About College Basketball Guide, Charlie Zegers and I teamed up to conduct a mock draft for 2008's NBA Draft coming up in June. The mock was conducted on May 22nd, a couple of days after the NBA Draft Lottery.
Charlie pretends to be the Chicago Bulls, winners of the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery, in this mock draft as he has the first selection and each subsequent odd-numbered pick. I, of course, choose all of the even-numbered picks. A few of our own brief comments follow each of our respective picks. And this by no means is the final mock draft where we have all of the information that we need. College basketball players that declared for the NBA Draft have until June 16th to join those that never declared and decided to stay in school another year, as long as they never hired an agent.
For your reading pleasure, you can check out our first and second mock draft, but without further ado, About.com's third NBA Mock Draft!
1. Chicago Bulls: Michael Beasley, SF/PF, Kansas State
Chicago has needed a low-post scorer forever - I don't think they can afford to be sentimental and grab the hometown kid, when Beasley is such a great fit. Kirk Hinrich should return to upper-tier point guard status if some of the scoring load is taken off his back.
2. Miami Heat: Derrick Rose, PG, Memphis
The Heat get lucky here because they probably end up getting the guy they wanted all along. Rose and Dwyane Wade in the same backcourt will be one of the top pairs of starting guards in the Association. Wade should be happy because he won't have to handle the ball or penetrate as much as he has been... Rose will make it all better.
3. Minnesota Timberwolves: Brook Lopez, C, Stanford
Allows the T-Wolves to slide Al Jefferson to the four spot and gives them a fairly imposing frontcourt.
4. Seattle SuperSonics: Jerryd Bayless, PG/SG, Arizona
Bayless is one of the top athletes in this draft if not THE top. Adding him into the youthful mix in Seattle won't guarantee more wins, but with Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and himself, the Sonics have a great base to build on. Also, there will be some growing pains developing Bayless' point guard game, but luckily, the Sonics can afford that right now.
5. Memphis Grizzlies: DeAndre Jordan, C, Texas A&M
This is earlier than most mocks are projecting Jordan, but hear me out. Memphis is lousy with guards - Mike Conley, Javaris Crittendon, Kyle Lowry, Juan Carlos Navarro - and has no quality size at all. Jordan's a bit of a project, but Memphis isn't contending in the West any time soon anyway.
6. New York Knicks: O.J. Mayo, SG, USC
If only this can actually happen. If there is any player in this draft that's ready for the spotlight and microscope of New York it's Mayo. I mean, he's already pretty much handled himself cooly with one controversy already! On the court, Mayo will bring a lot of excitement and because of his ability to hit J's, coach Mike D'Antoni should be happy with O.J.'s production... even if Mayo isn't Derrick Rose.
7. Los Angeles Clippers: Eric Gordon
Gives the Clips a nice perimeter scoring option to pair in the backcourt with Shaun Livingston (if he recovers) and insurance against a drop in production from Cuttino Mobley or the potential loss of Corey Maggette.
8. Milwaukee Bucks: Anthony Randolph, SF/PF, LSU
Hey, at least it wasn't another international pick! Randolph has some extreme upside thanks to his growing skills, natural talent, and size. However, it could take a season or two before all of it shows.
9. Charlotte Bobcats: Kevin Love, PF, UCLA
Been saying it for weeks - Larry Brown and Kevin Love are a match made in heaven.
10. New Jersey Nets: Darrell Arthur, PF, Kansas
I've always been high on Arthur and I'm glad a lot of mocks out there are staring to agree with me. Arthur is big, strong, athletic, and can play defense. He should have an immediate impact the way Sean Williams did this past season.
