If you read nothing but Mock Drafts, you'd think that all players are great, they all fill a need, they all live up to the hype, and every GM knows what they're doing. Very few of these things end up being true. This is the Mock Draft that reflects reality. I have no pretense of being able to predict the actual lottery, this is just analysis of the probable picks, and a glimpse into the futures of these delusional teams.
1. Bulls - Derrick Rose -- Chicago goes for the local talent, trades a good player (Hinrich) so they can improve a marginally important position (how many Championship-winning point guards are 1st-Team All-NBA?) ... and then realizes it doesn't matter because they've still got a front-court that can't score.
2. Heat - Michael Beasley -- Miami makes the completely obvious pick, resulting in an offensively-potent but undersized team that flames out in the 2nd round for the next 10 years.
3. Timberwolves - Brook Lopez -- Another role-player gets boosted into the lottery because he's 7' tall, but the T-Wolves *do* add a vital piece to their front-court, moving Al Jefferson to his natural position at the 4, which might allow him to convert some of those statistics into wins ... it might help him if he had some veteran leaders ... or a decent coach ... c'est la vie.
4. SuperSonics - Jerryd Bayless -- Showing their fundamental lack of knowledge about the way the NBA works, Seattle drafts a tweener to save their troubled point guard position. For the next 3 years they become enamored with him because he puts up 20 PPG, then in year 4 realize he's just a ball-hog who's incapable of playing effective defense or leading his team to wins, and get nothing for him when he goes to another team for maximum dollars. (I'm looking forward to being a Trailblazers fan)
5. Grizzlies - OJ Mayo -- Talent-wise and roster-wise the Griz make a great pick ... except that Mayo no longer has an impending draft to keep him in line, or a respectable coach, or a responsible team, or a fickle audience. The national media is fooled into thinking that he's a great player who only loses because of his marginal team, and ignore the fact that his teammates hate him and he only acts nice to the national media because he knows he needs a good image to make money.
6. Knicks - Kevin Love -- New York mixes things up by making a genius move, picking a guy who can actually *facilitate* the myriad talent that already exists on this ridiculous team, and take minutes away from the two lumbering piles of #### matter that currently occupy their front court, *and* give D'Antoni a player he won't want to spit on in disgust.
7. Clippers - Danilo Gallinari -- Still more concerned with acquiring talent than compiling a cohesive roster, LA drafts another skinny schlub from Europe who may or may not be any good ... I don't know and I don't care, cause he won't make a difference either way.
8. Bucks - Eric Gordon -- Michael Redd would be a tremendous role-player on a competitive team. But NBA teams are dumb. Redd put up a lot of points so teams automatically believed he was an elite player. Milwaukee just now realized they were wrong, so they'll trade Redd and replace him with a much more dynamic player in Gordon. It's too bad for Milwaukee that Gordon is an undersized 2 who'll have the exact same non-impact on his team that Redd did.
9. Bobcats - DeAndre Jordan -- The other Charlotte brass talks MJ into an unexciting move to fill out their roster by getting the best center on the board. It's too bad DeAndre is a worthless stiff. It's also too bad that everyone will blame this move on MJ.
10. Nets - Darrell Arthur -- New Jersey picks a guy who results in absolutely 0 change in the win-loss columnn, and quickly finds his niche as a competent 7-man.
Why so negative? Do I actually think that everyone in this draft will be bad? Yeah, I kinda do. I think this is the absolute worst draft of any kind that I've seen in years. In the top-10, there are only two moves that could make a *real* difference: the Bulls drafting Beasley, and the Knicks drafting Love. I'd be surprised if either happens.
i think rose will have a bigger impact then expected because once he comes to chi-town the bulls will make the appropiate trades to fix there scoring problem in the front court,assuming the bulls draft rose...
negative is easy,and not nearly as hip as you think.i'm sure if you were evaluating the draft with jordan and hakeem you'd have all kinds of cool smack to talk,but youre analysis was empty and added nothing to the conversation..drafting rose will make the players around him better and the bulls can package heinrich with thomas or noah to GET a scoring forward..beating up on the lottery reams for not being very good? DUH!!,thats why theyre in the lottery..but the celtics,hornets and hawks have shown that with creative trades and patience with younger players,you can improve..now go be unhappy on someone else's dime
I love how angry people are the only ones with common sense. Previous poster excluded. Your assessment of the draft is right on. The Mayo scenerio is classic. The NBA has given the fans such a watered down game that is predictable from the draft to the finals and then starts over again. Same players different faces.
Kevin Love needs to get into physical rehab if hes going to be reayd for the NBA. I dont think he can help any NBA team enough to warrant a top 10 pick.
Harsh analysis, but very appropriate given this year's crop of "talent". This is the first time I really looked at who's coming out this year, what I see is a 2 player draft and a lot of guys who need a minimum of one more season in college.
Bush league analysis, I dont know how much basketball you watch, and I am no memphis fan but Rose is lightyears ahead of wear Paul and D Will were as freshman, I think anyteam that can get him has to, and teams would give up just about anything to get that pick he has the potential to be the best point guard in the league within five years.
And to WG0 are you on crack this is the best draft in the last ten years, to leave Westbrook out of the top ten is laughable. Mayo, Westbrook, Beasley and Rose will all be perrenial all stars if they put in the effort and stay healthy. And theres a lot of good euro trash available, and some good big men in Lopez twins, and Klove all three are better than Bogut who was a #### number one pick overall and you call this a weak draft your on crack. Not to mention Gordan. Some top players decided not to come out because of the depth Hansboro and Collison were scared they wouldnt get drafted!
Last edited by stopbeingdumb on May 23rd at 3:44 PM.
Are you SERIOUS???? The worst draft in 10 years!!!!
You must not watch much basketball do you remember the 06 Draft were Andrea Bargnani went #1 and Tyrus Thomas was #2. Who has made any type of impact in the NBA besides Brandon Roy? Don't worry i'll wait. This years draft has atleast 3-5 future all stars with Derek Rose, Michael Beasley, and OJ Mayo making instant impact. And point guard being a marginal position thats the dumbest #### i've heard all day. No wonder the Sonics are moving their fans are a bunch of idiots. Oklahoma deserves the Sonics.
I think Rose and Beasly we pan out well. I think Rose will do good things for Chicago!
I don't mind Danilo Gallinari... On the right team he could be a decent SF option. It's really hard to tell with players from the Euroleaugue. I think the Knicks may take him.
I think there might be some great steals later in the draft! Just like Stuckey last year!
Redd a role player my ####. averages 23 ppg and is part of team USA he is definantely and elite NBA player, it would be the dumbest move to trade one of the best SGs in the NBA for some unproven rookie. ure full of #### regicide.
This was an outstanding breakdown. Finally someone debunks the hype and tells it like it is. Particularly the bulls and the Micheal Redd thing.
Amazing breakdown on the Mayo type situation.
Lopez is a fair pick though, cause he actually has a skill set. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought the highlights of DeAndre Jordan translated to stiff.
Ya see Derrick Rose will be great, but it's not what's best for the bulls. But I agree the bulls have been looking for inside scoring for at least the last 5 years. So if they don't pick Beasley expect another 5 years of looking for inside scoring.
You are on point with this article. Thanks for actually taking a risk and giving an actual realistic breakdown.
Thank you for this post. All the other idiots think that just because a guy can put up 20/10 numbers against people that won't even make it to the NBA, they can automaticly do it against 4-5 year vets every night. I see only Love and, well, only Love as a decent pick, only worth about a 14 or 15 pick. Beasley is overrated because instaed of 6-10, he is only 6-6 or 6-7. Rose will fail.
I as well think that this years draft is the slimmest in talent that I've ever seen following the Nba for over 20 years. Rose and Beasley are gonna do well at least in the 1st 3 years. Love although probably won't land so high his talent and maturity as a player may be best suited for the Pro's. He just seems more ready mentally than the others. Don't get me wrong he's no #1 but the Knicks would be great for him. He'd play immediately and make an impact and maybe even give them a new direction in which to go come the much anticipated free agent market of 2009/2010
While I don't think Brook Lopez will be an all-NBA center, he would fit the T-wolves' scheme very well. There may be a steal or two in there, but I wouldn't bet on it.
stupid blog. sure there are always disappointments in the draft, and players are over-hyped, but it's not like there are going to be 10 horrible players drafted with the first 10 picks. Any team that picks rose or beasley will have made a great choice. you should probably stop writing, or change how you write, because you are not very good at it.
Hey regicide, don't listen to all these people who are trashing your blog. Even though I don't agree with parts of it, at least you took the risk to say what you are thinking when you know people will disagree. And you had to do something right to get your blog on the main basketball page.
I do think that Beasley is overrated, I watched him play a few times and he didn't have the I'm-going-to-take-this-game-over mentality that I think someone with his hype needs. Comparing him to Oden or Durant from last year, I could see in them the ability to control a game whenever they wanted. Beasley scores 20-30 quiet points, and I sometimes found it difficult to even spot him on the court.
Rose is talented. He may be overrated in ways but he definitely has the composure and mentality to play NBA ball. I don't know if he will be as good as CP3 and D-will were in their early careers, but I can see him being mentioned in comparisons with them.
Very amusing stuff, fellas. Quick responses (for those of you who didn't really pay attention to what I wrote) ... Redd is very good, he's just a role-player; Rose is great, I just believe he's the wrong pick for the Bulls; I love Westbrook and I'd draft him at #5 if I were the Griz; I like Lopez, just not that high; Love won't put up numbers half as good as most of the guys on that list, but he will be responsible for more wins.
Ok lets be real. Kevin Love will be a bust and whomever drafts him will get fired. He is slow and has the athleticism of a turtle. Ok he has a great basketball I.Q.??? Just like when the Warriors drafted Tod Fuller cause he gets good grades??? He is no better than Nick Collison. I am from California and saw alot of his games. You dont draft a guy because he makes a great out let pass. You draft him you get the same results that you got at the Memphis game. Didnt he get shut down by Dorsey who is an undersized P.F. Only time will tell of all these draft picks. And at the end of the day the reality is that they will make more money than any of us:).
If the Bulls draft Rose, maybe they can trade Hinrich and maybe Duhon or someone else for a post player who can score. Maybe they can get Eddy Curry back from NY! Although, that's probably not the best idea.
I haven't seen much of Rose but Beasley is a beast of a player. A manchild in college that dominated others as a freshman. If the Bulls pass on him they are truly in for the biggest mistake of their franchise.
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to show how little YOU know about the nba. why would a run-and-gun coach want kevin love?? he's david lee but a little better and who is not in elite shape and will suck for the knicks
I disagree with you about Gordon. This is an outstanding player who may prove to be the "next Dwayne Wade". I'd like to know why so little is made of CDR from Memphis? This player has amazing length in his arms and should be a tremendous asset to any team. The Lopez Twins and Love will provide heft and stability for years to come for 3 teams. Beasley and Rose are outstanding talents.
I believe there are several players in the draft who will help their team next season.
No one wants to pull the trigger on Kevin Love.He is the worst athlete in the draft and can't guard anybody. He will have trouble getting his shot off. What else do you want. He is measured at 6.8.
... For a short while, I am going to forget that there are local sports in the Seattle area. I really don't have much choice in the matter.
The only decent team I have is the Huskies basketball team ... and they're currently handing their future to a 5'8" ballhog ... my hatred of these players has been well-chronicl ed. I hate Isaiah Thomas and I don't want to root for a team with him on it.
