I’m sure any fan of sports or fan of drafts knows what a mock is since they happen to be plastered all over the internet by every writer imaginable. To not have one is just silly now-a-days in an era of instant analyses and opinions at every turn. So what do I think will happen in the lottery? Well, I’ll tell you.
Of course, the biggest problem with the mock is that there’s no accounting for trades, so here’s what I would do if I were GM’ing across the board tonight.
No. 1 — The Clippers take Blake Griffin. As Bill Simmons detailed in thousands of words today, Griffin is screwed. There is something cursed about the Clips and here’s hoping that Griffin isn’t too seriously hurt.
No. 2 — The Grizzlies take Hasheem Thabeet. Of course, this pick could be moved at any minute, but if Memphis does use the second pick, it’ll be on Thabeet over Rubio. The concerns over the overseas buyout for Rubio is too rich for their blood.
No. 3 — The Thunder take Stephen Curry. As great as Rubio would be next to Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City already has a play-making point in Russell Westbrook. Two distributers who shoot poorly just wouldn’t work.
No. 4 — The Kings take Ricky Rubio. Sacramento gets exactly who they need with a bit of luck. Rubio is going to be something special and playing with a quality scorer like Kevin Martin will help him out in his formative years.
No. 5 — The Timberwolves take Tyreke Evans. Of course Minnesota would love to trade up, but I can’t really account for that right now. After dealing Randy Foye for the next pick, the T-Wolves will need a new man to run the point.
No. 6 — The Timberwolves take James Harden. In this year’s relatively weak draft, Harden could be taken as high No. 3. According to Draftexpress, his worst case scenario is Jason Terry, which isn’t bad at all.
No. 7 — The Warriors take Jordan Hill. With the potential trade for two PGs on the Hawks on the table, Golden State should be drafting for size. Hill’s the best of the big men on the table here and it’s arguable that there shouldn’t be another one taken for a while.
No. 8 — The Knicks take Jonny Flynn. New York is looking for a point guard and Flynn is the best fit for D’Antoni’s offence that is on the board. Brandon Jennings could also be a good fit, but would they really go to Italy twice in a row for a lottery choice?
No. 9 — The Raptors take Jrue Holliday. Toronto desperately needs someone to back up Jose Calderon. They need help rebounding as well, but there’s no suitable candidates this high in the draft. DeRozan is also an appealing option.
No. 10 — The Bucks take DeMar DeRozan. With Richard Jefferson shipped off for spare parts, Milwaukee needs to find his replacement. And whatever happened to last year’s No. 8 pick by the Bucks, Joe Alexander?
No. 11 — The Nets take Brandon Jennings. Not too many players with size to take here, so the Nets team Jennings with their current young PG, Devin Harris. I’ve scratched my head over this pick for a while.
No. 12 — The Bobcats take Gerald Henderson. Charlotte could go a lot of ways with this pick, but Duke’s Henderson would be a good fit on this team. Larry Brown could do a lot worse in this spot.
No. 13 — The Pacers take Ty Lawson. A good, true point guard for the Pacers’ future. He’ll be great to push the tempo for Indiana. It’s also nice to see that his best case and worst cases are two guys on the team too.
No. 14 — The Suns take Jeff Teague. Phoenix should be looking to find an eventual replacement for Steve Nash, who is getting up there in the years and is also a free agent next season. Playing under Nash will help polish Teague into a better distributor.