ESPN NBA Draft aficionado Chad Ford knows it’s somewhat ludicrous to predict what players teams may or may not select when the 2016 Draft takes place roughly 10 months from now. The start of the 2015-16 season is still two months away, after which there’s roughly six months worth of NBA games and a season of NCAA basket to deal with, so figuring out which college and international players will be the most coveted come June 2016 is mostly a fool’s errand. And of course, there’s the issue of divining team draft position before a single second of the 2015-16 season has been played. But as Ford points out, NBA teams (or at least the smart ones) never really stop scouting or evaluating potential draftees, even if they don’t know where they’re picking, whether they’ll even have a pick or what positions they might need to address. So given all of that, it’s fair, if not somewhat futile, for Ford to put out his aptly titled “Way Too Early” mock draft a month before training camp starts using ESPN’s win/loss predictions (whose results are typically debatable at best) to set the order. That forecast has the Trail Blazers finishing 31-51, so with the 9th overall pick, Ford has the Trail Blazers selecting Henry Ellenson, a 6-10 forward from Rice Lake, Wisconsin who is set to being his freshman year at Marquette … HENRY ELLENSON COLLEGE: Marquette HT: 6-10 WT: 228 POS: C The Blazers ended up gutting the team this summer after it became clear LaMarcus Aldridge wasn’t returning. The loss of Aldridge, along with Nic Batum and Wesley Matthews, caused our panel to knock 20 wins off of last season’s win total and throw Portland into the lottery. The Blazers added Ed Davis and Noah Vonleh at the 4 this summer, but they could still use another talented big man on the roster. Ellenson has drawn some comps to a young Kevin Love. He’s a good athlete, can play the 4 and the 5 and can really stretch the floor. Odds of winning lottery: 1.7 percent Just a reminder, as if you needed it, that the Trail Blazers sent a 2016 lottery-protected first-round pick to Denver as a part of the Arron Afflalo trade. Casey Holdahl Beat Writer Portland Trail Blazers http://forwardcenter.net/chad-fords-first-2016-mock-draft-has-portland-taking/
So does he predict Plumlee and Leonard fall with career ending knee injuries? One gauruntee I can make about our draft next year is (barring a big trade) we will not draft a big. It's hard to predict which players will go where 10 months before the draft, but is not to hard to look at a damn roster and see what position is needed. Cmon Ford, do a little research on the teams your mock drafting for.
For the top 5 or so yeah, but in a draft that isn't deep you'll have 4 or 5 guys that are on the same level at pick #9. So if there is no "BPA" you go to your 2nd criteria, which is fit.
