talking about a European player? It's usually their shooting, right? Well, Bogdan doesn't disappoint in that category, either. He's got great mechanics on his shot with nice balance, and a quick release. He's a dangerous shooter (39.6%) with deep range, and is very capable off the dribble, coming off a screen, pulling up off the P/R, just an extremely confident shooter, and spaces the floor extremely well.

This past season, Bogdan's team lost it's primary point guard, and Bogdan actually filled in at the point for a stretch, acquitting himself realtively well (4.6 assist during teammate's absence). He has solid handle for a wing, and can make plays for himself and others off the drive or P/R. He LOVES to get up and down in transition. Reminds us of Goran Dragic in many ways. He can struggle at times to create offense efficiently, but he changes speeds well, and we think that he has the potential to develop into an excellent slasher over time.

He's not exactly Manu Ginobili, as his decision making and shot selection still have a ton of room for improvement, but we think this kid could be really good down the road. He fits a position of need on the wing, as we are losing Shawn Marion. We think he can immediately come into the league and be a 3 and D guy off the bench.

[JasonEvans]

34. The Dallas Mavericks Select: Bogdan Bogdanovic, SG, Serbia

Look people, we can debate all kinds of stuff in this thread, but I am certain we can all agree that with a name like Bogan Bogdanovic, this kid is unquestionably the Ivan Renko of this year's draft. Am I right or what?

-Jason "Clark 'In The Dark' Francis loves this pick!" Evans

[theAlaskanBear]

I'm not sure Bogdan's defense will translate well to the NBA. He has good length, but I don't think he is strong enough to guard many of the SF out there and and not quick enough to guard the SGs.

That said he has range, and is a skilled offensive player. He is one of the players I hoped would fall to my second pick.

[tommy]

After adding a cornerstone frontcourt player in Noah Vonleh and a high motor, two-way two-guard in UCLA's Jordan Adams, we still felt like we needed another solid piece in the backcourt, in particular a shooter. We are very surprised, and very happy, that Washington's C.J. Wilcox has fallen this far, and we are grabbing him.

Wilcox stands 6'6" and has long arms and a sturdy frame. Perfect two-guard size. He is 23 years old, one of the oldest players in the draft, which some might see as a negative ("limited upside," remember?) but we actually like. We like maturity and we like something closer to a known quantity. And besides, we already drafted a guy who we expect to (and need to) grow significantly to fulfill his potential, that being Noah Vonleh.

Wilcox's calling card is his shooting. He is just an excellent long range shooter, with a fluid stroke and excellent mechanics. Last year, he hit 45% altogether and 39% from the three-point line, while being the focus of opponents' defenses. He has a variety of ways to put the ball in the hole, as he hits spot-up J's, pull-ups and floaters, scores well off the pick and roll, and is proficient coming off of screens. We're under no illusions that Wilcox is going to be an all-star, as he probably doesn't have the all-court game necessary to get to that level, and his shooting, while very very good, is not so elite that it can make up for any deficiencies in his game. Yet we do believe that C.J. has a well-enough rounded game to complement his smooth and effective outside stroke, and that he can step in and contribute for us off the bench pretty quickly. We considered Duke's Andre Dawkins here as a catch-and-shoot three-point threat, but he doesn't have the size or frame that Wilcox does, and even Dawkins' shooting/scoring ability was just too one-dimensional for us as we continue to rebuild our team.

Our backcourt is looking a lot better than it was before the draft, as we have added to our Trey Burke/Alec Burks starting tandem two very promising, yet different shooting guards in former Pac-12 rivals Jordan Adams and C.J. Wilcox. Both are solid citizens as well, and when you add them to the immense talent and potential that Noah Vonleh brings, we think we have significantly upgraded our roster and our prospects for competing in the Western Conference going forward.

[Turk]

I am also surprised that Wilcox fell this far. In addition to his game, it looks like he could be a glue guy / leader in the locker room.

As the first round evolved, I decided to go for an SG with my next pick. Based on what I read, I was thinking Hairston would be gone and was hoping Wilcox would still be there at #31. As the kibitzers noted upthread, Wilcox could very well prove to be the better pick over Hairston. That's one of the bonus fun things about mock drafts; now I won't be able to resist keeping an eye open for Hairston, Wilcox, and Bogdanovic to see where they wind up and how they do next year. I also need to remember the selection bias of our DBR faithful in these mocks. Any unc player will probably get chosen 5-10 spots lower than he will in real life. (Watch someone take McAdoo in the next few picks to just prove me wrong - not that that's very difficult to do.)

[brevity]

I also need to remember the selection bias of our DBR faithful in these mocks. Any Tar Heel player will probably get chosen 5-10 spots lower than he will in real life. (Watch someone take McAdoo in the next few picks to just prove me wrong - not that that's very difficult to do.)

No need to take such drastic measures in the early 2nd round, GMs. Look no further than the 2012 DBR Mock Draft (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?28689).

Harrison Barnes: DBR 6th, Real 7th
John Henson: DBR 10th, Real 14th
Kendall Marshall: DBR 11th, Real 13th
Tyler Zeller: DBR 12th, Real 17th

Familiarity can work in their favor.

[Turk]

At small forward, the two players on top of Milwaukee's current depth chart are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, neither of whom are NBA starter quality right now. At 6'9" and 19 years old, the Bucks don't know whether the Greek Freak will be a better fit at the 3 or the 2, and obviously Hairston's play on (and off) the court and the influx of new talent will be a big factor creating lineup combinations. In any case, Giannis is still a project a couple of years away, and Middleton looks more like a rotation player providing shooting off the bench.

At UConn, DeAndre Daniels made substantial improvement last year, and topped it off with an excellent performance in the NCAAs. Daniels is a long, athletic forward, a good shooter with range, runs the floor, an explosive leaper, and a good shot-blocker as well. At 22, he might not have tremendous upside potential and some might consider him a tweener, but with his versatility and well-rounded game, he will have an immediate opportunity to step in and contribute while The Freak continues to develop.

[flyingdutchdevil]

At small forward, the two players on top of Milwaukee's current depth chart are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, neither of whom are NBA starter quality right now. At 6'9" and 19 years old, the Bucks don't know whether the Greek Freak will be a better fit at the 3 or the 2, and obviously Hairston's play on (and off) the court and the influx of new talent will be a big factor creating lineup combinations. In any case, Giannis is still a project a couple of years away, and Middleton looks more like a rotation player providing shooting off the bench.

At UConn, DeAndre Daniels made substantial improvement last year, and topped it off with an excellent performance in the NCAAs. Daniels is a long, athletic forward, a good shooter with range, runs the floor, an explosive leaper, and a good shot-blocker as well. At 22, he might not have tremendous upside potential and some might consider him a tweener, but with his versatility and well-rounded game, he will have an immediate opportunity to step in and contribute while The Freak continues to develop.

I think this shows just how deep this draft is. DeAndre Daniels is never going to be a star, but he can easily be a very strong contributor. Getting him in the second round would be ridiculous. Nice pick. In any other draft, he'd probably be a first rounder.

[Turk]

No need to take such drastic measures in the early 2nd round, GMs. Look no further than the 2012 DBR Mock Draft (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?28689).

Harrison Barnes: DBR 6th, Real 7th
John Henson: DBR 10th, Real 14th
Kendall Marshall: DBR 11th, Real 13th
Tyler Zeller: DBR 12th, Real 17th

Familiarity can work in their favor.

"Familiarity breeds contempt!" 9F! 9F! 9F!

[CDu]

I think this shows just how deep this draft is. DeAndre Daniels is never going to be a star, but he can easily be a very strong contributor. Getting him in the second round would be ridiculous. Nice pick. In any other draft, he'd probably be a first rounder.

I agree (see my post at the end of page 6). There are lots of potentially useful players, probably well into the 40s. It's a deep draft in terms of finding useful role players. But in terms of impact players, it's probably only 6-8 deep. Still, I do think there are several more rotation players out there for the taking.

[theAlaskanBear]

I think this shows just how deep this draft is. DeAndre Daniels is never going to be a star, but he can easily be a very strong contributor. Getting him in the second round would be ridiculous. Nice pick. In any other draft, he'd probably be a first rounder.

Yeesh, my list of picks are starting to fly off the board.

[mattman91]

Josh McRoberts has declined his player option, making the Julius Randle pick even better.

[kAzE]

Josh McRoberts has declined his player option, making the Julius Randle pick even better.

Very interesting. McBob might be a valuable commodity, as he possesses a somewhat similar skill set as Boris Diaw, who was a huge part of the Spurs' championship run. McBob is a big power forward who has the uncommon ability to be a facilitator on offense, and he can he the outside shot too. He might actually be better than Diaw defensively, as well. I gave the guy a hard time to for leaving Duke early, as I didn't think he was ready, but he's really found a niche for himself in the league this past year with Charlotte. I wonder if any contenders will be interested? It would be extremely intriguing if he joined up with LeBron in Miami. (If LeBron can get past the elbow to the throat incident)

[Henderson]

Josh McRoberts has declined his player option, making the Julius Randle pick even better.

That is interesting. He's only 27, so he's got some years in him yet, and his option year would have paid him $2.77M. He probably figures (rightly) that he can get a multi-year deal from someone worth at least that much per year. Maybe even from the Horcats after the draft. Cody Zeller makes more than that. In fact, one could argue that McBob is pretty badly underpaid compared to others on that team.

McBob is also evidence that solid players are available deep in the draft -- he was a second-rounder IIRC.

[COYS]

.

McBob is also evidence that solid players are available deep in the draft -- he was a second-rounder IIRC.

True, but the Suns who drafted him would've had to wait a LONG time for him to develop not the player he is today.

[JasonEvans]

Most up-to-date draft board...


First Round
1. Cleveland Cavaliers – BlueDevilBrowns - Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
2. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Joel Embiid, Kansas
3. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jabari Parker, Duke
4. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dante Exum, Australia
5. Utah Jazz - tommy - Noah Vonleh, Indiana
6. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Aaron Gordon, Arizona
7. Los Angeles Lakers - TheSchwartz - Marcus Smart, Okie State
8. Sacramento Kings – Ichabod Drain - Doug McDermott, Creighton
9. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Julius Randle, Kentucky
10. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Zach LaVine, UCLA
11. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Jusuf Nurkic, Bosnia
12. Orlando Magic - Duvall - Dario Saric, Croatia
13. Minnesota Timberwolves – FerryFor50 - Rodney Hood, Duke
14. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Gary Harris, Michigan State
15. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Kyle Anderson, UCLA
16. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Nik Stauskas, Michigan
17. Boston Celtics - Henderson - Tyler Ennis, Syracuse
18. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Elfrid Payton, Louisiana Lafayette
19. Chicago Bulls - CDu - James Young, Kentucky
20. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Adreian Payne, Michigan State
21. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Glenn Robinson III, Michigan
22. Memphis Grizzlies - roywhite - TJ Warren, NC State
23. Utah Jazz - tommy - Jordan Adams, UCLA
24. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Shabazz Napier, UConn
25. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - KJ McDaniels, Clemson
26. Miami Heat - Duke3517 - Cleanthony Early, Wichita State
27. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - Clint Capela, Switzerland
28. Los Angeles Clippers- Newton_14 - Jerami Grant, Syracuse
29. Oklahoma City Thunder - FlyingDutchDevil - Artem Klimenko, Russia
30. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Vasilije Micic, Serbia

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, NBDL, Texas Legends
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tenessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

-Jason "I'm going to email NovaScotain... he is officially over the week day time limit and if he has not made a pick by 5pm, I will make it for him and we will move on without him" Evans

[NovaScotian]

Hey gang, sorry or the delay. I was taking my board exam today and when I left this morning we weren't yet at my pick.
That said, the raps are going international with pick 37 - Thanasis Antetokounmpo aka the Hellenistic mystic (sorry guys, can't top the Greek freak).

[NCDBlueDevilsTC78]

Detroit Pistons have a potential to make the playoffs this coming season. With a strong inside of Monroe and Drummond living in the paint. On the perimeter the team has Jennings and Stuckey. Along with Pope and Singler the Pistons have a chance to be a very talented team in the East. The weakness for this team is the disappointing Josh Smith. The Pistons needs shooting, Markel Brown brings shooting and athleticism. If the Pistons are lucky and can work out a trade for Smith. Brown will help with shooting and the space left empty by Smith. The Pistons will be young but opportunity to compete with the rest of the East Conference Teams.

[theAlaskanBear]

Detroit Pistons have a potential to make the playoffs this coming season. With a strong inside of Monroe and Drummond living in the paint. On the perimeter the team has Jennings and Stuckey. Along with Pope and Singler the Pistons have a chance to be a very talented team in the East. The weakness for this team is the disappointing Josh Smith. The Pistons needs shooting, Markel Brown brings shooting and athleticism. If the Pistons are lucky and can work out a trade for Smith. Brown will help with shooting and the space left empty by Smith. The Pistons will be young but opportunity to compete with the rest of the East Conference Teams.

Drats! I thought he would fall to me!! Bodgan, DeAndre Daniels, and Brown were 3 of my 4 picks for #41, and they are taken in 3 of the 4 picks just before me.

[kAzE]

Minor gripe, but our guy's (first) name is spelled Bogdan, with a D, not Bogan :p

You're destroying the best part of his name, the redundancy!

[Henderson]

True, but the Suns who drafted him would've had to wait a LONG time for him to develop not the player he is today.

I'm pretty sure if I understood that I would agree with it.

[pfrduke]

The 76ers have 7 picks in this draft. They're almost certainly not going to keep and make all 7 this season, but in the DBR world, we have to. For that reason, we can afford to use at least one of our second rounders to take a flyer on a guy who make take a couple years to develop, but whom we can stash in Europe while he does so.

At 7'3", Walter Tavares is a good guy to take a flyer on. He's only been playing basketball since 2009 (when, I kid you not, he was discovered by a German tourist in a convenience store on Cape Verde - Fran Fraschilla will have a field day with Tavares on draft night) and he's already developed into a starter on a first division team in Spain. While he's not particularly young for the draft at 22 years old, the lack of experience balances that out and suggests that his development curve will be more similar to that of a younger player.

As they say, you can't coach size. Best case scenario he becomes a Hibbert-like defender at the rim (the good version of Hibbert, not the one we saw in the playoffs), and just having someone 7'3" on the court to deter opponents has a lot of value, even if the offensive game is limited. If he puts together any kind of offensive game, that's a bonus. And if he doesn't work out, we still are getting half a dozen other players in this draft.

[FerryFor50]

Minnesota Timberwolves - Russ Smith, PG, Louisville

Minnesota is looking for defenders and guys who can penetrate and get into the lane. They feel like they got one in the first round with Rodney Hood. Surprisingly, Russ Smith has fallen to them in the 2nd round.

Tenacious and playing with a chip on his shoulder, Russ Smith sometimes makes bad decisions, but Minnesota likes his ability to score, drive, dish and defend. Russ feels like he has something to prove and so far, we like what we see.

A bit small at 6'1", but strong and fast.

Below is a recap of his mini-combine in May...


Russ Smith, 5 points, 10 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals, 2-for-4 FGs
As arguably the best prospect in the entire Combine, Russ Smith could have easily come out gunning in Russdiculous fashion, or even decided not to show up altogether, like many prospects far worse than him did. Instead, Smith played with patience and poise, showcasing an ability to run the show to the tune of 10 assists in the scrimmage (he dropped at least five more assists in the 4-on-4 and 5-on-5 drills prior) while bothering Florida State guard Ian Miller tremendously with pesky ball pressure all game.

Smith didn't attempt any three-pointers and clearly made a conscious effort to prove to NBA personnel that he's capable of playing the role of lead ball-handler while still providing that scoring punch that made him so great at Louisville. Albeit against a less than stellar defender in Miller, Smith got into the lane whenever he wanted and dropped the ball off to his bigs with ease, while showing an ability to find open shooters in traffic (with a fancy left-handed hook pass on multiple occasions), or hit the roll man out of the pick and roll. Smith also lived up to his reputation as one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, locking up Miller while making plays in the passing lanes and digging down onto the post Smith proved to be the best player at the two-day workout while giving NBA teams a glimpse of what he could do as an NBA backup point guard, and continues to show why we consider him one of the most underrated prospects in the draft.

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz3537842Te
http://www.draftexpress.com

[theAlaskanBear]

After watching other targets like Bogdan Bogdanovic, DeAndre Daniels, Markel Brown fall off the board, the Nuggets front office was really sweating this pick. Fortunately, Spencer Dinwiddie remained. As a 6'6'' guard who is already well known in Colorado, Spencer will instantly improve the Nuggets 3-point shooting. We see Spencer as a combo guard, who will mostly occupy the SG but can spell the PG and exploit matchups. A gifted offensive talent with a knack for drawing contact (and draining foul shots), Spencer also has the tools to be a good defender. Although we are a bit worried about his ACL injury, we feel that he has first round potential and consider him a steal.

I also believe that with this pick we now lead the league in the most important metric: rookie-to-moustache ratio"

[Kedsy]

Minnesota Timberwolves - Russ Smith, PG, Louisville

Minnesota is looking for defenders and guys who can penetrate and get into the lane. They feel like they got one in the first round with Rodney Hood. Surprisingly, Russ Smith has fallen to them in the 2nd round.

Tenacious and playing with a chip on his shoulder, Russ Smith sometimes makes bad decisions, but Minnesota likes his ability to score, drive, dish and defend. Russ feels like he has something to prove and so far, we like what we see.

A bit small at 6'1", but strong and fast.

Below is a recap of his mini-combine in May...

With Ricky Rubio in town, doesn't seem like Smith would fill much of a need, does it?

[FerryFor50]

With Ricky Rubio in town, doesn't seem like Smith would fill much of a need, does it?

Well, for one , Rubio has had a bit of an injury history.

Two, he's not a very dangerous scorer.

Three, we don't like JJ Barea as Rubio's back up...

[NSDukeFan]

As the Mock GM of the Houston Rockets, I strongly considered taking some very good basketball players such as Russ Smith (picked 2 picks before), Jordan Clarkson (unfortunately hadn't heard of him, which hurts my mock GM credibility), Joe Harris, Patrick Young (had an NBA body when he was 17) and most of all, Nick Johnson, who was pencilled into this spot, before I decided to go for the home run. Isaiah Austin may not be as good at basketball as the others, but I am always surprised by how poorly being good at basketball in college translates into NBA success for all but the elite. What Austin does have is elite size 6'11.5 without shoes and a 9'4.5 standing reach. He also has decent athleticism, some ball handling skills, outside shooting ability and some low post skill. I would have liked to have seen him display more toughness and less of an aversion to rebounding, but then he would have been picked in the lottery and unavailable to make the move in-state to the Houston Rockets and our weigh training staff. I believe there is a reasonable chance he could stick in the NBA for a number of years, the concern is will this team benefit from that or, like Josh McRoberts, it may take awhile before this very highly rated prospect out of high school finds his NBA niche.

[COYS]

I'm pretty sure if I understood that I would agree with it.

Man, that's what I get for typing on my phone. My apologies.

The Suns would have had to wait a long time for McRoberts to become the player he is, today. That reduces his value, significantly.

[pfrduke]

First page is updated to date, second round so far is below, and the commish is on the clock.

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, North Carolina
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Thanasis Antetokoumpo, Greece
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78 - Markel Brown, Oklahoma State
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke - Walter Tavares, Cape Verde
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Russdiculous, Louisville
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - Isaiah Austin, Baylor
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[JasonEvans]

The second round is almost always about "best player available," not about need.

So, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how Jordan Clarkson is still on the board in the middle of the round. He has NBA 2-guard size at 6-5 but has the quickness and skills to also play some PG at the next level. He is quite a scorer, averaging better than 17 ppg in the SEC last season for Mizzu despite enduring a wretched shooting slump late in the season. In fact, had the draft come along back in February, Clarkson would have been a potential lottery pick. Seeing as he has shown he can shoot well in the past, I am betting the final couple months were a shooting aberration, not the norm.

Regardless of his outside shot, he gets to the rim with great skill and spends a ton of time at the FT line. He has the size, length, work ethic, and athleticism to be a top-flight NBA defender as well.

Bottom line, there is about a zero percent chance he actually falls to the middle of the second round in the real NBA draft next week. His name will likely be called in the 20s. I've seen some mocks that had him being drafted in the teens. So, I just got a mid-late first round talent (in a super deep draft) in the middle of the second round. Crazy!

-Jason "C'mon people, how did you let this kid slip this far?!?!" Evans

[brevity]

The second round is almost always about "best player available," not about need.

So, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how Jordan Clarkson is still on the board in the middle of the round. He has NBA 2-guard size at 6-5 but has the quickness and skills to also play some PG at the next level. He is quite a scorer, averaging better than 17 ppg in the SEC last season for Mizzu despite enduring a wretched shooting slump late in the season. In fact, had the draft come along back in February, Clarkson would have been a potential lottery pick. Seeing as he has shown he can shoot well in the past, I am betting the final couple months were a shooting aberration, not the norm.

Regardless of his outside shot, he gets to the rim with great skill and spends a ton of time at the FT line. He has the size, length, work ethic, and athleticism to be a top-flight NBA defender as well.

Bottom line, there is about a zero percent chance he actually falls to the middle of the second round in the real NBA draft next week. His name will likely be called in the 20s. I've seen some mocks that had him being drafted in the teens. So, I just got a mid-late first round talent (in a super deep draft) in the middle of the second round. Crazy!

-Jason "C'mon people, how did you let this kid slip this far?!?!" Evans

Lots of reasons. Here are a few:

1. The SEC plays basketball? Like NSDukeFan, I have no memory of this guy.
2. He's a dreaded tweener. I read a bit about him that made me distrust his abilities as a SG or a PG.
3. If you're not specifically looking for them, it's difficult to find a list of good old fashioned seniors. Most draft websites focus on early entry and international players.
4. We all felt sorry for the Hawks.

You're probably right that the real draft will see Jordan Clarkson selected before #43, because real GMs are less likely to take risks. I've looked at a bunch of mock drafts, and what I found was a lack of consensus after the top 15 or so picks. It's Dick Vitale syndrome: just as 80 teams will make a 68-team NCAA Tournament field, we have maybe 45-50 players who are destined to be drafted in the first round.

[FerryFor50]

Minnesota Timberwolves - Patric Young, PF/C, Florida

Last season, outside of Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota's bigs left a lot to be desired.

Pending free agent Dante Cunningham shot 46% from the floor, 57% from the line and averaged 6.3ppg and 4.1 rpg. A decent offensive rebounder, but pretty bad production overall.

Ronny Turiaf has a motor, but was injured much of the year and is getting long in the tooth. He averaged 4.8 points and 5.6 rpg. Shot well from the floor (60%), but at this stage of his career, he's a spot minute guy.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is a high energy guy, but he's overpriced for the production he brings. Career averages of 23 mpg, 6.3 ppg and 4.9 rpg don't cut it for a former 7th pick. We mainly took him on to be rid of Derrick Williams.

Gorgui Dieng is promising as a defender and rebounder, but is still raw.

Meanwhile, the concern is what happens to Kevin Love. Do we trade him? Do we try to convince him to stay?

Patric Young fills a need - a bruising, athletic big with plus defensive skills - and is great value at this point in the draft. He's also a hard worker and high cAt worst, he becomes a Dejuan Blair/Carl Landry type of big in the league. Every team needs a lunch pail guy...

Draft Express profile:


When we first wrote about Florida senior Patric Young in 2010, he already looked the part of an NBA player, with potential to spare. Four years later, his scouting report is more or less the same, but his resume is more impressive (watch his DX scouting video). Already a McDonald's All-American and a top-20 high school recruit, Young played in every game in his college career, which included three consecutive SEC Championships and 120 wins, alongside of being named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year three times in a row and winning SEC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. He also played a key role in Florida's Final Four run, particularly in its loss to national champion Connecticut, to the tune of 19 points and six rebounds.

As the draft inches closer, however, scouts continue to wonder why such dominant performances were so few and far between, inviting the larger question of whether Young can continue to move toward a ceiling that many hoped he would have reached by now.

Young's physical profile has never been in question. At 6'9, he is undersized for the center position, but he compensates for that with a chiseled 247-pound frame and 7'1 wingspan. Likewise, Young possesses elite quickness, agility, mobility, and explosiveness, all of which situate him as one of the best overall athletes in the draft. His only shortcoming physically are his extremely small hands, which have hampered him from becoming the dominant rebounder his tools suggest he should be.

On the offensive end, Young remains limited, but continued to make incremental progress as a senior. Though his 11.0 points per game seem modest, he logged a career-high 17.7 points per 40 minutes pace adjusted while seeing the highest usage rate of his career. Though he continued to struggle with bouts of inconsistency, he looked more aggressive and involved as a senior, taking the most shots and free throws of his career. Yet, his increase in production came at the relatively small expense of efficiency, as he shot a career low 56% True Shooting percentage.

On film, it's easy to see why. According to Synergy, Young saw almost 94% of his looks around the basket, 56% of which were post-ups. Yet, he shot just 47% from the field on his post-up attempts Put simply, Young's post game did not improve all that much throughout his time in Gainesville. He still relies on a jump hook and is more effective the closer he is to the basket. Similarly, he shows some promise operating out of the pick-and-roll, even if he needs a relatively open lane to be effective. A serious issue lies in the fact that he oftentimes has little idea of what to do with the ball once he carves out space and receives the ball in the post. His rudimentary footwork, small hands, and limited fundamentals continue to hold him back, which doesn't bode well for his scoring potential at the NBA level.

Young is still at his best finishing off cuts, in transition, and while cleaning up his teammate's misses. He is an excellent finisher in transition and his 4.2 offensive rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted ranks sixth among prospects in our top-100. If anything, Young should be able to carve out a niche for himself based on sheer hustle.

Yet, for as raw as Young remains on the offensive end, he is one of the most intriguing post defenders in the draft. His numbers don't pop off the page and he is undersized for a center, but he projects as a very good NBA defender due to his unique combination of length, strength, athleticism, and fundamentals. For instance, Young is easily one of the best pick-and-roll defenders in college basketball, able to hedge quickly and stay in front of all but the quickest guards. He showed the versatility to guard most NCAA big men with outstanding lateral quickness to go along with his size, strength, and versatility. Perhaps most importantly, however, he plays with energy and aggressiveness and he should be able to translate his defensive prowess at the collegiate level to the NBA.

It must be said, however, that for as good as Young is on defense, he never developed as a defensive rebounder. His 5.7 defensive rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted situates him 12th among centers in our top-100. That he ranks alongside of point guards DeAndre Kane and Shabazz Napier remains puzzling given the fact that he was bigger, stronger, and more athletic than almost every big man he faced throughout his college career.

Therefore, Young is ultimately a puzzling prospect. He has lottery-caliber physical tools and is an elite defensive prospect, but possesses very little in the ways of an offensive game. He is one of the best offensive rebounders in the draft and one of its worst defensive rebounders. Yet, by all accounts Young has excellent intangibles and is the type of player who should have little trouble fitting into most NBA locker rooms.

Thus, while there are big men with higher ceilings in this draft, Young seems like the type of player that has a good chance of making a long career in the NBA. As players like Kendrick Perkins and Joel Anthony continue to slug it out in the NBA, Young should get plenty of looks from playoff teams, even if he is currently projected as a second round pick on our mock draft. Although he will never be the type of player many expected of him coming out of high school, Young remains an intriguing prospect who could easily work his way up in the draft with good workouts and interviews.

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz355vtIe8U
http://www.draftexpress.com

[flyingdutchdevil]

Minnesota Timberwolves - Patric Young, PF/C, Florida

Last season, outside of Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota's bigs left a lot to be desired.

Pending free agent Dante Cunningham shot 46% from the floor, 57% from the line and averaged 6.3ppg and 4.1 rpg. A decent offensive rebounder, but pretty bad production overall.

Ronny Turiaf has a motor, but was injured much of the year and is getting long in the tooth. He averaged 4.8 points and 5.6 rpg. Shot well from the floor (60%), but at this stage of his career, he's a spot minute guy.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is a high energy guy, but he's overpriced for the production he brings. Career averages of 23 mpg, 6.3 ppg and 4.9 rpg don't cut it for a former 7th pick. We mainly took him on to be rid of Derrick Williams.

Gorgui Dieng is promising as a defender and rebounder, but is still raw.

Meanwhile, the concern is what happens to Kevin Love. Do we trade him? Do we try to convince him to stay?

Patric Young fills a need - a bruising, athletic big with plus defensive skills - and is great value at this point in the draft. He's also a hard worker and high cAt worst, he becomes a Dejuan Blair/Carl Landry type of big in the league. Every team needs a lunch pail guy...

Draft Express profile:

FerryFor50 - very nice second round pieces. Getting Russdicilous and the Patric 'The Body' Young are insane steals in the second round. I'm willing to put a lot of money that one of these players will stick around for a decade in the league.

[FerryFor50]

FerryFor50 - very nice second round pieces. Getting Russdicilous and the Patric 'The Body' Young are insane steals in the second round. I'm willing to put a lot of money that one of these players will stick around for a decade in the league.

We had the benefit of other GMs trying to imitate the Spurs' success by drafting Euro projects. ;)

[flyingdutchdevil]

We had the benefit of other GMs trying to imitate the Spurs' success by drafting Euro projects. ;)

This guy included! I like international players - they are significantly more risky and I assume that they have a higher failure rate that US players (can't prove it, just gut feeling). However, what's nice about them is that if they don't get playing time, they go right back to leagues back in Europe where they can have increased playing time. This is an upside as they opt out of their contracts, freeing up cap room and salary space.

American players also will go oversees, but only after they have exhausted every NBA option. It's a difference in mentality: US players see the NBA as the only place to play whereas internationals see the NBA as the top place to play with plenty of other good options elsewhere.

[Kedsy]

At worst, he becomes a Dejuan Blair/Carl Landry type of big in the league. Every team needs a lunch pail guy...


I'm not trying to pick on you, I swear, and I think Patric Young's a fine pick in the middle of the 2nd round, but to say he'll be a DeJuan Blair/Carl Landry type "at worst" is a fairly large overstatement. Both Blair (15.7ppg/12.3rpg his last year in college) and Landry (18.9ppg/7.3rpg) were significantly better college players than Young (11.0ppg/6.2prg). I'd actually agree more with the statement if you'd said "at best" instead of "at worst."

Also, to suggest (even obliquely) that Patric Young at any point in his career might be an improvement over Gorgui Dieng is way out there, IMO.

[GGLC]

This thread is great reading. At some point I might compare the first round results here to a mock draft done on another site by some other people who live and breathe basketball in a particularly analytics-heavy way; together they would probably provide an interesting comparative insight into how basketball-rabid, thinking fans approach this draft.

[FerryFor50]

I'm not trying to pick on you, I swear, and I think Patric Young's a fine pick in the middle of the 2nd round, but to say he'll be a DeJuan Blair/Carl Landry type "at worst" is a fairly large overstatement. Both Blair (15.7ppg/12.3rpg his last year in college) and Landry (18.9ppg/7.3rpg) were significantly better college players than Young (11.0ppg/6.2prg). I'd actually agree more with the statement if you'd said "at best" instead of "at worst."

Also, to suggest (even obliquely) that Patric Young at any point in his career might be an improvement over Gorgui Dieng is way out there, IMO.

I don't think I ever suggested Young will be an improvement over Dieng. I just said Dieng is raw right now. I *did* suggest that Young would be an improvement over Cunningham and replaces what an aging Ronny Turiaf brings to the table.

As far as comparing college careers to pro careers, it's a dicey proposition. Plenty of awesome college players never amounted to much, while plenty of high upside, low production college players became good players in the NBA (for instance, Chandler Parsons averaged only 11ppg at Florida his senior year. Robin Lopez averaged 10ppg at Stanford his last season. David Lee averaged 13.6 ppg his senior year.).

I think Young's upside is higher than Blair's and Landry's based on his athleticism translating well in the NBA. Blair has no knees and is pretty much glued to the floor and is much smaller than Young. Landry is shorter than Young, with less leaping ability. He also has a smaller wingspan than Young.

Also, Blair and Landry were the focal points of their teams' offenses. Young was not asked to do much scoring, as Florida was more guard oriented. But when he did get the ball, he shot 58%. Most of Young's attempts were off putbacks.

This is the offensive rebounding % for each guy in their final year in school:

Blair ORB% - 23.7
Landry ORB% - 12.0
Young ORB% - 12.1

In the NBA, Blair's ORB% is 13.8 for his career. Landry's ORB% is 10.0. There's no reason to think that Young can't exceed either on the offensive glass with his size and strength.

At Florida, Young averaged 8FGA per game his senior season, which was 4th behind Wilbekin, Prather and Frazier,
At Pitt, Blair averaged 11FGA per game his sophomore year, behind only senior Sam Young (14.4 FGA).
At Purdue, Landry averaged 10.8 FGA per game as a junior, behind only senior David Teague (11.8 FGA).

Young's PPG totals were hurt by two things; his field goal attempts and his FT %. Both Landry and Blair were better from the line.

These are the Draft Express profiles for those guys:

Carl Landry (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Carl-Landry-461/)
Landry measured at 6'8.5" (with shoes) with a 6'11" wingspan and 36.5" max vertical

DeJuan Blair (http://search.draftexpress.com/profile/DeJuan-Blair-5049/)
Blair measured at 6'6" (with shoes!) with a 7'2" wingspan and 33" max vertical.

Patric Young (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Patric-Young-5746/)
Young measured at 6'10" (with shoes) with a 7' 1.75" wingspan and 37.5" max vertical.

Plus, I think we can all agree that Young at least *appears* much stronger than either Blair or Landry. And he projects as a better defender than either.

He's taller, stronger and more athletic than Blair or Landry. And judging from the fact that he started every game at Florida in his four years, probably a bit more durable. And I didn't really draft him for his offense - Minny has plenty of scorers as it is.

[roywhite]

FerryFor50 - very nice second round pieces. Getting Russdicilous and the Patric 'The Body' Young are insane steals in the second round. I'm willing to put a lot of money that one of these players will stick around for a decade in the league.

Yeah, my impression is that this draft is deep and talented.

Now, perhaps that perception comes from going through this mock draft endeavor and developing an affection for the players we research. But it looks to me that the 1st round is very strong, and that a number of 2nd rounders also have a shot at good careers.

It will be interesting to look at this 3 or 4 years out to see.

[Henderson]

Most draft projections presumed that the Cavs would take Embiid both for need and for the highest ceiling. Since the Cavs once again decided to go against conventional wisdom, the Bucks are delighted at their good fortune (a good omen!) and select Joel Embiid, C, Kansas. Embiid’s versatility, offensive skill set, and athleticism will allow him to also play the 4 should Sanders transform back to LARRY SANDERS! The Bucks will consult with every shrink in the Midwest, but if Sanders continues to self-destruct, they'll dump his contract, play Embiid at C and keep Ilyasova at PF. The Bucks will bet that the infusion of young talent will re-energize Ilyasova, who is only 26 and averaged 17 ppg / 11 reb with good percentages just two years ago. Jabari Parker received strong consideration, especially with his polished game and Chicago roots, but the Bucks concluded that Embiid can be the cornerstone of the franchise in ways that Parker cannot. Based on all accounts from the workouts, Embiid’s back is fine. The Spurs will be the model to follow (even if the Bucks' actual execution has been terrible). A lot of people have been comparing Embiid to Hakeem, but the Bucks see Embiid more like David Robinson.

Looks like your man Embiid has suffered a foot injury. Might be broken. Terrible break for him in both senses of the word.

http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/11107087/joel-embiid-suffers-foot-injury-prior-nba-draft

[FerryFor50]

Looks like your man Embiid has suffered a foot injury. Might be broken. Terrible break for him in both senses of the word.

http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/11107087/joel-embiid-suffers-foot-injury-prior-nba-draft

Definitely does not help negate the injury prone narrative...

[Kedsy]

There's no reason to think that Young can't exceed either on the offensive glass with his size and strength.

Actually there's plenty of reason to think that. I get that Young is bigger and stronger than Blair and Landry. He's also bigger and stronger than Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman. Doesn't mean he can rebound like those guys.

DeJuan Blair was one of the best offensive rebounders in NCAA history. Patric Young wasn't as good an offensive rebounder as Amile Jefferson. It's crazy to suggest Young will exceed Blair at offensive rebounding in his NBA career.

I also hear you that you "drafted" Young for his hustle and defense. And I said I thought he was a fine 2nd round pick. But if Love sticks around (which I admit doesn't seem that likely), Young wouldn't play much. Dieng is a bigger and better defensive player. His offense isn't much, though, which suggests he and Young wouldn't play together much on the 2nd unit, and Young isn't beating out Love or Pekovic on the first unit. If Love leaves, then it might work, assuming one of Dieng or Young can play PF alongside Pekovic.

[FerryFor50]

Actually there's plenty of reason to think that. I get that Young is bigger and stronger than Blair and Landry. He's also bigger and stronger than Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman. Doesn't mean he can rebound like those guys.

DeJuan Blair was one of the best offensive rebounders in NCAA history. Patric Young wasn't as good an offensive rebounder as Amile Jefferson. It's crazy to suggest Young will exceed Blair at offensive rebounding in his NBA career.

I also hear you that you "drafted" Young for his hustle and defense. And I said I thought he was a fine 2nd round pick. But if Love sticks around (which I admit doesn't seem that likely), Young wouldn't play much. Dieng is a bigger and better defensive player. His offense isn't much, though, which suggests he and Young wouldn't play together much on the 2nd unit, and Young isn't beating out Love or Pekovic on the first unit. If Love leaves, then it might work, assuming one of Dieng or Young can play PF alongside Pekovic.

Cunningham actually played most of the minutes of the bigs last season. He's gone.

Dieng will likely fill those minutes.

Turiaf, as mentioned, is getting old. He likely would take a back seat to Young. Plus, there are always injuries.

This was the minutes distribution for the guys who play at PF or C:

Kevin Love - 77 games, 36.3 mpg
Nikola Pekovic - 54 games, 30.8 mpg
Dante Cunningham - 81 games, 20.2 mpg
Ronny Turiaf - 31 games, 19.5 mpg
Luc Mbah a Moute - 55 games, 14.7 mpg
Gogui Deng - 60 games, 13.6 mpg


Yes, Blair was one of the best offensive rebounders in NCAA history. He also was only 6'6" and those skills did not completely translate to the NBA.

I never suggested that Young would exceed Blair at offensive rebounding. I'm suggesting that Young's physical tools might allow him to at least equal Blair's offensive rebounding, and overall, be the better player. How is it crazy to suggest that a guy who had a better ORB% than Carl Landry in college couldn't come close or exceed what Carl Landry is doing in the NBA, which is on par with what DeJuan Blair has done in his career?

As I showed in the stats....



Blair ORB% - 23.7
Landry ORB% - 12.0
Young ORB% - 12.1

In the NBA, Blair's ORB% is 13.8 for his career. Landry's ORB% is 10.0. There's no reason to think that Young can't exceed either on the offensive glass with his size and strength.

Blair's ORB% dropped by 14 in the NBA. His best season was a 16 ORB%. Landry's dropped just 2% between his college and NBA career. I think you could attribute that to the physical stature differences. It's hard to be an elite rebounder at 6'6" with no knees. It's not as hard when you're 6'10" with a 37.5" vertical.

[Kedsy]

How is it crazy to suggest that a guy who had a better ORB% than Carl Landry in college couldn't come close or exceed what Carl Landry is doing in the NBA, which is on par with what DeJuan Blair has done in his career?

What's crazy is you think a 10.0 ORB% (Landry) is "on par" with a 13.8 ORB% (Blair). For example, in 2014, 13.8% was 7th in the NBA in ORB%, while 10.0% was 60th. Not anywhere close to on par. Patric Young may exceed Carl Landry's mediocre offensive rebounding numbers, but he has little to no chance of approaching DeJuan Blair.

[GGLC]

I know some people who think that Spencer Dinwiddie has mid-first round value, by the way.

[FerryFor50]

I know some people who think that Spencer Dinwiddie has mid-first round value, by the way.

I considered taking him over Russ Smith, but considering he tore his ACL last season (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10288706/colorado-buffaloes-star-spencer-dinwiddie-season), I was a little wary.

[GGLC]

I considered taking him over Russ Smith, but considering he tore his ACL last season (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10288706/colorado-buffaloes-star-spencer-dinwiddie-season), I was a little wary.

That's definitely a concern. I absolutely love his offensive game and ultra-high basketball IQ, though. Apparently he's extremely interested in using basketball analytics to improve his game, which is awesome to hear.

[mattman91]

Sorry for the delay, I'll write more after work.

[nocilla]

Jahii Carson, Arizona State, Soph. PG, 5-10, 180

The Wizards would like to find a long term backup to Gortat at Center. We were hoping Joseph Nurik, Mitch McGary, or Patric Young would still be available at this pick. They are not so we went to our next need, backup PG. Andre Miller filled in nicely this past year but he is older than his current fantasy GM. So Jahii Carson is our pick, a very quick guard with good passing skills. He is an excellent athlete who averaged 21 points per 40 minutes this past season for the Sun Devils. If we can improve his shooting consistency, ball security, and on-the-ball defense, we think he can become a spark off the bench.

[pfrduke]

Once again, the 76ers look to a developmental pick and a guy who we can stash in Europe for another year or so. Inglis has a lot of developing to do, but at 19 (and only just barely) he's already played a season in France's top professional league and his versatility is off the charts. Inglis's absolute pipe dream best case scenario is a Paul George / Kawhi Leonard type - we don't think he'll ever be that good (that's asking an awful lot), but a more reasonable ceiling could be Nic Batum, who is a very valuable player in his own right. Again, these are all ceilings, not likely projections, and we recognize this is a risky pick that may not pan out. But 6'9", 240 players who can guard 2-4 on the court, clean the glass from the wing position, and play some point forward don't simply grow on trees, and we've got second round picks to burn (we also think, incidentally, we can pick up some guys who will be ready to contribute* right away with our last two picks in the round, and we're concerned that Inglis has already fallen further than he should, which motivates pulling the trigger now).

*contribute being a relative term when one talks about the 8th or 9th man in the rotation for the worst (or thereabouts) team in the league.

[pfrduke]

First page is updated through the 76ers last pick; current second round status is below:

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, North Carolina
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Thanasis Antetokoumpo, Greece
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78 - Markel Brown, Oklahoma State
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke - Walter Tavares, Cape Verde
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Russdiculous, Louisville
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - Isaiah Austin, Baylor
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Jordan Clarkson, Missouri
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Patric Young, Florida
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Jabari Brown, Missouri
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla - Jahii Carson, Arizona State
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Damien Inglis, French Guiana
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[theAlaskanBear]

Once again, the 76ers look to a developmental pick and a guy who we can stash in Europe for another year or so. Inglis has a lot of developing to do, but at 19 (and only just barely) he's already played a season in France's top professional league and his versatility is off the charts. Inglis's absolute pipe dream best case scenario is a Paul George / Kawhi Leonard type - we don't think he'll ever be that good (that's asking an awful lot), but a more reasonable ceiling could be Nic Batum, who is a very valuable player in his own right. Again, these are all ceilings, not likely projections, and we recognize this is a risky pick that may not pan out. But 6'9", 240 players who can guard 2-4 on the court, clean the glass from the wing position, and play some point forward don't simply grow on trees, and we've got second round picks to burn (we also think, incidentally, we can pick up some guys who will be ready to contribute* right away with our last two picks in the round, and we're concerned that Inglis has already fallen further than he should, which motivates pulling the trigger now).

*contribute being a relative term when one talks about the 8th or 9th man in the rotation for the worst (or thereabouts) team in the league.

I like this pick, he was someone I was considering for my last pick -- his age makes his body look incredible.

[mattman91]

Sorry for the delay, I'll write more after work.

As promised, more on the Jabari Brown decision.

After getting a steal in Julius Randle, and a much needed back up PG who we were thrilled to still have available with the 24th pick in the first round, we were able to fill a much needed outside shooting need with Brown.

Not only does Brown fill an immediate need for us, he is also one of the best available prospects. Brown has above average athleticism, and even though he is somewhat undersized at 6'4, he has a great frame that will allow him to drive the ball inside and finish at the rim. His lateral quickness and agility make him a decent defender, so we feel like he will be more than just an offensive weapon off the bench.

Randle, Napier, and Brown may make the Hornets the 2014 DBR Mock Draft Champs...and they are going to look awfully sharp in these sweet new jerseys (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11107535/charlotte-hornets-new-uniforms-show-pizzazz)!

[fuse]

As promised, more on the Jabari Brown decision.

After getting a steal in Julius Randle, and a much needed back up PG who we were thrilled to still have available with the 24th pick in the first round, we were able to fill a much needed outside shooting need with Brown.

Not only does Brown fill an immediate need for us, he is also one of the best available prospects. Brown has above average athleticism, and even though he is somewhat undersized at 6'4, he has a great frame that will allow him to drive the ball inside and finish at the rim. His lateral quickness and agility make him a decent defender, so we feel like he will be more than just an offensive weapon off the bench.

Randle, Napier, and Brown may make the Hornets the 2014 DBR Mock Draft Champs...and they are going to look awfully sharp in these sweet new jerseys (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11107535/charlotte-hornets-new-uniforms-show-pizzazz)!

I agree the jerseys are slick but Imwish the Hornets had brought back the pinstripes.

[Turk]

For Milwaukee's last pick in the draft, the philosophy here is to draft for need, unless there is someone very highly ranked who has fallen several spots. That isn't the case here, as no one stands out as "best available" above the others.

That being said, the team needs to add depth at PG. Brandon Knight is not a pure point guard, and is undersized as a 2 guard. The Bucks took a long hard look at Dante Exum with the #2 pick but couldn't pass up Embiid (a.k.a. Sam Bowie 2.0). Unfortunately, by the time the second round began, the decision process was simplified because the top point guards were all taken in the first round (curse you, Brevity / Popovich!). With the #36 pick, the Bucks looked very closely at the best PGs still available and concluded that they were all combo guards with strengths and weaknesses roughly similar to Knight's. The choice was between DeAndre Daniels and Jordan Clarkson, abd the decision was made to go with Daniels. Knight is on the last year of his rookie contract, so Milwaukee has all season to see how the new roster blends together and determine whether or not he will be part of the team's long-term direction.

Meanwhile, Christon gets good marks for attacking the basket, finishing, drawing fouls, and kicking out. He's aggressive, tough, athletic, and a good defender. Christon will need to work on his outside shooting to be an effective pro, but the Bucks feel that he's the best PG available and should add depth at guard.

I'm afraid the mock Bucks lost all their good luck mojo, and their GM is not taking the latest injury reports very well. With Embiid going down, the stage is set for Hairston to have unfriendly encounters with law enforcement, Daniels to be nothing more than a role player, and Christon to wash out of the league due to his bricklaying. Fortunately, the Packers training camp will open soon, and the mock Milwaukee faithful can ride the Brewers bandwagon until then. See you in the lottery again next year, Charlie Brown. <sigh>

[theAlaskanBear]

For Milwaukee's last pick in the draft, the philosophy here is to draft for need, unless there is someone very highly ranked who has fallen several spots. That isn't the case here, as no one stands out as "best available" above the others.

That being said, the team needs to add depth at PG. Brandon Knight is not a pure point guard, and is undersized as a 2 guard. The Bucks took a long hard look at Dante Exum with the #2 pick but couldn't pass up Embiid (a.k.a. Sam Bowie 2.0). Unfortunately, by the time the second round began, the decision process was simplified because the top point guards were all taken in the first round (curse you, Brevity / Popovich!). With the #36 pick, the Bucks looked very closely at the best PGs still available and concluded that they were all combo guards with strengths and weaknesses roughly similar to Knight's. The choice was between DeAndre Daniels and Jordan Clarkson, abd the decision was made to go with Daniels. Knight is on the last year of his rookie contract, so Milwaukee has all season to see how the new roster blends together and determine whether or not he will be part of the team's long-term direction.

Meanwhile, Christon gets good marks for attacking the basket, finishing, drawing fouls, and kicking out. He's aggressive, tough, athletic, and a good defender. Christon will need to work on his outside shooting to be an effective pro, but the Bucks feel that he's the best PG available and should add depth at guard.

I'm afraid the mock Bucks lost all their good luck mojo, and their GM is not taking the latest injury reports very well. With Embiid going down, the stage is set for Hairston to have unfriendly encounters with law enforcement, Daniels to be nothing more than a role player, and Christon to wash out of the league due to his bricklaying. Fortunately, the Packers training camp will open soon, and the mock Milwaukee faithful can ride the Brewers bandwagon until then. See you in the lottery again next year, Charlie Brown. <sigh>

Semaj has potential, its not a bad pick. I am a little curious why he decided to forego another year at Xavier, because he could go in the first round next year with a bit of improvement with his shooting and overall game.

[CDu]

With the 49th pick, the fake Chicago Bulls select Deonte Burton, PG, Nevada.

We were planning to go with a PG or a big man in this spot. But the bigs we were most interested were gone. Thankfully, one of the PG left on our board was still around.

Burton is not tall (6'1"), but he has tremendous strength and length (6'7" wingspan, 8'1.5" standing reach) and athleticism to burn. He is a very capable score and playmaker, which is what we're looking for from our second-unit PG. Make no mistake: we're not asking him to become a starter. That's Derrick Rose's job. What we want is a cheap but capable playmaker off the bench.

Burton was a 2,000 point scorer in college, and has a 39.5" vertical leap. He also averaged nearly 5 assists per game. And with his strength and athleticism, we think that he will excel defensively in a ~15-18 mpg role off the bench.

Now, we just have to figure out how to land Carmelo Anthony, and it's on!

[brevity]

Randle, Napier, and Brown may make the Hornets the 2014 DBR Mock Draft Champs...and they are going to look awfully sharp in these sweet new jerseys (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11107535/charlotte-hornets-new-uniforms-show-pizzazz)!


I'm afraid the mock Bucks lost all their good luck mojo, and their GM is not taking the latest injury reports very well. With Embiid going down, the stage is set for Hairston to have unfriendly encounters with law enforcement, Daniels to be nothing more than a role player, and Christon to wash out of the league due to his bricklaying. Fortunately, the Packers training camp will open soon, and the mock Milwaukee faithful can ride the Brewers bandwagon until then. See you in the lottery again next year, Charlie Brown. <sigh>

Self-grading started early this year.

If the real draft worked out this way, I think the fans in general might anoint the Hornets the night's biggest winner. Expect some misleading "We got Jabari!" chants.


Unfortunately, by the time the second round began, the decision process was simplified because the top point guards were all taken in the first round (curse you, Brevity / Popovich!).

Ha! Vasilije Micić and Semaj Christon have been rated pretty close to one another in most mock drafts I've seen, with the Xavier player often on the 1st round side and the Serbian mostly on the 2nd round side. It's funny that it ended up working out the opposite way.

The mock Spurs weren't planning on taking a first round PG at all -- in fact, most of their targets were forwards still available until about the #25 pick. Then they all got selected, and I had to change strategy. Objectively, I thought the Micić pick was a bit early -- I figured he would go around #35-40 -- but I valued him more than anyone else still out there, and certainly more than any PG I could get at #58 or #60.

[Turk]

Ha! Vasilije Micić and Semaj Christon have been rated pretty close to one another in most mock drafts I've seen, with the Xavier player often on the 1st round side and the Serbian mostly on the 2nd round side. It's funny that it ended up working out the opposite way.

The mock Spurs weren't planning on taking a first round PG at all -- in fact, most of their targets were forwards still available until about the #25 pick. Then they all got selected, and I had to change strategy. Objectively, I thought the Micić pick was a bit early -- I figured he would go around #35-40 -- but I valued him more than anyone else still out there, and certainly more than any PG I could get at #58 or #60.

I liked Micić because he was described as a pass-first floor-general PG, which seemed to be essential given the way the mock Bucks roster was evolving.

[Li_Duke]

We looked at Nikola Jokic as a very skilled 19 year old big man who we could stick in Europe. But in the Morris twins, we already have young skilled bigs who are further ahead in the development curve. We also took a long look at Joe Harris here as we feel pretty good about his chances to make the 15 man roster, and he would give us a SG with size who could shoot and defend. Guys like him always seem to slip through the crack on draft day since teams consider them too old, but they can still have good value (see Kyle Singler and Chandler Parson). However, given that we have a greater need at SF than SG, we went with James Michael McAdoo. The criticism is that he's a slightly undersized power forward who lacks a perimeter shot, but we prefer to focus on his positives. With 3 stretch power forwards on our roster, we can play him at small forward without his lack of perimeter shooting hurting our spacing. On offense, he can punish opposing small forwards inside, and if they guard him with their power-forward, our power-forward will have a size advantage to exploit. Defensively, he's athletic and quick enough to guard opposing small forwards. He's a plus rebounder at the SF position. Lastly, apart from Anthony Davis, he was originally considered to have as much potential as anyone else in his high school class. Perhaps with better coaching, we can still unlock some of that potential.

This gives us the following 15 man roster heading into training camp:

Big men: Miles Plumlee, Channing Fyre, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris, Alex Len, Shavlik Randolph
Small forwards: Gerald Green, James Michael McAdoo.
Shooting guards: Eric Bledsoe, Gary Harris, Archie Goodwin, Dionte Christmas
Point guards: Goran Dragic, Elfrid Payton, Ish Smith

If the team stays relatively healthy (and with this medical staff, we probably will), we like our chances of contending for a playoff spot this year. With so many young players, we have a good chance of improving in the years to come, and enough assets to trade for 1-2 stars if we choose to go that route.

[pfrduke]

We looked at Nikola Jokic as a very skilled 19 year old big man who we could stick in Europe. But in the Morris twins, we already have young skilled bigs who are further ahead in the development curve. We also took a long look at Joe Harris here as we feel pretty good about his chances to make the 15 man roster, and he would give us a SG with size who could shoot and defend. Guys like him always seem to slip through the crack on draft day since teams consider them too old, but they can still have good value (see Kyle Singler and Chandler Parson). However, given that we have a greater need at SF than SG, we went with James Michael McAdoo. The criticism is that he's a slightly undersized power forward who lacks a perimeter shot, but we prefer to focus on his positives. With 3 stretch power forwards on our roster, we can play him at small forward without his lack of perimeter shooting hurting our spacing. On offense, he can punish opposing small forwards inside, and if they guard him with their power-forward, our power-forward will have a size advantage to exploit. Defensively, he's athletic and quick enough to guard opposing small forwards. He's a plus rebounder at the SF position. Lastly, apart from Anthony Davis, he was originally considered to have as much potential as anyone else in his high school class. Perhaps with better coaching, we can still unlock some of that potential.

This gives us the following 15 man roster heading into training camp:

Big men: Miles Plumlee, Channing Fyre, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris, Alex Len, Shavlik Randolph
Small forwards: Gerald Green, James Michael McAdoo.
Shooting guards: Eric Bledsoe, Gary Harris, Archie Goodwin, Dionte Christmas
Point guards: Goran Dragic, Elfrid Payton, Ish Smith

If the team stays relatively healthy (and with this medical staff, we probably will), we like our chances of contending for a playoff spot this year. With so many young players, we have a good chance of improving in the years to come, and enough assets to trade for 1-2 stars if we choose to go that route.

Can one have a small forward incapable of scoring more than 5 feet from the basket?

[kAzE]

Crap, I misspelled his name in the title . . . it's Nikola . . .

Well, as strange as it is to select 2 Serbian players in the same draft, we're going ahead and grabbing Jokic here, as we need big man depth, and he's the best big left on our board. We also took a long look at LSU's Johnny O'Bryant, but in the end, we felt that his skill set overlapped too much with guys already on our roster who we like (DeJuan Blair, Jae Crowder, and Brandon Wright). In Jokic, we get the physical size of a true center (7'0", 253 pounds with a 7'3" wingspan), with an advanced offensive skillset, which we think compliments our star players extremely nicely.

Jokic is not the strongest nor the most explosive guy, but he's extremely skilled. He has an advanced feel for the game, with the ability to knock down jumpers with 3-point range, excellent passing instincts, and great footwork and feel in the post. He's such an unconventional and creative finisher that you never quite know what kind of trick he will try to pull off, which has left many rotating defenders baffled. He's also a very strong rebounder, and will improve on the glass as he adds more strength. Considering he was a relative unknown only a little over a year ago, Jokic has made a very strong impression to this point with our organization, and we feel that we may have a guy who can become a productive rotation player very soon.

It's a total coincidence, but the fact that both he and our earlier draft pick, Bogdan Bogdanovic are both Serbian should help both of them transition much more easily to the NBA, and to moving overseas. We're extremely happy to be able to select Nikola here, as we had him as the #43 best player in this year's draft.

[pfrduke]

Powell is unlikely to ever be more than a reserve in the NBA, but we like his size and skill set. At 6'11", 235, he's big enough to play in the post. He's also mobile for his size and on offense possesses both the ball handling skills and mid-range jump shot necessary to serve as a functional power forward. We were a little disappointed that there wasn't more growth in his game from junior to senior year, but if there had been, we wouldn't be able to pick him with the 52nd pick in the draft, so there's that. Hopefully he hasn't peaked and there's still growth left.

[brevity]

However, given that we have a greater need at SF than SG, we went with James Michael McAdoo. The criticism is that he's a slightly undersized power forward who lacks a perimeter shot, but we prefer to focus on his positives.

It finally happened. Someone caved and drafted James Patrick Henry Aaron Paul George Michael (Ray) McAdoo. You know who else prefers to focus on his positives? Media voters of the All-ACC Team.


It's a total coincidence, but the fact that both he and our earlier draft pick, Bogdan Bogdanovic are both Serbian should help both of them transition much more easily to the NBA, and to moving overseas. We're extremely happy to be able to select Nikola here, as we had him as the #43 best player in this year's draft.

I think it's both convenient and smart. Nikola and Bogdan can totally rent a mock apartment and live together.

[NSDukeFan]

It finally happened. Someone caved and drafted James Patrick Henry Aaron Paul George Michael (Ray) McAdoo. You know who else prefers to focus on his positives? Media voters of the All-ACC Team.



I think it's both convenient and smart. Nikola and Bogdan can totally rent a mock apartment and live together.

I wonder how the mock rent is in Dallas and if there are many mock vacancies?

[FerryFor50]

Minnesota Timberwolves - Jordan Bachynski, C Arizona State

So far, the Wolves have addressed needs at backup PG with the slashing, scoring Russ Smith.

We've replaced Dante Cunningham and Rony Turiaf with Patric Young.

And we've added a tall, dynamic scorer with some defensive ability in Rodney Hood to allow Corey Brewer and/or Kevin Martin to be included in a potential trade if needed.

Defense has been a weakness for the Wolves, so we wanted to get a tall rim protector. 7'2" Jordan Bachynski is just that.

Scouting report from Draft Express:


Quite possibly the tallest player eligible for the 2014 NBA Draft, the 7'2 Jordan Bachynski ended his senior season on a high note individually, scoring 25 points on 8-14 shooting against fellow prospect Cameron Ridley in an 87-85 loss to Texas in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. A much improved player over his four year NCAA career, Bachynski helped Herb Sendek's program to 21 wins, averaging 11.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per-game. One of the top senior center prospects in the country, it would not be at all surprising if the Calgary native found himself on a NBA roster next season.

Should that indeed wind up being the case, Bachynski's size will have a lot to do with it. Possessing well above average height for the center position and a 7'4 wingspan, the Canadian center who took a Mormon mission before starting his college basketball career certainly stands out among his peers. Weighing right around 250-pounds, Bachynski will need to continue getting stronger to maximize his frame moving forward.

....

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz35ELYNKo8
http://www.draftexpress.com

[Duvall]

Can one have a small forward incapable of scoring more than 5 feet from the basket?

Feet? Inches, surely.

McAdoo was a solid dunk shooter, to be sure.

[Newton_14]

Semaj has potential, its not a bad pick. I am a little curious why he decided to forego another year at Xavier, because he could go in the first round next year with a bit of improvement with his shooting and overall game.

Oh you haven't heard? The "smart" thing to do these days is give up your remaining college eligibility and turn pro, even if you go undrafted, and either end up a journeyman end of the bencher or in Bagdad YMCA Semi-Pro league. Gotta make that money you know. Staying in college to get an education (well, I guess unc throws that idea out the window), improve your game, and leave a legacy there is severly frowned upon. :)

SMH.... and not talking about the lottery pick guys with this rant. Talking specifically about those who have no shot at the first round, and some even no shot at the second round, and yet declare for the draft. Every year the declaree list approaches 100 kids...

end of rant...

Now back to your 2014 DBR NBA Mock Draft... tick tock...

[Li_Duke]

Oh you haven't heard? The "smart" thing to do these days is give up your remaining college eligibility and turn pro, even if you go undrafted, and either end up a journeyman end of the bencher or in Bagdad YMCA Semi-Pro league. Gotta make that money you know. Staying in college to get an education (well, I guess unc throws that idea out the window), improve your game, and leave a legacy there is severly frowned upon. :)


The 50th pick of the NBA draft, James Michael McAdoo, agrees.

[theAlaskanBear]

The 50th pick of the NBA draft, James Michael McAdoo, agrees.

The difference here is that McAdoo was talked about as first round pick.

[Henderson]

The difference here is that McAdoo was talked about as first round pick.

And then we saw him play....

[pfrduke]

With the last of our 7 picks, the 76ers take Nick Johnson. Johnson was an All-American, Pac-12 player of the year, and the best player on a talented Arizona roster. He can drive, shoot from deep, and plays very solid defense. The big knock on Johnson is his size - at 6'3" (or shorter) he's going to be outsized by NBA shooting guards and we're not sure whether he has the offensive skill set to play the 1 (although we're hoping to work with him to become more of a combo guard than a straight shooting guard). However, with MCW on the roster, he and Johnson can switch guard slots on defense, and we can also run our offense through Parker as a point forward to ease the burden on Johnson to create and distribute. Best case scenario, Johnson develops into a Microwave-like scorer off the bench and provide some defensive intensity for the second unit.

So with 7 picks, we ended up with Jabari Parker, Zach LaVine, Jarnell Stokes, Walter Tavares, Damien Inglis, Dwight Powell, and Nick Johnson. A lot of boom/bust potential in that draft class, but we got players at every position save point guard (and we may try to develop point skills for Johnson), got a nice combination of offense- and defense-focused players, and gave ourselves some roster flexibility with a couple second rounders who can stay in Europe.

[pfrduke]

Updated second round with six picks to go:

Second Round:31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, North Carolina
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Thanasis Antetokoumpo, Greece
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78 - Markel Brown, Oklahoma State
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke - Walter Tavares, Cape Verde
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Russdiculous, Louisville
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - Isaiah Austin, Baylor
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Jordan Clarkson, Missouri
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Patric Young, Florida
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Jabari Brown, Missouri
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla - Jahii Carson, Arizona State
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Damien Inglis, French Guiana
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Semaj Christon, Xavier
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Deonte Burton, Nevada
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - James Michael McAdoo, UNC
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Nikola Jokic, Serbia
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Dwight Powell, Stanford
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Nick Johnson, Arizona
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[Duke3517]

Miami Heat, Khem Birch PF/C UNLV

Didn't get him for his offensive game but more for his defense and rebounding. We need to have a better presence inside when it comes to traffic rebounding. We highly considered O Bryant but we felt the need was more for quality minutes defensively rather than another scorer. We plan to get deeper in the guard position through free agency. Birch will not be on our NBA roster to start, he will begin in the d league to polish his game and learn what kind of competition he will be dealing with in the NBA.

[theAlaskanBear]

Miami Heat, Khem Birch PF/C UNLV

Didn't get him for his offensive game but more for his defense and rebounding. We need to have a better presence inside when it comes to traffic rebounding. We highly considered O Bryant but we felt the need was more for quality minutes defensively rather than another scorer. We plan to get deeper in the guard position through free agency. Birch will not be on our NBA roster to start, he will begin in the d league to polish his game and learn what kind of competition he will be dealing with in the NBA.

Nice choice! I was looking at both Khem Birch and Johnny O'Bryant.

[Duke3517]

Nice choice! I was looking at both Khem Birch and Johnny O'Bryant.

And this point you are trying to get a diamond in the rough. I don't think the both of them will be stars but just players who could get quality minutes off the bench.

[theAlaskanBear]

After taking hard looks at "toolsier" but rawer players, we decided to select DeAndre Kane over guys like Jordan McRae, Johnny O'Bryant, Melvin Ejim. It is a risky move, as Kane is already 25, but we feel he has the strength, maturity, and play-making ability to contribute to the team right away. A solid rebounder, we also feel that he can be a plus defender. Offensively he is quick with the ball and great in transition, has solid assist %, and has an aggressive attitude we like to see on the court.

[awhom111]

After extensive pre-draft workouts at our Coney Island base, we finally get to make our pick. For the purposes of this exercise, we are planning on re-signing Lance Stephenson and letting all of our other free agents go while not cutting Luis Scola and also finally signing Stanko Barac who has been Euro-stashed. Thanks to last season's complete failure to upgrade the bench, which included giving away a draft pick to a team that turned two of our bench players into productive pieces, we have to try to do something in this draft that will help us in the upcoming season. While there are several European players at the wing position who would likely provide good value at this point of the draft, we really need to find a college senior who can help the team now. As a result, we are picking Josh Huestis from Stanford. A tough defender who can help shore up our second unit, we hope that adding another defensive presence will allow us to play our more offensively-minded bench players for more minutes and build some lineup flexibility.

If we want more Coney Island factor on our team, we can always try to sign Sebastian Telfair.

[brevity]

Are you kidding me? I know that you all are taking your GM roles seriously, but there is such a thing as being neutral to a fault. (Jay Bilas would be so proud.)

To be honest, Andre Dawkins suffers the same fate as everyone else left at this point. Lots of players make cameo appearances in the other mock drafts -- NBADraft.net has Andre at #56 -- but there is no consensus late 2nd round pick. The real draft will probably look even more international by the end, and we'll wonder (or worse, not wonder) what happened to familiar seniors like Lamar Patterson and C.J. Fair. On the real draft thread, someone is going to ask whether Andre Dawkins is better off being drafted in the late 2nd round or joining a team as a free agent. It's a good question.

Fortunately, the mock Spurs GM knows all about good questions, and recently interviewed the prospect.

BREVITY: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me over the phone.
DAWKINS: You know, most teams watched me in workouts.
BREVITY: We are not most teams. We are the Spurs.
DAWKINS: I see.
BREVITY: I have just a few questions.
DAWKINS: Shoot.
BREVITY: Exactly! You once said that shooting is like breathing.
DAWKINS: I remember saying something like that.
BREVITY: Can you shoot and breathe in an arena without air conditioning?
DAWKINS: Of course.
BREVITY: Oh good! Because that might happen in San Antonio sometimes.
DAWKINS: Yeah, I heard about that.
BREVITY: Next question. I noticed your first name is Andre. Are you French?
DAWKINS: No. At least I don't think so.
BREVITY: It wouldn't be a problem if you were! The Spurs actually like the French.
DAWKINS: Okay, good to know. Listen, I have another workout scheduled soon, and I'm pretty sure this is a prank call, so... [click]

Yeah, Andre Dawkins is a good sport who will fit right in. He doesn't fill the Spurs' most pressing needs -- after point guard Vasilije Micić was selected at #30, they could use depth in the forward spots -- but he is a high-character individual who will develop into an excellent role player. Plus, with two late 2nd round picks, the mock Spurs can afford a little personal bias.

Finally, it is my personal hope that he can neutralize the team's Danny Green effect. Now you can root for the Spurs without needing a shower.

[Duke3517]

No disrespect to Andre but I really don't see the Spurs taking him. He is better suited to play for a team like the Rockets who need better perimeter shooting.

[awhom111]

Are you kidding me? I know that you all are taking your GM roles seriously, but there is such a thing as being neutral to a fault. (Jay Bilas would be so proud.)

To be honest, Andre Dawkins suffers the same fate as everyone else left at this point. Lots of players make cameo appearances in the other mock drafts -- NBADraft.net has Andre at #56 -- but there is no consensus late 2nd round pick. The real draft will probably look even more international by the end, and we'll wonder (or worse, not wonder) what happened to familiar seniors like Lamar Patterson and C.J. Fair. On the real draft thread, someone is going to ask whether Andre Dawkins is better off being drafted in the late 2nd round or joining a team as a free agent. It's a good question.


I had two lists, one more offensively-minded and one more defensively-minded. I strongly considered Andre, but I ended up pulling from my defense list.

[theAlaskanBear]

Are you kidding me? I know that you all are taking your GM roles seriously, but there is such a thing as being neutral to a fault. (Jay Bilas would be so proud.)



I thought about taking Dawkins, but after watching Seth Curry struggle to even get his foot in the door...well it gave me pause. Seth is a more complete player in almost every aspect over Dawkins, and he can hardly sniff the court. I love Dawkins, he is my favorite Duke player in a long time, but he is going to have to work on his game in the D League or Europe first. Even if he becomes a consistently deadly shooter, he will have to prove he can defend and handle the ball a little.

[roywhite]

As the Mock GM of the Houston Rockets, I strongly considered taking some very good basketball players such as Russ Smith (picked 2 picks before), Jordan Clarkson (unfortunately hadn't heard of him, which hurts my mock GM credibility), Joe Harris, Patrick Young (had an NBA body when he was 17) and most of all, Nick Johnson, who was pencilled into this spot, before I decided to go for the home run. Isaiah Austin may not be as good at basketball as the others, but I am always surprised by how poorly being good at basketball in college translates into NBA success for all but the elite. What Austin does have is elite size 6'11.5 without shoes and a 9'4.5 standing reach. He also has decent athleticism, some ball handling skills, outside shooting ability and some low post skill. I would have liked to have seen him display more toughness and less of an aversion to rebounding, but then he would have been picked in the lottery and unavailable to make the move in-state to the Houston Rockets and our weigh training staff. I believe there is a reasonable chance he could stick in the NBA for a number of years, the concern is will this team benefit from that or, like Josh McRoberts, it may take awhile before this very highly rated prospect out of high school finds his NBA niche.

Tough break for NSDukeFan and of course a much tougher break for Isaiah Austin:

Isaiah Austin has Marfan Syndrome (http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/11119553/former-baylor-star-isaiah-austin-career-ending-medical-condition)


Austin, who had been projected as a late first-round pick, underwent a standard physical at the NBA combine where his EKG test revealed an abnormality. After additional genetic tests, results came back positive for Marfan syndrome.

Former Baylor star Isaiah Austin, a potential NBA draft pick, has been diagnosed with a career-ending medical condition called Marfan syndrome.

The recommendation was that Austin quit playing basketball immediately.

[Kedsy]

I thought about taking Dawkins, but after watching Seth Curry struggle to even get his foot in the door...well it gave me pause. Seth is a more complete player in almost every aspect over Dawkins, and he can hardly sniff the court. I love Dawkins, he is my favorite Duke player in a long time, but he is going to have to work on his game in the D League or Europe first. Even if he becomes a consistently deadly shooter, he will have to prove he can defend and handle the ball a little.

I don't think Seth Curry is the right comparison for Andre Dawkins. Based on the combine measurements, Andre is 2.5 inches taller and has a 4.5 inch longer wingspan. And while I don't have definitive numbers for this, Andre also has a much better vertical. Also, although Seth is a great shooter, I think Andre is better (he certainly has better form).

To make it in the League, Seth needed to get a shot at playing backup PG or combo guard, but at least so far NBA teams have unfortunately not been willing to give him that chance, and the problem with Seth playing as a shooting specialist is he isn't tall enough to play SG in the NBA. This problem is compounded by the fact that, even at Duke, Seth had problems shooting over taller defenders. However Andre *is* tall enough to play SG in the NBA and gets great lift on his shots, so in my opinion he has a much better chance to carve out a role as a shooting specialist than Seth did/does.

[NSDukeFan]

Tough break for NSDukeFan and of course a much tougher break for Isaiah Austin:

Isaiah Austin has Marfan Syndrome (http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/11119553/former-baylor-star-isaiah-austin-career-ending-medical-condition)

Very disappointing for him when he was so close to getting drafted. I wish this were mock Marfan syndrome.

[theAlaskanBear]

I don't think Seth Curry is the right comparison for Andre Dawkins. Based on the combine measurements, Andre is 2.5 inches taller and has a 4.5 inch longer wingspan. And while I don't have definitive numbers for this, Andre also has a much better vertical. Also, although Seth is a great shooter, I think Andre is better (he certainly has better form).

To make it in the League, Seth needed to get a shot at playing backup PG or combo guard, but at least so far NBA teams have unfortunately not been willing to give him that chance, and the problem with Seth playing as a shooting specialist is he isn't tall enough to play SG in the NBA. This problem is compounded by the fact that, even at Duke, Seth had problems shooting over taller defenders. However Andre *is* tall enough to play SG in the NBA and gets great lift on his shots, so in my opinion he has a much better chance to carve out a role as a shooting specialist than Seth did/does.

I didn't mean to imply that Curry and Dawkins were the same type of players. Watching Curry, who was a consistently a very good player for Duke, who has an NBA brother and dad, struggle to make the league really hit home how big of a transition it is. This leads me to think that Dawkins, who has been inconsistently good for Duke (and who is more one-dimensional) will have a difficult time making the league, even though he is an excellent shooter. He can't create for himself, he is not going to make plays for other people, he is not an athletic freak. If he wants to continue to play basketball, he will need to really work to expand his defense and ball-handling in the D league or Europe.

Furthermore, you are underselling Curry's shooting ability a bit. Curry is a more consistent 3pt shooter. He was a better shooter in conference play, where teams can prepare and gameplan, and two of his three seasons with Duke his three point % was higher than ANY of Dawkins seasons. Check the splits on Sports-Reference.

I hope Dawkins size and shooting will be enough to carry him into the league for a poor team who can let him develop. Maybe he will thrive in a new environment where he can focus solely on basketball. But I don't see it at this point.

[pfrduke]

Monday morning round up - two picks to go and the updated second round is below:

Second Round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - PJ Hairston, North Carolina
32. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
33. Cleveland Cavaliers - BlueDevilBrowns - Mitch McGary, Michigan
34. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia
35. Utah Jazz - tommy - CJ Wilcox, Washington
36. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - DeAndre Daniels, UConn
37. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian - Thanasis Antetokoumpo, Greece
38. Detroit Pistons - NCDBlueDevilsTC78 - Markel Brown, Oklahoma State
39. Philadelphia 76ers -pfrduke - Walter Tavares, Cape Verde
40. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Russdiculous, Louisville
41. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - Spencer Dinwiddie, Colorado
42. Houston Rockets - nsdukefan - Isaiah Austin, Baylor
43. Atlanta Hawks - JasonEvans - Jordan Clarkson, Missouri
44. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Patric Young, Florida
45. Charlotte Hornets - mattman91 - Jabari Brown, Missouri
46. Washington Wizards - nocilla - Jahii Carson, Arizona State
47. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Damien Inglis, French Guiana
48. Milwaukee Bucks - Turk - Semaj Christon, Xavier
49. Chicago Bulls - CDu - Deonte Burton, Nevada
50. Phoenix Suns - LI Duke - James Michael McAdoo, UNC
51. Dallas Mavericks - kAzE - Nikola Jokic, Serbia
52. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Dwight Powell, Stanford
53. Minnesota Timberwolves - FerryFor50 - Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State
54. Philadelphia 76ers - pfrduke - Nick Johnson, Arizona
55. Miami Heat - Duke3517 - Khem Birch, UNLV
56. Denver Nuggets - The Alaskan Bear - DeAndre Kane, Iowa State
57. Indiana Pacers - awhom111 - Josh Huestis, Stanford
58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Andre Dawkins, Duke
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

[brevity]

58. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity - Andre Dawkins, Duke
59. Toronto Raptors - NovaScotian
60. San Antonio Spurs - Brevity

I made that #58 pick over 41 hours ago. Is NovaScotian on Canadian time?

By the way, this is Day 12 of the 2014 DBR Mock Draft. I was going to compare Jason Evans to David Stern, but he's long past that and fully entrenched in Peter Jackson territory. Let's finish this up so I can draft Greg Oden's grandson at #60.

[JasonEvans]

I made that #58 pick over 41 hours ago. Is NovaScotian on Canadian time?

By the way, this is Day 12 of the 2014 DBR Mock Draft. I was going to compare Jason Evans to David Stern, but he's long past that and fully entrenched in Peter Jackson territory. Let's finish this up so I can draft Greg Oden's grandson at #60.

I sent Novascotian a note asking him to make his pick ASAP. Seeing as we are in the final couple picks and are clearly going to finish well before the NBA does their draft thing, I am trying to be nice about it... but he held up the draft earlier and it not making any friends by holding it up again. I am going to give him 2 more hours... until 4pm ET. If he has not picked by then, I will make the pick for him.

-Jason "I'm probably going to pick either Joe Harris or CJ Fair, just because I want to pick an ACC senior... or maybe Johnny O'Bryant... anyone have an opinion about this pick? Position needs are silly at this point in the draft-- it is best avail and hope they are good enough to actually make your team" Evans

[Duvall]

I sent Novascotian a note asking him to make his pick ASAP. Seeing as we are in the final couple picks and are clearly going to finish well before the NBA does their draft thing, I am trying to be nice about it... but he held up the draft earlier and it not making any friends by holding it up again. I am going to give him 2 more hours... until 4pm ET. If he has not picked by then, I will make the pick for him.

-Jason "I'm probably going to pick either Joe Harris or CJ Fair, just because I want to pick an ACC senior... or maybe Johnny O'Bryant... anyone have an opinion about this pick? Position needs are silly at this point in the draft-- it is best avail and hope they are good enough to actually make your team" Evans

Or you could skip NovaScotian and let brevity make the next pick. Let NovaScotian write up the last pick whenever.

[Turk]

-Jason "I'm probably going to pick either Joe Harris or CJ Fair, just because I want to pick an ACC senior... or maybe Johnny O'Bryant... anyone have an opinion about this pick? Position needs are silly at this point in the draft-- it is best avail and hope they are good enough to actually make your team" Evans

Tyler Thornton!!

[mattman91]

Tyler Thornton!!

Nahhh...Todd Zafirovski

[Duke3517]

Josh Hairston

[theAlaskanBear]

I sent Novascotian a note asking him to make his pick ASAP. Seeing as we are in the final couple picks and are clearly going to finish well before the NBA does their draft thing, I am trying to be nice about it... but he held up the draft earlier and it not making any friends by holding it up again. I am going to give him 2 more hours... until 4pm ET. If he has not picked by then, I will make the pick for him.

-Jason "I'm probably going to pick either Joe Harris or CJ Fair, just because I want to pick an ACC senior... or maybe Johnny O'Bryant... anyone have an opinion about this pick? Position needs are silly at this point in the draft-- it is best avail and hope they are good enough to actually make your team" Evans

I would give him Devyn Marble, Melvin Ejim, or Jordan McRae.

[JasonEvans]

59. Toronto Raptors - Joe Harris, Virginia

Picking on behalf of the horribly late Novascotian, I considered a number of players including Nemanja Dangubic of Serbia (great length at 6-8 for a wing guard, but poor outside shot and his handle probably isn't there yet), CJ Fair of Syracuse (a winner but I am not convinced he will be successful at the next level with players who exceed him athletically), and Aaron Craft (who will give 900% every single play, but just seems so limited offensively that I can't imagine him being a NBA player).

So, we went with Joe Harris, another winner in college who most mock drafts have going in the early-mid 2nd round (making him a bit of a steal at this stage in the draft). Harris does not have elite length (his 6-6 reach is the shortest among all wing players measured at Portsmouth) nor is he a classic run/jump athlete. But, he makes up for all that with tremendous grit and smarts. Plus, he has a fabulous long-range jumpshot and never, ever shies away from taking the big shot. Physically, he is ready to compete with NBA wings, which is a big deal. He is cut and uses his muscle to overwhelm those skinny run/jump guys. His offensive stats were somewhat down his senior season, but that was because he was busy destroying opposing players with his D and his hustle. I suspect he will be the kind of guy to make everyone work harder in practice and -- like Craft -- will give his all every second he is on the floor. I full expect him to be a fan favorite who will contribute with timely 3s and smart play.

-Jason "ok, Brevity... wrap it up!!" Evans

[brevity]

I think we all know that no matter who gets drafted at #60, James Michael McAdoo will be known as Mr. Irrelevant.

Reports are coming in today that Tim Duncan, 38, will return to the Spurs for his 18th season. "Damn, that's old," said Derek Fisher. Anyway, this relieves some pressure. I no longer have to worry about finding his replacement with this pick.

I mentioned earlier that the Spurs could use a backup forward, and so I'm picking 20-year-old 6'8" small forward Ioannis Papapetrou, currently of Olympiacos in Greece, but who also spent one season at the University of Texas. It's a total crapshoot at the bottom of the 2nd round, but to find an international prospect with Lone Star experience? Can't pass that up. Draft evaluators consider him a project that needs to develop further in Europe. The real Spurs are likely to add forward depth by trades or free agency rather than the 2nd round of the draft, so this pick makes some sense.

This concludes the 2014 DBR Mock NBA Draft. To those of you still in attendance: are you draft-eligible and interested in a career playing in the NBA? You can line up at Concourse 4; the Philadelphia 76ers are holding open tryouts.

[mattman91]

Now somebody, roll out that draft grades!

[awhom111]

Josh Hairston

Josh's stock dropped after he pulled a Dario Saric and went ahead and signed with Massagno in Switzerland (congrats to him!) three days before the draft.


I would give him Devyn Marble, Melvin Ejim, or Jordan McRae.

I would have gone with Ejim for the Canada factor at least.


I think we all know that no matter who gets drafted at #60, James Michael McAdoo will be known as Mr. Irrelevant.

Reports are coming in today that Tim Duncan, 38, will return to the Spurs for his 18th season. "Damn, that's old," said Derek Fisher. Anyway, this relieves some pressure. I no longer have to worry about finding his replacement with this pick.

I mentioned earlier that the Spurs could use a backup forward, and so I'm picking 20-year-old 6'8" small forward Ioannis Papapetrou, currently of Olympiacos in Greece, but who also spent one season at the University of Texas. It's a total crapshoot at the bottom of the 2nd round, but to find an international prospect with Lone Star experience? Can't pass that up. Draft evaluators consider him a project that needs to develop further in Europe. The real Spurs are likely to add forward depth by trades or free agency rather than the 2nd round of the draft, so this pick makes some sense.

This concludes the 2014 DBR Mock NBA Draft. To those of you still in attendance: are you draft-eligible and interested in a career playing in the NBA? You can line up at Concourse 4; the Philadelphia 76ers are holding open tryouts.

I went undrafted in 2010 (I knew I shouldn't have used my graduate student transfer to go from Duke to USC). Can I still try out? As I often joke, at least I would sell a ton of jerseys in China.


Now somebody, roll out that draft grades!

I will do the comparison of our draft to the actual draft again this year.

[Turk]

I mentioned earlier that the Spurs could use a backup forward, and so I'm picking 20-year-old 6'8" small forward Ioannis Papapetrou, currently of Olympiacos in Greece, but who also spent one season at the University of Texas. It's a total crapshoot at the bottom of the 2nd round, but to find an international prospect with Lone Star experience? Can't pass that up. Draft evaluators consider him a project that needs to develop further in Europe. The real Spurs are likely to add forward depth by trades or free agency rather than the 2nd round of the draft, so this pick makes some sense.



"Lone Star experience? Can't pass that up"? If it's Rick Barnes, yeah, you can. The kid is gonna need a couple years in Europe just to unlearn whatever it is Barnes tries to teach. He's on the short list of coaches who know how to do less with more.

[kAzE]

Chad Ford's latest mock:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/mock/?season=2014&version=10&source=Chad-Ford-Mock-Draft

Check it out, my #51 pick Nikola Jokic shot up to #32 on Ford's mock :)

[Henderson]

Chad Ford's latest mock:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/mock/?season=2014&version=10&source=Chad-Ford-Mock-Draft

Check it out, my #51 pick Nikola Jokic shot up to #32 on Ford's mock :)

Any athlete with the name Jokic has got to be one tough dude.

[brevity]

No one better take my guy

At the time this was posted I thought it was an incredibly poor tactic. (Context: the mock GM of the Miami Heat wanted Shabazz Napier.) But now I see Duke3517 hit the nail on the head, as the real Heat are in full disclosure mode:

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/11133418/2014-nba-draft-miami-heat-chasing-shabazz-napier-attempt-lure-back-lebron-james


The Miami Heat have started the process of courting LeBron James with an aggressive attempt to move up in Thursday's NBA draft, with their target being former UConn point guard Shabazz Napier, league sources said.

Now watch Cleveland take him #1.

[Duvall]

At the time this was posted I thought it was an incredibly poor tactic. (Context: the mock GM of the Miami Heat wanted Shabazz Napier.) But now I see Duke3517 hit the nail on the head, as the real Heat are in full disclosure mode:

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/11133418/2014-nba-draft-miami-heat-chasing-shabazz-napier-attempt-lure-back-lebron-james



Now watch Cleveland take him #1.

I don't know - Napier can actually play basketball, which is something Cleveland doesn't always look for in a high draft pick.

[Duke3517]

At the time this was posted I thought it was an incredibly poor tactic. (Context: the mock GM of the Miami Heat wanted Shabazz Napier.) But now I see Duke3517 hit the nail on the head, as the real Heat are in full disclosure mode:

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/11133418/2014-nba-draft-miami-heat-chasing-shabazz-napier-attempt-lure-back-lebron-james



Now watch Cleveland take him #1.

The problem is our superstar who is now a free agent is very outspoken to not only our front management but to the media. We have plan A and plan b for whatever his "decision" is. Since he is so outspoken we decided to be the same way by telling the media that when times get tough (even though we at least made the finals 4 years in a row, who can say that?) to not take the easy way out. He is an outstanding player and the biggest contributor to our success. We expect some patience as we retool our team to championship level success.

[Newton_14]

At the time this was posted I thought it was an incredibly poor tactic. (Context: the mock GM of the Miami Heat wanted Shabazz Napier.) But now I see Duke3517 hit the nail on the head, as the real Heat are in full disclosure mode:

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/11133418/2014-nba-draft-miami-heat-chasing-shabazz-napier-attempt-lure-back-lebron-james



Now watch Cleveland take him #1.

I really really wanted Napier for my Clips pick. Logic? I am a firm believer that having your backup PG be of similar size with similar skill set as your main PG is a huge plus for your team. It helps the offense run smoother as the offensive movement is very similar no matter which one is in the game. i thought that was a huge plus in the finals this year for the Spurs with Tony Parker/Paddy Mills. I know Parker is the superior player and a more effective driver than is MIlls, but there were times during the games when i got mixed up on which of the two were in the game. The offensive flowed almost identically no matter which guy was in. That is just a big bonus in my opinion.

Thus my desire to draft Napier to back up Chris Paul. They have differences for sure, but also enough similarities to emulate the Parker/Mills duo. But I knew him lasting that long was a longshot.

Still happy with my pick of Grant. Good bloodlines and good talent there. I just hate I only had one pick in a year when the draft was just ridiculously deep

[brevity]

...I'm picking 20-year-old 6'8" small forward Ioannis Papapetrou, currently of Olympiacos in Greece, but who also spent one season at the University of Texas. It's a total crapshoot at the bottom of the 2nd round, but to find an international prospect with Lone Star experience? Can't pass that up...


"Lone Star experience? Can't pass that up"? If it's Rick Barnes, yeah, you can. The kid is gonna need a couple years in Europe just to unlearn whatever it is Barnes tries to teach. He's on the short list of coaches who know how to do less with more.

Yeah, I meant that the Lone Star experience would counteract any potential culture shock. Like most people, I wasn't even thinking about Rick Barnes. (You raise a valid concern.)


Now somebody, roll out that draft grades!


I will do the comparison of our draft to the actual draft again this year.

It's probably best to wait until the real draft takes place, but it already looks like your Hornets draft (Randle, Napier, Jabari Brown) has zoomed past fan favorite and become an expert favorite as well. The way things are buzzing, I think Randle is going before #9 and Napier might crack the lottery.

I do want to say one thing. As the mock GM who picked last in each round, I was absolutely floored by all the players still available. This is a deep, deep draft. And so I pose a question: who's the best player who went mock-undrafted?

[JasonEvans]

The perils of having our Mock Draft before the NBA does their thing...

I suspect that when we look back on this, we will find that Isiah Austin (career-ending medical condition), Dario Saric (staying in Europe for 2 years), James Young (injured, missed workouts), and of course Joel Embiid (injured and perhaps injury prone) all went significantly higher in our draft than where they fall in the real thing. I want to assure the mock GMs who selected them that you will not be fired for overdrafting ;)

-Jason "Jabari and Rodney's big night is here! Wishing them all the luck in the world!" Evans

[mattman91]

Yeah, I meant that the Lone Star experience would counteract any potential culture shock. Like most people, I wasn't even thinking about Rick Barnes. (You raise a valid concern.)





It's probably best to wait until the real draft takes place, but it already looks like your Hornets draft (Randle, Napier, Jabari Brown) has zoomed past fan favorite and become an expert favorite as well. The way things are buzzing, I think Randle is going before #9 and Napier might crack the lottery.

I do want to say one thing. As the mock GM who picked last in each round, I was absolutely floored by all the players still available. This is a deep, deep draft. And so I pose a question: who's the best player who went mock-undrafted?


Great question...I'll be interested to read everyone's answers.

[kAzE]

Great question...I'll be interested to read everyone's answers.

Off the top of my head, I don't think anyone took Johnny O'Bryant, who I could see someone drafting early in the 2nd round. He's a big, physical athlete with a great motor. Those type of guys tend to carve out a role in the NBA.

[NSDukeFan]

The perils of having our Mock Draft before the NBA does their thing...

I suspect that when we look back on this, we will find that Isiah Austin (career-ending medical condition), Dario Saric (staying in Europe for 2 years), James Young (injured, missed workouts), and of course Joel Embiid (injured and perhaps injury prone) all went significantly higher in our draft than where they fall in the real thing. I want to assure the mock GMs who selected them that you will not be fired for overdrafting ;)

-Jason "Jabari and Rodney's big night is here! Wishing them all the luck in the world!" Evans

Thank goodness I may be able to keep my mock GM job, though stability isn't great as I have had to reapply each year and I believe I have chosen for a different team each of the last couple of years.
ns "is it wrong that I still secretly hope to see Jared Sullinger, Cody Zeller, Pierre Jackson (maybe not the best pick but better than Isaiah Austin) and Jae Crowder" do well because I mock drafted them?" dukefan

[Turk]

I looked up Chad Ford and Draft Express - both have Artem Klimenko (C, 7'-1", 228 lbs, Russia) as highest ranked "mock-undrafted" player that I saw, #37 on Draft Express, #39 on Ford. No idea about the dude, probably only awhom111 has seen him play.

O'Bryant is a good call (#41, #43). Others include Cristiano Felicio (PF, 6'-9", 240, Brazil) - (#43, #51), Roy Devyn Marble (#50, #53), Mike Moser (#56, #56), C.J. Fair (#75, #54), "Mr. Irrelevant" McAdoo (#74, #63).

[mattman91]

Off the top of my head, I don't think anyone took Johnny O'Bryant, who I could see someone drafting early in the 2nd round. He's a big, physical athlete with a great motor. Those type of guys tend to carve out a role in the NBA.

Yep...didn't Duke briefly recruit him?

[brevity]

I looked up Chad Ford and Draft Express - both have Artem Klimenko (C, 7'-1", 228 lbs, Russia) as highest ranked "mock-undrafted" player that I saw, #37 on Draft Express, #39 on Ford. No idea about the dude, probably only awhom111 has seen him play.

O'Bryant is a good call (#41, #43). Others include Cristiano Felicio (PF, 6'-9", 240, Brazil) - (#43, #51), Roy Devyn Marble (#50, #53), Mike Moser (#56, #56), C.J. Fair (#75, #54), "Mr. Irrelevant" McAdoo (#74, #63).

Artem Klimenko was drafted by DBR at #29. And McAdoo went #50.

I think Johnny O'Bryant is the most likely mock-undrafted player who will get drafted tonight. It will be interesting to see who else NBA GMs value more than we did.

[CDu]

Well, last year I felt pretty dumb as I took one of the biggest overdrafts in the first round of the 2013 DBR Mock Draft.

This year, I've gotten two of the biggest first-round steals in Stauskas and Young. So I feel... a little less dumb this year. I guess.

[NSDukeFan]

Well, last year I felt pretty dumb as I took one of the biggest overdrafts in the first round of the 2013 DBR Mock Draft.

This year, I've gotten two of the biggest first-round steals in Stauskas and Young. So I feel... a little less dumb this year. I guess.

I would think those are both solid picks if you got them later than they were picked.

[kAzE]

Wooo Bogdan went in the first round!

[awhom111]

I will present this list in a couple of formats. First is by our Mock Draft Order. 1st number is our pick number, 2nd is when the player was actually picked with U for undrafted, 3rd is the name, and 4th is the username with the pick in the mock draft:

1 1 Andrew Wiggins BlueDevilBrowns
2 3 Joel Embiid Turk
3 2 Jabari Parker pfrduke
4 5 Dante Exum Duvall
5 9 Noah Vonleh tommy
6 4 Aaron Gordon Henderson
7 6 Marcus Smart TheSchwartz
8 11 Doug McDermott Ichabod Drain
9 7 Julius Randle mattman91
10 13 Zach LaVine pfrduke
11 16 Jusuf Nurkic The Alaskan Bear
12 12 Dario Saric Duvall
13 23 Rodney Hood FerryFor50
14 19 Gary Harris LI Duke
15 30 Kyle Anderson JasonEvans
16 8 Nik Stauskas CDU
17 18 Tyler Ennis Henderson
18 10 Elfrid Payton LI Duke
19 17 James Young CDU
20 15 Adreian Payne NovaScotian
21 40 Glenn Robinson III FlyingDutchDevil
22 14 TJ Warren roywhite
23 22 Jordan Adams tommy
24 24 Shabazz Napier mattman91
25 32 KJ McDaniels nsdukefan
26 34 Cleanthony Early Duke3517
27 25 Clint Capela LI Duke
28 39 Jerami Grant Newton_14
29 U Artem Klimenko FlyingDutchDevil
30 52 Vasilije Micic brevity
31 26 PJ Hairston Turk
32 35 Jarnell Stokes pfrduke
33 21 Mitch McGary BlueDevilBrowns
34 27 Bogdan Bogdanovic kAzE
35 28 CJ Wilcox tommy
36 37 DeAndre Daniels Turk
37 51 Thanasis Antetokoumpo NovaScotian
38 44 Markel Brown NCDBlueDevilsTC78
39 43 Walter Tavares pfrduke
40 47 Russ Smith FerryFor50
41 38 Spencer Dinwiddie The Alaskan Bear
42 U Isaiah Austin nsdukefan
43 46 Jordan Clarkson JasonEvans
44 U Patric Young FerryFor50
45 U Jabari Brown mattman91
46 U Jahii Carson nocilla
47 31 Damien Inglis pfrduke
48 55 Semaj Christon Turk
49 U Deonte Burton CDU
50 U James Michael McAdoo LI Duke
51 41 Nikola Jokic kAzE
52 45 Dwight Powell pfrduke
53 U Jordan Bachynski FerryFor50
54 42 Nick Johnson pfrduke
55 U Khem Birch Duke3517
56 U DeAndre Kane The Alaskan Bear
57 29 Josh Huestis awhom111
58 U Andre Dawkins brevity
59 33 Joe Harris NovaScotian*pick made by JasonEvans
60 U Ioannis Papepetrou brevity
U 20 Bruno Caboclo
U 36 Johnny O'Bryant III
U 48 Lamar Patterson
U 49 Cameron Bairstow
U 50 Alec Brown
U 53 Alessandro Gentile
U 54 Nemanja Dangubic
U 56 Roy Devyn Marble
U 57 Louis Labeyrie
U 58 Jordan McRae
U 59 Xavier Thames
U 60 Cory Jefferson


Here are the picks that were the exact same in the mock draft and the actual draft:
1 1 0 Andrew Wiggins BlueDevilBrowns
12 12 0 Dario Saric Duvall
24 24 0 Shabazz Napier mattman91

Here are the players we drafted higher than where they actually went, with the third number being the difference in pick numbers:
30 52 -22 Vasilije Micic brevity
21 40 -19 Glenn Robinson III FlyingDutchDevil
15 30 -15 Kyle Anderson JasonEvans
37 51 -14 Thanasis Antetokoumpo NovaScotian
28 39 -11 Jerami Grant Newton_14
13 23 -10 Rodney Hood FerryFor50
26 34 -8 Cleanthony Early Duke3517
25 32 -7 KJ McDaniels nsdukefan
40 47 -7 Russ Smith FerryFor50
48 55 -7 Semaj Christon Turk
38 44 -6 Markel Brown NCDBlueDevilsTC78
11 16 -5 Jusuf Nurkic The Alaskan Bear
14 19 -5 Gary Harris LI Duke
5 9 -4 Noah Vonleh tommy
39 43 -4 Walter Tavares pfrduke
8 11 -3 Doug McDermott Ichabod Drain
10 13 -3 Zach LaVine pfrduke
32 35 -3 Jarnell Stokes pfrduke
43 46 -3 Jordan Clarkson JasonEvans
2 3 -1 Joel Embiid Turk
4 5 -1 Dante Exum Duvall
17 18 -1 Tyler Ennis Henderson
36 37 -1 DeAndre Daniels Turk

Here are the players we drafted lower than where they actually went, with the third number being the difference in pick numbers:
57 29 28 Josh Huestis awhom111
59 33 26 Joe Harris NovaScotian*pick made by JasonEvans
47 31 16 Damien Inglis pfrduke
33 21 12 Mitch McGary BlueDevilBrowns
54 42 12 Nick Johnson pfrduke
51 41 10 Nikola Jokic kAzE
16 8 8 Nik Stauskas CDU
18 10 8 Elfrid Payton LI Duke
22 14 8 TJ Warren roywhite
34 27 7 Bogdan Bogdanovic kAzE
35 28 7 CJ Wilcox tommy
52 45 7 Dwight Powell pfrduke
20 15 5 Adreian Payne NovaScotian
31 26 5 PJ Hairston Turk
41 38 3 Spencer Dinwiddie The Alaskan Bear
6 4 2 Aaron Gordon Henderson
9 7 2 Julius Randle mattman91
19 17 2 James Young CDU
27 25 2 Clint Capela LI Duke
3 2 1 Jabari Parker pfrduke
7 6 1 Marcus Smart TheSchwartz
23 22 1 Jordan Adams tommy

Here are the players we drafted that were not drafted with where we picked them:
29 Artem Klimenko FlyingDutchDevil
42 Isaiah Austin nsdukefan
44 Patric Young FerryFor50
45 Jabari Brown mattman91
46 Jahii Carson nocilla
49 Deonte Burton CDU
50 James Michael McAdoo LI Duke
53 Jordan Bachynski FerryFor50
55 Khem Birch Duke3517
56 DeAndre Kane The Alaskan Bear
58 Andre Dawkins brevity
60 Ioannis Papepetrou brevity

Here are the players who were actually drafted that we did not pick in order of where they were picked:
20 Bruno Caboclo
36 Johnny O'Bryant III
48 Lamar Patterson
49 Cameron Bairstow
50 Alec Brown
53 Alessandro Gentile
54 Nemanja Dangubic
56 Roy Devyn Marble
57 Louis Labeyrie
58 Jordan McRae
59 Xavier Thames
60 Cory Jefferson

[kAzE]

What's a Bruno Caboclo? I think the Toronto GM is trolling everyone.

[Henderson]

What's a Bruno Caboclo? I think the Toronto GM is trolling everyone.

One of the analysts last night said Caboclo is two years away from being two years away.

Reminds me of when the Flintstones went to the Grand Canyon. When they got there it was just a little trickle of a stream across flat ground. Fred said to Barney, "It's not much now, but people say it's really going to be something one day."

I hope Toronto is patient. Word last night was they wanted hometown guy Tyler Ennis, and Tyler and his family were excited about the prospect. But the Suns snagged Ennis two spots earlier with the stated intention of keeping him. Suns got TJ Warren and Tyler Ennis to team up with MP1. That could be a punchy trio.

[Kedsy]

Here are the picks that were the exact same in the mock draft and the actual draft:
1 1 0 Andrew Wiggins BlueDevilBrowns
12 12 0 Dario Saric Duvall
24 24 0 Shabazz Napier mattman91

Here are the players we drafted higher than where they actually went, with the third number being the difference in pick numbers:
30 52 -22 Vasilije Micic brevity
21 40 -19 Glenn Robinson III FlyingDutchDevil
15 30 -15 Kyle Anderson JasonEvans
37 51 -14 Thanasis Antetokoumpo NovaScotian
28 39 -11 Jerami Grant Newton_14
13 23 -10 Rodney Hood FerryFor50
26 34 -8 Cleanthony Early Duke3517
25 32 -7 KJ McDaniels nsdukefan
40 47 -7 Russ Smith FerryFor50
48 55 -7 Semaj Christon Turk
38 44 -6 Markel Brown NCDBlueDevilsTC78
11 16 -5 Jusuf Nurkic The Alaskan Bear
14 19 -5 Gary Harris LI Duke
5 9 -4 Noah Vonleh tommy
39 43 -4 Walter Tavares pfrduke
8 11 -3 Doug McDermott Ichabod Drain
10 13 -3 Zach LaVine pfrduke
32 35 -3 Jarnell Stokes pfrduke
43 46 -3 Jordan Clarkson JasonEvans
2 3 -1 Joel Embiid Turk
4 5 -1 Dante Exum Duvall
17 18 -1 Tyler Ennis Henderson
36 37 -1 DeAndre Daniels Turk



So I guess DBR thinks the real 76ers did pretty well in the draft. The Sixers' first six picks all went the same or lower in the real draft than in the mock draft, including four of the top 10 in the above list (though the team did immediately trade Russ Smith, so maybe he shouldn't count).

You think Sam Hinkie used DBR as his rating system? ;)

[Duke3517]

I was pretty much right that Napier would end up with the heat...