NBA mock draft
 

Yeah, I got some time to waste tonight...Interesting to see some of the Big XII related players. No more High Schoolers you haven't heard of. I probably watch too much college basketball, but here are my thoughts in blue.
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Round 1:

1. Charlotte Rudy Gay 6-8 220 SF UConn So. I knew he was good, but I didnt know #1 overall type good. Guess he gets the $$$ windfall since O.J. Mayo can't go pro.

2. *Chicago Adam Morrison 6-8 220 SF Gonzaga Jr. The next "Larry Legend" or the next "Keith Van Horn" I'm not sure. He certainly has a well-rounded all around offensive game. I think he's more like Nowitzki than the other two guys. Guess he and Kirk Hinrich will battle each other for the worst haircut in the NBA.

3. Atlanta LaMarcus Aldridge 6-11 245 PF Tex. So. He's really difficult to defend. He also has the tools to be an elite defender. Fortunately for the rest of the Big XII, he hasn't figured that out yet. It'll be too bad for him if he has to rot away in Atlanta for a couple of years. I don't think Atlanta needs him and Marvin Williams. They need to draft a guard here.

4. Portland Andrea Bargnani 6-11 240 PF Italy 1985 Well, he's tall and Italian. Maybe he'll be better than Darko Milicic? I'd never take a foreign player this high unless you have some real evidence.

5. Orlando JJ Redick 6-4 190 SG Duke Sr. I'm surprised he's this high. He and Morrison will definitely be 1-2 in the Player of the year contest, but I've heard scouts knock him for getting shut down by longer, athletic players like Memphis' Rodney Carney.

6. *Toronto Rodney Carney 6-7 205 SF Memphis Sr. Speaking of Carney, this is a good spot for him. Would work well with the ultra-quick Chris Bosh.

7. Seattle Tyrus Thomas 6-9 218 PF LSU Fr. I though Glen Davis was their best player? I guess it's like last year with Marvin Williams/Sean May. Must have some upside. LSU is a team I haven't watched yet. Puzzled that they lost to Houston, but gave UCONN all they wanted in Stoors.

8. *Boston Shelden Williams 6-9 250 PF Duke Sr. I think he's overrated this high on the board. He'll be a serviceable backup IMO, but he should slide down the board after a while.

9. Houston Ronnie Brewer 6-7 217 SG Arkansas Jr. [not sure he's this good. I can think of about 10 players in the Big XII I'd rather have.

10. Chicago Randy Foye 6-3 205 PG Villanova Sr. He's legit and talented. If Nova hits their shots they are unbeatable.

11. *Minnesota Mardy Collins 6-6 205 PG/SG Temple Sr. Haven't seen Temple play. Good history of picks there though.

12. Sacramento Rajon Rondo 6-2 171 PG Kentucky So. He should NOT go in the draft until he has an outside jump shot. Big mistake if he does IMO.

13. Golden St. Aaron Gray 7-0 270 C Pittsburgh Jr. He's tall, but so was Chenowith.

14. Philadelphia Richard Roby 6-6 190 SG Colorado So. He's pretty good, could get a lot better on D. I hadn't heard he was leaving early. I guess it's not as if his teams going to get better next year though.

15. Utah Brandon Roy 6-5 195 SG Washington Sr. This guy is one of the only reasons UW is even decent this year. He's ready.

16. *Phoenix Maurice Ager 6-4 180 SG Mich. St. Sr. Shouldn't Mich. St be better with all of their talent and experience?

17. Washington Daniel Gibson 6-2 190 PG Texas So. There he goes. Done in 2, just like TJ Ford. He can really shoot. I'm not sure he's the playmaker that Ford was though.

18. *New York Josh Boone 6-10 237 PF UConn Jr. I think this guy goes up higher on the board after UCONN's tourney run.

19. *NO/OK City Tiago Splitter 6-11 236 PF Brazil 1985 Just what Ok city needs, Brazilians.

20. Indiana Rudy Fernandez 6-6 172 SG Spain 1985 Never heard of him.But at least Pacer fans can shout "RU-DY, RU-DY!"

21. New Jersey Kevin Pittsnogle 6-10 255 PF WV Sr. Yes! Fear the Pittsnogle. PBJ

22. NO/OK City Paul Davis 6-10 260 PF/C Mich. St. Sr. Again I ask, shouldn't Mich. St. be better?

23. Memphis Hilton Armstrong 6-11 235 C UConn Sr. UCONN's frontline is a monster. That being said, one of the three will probably be a bust. My money's on this guy.

24. *NewJersey Marcus Vinicius 6-9 220 SF Brazil 1984 Brazil is really representing in the draft. Half of these guys will never show up or be out of the league in 2 years. It remonds me of what Jason Kapono said one time "I should have dropped out of school... grown a beard... moved to Europe and change my name to Kaponovich... I would have been a lottery pick."

25. Cleveland Nick Fazekas 6-11 235 PF Nevada Jr. His team's underacheivement has started to affect his draft stock. He needs a couple of W's in the Tourney to move up.

26. *LA Lakers Marco Killingsworth 6-7 268 PF Ind. Sr. seems awfully low for a guy that displays this much ability. That's be a steal for the Lakers. Surely someone will wise up.

27. Phoenix Mike Gansey 6-4 205 SG W. Virginia Sr. Solid, if unspectacular player. Very Hinrich-esque.

28. *New York Matt Haryasz 6-10 230 PF Stanford Sr. Stanford's not that good this year and neither is this guy.

29. Dallas Hassan Adams 6-4 201 SF Arizona Sr. Really? Really? ROFL. talk about underacheivement.

30. *Portland Taj Gray 6-8 235 PF Oklahoma Sr. I think he's better than this. Long and quick. His teams' performance hurts his stock too.

Round 2 to follow.

Round 2:

31. *LA Clippers Paul Millsap 6-7 245 PF Lou. Tech Jr. Actually saw him play Nevada the other day. Solid player. Rebounds extremely well.

32. *Houston Damir Markota 6-10 225 SF Cro.1985 ?

33. Atlanta Guillermo Diaz 6-2 190 PG/SG Miami Jr. Has given some good ACC teams fits trying to defend his unorthodox style of play.

34. Portland V. Veremeenko 6-10 235 PF Bel. 1984 "Bel" stands for Belarus. That's as much as I wanted to know.

35. Orlando Louis Amundson 6-8 225 SF UNLV Sr. haven't seen a UNLV game.

36. Toronto Marcus Williams 6-2 200 PG UConn Jr. Ultra Talented, but lost showdown with Nova's guards the other day. Good tourney will put him in 1st round.

37. Seattle Craig Smith 6-7 260 PF BC Sr. good value pick here. double-double machine.

38. Boston Allan Ray 6-2 195 SG Villanova Sr. Why is Randy Foye so much more highly regarded than Allan Ray? I don't know. They have similar upsides, size, and abilities.

39. *Milwaukee Matias Sandes 6-8 190 SF Arg. 1984 ?

40. *Utah Dee Brown 6-0 180 PG Illinois Sr. I guess I could ask a similar question about Deron Williams and Dee Brown. Here though, there are differences. Deron Williams was an excellent defender. Brown is not. Williams was an excellent passer and playmaker. The only edge Brown has is his shooting both outside and midrange. He's kind of a chucker though.

41. *Detroit Terrell Everett 6-4 188 PG Okla. Sr. But I do know that Brown is a ton better than this guy. His PG play is the reason OK went into the crapper. Good size and a good defender, but that's about it. Shooting is streaky at best.

42. *Utah Eric Williams 6-8 280 PF Wake Forest Sr. thick and good low post presence.

43. *Boston Eric Hicks 6-6 245 SF/PF Cincinnati Sr. Too small probably to make it with no outside skills.

44. Philadelphia Pops Mensah-Bonsu 6-8 240 PF GW Sr. Pops is da bomb! Will be interesting to watch GWash play real teams in the tourney.

45. Utah James White 6-7 190 SG Cincinnati Sr. Hicks is a much better player IMO. This guy shouldn't have transferred from OK in the first place.

46. LA Lakers Taquan Dean 6-3 185 SG Louisville Sr. Could be a steal here, but I though that about Reece Gaines too a couple of years ago. Not sure if he shoots well enough from perimeter.

47. Washington Kosta Perovic 7-2 242 C Serbia 1985 Tallest foreigner yet in this mock draft. hooray.

48. *Denver Brad Buckman 6-8 235 PF Texas Sr. I think he'll stick with his shooting touch and toughness.

49. *Cleveland Thabo Sefolosha 6-6 213 SG Switz. 1984 Switzerland plays basketball?

50. Indiana JP Batista 6-9 270 PF Gonzaga Sr. This guy has a lot of talent to be this low. If the Zags win a couple of games maybe some scouts will realize that. He's a legit double -double guy.

51. *NewJersey Justin Williams 6-10 225 PF Wyoming Sr. Haven't seem WY play.

52. NO/OK City Steven Smith 6-8 225 SF La Salle Sr. Small schooler. these guys often to turn out to be great value picks.

53. *Seattle Viktor Keirou 6-6 215 SG Russia 1984 ?

54. LA Clippers Denham Brown 6-5 220 SG UConn Sr. Where's Rashad Anderson? he's the bigger threat on UCONN?

55. *Orlando Curtis Withers 6-8 230 SF/PF Charlotte Sr. Last year draft boards had him in Rnd 1. Guess he shoulda gone.

56. *Toronto Bobby Jones 6-6 210 SG Washington Sr. Not nearly the player that Roy is, but could be good.

57. *Minnesota Ivan Chiriaev 7-0 220 SF Russia 1984 ?

58. San Antonio Lior Eliahu 6-9 225 SF Israel 1985 Israel? Seriously?

59. Dallas Rashad Anderson 6-4 215 SG UConn Sr. Oh here he is. Should at least trade spots with Brown.

60. Detroit Sean Dockery 6-2 185 PG Duke Sr. He is terrible at best. This is a complete waste of a pick. But then again it is pick #60, so why not waste it? IMO, he would be about the 5th best point guard in the Big XII.________________________________
Most importantly, who is NOT on the list?
Brandon Rush--maybe he will stay at least two years.
PJ Tucker- guess the size thing is the MAN keeping him down. Seriously, this guy dominates much bigger players all the time, so I think it's silly to not at least give him a shot. Charles Barkley dominated much bigger players in the NBA for years.
Kevin Bookout-guess all of the injuries piling up probably raise too many question marks for a player of his mid-level caliber.
Curtis Stinson-this is the biggest surprise to me. He's got game and he's got it in spades. I thought he was leaving too, or at least it's a foregone conclusion. Maybe he won't leave if scouts doubt him this much.Thomas Gardner-Big XII's leading scorer. I like to make fun of :mizzou:, but he does have some skills. He might make it as a draft day free agent, or he'll wind up overseas somewhere.
Julian Wright/Mario Chalmers-hopefully they won't get big heads if :KU: wins a couple of big games in the tourney.:)
Micah Downs-remember when he had to turn down the draft and KU fans were sweating that? Looks like the tables have turned a bit.
Joseph Jones-he's really got good feet and fundamentals for a big guy. If I were an NBA team I'd be interested.
Kenton Paulino-Hey if Sean Dockery's gonna get drafted, why not this guy too. They are almost the same player, except I think Paulino shoots better.

O.J. Mayo--No MegaBucks for you!!

http://nbadraft.net/

Tell me when KC picks, then I'll give a shit.

I said I was bored. Gimme a break.

You aren't interested in the absence of B Rush?

****-0-dear man, they are only at the all star game - then they have the traditional 3 month playoffs/finals. Then what? a couple of months before the draft?


No offense - but this is an exercise in futility.

He'll be back.

Yeah, I admitted that, but I like drafts!

There is not a whole lot of time left in college basketball; and without the highs schoolers, this is more accurate than it has been in the recent past.

Looks to be like TX is the only school getting respect draft-wise.

The Stinson thing is really weird to me to.

Marcus Williams is a 1st rounder. He's the best PG in college.

I think he should be 1st round too.

But if he's so good, and Gay, Boone, Armstrong, and Anderson are all good too, why does UCONN ever lose a game? Somebody's gotta be a weak link on that team, a product of their teammates and circumstances.

UNC had a bunch of first rounders last year and they lost 4 games. UConn has great talent, but doesn't always show flashes of being a great team, similar to Carolina last season.

I don't know, I'd take Dee Brown at PG. Maybe not the purest point guard but he just always makes things happen. As Clark Kellogg would say, the straw that stirs the drink. If you gave him the post players UConn has he would blowing people up.

The edge I'd give to Dee would be shooting, and Marcus can shoot well too.

He's sure as hell a lot better than Terrell Everett at #41.

I disagree..JJ Redick will go #1. I'm a Bulls fan and would be happy with Morrison, as we need an inside presense.

A 6'4" SG is going #1? sorry, J.J. is not LeBron (or O.J. Mayo who would've gone #1). Scouts see that he gets alot of his shots off of screens that NBA players might not be able to set as easily as Duke does against college competition. I think he'll actually be a worse pick than 5 after draft camps and stuff. That Memphis/Duke game where Carney held him scoreless for a whole half will get a lot of looks.

BTW if you want an inside presence, then Morrison is not your guy. Trade down for one of the UCONN guys IMO.