2024 NBA Draft Mocks

Their guesses ....for the most part, seem pretty good.
I did find this interesting:

Per Kelly Iko of The Athletic, three teams—the Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies—"have been most vocal" about acquiring the No. 3 pick.

 

Good point. The Dame/Jrue trades had the deadline of training camp being a huge organizational problem. Cronin waited until just about the last minute to close those deals.

So really the only other trade he has made without a big deadline is the Grant one. That sounds like it was pushed mostly by Dame/Grant requesting the deal with both teams. Perhaps Cronin just isn't good with deadlines or he is trying to hold out for the perfect trade.

Blazers are going to have some pressure to cut salary under the luxury tax in early July - otherwise as teams cap space goes away it could get much harder to duck the tax. So thats probably their biggest "deadline" this summer.

 

My opinion, the Blazer vets are the most valuable players out of what would be available out of the three teams.

Unless Charlotte is offering LaMelo? Grizz offering Smart?

 

Keep in mind, that source is likely heavily influenced by Houston (Iko is from there).

Wonder if the Rockets are simply trying boost value of their pick by increasing demand.

 

I am not a big Smart fan. Not as a starter
LaMello is a bit risky IMO (Injury wise)
So yeah I think Grant is the best vet. I read all the comments in a Houston thread and they could care less about his salary.
They want him

 

Was going to say the same thing. Damn near the entire sports world has Buzelis to Detroit -- a guy they don't need to trade up from 5 to get. Charlotte needs everything and don't seem to have vet assets to compete with Portland and needs to hang onto as many of their future assets as they can because they're in as bad or worse shape than we are.

Feels very much like Houston pushing false narratives to get us to up the ante...

 

I always believed betting odds are the most accurate predictor since people are putting down cold hard cash down to back it up. The other mocks can be just to get clicks or PR spin from teams/players/agents. Here is the player with the best odds at the top5 pick as well as the player with the next best odds;

#1 Risacher -250 (Clingan +175 Sarr +600)
#2 Sarr -800 (Risacher +550)
#3 Sheppard -140 (Clingan +240)
#4 Castle +160 (Sheppard +375)
#5 Buzelis +130 (Williams +300)

So if that holds then at least 2 of these players will be available for the Blazers at #7;
Clingan
Salaun
Holland
Williams

 

Yep, which means the vast majority of our board will not be happy.

For me personally, I would prefer Williams or Holland. Although I do like Salaun's potential but I would rank him 4th out of that group.

If centers are not injury-prone they do tend to get better with age and Clingan is only 20. I do like Ayton's game more than most but by the time he is a free agent Clingan will only 22. So that is a consideration. But then so is taking a wing at 7 and Edey at 14.

At this point, I can probably be talked into any of them.

 

Sports Illustrated has us taking Holland at #7 and Topic at 14. Justin Edwards (?) at 34 and Bpna at 40
https://www.si.com/nba/draft/mock-d...ck-draft-two-round-projections-weekend-before

 

He just screams "CJ McCollum" to me.

 

The biggest problem with CJ was Neil Olshey not trading him.

 

Curious if we could get ONE draft thread once it starts?

 

Yeah, I think this is the "game thread" for the draft during the draft.

http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/20...dnesday-thursday-5-30-pm-pst-abc-espn.383875/

 

No, the biggest problem with CJ was Giannis being picked 5 picks after him.

 

Apparently he really exploded late, and as he's still a young freshman, this is taken as an indicator that he's got a bright future. But he's absolutely a "lead guard" guy, so not sure why OKC would want him other than that he has star potential, and, you know, BPA.

 

Here's ESPN's mock from last November 30th. Isiah Collier and Dalton Knecht moved in different directions...