Mock NBA drafts are fun but entirely speculative until the draft lottery is set, which will happen in 10 days, but they are still a lot of fun.
Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor has a take on this year’s lottery and of course it is pretty random until it’s set. As noted though, it is a lot of fun.
In this scenario, the Brooklyn Nets get the first pick and naturally it’s Cooper Flagg. Playing for a sucky team is somewhat compensated by being in a major market and not having to play for the Knicks. Yes, the Knicks are more competitive now, but they are still owned by James Dolan and that guy has screwed the team up more than once.
Pass.
He has Dylan Harper going to New Orleans with the #2 pick and Ace Bailey going to Philly at #3 but possibly trade him.
Houston gets VJ Edgecombe at #4 and then Kon Knueppel goes to Utah at #5. The Jazz had a woeful year but Danny Ainge knows how to build a team and they’ll get better. That said, we’d love to see Knueppel end up with San Antonio, but we’re guessing he’d be happiest to end up with Milwaukee. However, the Bucks would have to do some maneuvering for that to happen since they don’t get pick until midway through the second round.
Unfortunately, he has Khaman Maluach going to Washington with the #6 pick. That would give Duke three of the first six picks, which would be amazing, but playing for Washington is depressing. Hopefully he’ll get lucky and end up somewhere else.
The rest of it is worth watching but not worth talking about here since we’re focused on Duke players. The odds of Sion James creeping into the first round are not good but could Tyrese Proctor?
Maybe.
On the 12th, the draft order will be set and the machinations will get under way. We’ll have to wait until then to get a better idea.
