TJ's 2013 NBA Mock Draft and Discussion

[HeartBreakKid]

With Westbrook and Durant, I dont think Len fits OKC at all. The best thing Len can offer a team is scoring and I think the Thunder will look for a more all around target. They like athletic bigs with length. Len is not a great athlete. The guys I named as potential Thunder picks all have higher ceilings than Len in my opinion.

I think they need an offensive minded center. They already have Ibaka to anchor the defense. One of OKC's biggest roadblocks is how they match up against the Heat. They need an offensive player who can score from the paint to exploit the size mismatch, because Ibaka and Perkins cannot do that.

[teamjosh04]

Heres my latest mock: http://nbaprospects.blogspot.com/p/2013 ... draft.html

Also my rankings are here: http://nbaprospects.blogspot.com/p/2013-rankings.html

[teamjosh04]

Updated mock: http://nbaprospects.blogspot.com/p/2013 ... draft.html

[No-Man]

I'd like some explains about picks 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, and 26, they just dont make sense in my mind.

[teamjosh04]

A lot of BPA situations and in a lot of cases, if the teams I mocked them to wouldnt take them, I could imagine someone else trading up to get them. I dont like to have consensus BPAs slip too far just because of team need. I also rushed this mock at 3am in order to get it up by this morning so thats a factor as well lol

#6 - Lots of people view Len as one of the best players in the draft, and even though Im not one of them, he will probably be atop a lot of teams draft boards once the first few picks are off the board. I assume you are moreso questioning fit. I think Len can play center next to Davis and theyd be a solid fit. Davis will make up for some of Lens defensive limitations and Len will provide a true back to the basket threat. Pelicans are one of the slowest pace teams in the league so itd be a good situation for Len. He needs to halfcourt offense to suceed.

#7 - Typical Kings pick. Bennett would be the best player on the board at this point and Kings love talented offensive guys. Theyve shown time and time again the dont care if the guy has other questions or tweener issues as long as he can score and shows potential. Bennett fits their drafting style and would likely be their BPA.

#8 - Again, another player I am not a fan of who Id have slipping past the lottery if it were up to me. But MCW would be able to play off the ball more in Detroit and could have the kind of impact defensively that Dumar likes. I wouldnt approve of the pick, but its possible.

#10 - More of a trade situation. Blazers are looking to trade their lottery pick for immediate help at center and I could see someone moving up for Gobert at this point in the draft.

#11 - Sixers dont have a true power forward and they need guys who can make shots. Zeller would be BPA also and ranks highly on statistical based rankings Ive seen. Since they hired Hinkie, that is important.

#18 - Not sure why this doesnt make sense. Hawks have basically and blank roster and John Jenkins isnt a reason not to draft another SG. Ferry will likely look to build his team around shooters and Crabbe is one of the better shooters in the draft.

#26 - Hardaway Jr is moving up draft boards and Wolves have a big hole at SG. They need solid pros who can knock down shots. Hes being hyped as one of the best spot up shooters in this draft and that works perfect next to all their other guards who like to handle the ball. I dont think just because they draft CJ that they will assume they are set at the position. Needs shouldnt matter much at #26 anyway.

[pad300]

Updated mock: http://nbaprospects.blogspot.com/p/2013 ... draft.html

I'd be pretty surprised if SAS takes a SG with Tony Mitchell still on the board (not to mention Jaiteh).
They are pretty set at SG for the immediate future, with Danny Green signed for 3 years after this one (on the cheap no less), Manu, and then De Colo (and Hanga overseas).
Meanwhile, the number of bigs on the roster who have the offensive skills for the PF slot (this writes off Baynes and Dejuan Blair) and the footspeed (Duncan has gotten to slow now he's 37, and Bonner was never quick) to step out to defend the perimeter, is quite limited (Diaw and Tiago Splitter. Splitter's entering FA, and Diaw has an opt-out).
Mitchell, with his athleticism and the perimeter shot he demonstrated last year, could be dynamite in their system.

[No-Man]

Manu is playing mainly SF due to his problems on defense, De Colo will be out soon, they give up on him.

San Antonio has enough money to target a big in the FA and they'll do that probably.

I can see them trying to find a role player in the 1st round, someone like Hardaway for example can fit there.

I dont agree with the picks, because BPA is a weak argument in this Draft where the differences between players arent enough to justify drafting a guy that doesnt fit your needs.

Len is indeed a good fit for the Pelicans, but they have bigger holes at this point and Len is too risky, Bennett would be terrible with Cousins, and they just acquire Patterson who can provide similar things to them, they are desperate for a PG, and they need a SF too, interior defense is weak, and would be awful with Bennett.

Carter-Williams is a scrub, drafting him at 8 is a terrible move by Detroit, I'd get McCollum before, at least he'd be a good 6th man.

I have Carter-Williams at Portland, because of his defense, I can see him fitting there and using Matthews as a 6th man, but Gobert? they need a legit starter, not another project big like Leonard, Gobert is nowhere near an NBA player, he's just long, he has 0 ball skills.

[M-C-G]

Would be pretty happy coming out of the draft with Shabazz and Kabongo as a bucks fan.

[pad300]

Manu is playing mainly SF due to his problems on defense, De Colo will be out soon, they give up on him.

San Antonio has enough money to target a big in the FA and they'll do that probably.

I can see them trying to find a role player in the 1st round, someone like Hardaway for example can fit there.

Nah Manu is playing SF a) their roster has become unbalanced and b) because it allows them to get more minutes for a good player.

Think about their roster. For most of the regular season, the SF position had Kawhi as a starter and SJax as a backup. Then they dumped SJax very late in the season. They brought in TMac, but they haven't integrated him, so who is left with size to play backup-sf? Green and Manu, and Green is already getting minutes at SG.

Next season they will bring back and integrate TMac (or another veteran), and will bring in a prospect - likely Bertrans - to play the SF behind Kawhi.

The other reason to take Mitchell there, is that he could be an absolute home run. He has a much higher ceiling than role player, combined with the fact that his skills really look like they could fit into the SAS system - that's really hard to resist with the 28th pick.

[wildvikeswolves]

McCollum and Hardaway would be nice for the Twolves. I'd prefer Shabazz at 9 but I like McCollum as well

[BO55]

I can see the top five shaping up like that. Nelson will not be hanging around much longer according to the youth movement in Orlando. Burke will and should step in immediately. McLemore is of course, another option and Magic will be willing to deal Afflalo and his contract.

I hope Bennett doesn't slip as far as 7th pick due to your mock draft because he is a top three talent. People shouldn't be sleeping on him regardless of his current injury.

As for OKC's pick, they should be going after a young big man aka Rudy Gobert. Perkins is running out of life and his time should be over by now as a starter. Gobert can develop overseas or take the year to develop behind Perkins/Thabeet. Karasev is a great prospect but not top 15 IMO. Muhammad would also be a great fit but he ain't gon slip that far. People are sleeping on him way too much. He may even be the Harden 2.0...