Now about that 2019 draft....(ESPN article)

[johnnyde]

With the draft still somewhat lingering, and looking to the future draft next year knowing we have that extra Dallas pick - here's an ESPN article to keep the conversation started for the next 360+ days. I hope this is OK to post in the general forum since the draft is still fresh on people's minds. If not, sorry and feel free to delete/move. 

 

NBA mock draft: Projecting the next prospects to watch

 

 

 

 

Jun 23, 2018

• 
  Jonathan GivonyESPN

With the 2018 NBA draft in the rearview mirror, it's time to shift our full attention to next year's crop.

A lot has happened since we last updated our 2019 mock draft, including, most importantly, players' decisions on whether to stay in the 2018 NBA draft or not.

We've attended sessions of Nike's prestigious AAU circuit, the EYBL, have been to high school showcases like the Pangos All-American camp, scoured the international ranks at the Euroleague ANGT Tournament and the NBA Global Combine, and just got back from the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

That has given us a good starting point to begin to evaluate next year's draft, as well as the 2020 crop. We'll continue that process over the course of the summer, attending the FIBA U17 World Championship, and the A and B divisions of every FIBA Europe junior championship, including the U16, U18 and U20 tournaments. We'll cap that off with the Nike Skills Academy, the Steph Curry Camp and the Basketball Without Borders Europe camp in August. Be on the lookout for our first projection of the 2020 NBA draft in the fall.

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Storylines to watch

• A number of college players decided to return to school at the early-entry deadline, including Jontay Porter, P.J. Washington, Tyus Battle, Lindell Wigginton, Shamorie Ponds, Kris Wilkes, Jalen McDaniels, Carsen Edwardsand Jarrey Foster, giving this group some much-needed depth to fall back on. They join the likes of De'Andre Hunter, Daniel Gafford and Rui Hachimura, projected lottery picks who decided to skip testing the waters altogether.

• Charles Bassey and Ashton Hagans, the No. 3 and No. 17 recruits in ESPN's 2019 high school rankings, reclassified to 2018, and became eligible for next year's draft in turn. Jalen Lecque, currently ranked No. 10, could elect to do the same still.

• The lack of star power in the 2018 high school class, combined with the influx of college players, may cause you to believe we're headed for an older 2019 draft class, but that hasn't materialized yet at this stage.

  The average age of players projected to be picked in the first round of our 2019 mock is 20.2 on draft day, exactly the same as the 2018 NBA draft first round.

  That's fairly normal, as we often give the benefit of the doubt to younger players who we anticipate will end up improving in these types of forecasts, including the 12 freshmen and 11 rising sophomores in our mock. Only four juniors and one senior are currently projected to become first-round picks, which is highly unlikely to remain the case this time next year. We saw older players like Jerome Robinson, Aaron Holiday, Donte DiVincenzo, Grayson Allen and Chandler Hutchison work their way into fringe top-20 status as this year's draft process moved on, and we expect that to happen next year as well, we're just not sure with whom yet.

  Only four centers overall are projected to be picked in the first round as a whole, which is perhaps a better reflection of the changing nature of today's game than the big man top-heavy 2018 draft crop.

• Five of the top seven players drafted in 2018 were centers, something that certainly won't be the case in 2019. Depending on how you define 6-foot-6 Zion Williamson, the first real center won't come off the board in 2019 until the No. 10 pick, if our current projections hold up.

• Finally, it doesn't look like Europe is returning to the prominence it once held in churning out first-round picks year after year, as we have seen in the past. Only two first-rounders in 2018 came from outside the United States and/or the NCAA system, and 2019 isn't looking much better, with only two such players (Sekou Doumbouya and Luka Samanic) currently being forecasted in the top 30.

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A number of draft picks have already moved hands in 2019

Cleveland's first-rounder is owned by Atlanta, protected Nos. 1-10 through 2020. It converts to second-round picks in 2021 and 2022 if not conveyed. LeBron James' impending free agency has huge implications for the Hawks as well for that reason.

Sacramento's first-rounder is owned by Boston, protected only for the No. 1 pick (in which case it heads to the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston gets Philly's pick). This is a significant asset considering the fact that the Kings are currently projected to finish 29th in ESPN's early power rankings.

The Clippers' first-rounder is also owned by Boston. It is lottery protected in 2019 and 2020. This pick is unlikely to convey in 2019 unless the Clippers surprisingly make the playoffs next season (projected to finish 20th).

Boston owns the Grizzlies' first-rounder as well. It is protected Nos. 1-8 next year, Nos. 1-6 in 2020 and unprotected in 2021. The Grizzlies expect to be a little better next season (23rd in the power rankings), but if things go south, an all-out tanking job may be necessary to salvage this pick.

Milwaukee's first-rounder will be conveyed to Phoenix if if falls Nos. 4-16 next year, and Nos. 8-30 in 2020. The pairing of Giannis Antetokounmpo and new head coach Mike Budenholzer makes it difficult to fathom this pick not rolling over to 2020. The power rankings have the Bucks finishing 12th.

The Hawks own the Mavericks' 2019 first-rounder -- top-5 protected -- after acquiring the pick in the Trae Young-Luka Doncic trade on draft night.

ESPN's post-Finals Power Rankings were used to project draft order. Track all traded draft picks here.

 

2019 NBA Mock Draft

TEAM	PLAYER	YEAR	SCHOOL	HEIGHT	POSITION	AGE
1. ATL	R.J. Barrett	Freshman	Duke	6-7	SF	18.0
2. BOS (via SAC)	Nassir Little	Freshman	North Carolina	6-6	SF	18.3
3. ORL	Sekou Doumbouya	International	Limoges	6-9	PF	17.4
4. DAL	Cam Reddish	Freshman	Duke	6-9	SF	18.7
5. PHX	Romeo Langford	Freshman	Indiana	6-6	SG	18.6
6. BKN	Quentin Grimes	Freshman	Kansas	6-4	SG	18.1
7. NYK	Zion Williamson	Freshman	Duke	6-6	PF	17.9
8. MEM	Darius Garland	Freshman	Vanderbilt	6-0	PG	18.3
9. CHI	De'Andre Hunter	Sophomore	Virginia	6-8	PF	20.5
10. CHA	Daniel Gafford	Sophomore	Arkansas	6-11	C	19.7
11. LAC	Jontay Porter	Sophomore	Missouri	6-10	C	18.5
12. DET	Bol Bol	Freshman	Oregon	7-2	C	18.5
13. MIA	Keldon Johnson	Freshman	Kentucky	6-6	SF	18.6
14. ATL (via CLE)	Rui Hachimura	Sophomore	Gonzaga	6-8	PF	20.3
15. WAS	Luka Samanic	International	Olimpija Ljubljana	6-11	PF	18.4
16. POR	Jalen Smith	Freshman	Maryland	6-10	PF	18.2
17. OKC	Herb Jones	Sophomore	Alabama	6-7	SF	19.6
18. LAL	Darius Bazley	G-League	N/A	6-9	SF/PF	18.0
19. MIL	Charles Bassey	Freshman	Western Kentucky	6-10	C	17.6
20. IND	P.J. Washington	Sophomore	Kentucky	6-8	PF	19.8
21. MIN	Jarrett Culver	Sophomore	Texas Tech	6-5	SG	19.3
22. DEN	Nickeil Alexander-Walker	Sophomore	Virginia Tech	6-5	PG/SG	19.7
23. NOP	Kris Wilkes	Sophomore	UCLA	6-7	SF	19.7
24. TOR	Shamorie Ponds	Junior	St. John's	6-1	PG	19.9
25. SAS	Lindell Wigginton	Sophomore	Iowa St	6-2	PG	20.2
26. UTA	Jalen McDaniels	Sophomore	San Diego St	6-9	SF/PF	20.3
27. BOS	Tyus Battle	Junior	Syracuse	6-7	SF	20.7
28. PHI	Carsen Edwards	Junior	Purdue	6-0	PG	20.2
29. HOU	Charles Matthews	Junior	Michigan	6-6	SF	21.5
30. GSW	Jarrey Foster	Senior	SMU	6-6	SF	21.5
31. ATL	Marko Simonovic	International	Olimpija Ljubljana	7-0	PF/C	18.6
32. PHI (via SAC)	Aric Holman	Senior	Mississippi St.	6-10	PF	20.9
33. ORL	Oshae Brissett	Sophomore	Syracuse	6-9	PF	19.9
34. DAL	Isaiah Roby	Junior	Nebraska	6-8	SF/PF	20.3
35. PHX	Terence Davis	Senior	Mississippi	6-4	SG	21
36. ORL (via BKN)	Admiral Schofield	Senior	Tennessee	6-5	SF/PF	21.2
37. BKN (via NYK)	Kerwin Roach II	Senior	Texas	6-3	PG/SG	21.6
38. MEM	Brandon Randolph	Sophomore	Arizona	6-6	SG	20.7
39. LAL (via CHI)	John Petty	Sophomore	Alabama	6-5	SG	19.5
40. ATL (via CHA)	Sagaba Konate	Junior	West Virginia	6-8	C	20.7
41. LAC	Ky Bowman	Junior	Boston College	6-1	PG/SG	21
42. PHI (via DET)	Xavier Sneed	Junior	Kansas St	6-5	SG	20.4
43. MIN (via MIA)	James Palmer	Senior	Nebraska	6-6	SF	21.8
44. SAC (via CLE)	Markis McDuffie	Senior	Wichita St	6-8	SF	20.7
45. DEN (via WAS)	Goga Bitadze	International	Mega Bemax	6-11	C	18.9
46. LAC (via POR)	Killian Tillie	Junior	Gonzaga	6-10	PF/C	20.1
47. OKC	Jalen Hudson	Senior	Florida	6-5	SG	22
48. POR (via LAL)	Udoka Azubuike	Junior	Kansas	6-11	C	18.7
49. SAC (via MIL)	Cameron Johnson	Senior	North Carolina	6-7	SF	22.2
50. IND	D'Marcus Simonds	Junior	Georgia St	6-3	PG/SG	20.6
51. ATL (via MIN)	Bruno Fernando	Sophomore	Maryland	6-10	C	19.8
52. DEN	David Okeke	International	PMS Torino	6-9	PF	19.7
53. NOP	Tadas Sedekerskis	International	Baskonia	6-10	SF	20.4
54. TOR	Amine Noua	International	Villeurbanne	6-8	PF	21.3
55. SAS	Karim Jallow	International	N/A	6-7	SF	21.1
56. UTA	Gabriel Galvanini	International	Bauru	6-8	SF/PF	19.7
57. MEM (via BOS)	Lamar Peters	Junior	Mississippi St.	6-0	PG	19.9
58. PHI	Matisse Thybulle	Senior	Washington	6-5	SG	21.2
59. NYK (via HOU)	Shakur Juiston	Senior	UNLV	6-7	PF	21.2
60. DAL (via GSW)	Brian Bowen	N/A	N/A	6-7	SF	19.7

[Flight]

Right now I like Cam Reddish, Keldon Johnson (Mostly because of Kentucky bias), Bol Bol and I'm starting to feel like maybe Zion will be worth a shot if he can actually shoot at a nice clip next year.

[Spud2nique]

Gafford, Bol and Jontay for the bigs..Any of the Duke big 3 (Zion is a freak) and Langford and Little as well. I’ve got 8 guys on our radar. Hopefully with our pick being a top 5 and the Mavs being 8-12 we can land a couple of these guys. In any event, if nothing else, we are about to be fun!

[EazyRoc]

How tf does Boston keep fleecing teams out of top draft picks ?

[kg01]

Just now, Spud2nique said:

Gafford, Bol and Jontay for the bigs..Any of the Duke big 3 (Zion is a freak) and Langford and Little as well. I’ve got 8 guys on our radar. Hopefully with our pick being a top 5 and the Mavs being 8-12 we can land a couple of these guys. In any event, if nothing else, we are about to be fun!

Hey, if we pick Zion, can we make the other NBA teams sign the 5'8" future insurance salesmen that he's used to beastin' against?  Ya know, the ones incapable of making him expand his game beyond highlight dunking on them.  The ones that can't make him actually handle the ball and, oh I dunno, take an actual jumpshot.  Can the NBA become those guys starting next year, please?

Am I laying it on think enough?

[Spud2nique]

4 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Hey, if we pick Zion, can we make the other NBA teams sign the 5'8" future insurance salesmen that he's used to beastin' against?  Ya know, the ones incapable of making him expand his game beyond highlight dunking on them.  The ones that can't make him actually handle the ball and, oh I dunno, take an actual jumpshot.  Can the NBA become those guys starting next year, please?

Am I laying it on think enough?

? look I’m not a Georgia Tech fan nor do I have alliance to college teams (I do like Cal and UCLA and SDSU and SJSU but that’s a west coast thing) but I totally understand this must be a Duke recruitment hate thing more than a Zion hate and that’s cool with me. But the kid plays like Grandmama and I don’t mind that at all. Having said that, I agree his competition looked like the kid that was dunked on in that Michael Porter jr highlight. I just wanna know where all these lil Dan Dickau’s disappear to? Is there an island ? for them somewhere?

[NBASupes]

Cam Reddish is my #1 target

 

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

Cam Reddish is my #1 target

 

Yup. We have a year left Supes... can we fast forward? Lol...oh we gone be good soon. 

[Gray Mule]

As we expected, ESPN has Atlanta with the 1st pick.  (Translation: Sorriest NBA team next season)  I know that many "experts" believe this, as do some here.  Tanks a lot!

We're no good.  We're sorry, no account.  Premier tankers for the season!  Well, dang.  Don't even know who will be on the team.  Guess we will keep our three draft picks.  Some of last season's players will return.

I don't expect great things from our Hawks.  Not yet.  But, come on.  We're going to surprise a few people and slip up and win ever now and again.  Maybe 25 or 30 games for the season.  Since there is no guarantee on health, some of those "great" teams could slip a notch or two.

And, at last, don't forge our G League team.  We will have two players there with those two way contracts.

[kg01]

12 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

? look I’m not a Georgia Tech fan nor do I have alliance to college teams (I do like Cal and UCLA and SDSU and SJSU but that’s a west coast thing) but I totally understand this must be a Duke recruitment hate thing more than a Zion hate and that’s cool with me. But the kid plays like Grandmama and I don’t mind that at all. Having said that, I agree his competition looked like the kid that was dunked on in that Michael Porter jr highlight. I just wanna know where all these lil Dan Dickau’s disappear to? Is there an island ? for them somewhere?

No, in this case, it's a Zion thing.  Kid is a 6'5" power forward who's actual game is a lot thinner than people seem willing to acknowledge.

Only way I draft this kid high is to hold him hostage to pillage the assets of a team who's gotten so enamored with highlights that they chose not to actually piece through whether or not the guy's game truly translates to a high-level NBA performer.   Kinda like what we jus' did to tha Mavs ....

[marco102]

My hopes and dreams are the Hawks somehow get the number 1 pick and trade it for 3 or 4 and select Cam Reddish, although if he reaches his potential at Duke, you take him number.

2nd Pick - 6- 12 range - Daniel Gafford (This kid has ton of potential) - Dallas Pick

3rd Pick - 11 - 25th - Select the best point guard available ( we need a good backup for Trae).

[marco102]

1 minute ago, marco102 said:

My hopes and dreams are the Hawks somehow get the number 1 pick and trade it for 3 or 4 and select Cam Reddish, although if he reaches his potential at Duke, you take him number.

2nd Pick - 6- 12 range - Daniel Gafford (This kid has ton of potential) - Dallas Pick

3rd Pick - 11 - 25th - Select the best point guard available ( we need a good backup for Trae).

And maybe get two unprotected picks in the future from some team.  Also, I know this is a pipe dream.

[NBASupes]

21 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Yup. We have a year left Supes... can we fast forward? Lol...oh we gone be good soon. 

Maybe, maybe not. Unlike last year, I can see this team having success with two PGs

[EazyRoc]

I’m very very interested in seeing how Zion translates to the college game. I think best case he’s Larry Johnson and worst case Jason Maxiel/Kenneth Faried.

[Flight]

51 minutes ago, EazyRoc said:

I’m very very interested in seeing how Zion translates to the college game. I think best case he’s Larry Johnson and worst case Jason Maxiel/Kenneth Faried.

If by some miracle he develops a ton offensively I could see some Karl Malone in him as a ceiling.

[kg01]

54 minutes ago, EazyRoc said:

I’m very very interested in seeing how Zion translates to the college game. I think best case he’s Larry Johnson and worst case Jason Maxiel/Kenneth Faried.

At worst, he's Anthony Bennett IMHO.

The Little kid will be much better than Zion but doesn't have a quarter the hype.

2 minutes ago, Flight said:

If by some miracle he develops a ton offensively I could see some Karl Malone in him as a ceiling.

Too small for that.

[Roundfield32]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

No, in this case, it's a Zion thing.  Kid is a 6'5" power forward who's actual game is a lot thinner than people seem willing to acknowledge.

Only way I draft this kid high is to hold him hostage to pillage the assets of a team who's gotten so enamored with highlights that they chose not to actually piece through whether or not the guy's game truly translates to a high-level NBA performer.   Kinda like what we jus' did to tha Mavs ....

For a while Zion was supposedly a strong UK lean & as a lifelong UK fan I was actually relieved when he verballed to Duke. I don’t even know how effective he’ll be in college, much less the NBA. He’ll still see plenty of frontcourts this year that he can bully. But, I think he’ll really struggle against better competition & teams that aren’t undersized. He’s not a good shooter. He doesn’t have good enough handles to create offense for himself OR others against competent defenders. He IS a freak athlete & has the potential to be a good rebounder. It remains to be seen how good of a defensive player he can be. He’s also a true tweener, undersized at the 4 & not quick enough to stay with a 3. Unless I’m drafting for a dunk contest I’d pass on ZW. The potential is there for him to be a very good pro player but he has to show a desire to get better & stay in shape that he hasn’t shown yet. The potential also exists that he won’t develop a jump shot or put in the work to improve & will be exposed as nothing more than a fat guy who can jump. I’m anxious to see how well ZW, Barrett & Reddish fit together. Barrett is a notorious ball hog & chemistry issues could definitely develop. 

[Flight]

48 minutes ago, kg01 said:

At worst, he's Anthony Bennett IMHO.

The Little kid will be much better than Zion but doesn't have a quarter the hype.

Too small for that.

You must mean too short. Cause weight wise Zion is bigger than Karl was already lol.

We'll see how things work out for him at Duke though, I don't think their big 3 is a good fit for each other play-style wise at all.

[h4wkfan]

I will forever be mad at Little for what he did to me by not going to Tech (thank$ duke). However, I'd take him all day in the draft next year. 

[EazyRoc]

Zion may only be 6’6”, but dude has a crazy wingspan just off looks. I bet he has the length to hold his own at the PF position. I just wonder if he has the skills to be more than a rebounder/finisher. He appears to be athletic enough to win his matchup at 4, but the skills (ballhandling/passing/shooting) are what will make him a star.