Well my first try at a mock draft for the NBA Draft didn't go over so well... looks like I got 5 correct. Now had I redone the mock even the day of, I would have been closer to 12-15 correct. Coulda, shoulda woulda, I know but oh well there is always next year. Let's break it down to close out the 2010-2011 NBA season.
The Cavs took Kyrie Irving like everyone expected, no surprises there and the T'wolves followed suit by grabbing Derrick Williams at number 2. Then the Jazz mixed things up a little and took Turkish Center Enes Kanter (not the PG they needed). While Kanter is a great prospect, the Jazz have a logjam up front with fellow Turk Mehmet Okur, Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. Then it REALLY got interesting with the Cavs 2nd pick of the draft when they selected forward Tristan Thompson from Texas. This came out of nowhere are many people were outraged thinking that they would take Jonas Valanciunas here but instead took the troubled Canadian born teen who shoots 49% from the free throw line. Upside here though is he can rebound and has great length down low with a soft touch around the rim.
The Raptors jumped at the opportunity to take Valanciunas at 5 since Colangelo loves international players this came to no ones surprise but the Raptors need help now, and Jonas won't be available until at least next year due to a bad Euroleague contract. The Wizards did just what I thought they would at 6 taking the athletic 20 year old from the Czech Republic, Jan Vesely. The Kings then drafted Bismack Biyombo but this pick was part of a 3 team, 8 player trade with Biyombo ending up in Charlotte. The Pistons took the best player available and filled a nice guard need with Kentucky's Brandon Knight. Bobcats at 9 took Kemba Walker who will immediately step into a big-time scoring void that was left when they traded Stephen Jackson earlier in the day to Milwaukee. And part of that trade happened at number 10 when the Bucks selected BYU's Jimmer Fredette for the Kings.
11th overall was another hit for me, the Warriors took Mychal Thompson's kid Klay from Washington State to fill a SG/SF void. At 12 the Jazz had another pick and this time got a guard who can score the ball in Colorado's Alec Burks. Then a great thing happened at 13, the Suns took Markieff Morris (I had them taking Marcus) followed by the Rockets taking Marcus Morris at 14. Got to love how the twins went back to back. The Pacers selected Kawhi Leonard at 15 but immediately traded him and 2nd round pick Davis Bertans to San Antonio for George Hill.
At 16 the 76ers took a big man they desperately needed in Nikola Vucevic, a 7 footer from USC. I nailed the Knicks selection right on too when they selected defensive minded guard Iman Shumpert from Georgia Tech. Tons of boos on this pick, even Spike Lee had issues defending the pick when interviewed, all he kept saying was defense and we need defense. At 18 the Wizards took their 2nd pick, Chris Singleton from Florida State to give them two athletic guys to fill the 3 and 4 positions. The Bobcats took Tobias Harris for the Bucks here as part of that SJax trade which I had mentioned earlier. And at 20 the T'Wolves took Donatas Motiejunas who was then traded to Houston with Jonny Flynn for Brad Miller and other players they would trade later on.
21st was the Trailblazers pick and since they had decided to trade Andre Miller and others for Raymond Felton earlier, they chose Duke PG Nolan Smith. The Nuggets who always love high motor guys took the guy with the highest in the draft with Kenneth Faried at 22 overall. Best rebounder in college basketball of ALL TIME. At 23 Rockets took Nikola Mirotic but he was traded to Minnesota then to Chicago. The Thunder surprised a lot of people when they took SG Reggie Jackson from Boston College at 24 since he did not workout for a single team in preparation for the draft. And at 25 my Celtics finally picked and took Providence's guard Marshon Brooks but traded him immediately to the Nets for the 27th pick and a 2nd rounder in 2014.
26th was the World Champion Mavericks who took Jordan Hamilton from Texas but traded him to Denver as part of the Felton/Miller deal and received Rudy Fernandez in return. 27th was the Nets pick for the Celtics and they took the talented PF from Purdue, JaJuan Johnson. (Celtics also took Purdue SG E'twuan Moore with their 2nd round pick) Bulls took Norris Cole at 28 but traded him to Minnesota who traded him to Miami. 29th the Spurs took their George Hill replacement in Texas' Cory Joseph. And to finish off the first round the Bulls took the best story in the draft, Marquette's Jimmy Butler who has gone from homeless to NBA first round pick.
Overall a very entertaining draft, lots of trades, twitter was a blast to follow as the trades were being reported much faster there than on ESPN. So here are the team grades:
A+'s: NoneA's: Minnesota, Washington, Utah, Sacramento
A-'s: Boston, Dallas, Detroit
B+'s: Cleveland, Indiana, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Miami, Chicago, San Antonio
B's: Toronto, Oklahoma City, Golden State, Denver, Charlotte
B-'s: Houston, LA Lakers, New York
C+'s: Orlando, Phoenix, Portland
C's: Philadelphia
C-'s: LA Clippers, New Orleans, Atlanta
D's: None
F's: None
So is a Irving - Thompson tadem as good or better than the Williams - Knight tandem? WHo was the last impact Duke player? As opposed to Coach Cal's PGs. Time will tell, but to me a lot of these GMs are terrible!!!! - Uncle Pete
ReplyDeleteWell Irving-Thompson is extremely raw as a tandem with neither having much experience. Williams-Knight tandem? Williams went to the T-wolves, Knight to the Pistons but if they were to go in place of Irving-Thompson I would definitely say that's a better duo scoring wise. Last Duke impact player... Boozer? Brand? Battier? Maggette? all have ups and downs, none super stars. I'd take a Coach Cal PG any day like you said. GMs are awful but I think a handful did really well, even David Kahn.
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