The NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 25, giving us some time to put together a consensus mock of our own. We’ll assume everyone agrees that Blake Griffin should/will go first overall and start things off with Memphis’ pick No.2.
You can use the Updated Mock Drafts post for reference, as well as prospect rankings lists and profile info here, here, and here. For our purposes we have to assume that no picks will be traded, although that isn’t likely to be the case. You can find the results of closed polls on the “Polls Archive” page.
Mock Draft Results
1. LAC – Blake Griffin (age 20, PF – Oklahoma)
2. MEM – Hasheem Thabeet (22, C – Connecticut)
3. OKC – James Harden (19, SG – Arizona State)
4. SAC – Ricky Rubio (18, PG – Spain)
5. WAS – Jordan Hill (21, PF – Arizona)
6. MIN – Tyreke Evans (19, SG – Memphis)
7. GSW – Stephen Curry (21, PG – Davidson)
8. NYK – Jonny Flynn (20, PG – Syracuse)
interesting spot for the grizz. take thabeet and you are saying gasol isn’t the answer, but they already have the 1-3 locked up for a long time (at least in theory) in conley, mayo, gay. i’m not a huge gasol fan for this team anyway because he’s such a plodder, so i think they have to take thabeet or trade down and end up with a legit PF (whether a vet or pick)
Agreed, you can’t have enough big men, thabeet is it.
Thabeet doesn’t have much offense and im assuming never will but will at least be a much bigger presence on the defensive end. i think he has the potential to be the next camby or mutombo type player. i really dont know what memphis can do since he doesnt have a spot but i dont think you can pass up that potential. i really wish he could go to the Thunder.
3 Months later, and in the midst of team drafts, I see that ADP for Hasheem Thabeet is 159.4. Which is barely on the bubble for a deep league. Are we looking at another Darko Milic center type?
i hate the grizz, but they should go ahead and take thabeet. he makes sense for their team, so i doubt they draft him. I think Mgasol could be functional playing as a #4 and backup #5 w/ thabeet. Neither are the kind of players that will be upset that they aren’t getting any shots besides put-backs (w/ mayo and gay shooting constantly).
Just imagine the landscape of this offseason if the grizz hadn’t f-ed the blazers by playing DMiles. can you imagine the blazers having an additional $9 million available to them this year? that little move could be almost as important as their pau gasol giveaway…
gasol is way too slow to play PF. a thabeet/gasol pairing would be a trainwreck in transition (offense and defense)
I’m going to go the other way and say the Grizz stir up the drama early and take Rubio. They are in a bad spot here, but Rubio is a valuable commodity and when push comes to shove, someone is going to make a good offer for him. I don’t think Thabeet can come in a help them contend right away, in addition to not being a perfect fit. Obviously there is a worst case scenario that Rubio doesn’t come over and you can’t get anything good for him. Still, they probably stand to gain the most by taking the second best player and letting a deal work itself out
the popular assumption is that someone is going to trade up for rubio. the question is who and where exactly. all things staying put, i’d take harden if i’m the thunder and stick with westbrook at point
yep, i agree.. thunder will probably take harden over rubio
Thunder have to go with Harden with Westbrook at the point.
i took the liberty of assuming rubio would be a landslide pick for the kings. the wiz probably have to go hill here, although i think best-case for them is the ESPN mock, where harden falls to them
minnesota should take curry. i like the jason terry comparison for him in that he can play a few different “ways” and his stats/impact would change based on his role. from a fantasy standpoint, you can’t help but like curry the most in NY, but i think he’d do just fine in minny, as well. and as i’ve said before, i think they could ransom curry to the knicks if they wanted to – maybe try to work out something for wilson chandler
I have no clue what any of these teams need and what the expectations are out for most of these players.
So I won’t bother voting. All I’ll care about Thursday night is that OKC doesn’t draft a PG and that the Hawks draft Jeff Teague if he’s available.
I’ve been hearing that trade rumors involving Josh Smith are heating up as the draft nears.. But I will speculate and say that since the Hawks have refused to negotiate an extension with Mike Woodson, they might be letting him go after this season and would hopefully bring in a more offensive-minded coach who could help Josh Smith break through this wall that he ran into a few years ago.
make or break season for smith in atlanta, at the least. i don’t think he’ll get moved this off-season, but it’s worth gauging his value. if he shows up with the same attitude and work ethic this season, i don’t see how they can’t move on
I haven’t heard anything specific, just simply that there are trade rumors involving Smith. So I don’t know what teams are potentially interested in him. I think a team like GS would be a perfect fit for him.. He could just fast break all game, play no defense, and get a few random blocks.
I would be content with Smith if he would stop thinking he was a jump-shooter and start making his FTs. Maybe with the fans in Atlanta booing him during the Cavs he’ll either stop taking 3′s and long jumpshots or actually develop a shot. But I’m not optimistic about him doing either…
yep and that’s the thing with smith – if he doesn’t “get it” soon, you have to start to wonder if it will ever be gotten. from a fantasy standpoint, who wouldn’t love to see him “freed” in NY or GS, though?
Yeah I was going to say NY, but I figured that would interfere with their Lebron plans. I guess he could be a consolation for them at SF if they can’t land Lebron. But since JSmoove has a low basketball IQ and will apparently never become a complete player, might as well let him go play streetball for GS or NY since that’s obviously the only style of bball he knows.
I read that the Celtics just offered Allen and Rondo to the Pistons for Prince, Hamilton, and Stuckey.
Why are the Celtics trying so hard to get rid of Allen? He actually had a good season last year and he made some clutch shots in the playoffs. FA after next season, so I don’t really get it.
I thought they’d want to give that team another chance with a healthy KG next season.. But it appears that won’t be likely.
WHAT WHAT WHAT???
where did you read this? Lies…scandalous lies!
Seriously thou, it sounds bollocks to me. Even if they want to move Jesus, and I’m not convinced they do, I can’t see Danny giving up Rondo for that lot.
No.. It’s 100% legit. The Celtics really want to move Ray Allen for whatever reason.
apparently it was a conversation between some lower-level execs and “detroit immediately rejected the idea”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-celticspistons062209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
richard jefferson to the spurs for oberto, bowen, and k.thomas
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4281291&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines
takes a bit of pressure off of the big 3, although they still need everyone healthy if they are going to contend. depth charts page will be updated
Who do you think the Spurs are targeting in free agency? Now that the roster is only 7 guys deep (plus Mahinmi and Finley), will the Spurs try to buy a late 1st (Minny’s last pick and Portland come to mind) and draft someone like Demarre Carroll?
they’ll probably try to re-sign udoka for 2/3 depth and james singleton for the 3/4 seems like a spurs kind of signing to me (read: cheap, under the radar, and smart). they don’t have any cap room but guys like antonio mcdyess, zaza paculia, rasho nesterovic, shelden williams, and melvin ely could be reasonably priced bigs and are all UFA. anthony parker is another vet UFA who fits into their “win now” mentality
So will this make Joe Alexander a potential sleeper heading into next season?
possibly. if they use the extra $$ to resign charlie v, they would probably start mbah a moute and cv at the forward positions
Looks like Milwaukee, at the very least, will keep either Sessions or Charlie V (possibly both). A lot depends on what they do with pick #10. If they go PG, then Sessions is most likely gone; likewise for Charlie V if they go SF or PF with the pick.
There are going to be a lot of draft day trades and pick swapping this year.
on topic, i like tyreke evans as a player but don’t like the idea of pushing foye back to PG, which that pick would do. i like curry in MIN and evans in GSW a lot better
Randy Foye is one of the biggest conundrums for me in the NBA. I have no idea if he is a 2 masquerading as a 1, a 6th man posing as a starter. It would make too much sense for Minnesota to trade up with Memphis and pick up someone who can create for Jefferson. The Grizz would save face for not being able to land Rubio and pick up another chip (Kevin Love, perhaps).
oh he’s definitely a starter in the league, and he’s MUCH better at SG than PG, but he keeps getting paired with horrific backcourt mates no matter where he lines up. to me, foye/curry would be very nice. that said, if i’m the twolves, i take curry and package him to NY for wilson chander and the 8th pick, and then find a way to get lawson later
Lawson might be one of those Granger picks that most folks who know basketball shout, “Steal!”, no matter where he goes. Who would Minny take at the 8 in that scenario? Earl Clark? Evans?
Spurs going for 1 last championship. Duncan’s knees will be key, but adding a nice wing scorer is huge, especially for that price.
I’ve said it before – Duncan’s got at least 2 good years left in him, but he needs help, more now than ever.
I like the move. It fits in with the mentality of the organization. The vibe going into next year has been to make a move if it will help, otherwise keep what we’ve got and hold out until 2010 when there will be a very, VERY deep FA pool.
This trade fits the bill – although Bowen was a favorite and a class guy all around, he just wasn’t the “defensive stopper” this year that he’s been in year’s past. I think Oberto has upside, especially if he’s put in a system which is more to his style (if you remember the Argentine team from 2004, up-tempo, small ballish sort of). Thomas is just old – good for spurts here and there, but not a 25 min + guy.
I like Jefferson, and I think his game will compliment the rest of the starters. He gives the Spurs that fourth threat along with Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili (not to mention it puts to rest all the “Ginobili might be traded!” talk). I’d like to see them pick up another five – someone who can really back up Duncan without giving up the size.
I also like the fact that this trade was made off-season, as opposed to during the year. It’ll give Jefferson a chance to acclimate to the team with a full training camp.
Plus, I don’t know what our cap room is like now, but I would imagine this still gives us the opportunity to go after someone in 2010 (if we even have to).
And it won’t be one last championship! The way this organization works, they’ll find a way to be in the mix for many years to come, with or without Duncan’s knees!
dalembert to bobcats?
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20090623_Blog_Zone_.html
portland and detroit talking sign-and-trade for the knicks’ david lee?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06212009/sports/knicks/lees_career_reaches_high_pressure_time_175310.htm
foye and mike miller to the wizards for pick No.5, etan thomas, darius songaila, and oleksiy pecherov. foye slides right in as the starting SG, miller is good depth and an expiring deal, and minny now has picks 5, 6, 18, and 28 and the salaries they acquired aren’t bad. can’t say i dislike this for either team
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/06/23/wizards.timberwolves.trade/index.html
woohoo…things are heating up now!
Wiz are looking like a pretty exciting team with a starting 5 of Habachi, Foye, Butler, Jamison and Haywood, and the versatile Miller as 6th man. Add to that a good new coach in Flip. Now if they can just stay healthy….
Yeah, good move for both teams. The Wiz look much better on paper now, but I’m not ready to call Foye a savior or anything, and it leaves them a little thin up front. I still need to see Arenas, Haywood, and Miller perform at their full potential before I call this team a playoff contender again, but if anything, they probably have one of the best (young) benches in the East now with Blatche, McGuire, McGee, Young, and Crittenton.
….. Or play defense.
Note i said ‘exciting’, not contenders.
i love this trade and i think the wizards are going to be really good (if they stay healthy). that starting 5 with miller and blatche looks lethal.
I wonder how this trade shapes the draft now.
IF (very big if) it is something like Griffin-Thabeet-Harden-Evans/Rubio then the Wolves will (be able to) easily pick up the leftover of Evans/Rubio and Curry. Or they might package either of their early picks with No.18 or 28 to move up 1-2 slots to have a shot at either Harden or a slightly more assured spot for Rubio.
What do you think?
On the other hand the Wiz just jumped to the top4 of the East IMO. They could be on the same level with CLE, ORL, BOS if those teams don’t make any big mistakes in the offseason, like not keeping Turk, dealing away Rondo or something…
Are you kiddding. Mike Miller and Foye dont take the wiz to CLE, ORL, BOS level. Thats just old washington bullets daydreaming. Mike Miller and foye are the ingredients to jump a team from 19 wins to 60.
Yeah, yeah, YEAH!!! The Bullets ROCK!
Go Marion Barry!!!
Yeah, but Miller, Foye and a healthy Arenas (and a healthy Butler) can take them to that level.
in fantasy land they’ll be great. I just dont see that line up being championship quality. Sure they can make the eastern conference playoffs, i mean who cant it only takes a 400 winning %. Unless somehow this trade enables them to flip caron for amare i just dont see the benifit.
if they are going to trade amare – and ric bucher from ESPN says it’s going to happen – then it has to involve a very good (or potentially very good) young big coming back
I feel fairly certain that Rubio will not fall to the 5 spot. It might not be Memphis, Oklahoma, or Sacramento that takes him, but he will not fall. The word on ESPN is that the T’Wolves might be looking to trade the 5/6 and the 18 to trade up, but won’t deal both the 5 and 6 to do it. I feel like they are playing hard to get with Memphis, but what would Memphis do with the 18 since they already have the 27? I just find hard to believe that Minny would be satisfied with a starting front court of Curry and Evans/Harden.
Totally agree. When I wrote my previous post I was under the impression (I think I read it somewhere) that Kahn is willing to wait out the draft and then make his deals. Of course, he can always make sure he gets the player(s) he wants by dealing for them before or during the draft…
i think we can all agree that this just seems to be setting things up for more moves. things should be interesting over the next 48 hours or so
Jamaal Crawford = Acie Law + Speedy Claxton!
Everyone one else on the warriors gets a fantasy upgrade!
It’s crazy that every player on that team has some fantasy relevance and has at least been on someone’s team for a period of time.
yep the trade is good for GSW fortunes and bad for ATL fortunes
Now if we can just convince Nelly to actually use a rotation once in a while, we MIGHT be able to play some of these guys on a day-to-day basis.
what do you mean bad for ATL fortunes?
I think he means “fortunes” as in fantasy value or fantasy “stock”. Like Chriskim4 said, just about everyone on the GSW now get a fantasy upgrade because Crawford (notorious ball hog would be an understatement) is now leaving to another team.
Unfortunately for you Ash, that team happens to be “Your Atlanta Hawks!”
Of course, it all depends on how you look at it. If you believe what Crawford says, it sounds like he may work out in ATL. He’ll definitely have a better chance at making the playoffs – not so much because the GSW don’t have as good of a chance. It’s just that with so much uncertainty in Golden State, really anything could happen. The Warriors are just as likely to go south as they are to make the playoffs. It all depends on how their draft pans out and how the team responds to the changes next year. ATL has a better chance at making the playoffs with Crawford simply because there isn’t as much of a role-of-the-dice there (again, IF you believe what Crawford has to say about the deal).
nobody is going to tell you he’s not a talented player, but his shot selection is questionable at best and he hasn’t been overly-interested in defense in a while. from a fantasy or real-life perspective, a shoot-first PG taking over a team can’t help but have a trickle-down effect. this is a great opportunity for crawford to adjust his game to a more team-oriented approach. he’s 29 and could have a different perspective coming off being benched down the stretch last season – he’ll definitely want to make nellie and the warriors pay for tossing him aside
meh, i don’t really care about hawks players in fantasy. but i don’t think crawford will really change anyone’s fantasy value in atlanta.
i don’t like this deal for the hawks. crawford certainly isn’t a leader. he’s just the latest decent but nothing special player to join our team. hawks will probably win 45 games next year and be the most awful team to watch in the playoffs for a 2nd year in a row.
i guess this means we won’t be targeting jeff teague anymore.. time for another SF!!
Am I the only one who thinks Crawford is actually UNDERated? He’s one of only a handful of players in the league that can actually put up 40-50 points on any given night. Michael Jordan was a ball hog, so what, you need players like that sometimes.
He’s only ever played on dysfuntional teams, and I agree with Matt, I think he’s gonna be out for blood, this is a great opportunity for him to start fresh and elevate his game. I’m not saying Atlanta is a perfect fit for him, but he’s definitely an upgrade from Bibby, and for that price, he’s a steal imo.
yes, you probably are the only person who thinks he’s underrated. just like any backup RB in the NFL can rush for 150 yards on any given week if he gets 25+ carries, any halfway decent NBA player can score 50 pts if he takes almost 30 shots and 18 FTs.
but whatever, he’s probably an upgrade over bibby.
No one is questioning Crawford’s ability to be a 50 pt scorer. It comes down to the same argument that people had (and still have at times) with Kobe a few years back. If the kid is gonna score 40 on you, you would rather have him score 40 using 45 to 50 shot attempts than to go lights out from the field.
Crawford is much in the same category. He could easily score 30 to 35 on a nightly basis. But if he’s taking 45 shots to get there, he ends up hurting the team more than helping. And that’s been his knock – I think even Buser has said before that Crawford’s shot selection is, at times, questionable at best.
But if he takes LESS shots per game, AND still manages those numbers, that means 1. He’s shooting a lights out average. and 2. The rest of team are getting shot attempts as well, thus taking advantage of whatever other shooters ATL will have.
Now in THAT scenario, Crawford would be not only an underrated fantasy sleeper, but also a HUGE addition to ATL.
Until he proves it, though, it’s just wishful thinking.
Funny you guys keep mentioning him taking 30-40 shots a game, last I checked he averaged less than 16 FGA last year and still averaged 20 PPG.
his lone 50 pt game came on 26 FGA and 18 FTA. my point was that any decent NBA player could put up 50 points if he took close to 30 FGA and 20 FTA, so there really isn’t anything special about what he did.
The games he’s score 40+ he doesn’t shoot 60 times, he hits more shots, which just goes to show that if he could increase his FG% just a bit he’d be a great player. Regardless of %s and FTA, if a player shoots 15 times a game and ends up with 20 points on average, he’s not hurting your team.
And you are right – if a player’s getting 20 points off of 15 attempts he’s not hurting your team. I exaggerated the numbers to explain my point – which is, the best way to beat a scorer is to make him take more shots than everyone else, yet “limit” (for lack of a better word) him to manageable points. I’m sure if he took 40 shot attempts with his FGA, he’d probably score 60! But if you can keep him to one pt per attempt, odds are you can beat him.
It works the same with your example – if a player shoots 15 times but only scores 15 points, he’s beatable.
Now having said that, it’s not Crawford’s number of attempts that are in question, it’s his shot selection. Whether he takes 4 or 40, if it’s a bad shot, it’s a bad shot and you shouldn’t be taking it. He just needs to play smarter on that end.
Now, to his credit, he SEEMS to have wanted to make it work in GS, but it didn’t pan out. Especially at the end with all the mixed messages he was getting from Nellie (sit one night, then become more aggressive the next, then either opt out or be traded). Now, he seems just as excited to be in ATL – and I tell you what, I think he may be a sleeper to watch. We just have to see how all of the other drama pans out, then see how he handles the situation.
If he can keep his numbers where they are, and get smarter in his shot selection, look out!
the knicks will be scrambling if they can’t get either hill or curry, but it’s looking more and more like both will be gone before they pick. knicks brought in holiday for a second workout in recent days, probably a sign that they know as such and are leaning towards jrue here
ainge with some interesting and far-ranging comments about rondo
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2009/06/ainge_critical.html
Sounds like someone doesn’t have the time nor the patience to nurture a young PG, and I don’t mean in the basketball sense.
Ainge is old school, and I wouldn’t put it past him to make a move for an all around more mature player.
Who that would be, I don’t know – but it better be someone of the same caliber of talent, or Danny boy won’t here the end of it from Boston.
I think Danny’s just trying to light a fire under him- get him to work on that jumper during the off season. Maybe he thinks that calling Rondo out in public will get more of a response than simply telling him he needs to work on this and that. If he really wanted to trade him, it makes no sense to spell out his negatives in big bold letters. Danny isnt an imbecile.
Having said that, Simmons and Ford were kicking around the idea of a Rondo-Parker trade. If the spurs want to get back under the cap for the next 2 year Duncan window this would be a way to do it. I dont want Rondo traded, but if he must, I could live with Parker.
i like rondo very much as a player, but one thing i’m quick to retort the “triple-double in the playoffs” refrain with is the fact that he also shot .417 from the field, .250 from three, and .657 from the line in the playoffs. sure his game has real positives, but he has clear negatives at this point
I would be interested inhearing some thoughts about the Portland trailblaszers, particularly as it relates to the PG situation. Where do you see Bayless fitting? Will he be dealt if they draft another PG this season?
interesting breakdown of prospect tiers from a friend over at rotowire
http://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/2009-NBA-Draft-Tiered-Top-30-Prospect-Rankings-BBD1153.htm
draft ended after 8 picks since it’s just about go-time. my bad for not starting it earlier. i’m interested to see the results for the new poll