New Orleans- Sure having the #1 pick helps, but anytime you can land two starters in the same draft there’s cause for celebration. Rivers and Davis make up two of the top three players in the high school class of 2011, and immediately bump the Hornets up from bottom of the barrel to playoff contenders out West.
Golden State- An All-American (granted it was pre-season), the Big 10 Player of the Year (Draymond Green) and a pair of 7 footers (Vandy’s Festus Ezeli and Ognjen Kuzmic from Turkey)? I’ll take those additons any day. Look for Barnes to help stretch the floor and thrive in Dorell Wright’s former minutes in the Bay.
Boston- They got bigger, stronger and more Orange on the inside. If Sully’s bulging dick can clear up, then they just got themselves some lottery talent at a bargain price.
Houston- So Daryl wasn’t able to turn his three first round picks into Dwight, Tyreke, Josh Smith or Andre Drummond, but he did walk away with three guys with lottery level talent in Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terence Jones. All three will be solid contributors next season and at the very least intriguing trade chips.
Oklahoma City- Knock him all you want but Perry Jones at #28 is an absolute steal. Anytime you can add a guy who was at one time in the not-so-distant past considered a top 5 pick for pennies you’ve got to be happy. Like I said in the mock draft, anything the Thunder got out of this draft would be icing on the cake for the leagues most complete team.
Milwaukee- I liked the Hensen pick at #14, but I loved the Lamb pick at #42. This is someone who will be a quality backup guard in the league for years to come and has unlimited range from three.
Six Losers
Brooklyn- They could have headed to the Big Apple with Harrison Barnes, instead they got Ilkan Karaman.
New York- They could have opted for a home grown talent like Kyle O’Quinn or Kevin Jones, instead they drafted a player from Greece who we’ll probably never see in a Knicks uni.
Portland- Anytime you spend two lottery picks on a point guard who never competed against a top 25 team in his four years of college and a 7 foot white guy with minimal playing experience you've got to be a little hesitant to give it the old stamp of approval. Will Barton and Tyshawn Taylor were nice second round steals, but I don't like them enough to forget about the Leonard pick. I would have gone with John Hensen.
Cleveland- It's hard to say any team really loses when they add lottery talent, but with that being said I feel the Cavs really reached on Dion Waiters. I know my biased 'Cuse fans love the guy, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I just hope this isn't another case of Marvin Williams all over again. However, the real reason Cleveland makes it on my shit list is because they traded three draft picks for Tyler Zellar. Not knocking Tyler, but in a deep draft I feel they could have improved even more by adding a few more pieces.
Miami- Even though they landed themselves a future #1 pick from Philly, you've got to hate when a team drops out of the draft altogether. Especially with Perry Jones still on the board.
Denver- For the sole reason that they robbed us of seeing our first All-American first round since 1995!
-fresh (@danye33)
No comments:
Post a Comment