A LayupDrill.com Exclusive.
See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
March is arguably the single best month of the calender year if you are a fan of basketball. College Hoops takes center stage with the NCAA Mens Tournament, and the NBA regular season kicks it up a notch with the last 20 games deciding so much. In between all of that, there are those handful of NBA teams who have nothing to play for, aside of jockeying for the most lottery balls for the draft. As the early Mock Drafts have shown, some of the same teams will wind up with the worst records again this year. This update I decided to do something a little different, and breakdown the lottery picks once again, as well as three late first round sleepers who could be the steals of the draft in June.
1. Sacramento Kings – Blake Griffin(Oklahoma) - The Kings don’t really “need” a power forward, but when you are as bad as they have been, you gotta take the best available player on the board. Griffin playing alongside Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson potentially could be a problem in the West.
2. Washington Wizards – Ricky Rubio(Spain) – I am not getting off my Ricky to DC notion. I am not 100 percent certain Rubio will be even in the draft, but if he is, who wouldn’t pay to see Rubio and Agent Zero run up and down the court next season? The city would be buzzing again for the Wiz.
3. Los Angeles Clippers – James Harden(Arizona) - The Clippers are in dire need of backcourt help, and I am still not convinced they won’t try very hard to move some of the veterans they have compiled last offseason. If Baron Davis is back, playing alongside Harden may make for a few ESPN highlights.
4. OKC Thunder – Hasheem Thabeet – Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook form a very impressive young core in Oklahoma City. The addition of a defensive minded player like Thabeet could be vital in the Thunder making the next step. Some fear he is the next Greg Oden though, and that isn’t a compliment.
5. Memphis Grizzlies – Greg Monroe – The Hoyas big man could go as high as 2, or as low as 10, depending on where teams wind up. Make no mistake about it, Monroe is going to be a force in the league, and though his college team has struggled lately, his stock has not fallen too much.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves – Brandon Jennings(Spain) – Here’s the first shake up of the lottery. The Wolves, who I believe will be players in the off season with trades, may select Jennings here for another team. Al Jefferson and Kevin Love have yet to get a full season to gel together in the front court, and bringing in a young floor general like Jennings could be huge.
7. Golden State Warriors – Jordan Hill – The Warriors select the best available big man, which is Hill here.
8. Toronto Raptors – Jeff Teague - The Raptors are reportedly been watching Teague for a while, and given the chance, would love to bring him north of the border.
9. New York Knicks – Stephen Curry – The Knicks say bye bye to KryptoNate, as Robinson is a salary captain victim, and will wind up signing somewhere else. The undersized Curry has had some of his 15 minutes of fame come off the clock since his incredible run through the NCAA tournament last year, and there are those who feel he cost himself millions by not entering the draft last June.
10. Charlotte Bobcats – Demar DeRozan – The Bobcats seem to be putting all the right pieces in place, and if they do resign Raymond Felton, then there need will turn to more scoring punch, which DeRozan can provide.
11. Indiana Pacers – BJ Mullens – The Pacers go for size over speed, and bring in Mullens to play alongside Danny Granger and Troy Murphy in the paint.
12. New Jersey Nets – DeJuan Blair – The Pitt forward could be a tweener in the pros, as at 6-7 and 250, he will be matched up against many power forward 3 to 4 inches taller than him. His defensive tenacity and heart though could be the X factor that make him a force in the league.
13. Chicago Bulls – Al Farouq Aminu – Chicago is another team that I believe will look to be major players trading out of the lottery this year, unless they luck up and get a chance to land a Blake Griffin. Aminu would be the best available player at this spot, though Chicago could decide to take Kansas big man Cole Aldrich to add more depth to the front court, and make Joakim Noah trade bait.
Three players that may not end up in the lottery, but teams will be keeping a close eye on in the post season camps are:
1. Craig Brackens(Iowa State PF)
2. Jerome Jordan(Tulsa C)
3. James Johnson(Wake Forest PF)
Those three players will more than likely end up going towards the end of round one, and probably to a contender. Given the right system, you could expect each of them to make some noise very quickly in the league.
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No Gerald Henderson?
Not in the lottery, at least as of now. Things can change though.
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