1. Cleveland picks Nerlens Noel The Cavs would prefer to trade the pick or could go for Len or Oladipo here, but Noel is most likely the pick.
2. Orlando picks Victor Oladipo If Noel is gone, it's probably between McLemore & Oladipo with Oladipo getting the edge
3. Washington picks Otto Porter Bennett is starting to get buzz here too
4. Charlotte picks Ben McLemore Other options being Len, Zeller, Bennett, or Porter (if he's there)
5. Phoenix picks Alex Len With the better scoring wings gone, it's between Len, MCW and Zeller
6. New Orleans picks Michael Carter-Williams It seems the team has soured on Greivis Vasquez despite his REALLY good season last year, and so PG is their #1 need (I disagree, but I don't run the team & it isn't my mock)
7. (the moment of truth) Sacramento picks C.J. McCollum According to Ford they want to trade this pick (probably to get Shabazz Muhammad 5 or 6 picks later), but if they don't, they like McCollum here as a shooting PG (I think he's a SG, which would give them the shortest perimeter in the league with Isaiah Thomas at 5'9", McCollum at 6'3", and Evans at 6'6")
8. Detroit picks... Anthony Bennett With Burke still on the board & PG a need I'd hope they would pick Burke, but Ford thinks they like Bennett too much to pass him up. More on this in a minute...
I'll skip most of the rest. Other notable picks - Zeller goes 11th to Philly, Burke 12th!!! to OKC, Giannis Antetokounmpo (say that 5 times fast... or 1 time at all) goes 17th to Atlanta (via Houston), Shabazz 18th to Atlanta (which is a HUGE steal in my opinion), and Hardaway 25th to the Clips.
A couple keys in this draft to look out for - does the #1 pick get traded, or does Cleveland pick someone besides Noel? What will Sacramento do? In last year's draft, I believe the #2 pick was the first event that led to Detroit getting Drummond. If Charlotte had picked Thomas Robinson 2nd (like many predicted they would), Drummond most likely would have been gone by the time the Pistons came up & they would have to chose between John Henson and Meyers Leonard.
In this mock, Ford has both Trey Burke AND Anthony Bennett available with Detroit's pick. I like Bennett ok, but out of all the players that could slip he's my least favorite. Hopefully either McLemore or Burke (or Porter!) slip instead & make Dumars' decision easier. I trust Dumars to make the correct call less and less every year.
Interesting tidbits:
- The Kings (one of the 2 CRUCIAL picks in this draft for Detroit) are talking about trading their pick to Utah, who want to get CJ McCollum. This is good for Detroit, because McCollum slipping ahead of them means probably Bennett, Burke, or (fingers crossed) McLemore (not THAT guy) slip back to 8th
- Weird rumor that Bennett could go #1 to Cleveland. I don't believe it, but it's out there
- More Bennett - he is more & more likely to go to Washington at #3, with more upside than Porter & a better fit with John Wall
If you haven't guessed, where Bennett goes is crucial (and also is anyone's guess). If he goes on the early side (like #1 or #3), it could push a bigger name like McLemore or Porter down to Detroit. It's possible if both he and Trey Burke are available with Detroit's pick & the Pistons go for Burke, then Bennett could slip as low as 10th or 11th, but I don't think it's likely.
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