Deafjam57's Mock Draft 2012

[Deafjam57]

Right now I won't list teams, because we have no idea which teams are getting which picks.

1: 6-10.5, 251lb PF/C Andre Drummond - You guys already know. Incredible mix of size, athleticism, and skill. Prospects like this don't come around too often... NBA Comparison: Amar'e Stoudemire/Dwight Howard

2: 6-8.5, 223lb SF Harrison Barnes - A dominant player towards the end of his freshman year, Barnes has worked on his ball skills over the summer at a PG camp-expect his stock to rise... NBA Comparison: Luol Deng

3: 6-10, 214lb PF Anthony Davis - A 6-3 guard shot up into a 6-10 monster, Davis can become a skilled finisher from anywhere on the court, just needs his frame to fill in. NBA Comparison: Brandan Wright/Kevin Garnett

4: 6-10, 281lb PF Jared Sullinger - A dominant force down low a season ago, his strength and skill in the post allowed him to bang on opposing bigs at will. Also a nice jumper out to 18ft. NBA Comparison: Al Jefferson

5: 6-5, 185lb SG Jeremy Lamb - Length, athleticism, shooting ability, defensive potential, off ball skills... Lamb has shown he can be relied on to take the scoring load in USA's U19 run, needs to fill tiny frame though. NBA Comparison: Rip Hamilton

6: 6-8.5, 226lb PF/SF James McAdoo - A smart, strong competitor, McAdoo has an NBA pedigree to explain his skill in the post with angles, a tweener though; not strong enough for PF, not enough ball skills for SF. NBA Comparison: James Worthy

7: 6-9, 210lb PF/SF Quincy Miller - Tall, creates mismatches at any position because of his blend of ball skills, height, shooting ability, and post skills. His ACL injury derailed him a bit, though. NBA Comparison: Kevin Durant

8: 6-2, 189lb PG Marquis Teague - Good athleticism for the position, good for drive-and-kicks, aggressive, shows signs of a 3pt starting to form, good vision and passing ability. NBA Comparison: his bro, Jeff Teague

9: 6-11, 235lb PF/SF Perry Jones - Great athlete, compliments his tremendous size, decent ball skills, decent jumper from mid range, has the the size to simply pop it over defenders heads, quick, can take opposing bigs facing up, tremendous defensive potential w/ size and athleticism. NBA Comparison: Anthony Randolph

10: 6-4, 196lb SG Brad Beal - Great shooter, maybe the best in the draft, great spot up shooter, also decent pull up jumper... has a high bball IQ, good passer... athletic, although not tremendously athletic. NBA Comparison: Ray Allen

11: 6-6, 216lb SF/SG Michael Gilchrist - tough, athletic all around player, not elite athlete, but gets the job done... defensive ability is tremendous... 3pt shooting showing signs of life. NBA Comparison: (less athletic) Andre Iguodala

12: 6-9, 252 PF/SF Terrence Jones - Over the summer his body and potential have both grown, now, w/ the size needed for a legit NBA PF, he can create mismatches w/ his quickness, shooting ability and ball skills, which are all at a wing player's level. NBA Comparison: Lamar Odem/Marvin Williams

13 6-2, 160lb PG Myck Kabongo - Quick, pure PG with a great passing ability... knows how to run an offense... small light guard, and his shooting could use some work, though NBA Comparison: Rajon Rondo

14 6-5, 203lb SP/PG Austin Rivers - Fast, explosive SG w/ a great handle and a nice shooting touch when in rhythm... Too much hype isn't good for him, and his play style in HS will need to be change in order to work at the next level... needs to put more effort in on getting back down the court on D... atrocious passing ability for a so called combo guard, can drive-and-kick but in the half court his ability to play point will be questioned. Tremendously talented, but must work on his game and teamwork skills in order to be successful in the NBA. NBA Comparison: OJ Mayo

I'll update the lottery latter, and make 15 - 20. My goal is to have the entire first round by March Madness. Leave your opinions please!

[babyjax13]

I see no Millsap in Jared Sullinger, but otherwise the comparisons for the players I actually have seen play seem pretty solid. Also, Lamb is pretty dang good with the ball in his hands and is much more athletic than Hamilton, so I guess that makes two I disagree with...

[Deafjam57]

I don't see Sullinger as a Kevin Love, as most people like to say he is. Love can shoot threes, while Sullinger knows his range and shoots out to 18/19 ft. Sullinger has been compared to a variety of players, from Zach Randolph to Elton Brand... Actually, he can also be more of an Al Jefferson type. What do you think of that?

And Lamb is a quicker more athletic Rip Hamilton if you've seen him play. Lamb goes both ways, from 3pt shooter to pull up jumpshooter. He can even drive the lane and finish, but his small frame limits his finishing ability in traffic. He doesn't have that many dribble moves, just like Rip, which will hamper his ability to beat defenders off the dribble.
Lamb = quicker Rip

[babyjax13]

Al Jefferson is always the comparison I thought was most fitting....Zach Randolph is there too. I have seen Lamb play quite a bit, actually, he is one of my favorite college players. I think that his skill-set is pretty unique though, so maybe Rip is the closest comparison there is.

[ManualRam]

outside of both being skinny with long arms, how is anthony davis anything like brandan wright?

im still not feeling the lamb/ rip hamilton comparison. lamb has better range, size and ball skills at the same stage.

how is mcadoo similar to james worthy?

also i disagree with t.jones' ball skills being that of a wing's. his ball skills are playable at the NBA PF, but not the wing. i think he's a sloppy ball-handler, especially if he has to start further out, and is very left hand dominant. he's a poor shooter and passer as well. when he drives he gets tunnel vision.

i dont have too much of a problem with your rankings though other than marquis teague. i dont think he's that great. i think if he went to any other elite program he'd be a 2 yr player at least.

[Deafjam57]

Brandan Wright or KG. I think those 2 are decent comparisons for Davis.

Lamb is slightly better in those categories, besides for size; Lamb's length is outrageous. But LAmb doesn't have a great arsenal of dribble moves, besides the generic crossovers, spins, etc. His range is not much further than NBA Rip, though; they can both nail threes if open in the corner or off of screens and curls, and we're not talking about college level. We're comparing Lamb to an NBA player and that NBA player's present game. If you think I'm wrong, feel free to disagree. I like these conversations and debates.

I disagree w/ what you said about TJ. He can shoot out to the 3pt line, and as a spot up shooter he can hit, but his mid range shooting game hasn't seen much light of day w/ his drive/post up/floater mentality. He isn't a good pull up jumpshooter, mostly because of his strange release where he pushes in front of him that can easily get contested or blocked. But he's show potential as a good spot up shooter. As a ball handler, he can get the job done as a 3, although I don't see him breaking a wing player's ankles. I also think that he has the handling ability to play as a 3, but he won't do much of that with his blooming post game. If a 3's on him, he posts him up, if a 4's on him, he blows by off the dribble with his exceptional 4 ball skills and quick first step. Passing is his major downfall, I agree. He does have tunnel vision, and he does throw sloppy passes. Of all the facets of his game, he must improve this the most, shot constancy second, and dribble moves third. He only needs to improve the first substantially, though, and the other two I see coming along as he grows in experience. Jones knows his own game, and he knows what to improve to keep playing his game at the next level. I believe he will improve, and has potential to become a nightmare for defenses w/ his mismatch - making ability.

You and I have had plenty of Marquis Teague arguments (lol THIS again! ), and it's pointless to argue when we already know each other's points. At this point, it'll take a full college season (at least) to resolve our issues.

[ManualRam]

brandan wright and KG? thats a pretty huge difference in ability.
outside of being long and skinny i dont see many similarities b/t ant and wright.
wright's problem was that he's skinny, but he was primarily a low block guy. davis can start his offense from anywhere inside the 3 pt line (while occasionally stepping out). in fact, he didnt play much with his back to the basket because it was so much easier for defenses (who were already doubling him because his team was so awful) to completely collapse on him. wright never had the skills to work outside of the low block, davis does. which to me is a huge difference.

yeah i'll just disagree that TJ can shoot. not only is his form bad, but he has poor shot selection when it comes to his jumper, which is a big part of being a shooter.
his FT% gives a good indication of what kind of shooter he is.

also, what have you seen from TJ that would lead you to believe he has a blooming post game?

[Deafjam57]

1: updated! changed Sullinger comparison and Davis comparison

Right now I see Davis being used as more of a finisher at the college level, with his great length and solid athleticism, but his post game won't see as much exposure right now. Kentucky has so many isolation players that they need to put Davis in a place where he can still score, but won't take the ball away from players who rely on having it in their hand (Marquis Teague, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, etc).

He really can go two ways: He can work on his post game, fill his smaller frame and have more or less a KG style of play, or become a player with an ability to finish inside and out. Like a Wright on steroids. I guess that's my crazed logic on that issue.

He seemed to have heightened his release point, and I've seen a bit of him in the open gym in the summer; he is definitely focusing on his shot. His work ethic has seemed to improve CONSIDERABLY. I was very impressed by his answers during interviews.
That's the most important thing for him, though. His work ethic was the one thing holding him back; his atitude, his tendency to fade out in frustation if games weren't going his way, are all effects of a bad work ethic. Improving his work ethic will become a catalyst for everything else.
I never said he had finesse in his post. His experience from playing in the post last season will aid him this year, and putting on good weight can only spell good things for his game. From what I've seen of him in the 2 scrimmages Kentucky has hosted (the most recent of which TJ dropped 52, a record), he hasn't lost any speed of fluidity with his game. But that's a small sample size, so I'll have to watch a few real games - where teams actually play defense - to see if that's true.

[Justwar]

I think Davis has a wide frame to be honest. He could easily amass 250 and look thin.