1. Washington Wizards- PG John Wall

Wall has been called a once or twice in a decade prospect by many, many experts. Experts have been wrong before, but everything I’ve seen of Wall leads me to believe that these experts won’t be wrong. He’s got to work on his maturity and leadership at the point guard position, but that will come with age, as it did for Derrick Rose, who has, in two years, matured into the leader and the face of the Chicago Bulls. He’s got to work on his outside shot and cutting down his turnovers, but his mid range game is already great and he’s a fierce penetrator to the basket with an NBA ready body. I like Evan Turner as a prospect as well, but the Wizards had to go with the potential superstar here. Wall doesn’t fill a major need, but you never know with Gilbert Arenas, and Turner didn’t fill a major need either and reaching for a big man like DeMarcus Cousins or Derrick Favors to fill a need would have been a big, big mistake for this franchise.

Grade: A

2. Philadelphia 76ers- SF Evan Turner

I would have liked to have seen them move down to get a big, but I’ll assume for the sake of this grade that they tried and could not and in that case, they had to take Turner. Wall is the superstar potential kid in this class, but Turner is the do everything sidekick that will be almost as valuable to a contender as their superstar. You’ve heard of five tool outfielders in baseball, this kid is a 5 tool basketball player, shooting, driving, distributing, defense, and rebounding. He doesn’t fill their biggest need, but he’s going to be a lot more valuable to them than a guy like Favors or Cousins would have been.

Grade: A

3. New Jersey Nets- PF Derrick Favors

Once again I’m not going to argue with this pick. Favors is not going to be a superstar in this league, but the Nets couldn’t have really gotten a superstar type player with this pick because in my eyes, this class had one future #1 option, one strong future #2 option, and the rest were #2 options or worse. Favors will be a solid #2 big man on a good team someday, though he is raw, and, positionally, he fills their biggest need.

Grade: A

4. Minnesota Timberwolves- SF Wesley Johnson

I would have liked to have seen them move up to get someone who can do something more offensively, or move down for value and an offensive minded swingman, but assuming they couldn’t do that, I think this was the best they could go. Johnson is offensive issues, but he’s going to help them on defense. I don’t know that he’ll persuade Ricky Rubio to come over as moving up for Turner or moving down for Xavier Henry would have, but he was the best pick they could make at this spot. DeMarcus Cousins would have been a mistake and he would have been the only other player to fit this slot. They already have Kevin Love and Al Jefferson inside. They need a defensive minded big, not another inside scorer.

Grade: A

5. Sacramento Kings- C DeMarcus Cousins

Not special to say here. Cousins fills their need inside. They traded for Samuel Dalembert, but mostly for his expiring contract. Cousins was the best available player here and fills a big need. I think Cousins has to be the early favorite for rookie of the year this year, if he can stay in shape, out of trouble, and healthy. This is exactly what I thought they’d do in this situation and it’s exactly what I would do.

Grade: A

 

6. Golden State Warriors- PF Ekpe Udoh

The Warriors’ idea with this pick was to add size and to get better defensively, and I like that idea, but you’re not going to convince me that Udoh was the 6^th best player in this draft class. Udoh is raw offensively and he’s 23 years old. He and North Carolina’s Ed Davis are very similar players, good defensively and on the boards, but raw offensively. However, Davis is 21 and it’s perfectly alright to use a top 6 pick on a defensive minded big that’s a bit raw offensively if he’s 21. 23 is a different story. 23 is pushing it a little. 23 is the point where you maybe start to say, well, he hasn’t developed into a good offensive big man at this point. I don’t know if he ever will. I don’t see why, with two similar talents, you take the older of the two.

Grade: C

7. Detroit Pistons- C Greg Monroe

Another case of taking the wrong big I think. The Pistons really needed a big physical presence inside and Monroe has a reputation for being a bit soft inside. Adding size and strength was their biggest need this offseason and I’m glad to see that they didn’t take a guy like Al-Farouq Aminu. Aminu probably would have been best available, but wouldn’t have filled a need at all. They have way too much depth on the wings anyway and I don’t buy Aminu being a power forward at the NBA level. Still, I think Davis would have been the right pick here.

Grade: C

8. Los Angeles Clippers- SF Al-Farouq Aminu

I had been mocking this pick for months and I don’t think any mock drafter with half a brain had Aminu slipping past here. Aminu is best available, or at least one of the best available, and he plays the only position that the Clippers really have a hole at in their starting lineup, assuming Blake Griffin bounces back from injury, and in the top 10 if you’re not drafting players that you think are starting caliber and that you can realistically get into the starting lineup sometime soon, you’re doing something wrong. Aminu is the type of player that can help you without having the ball in his hands and the Clippers already had enough playmakers.

Grade: A

9. Utah Jazz- SF Gordon Heyward

I had been hearing small forward here before the draft, though I expected Luke Babbitt. I don’t really think Heyward is the 9^th best player in this class, in fact, he would have been lucky to be taken in the first round before the NCAA tournament. As good as he was there, it was only 6 games and I don’t think those 6 games are enough to move a player up from the 2^nd round to the top 10. I don’t necessarily think that Babbitt or even Paul George would have been the right pick here anyway. I would have gone with a big like Ed Davis or Patrick Patterson. I don’t know that Paul Millsap is the right guy to start to power forward when Carlos Boozer leaves and it looks very unlikely that he’ll stay.

Grade: B

10. Indiana Pacers- SF Paul George

Unlike the NFL Draft, we almost made it through the top 10 without me being completely confused by a pick. Does George have a ton of upside here, yeah, but you would like to take a player in the top 10 that’s not completely raw. George doesn’t have an NBA frame right now; he’s not NBA ready and not ready to play big minutes. Plus, they already have Danny Granger at small forward and that’s pretty much the only position they didn’t need. George can play shooting guard, but he’s not a natural two and two guard wasn’t a huge need either. They need a point guard or a big man here and since they’re weren’t really any good point guards available in this range, I think a big man should have been the pick.

Grade: D