Wow! For an NBA draft that supposedly lacked talent and franchise-defining players it certainly made up for it in drama. The Cleveland Cavaliers got the party started and set the tone for the rest of the day by selecting Anthony Bennett from UNLV, no sooner had the dust settled on that pick then Orlando stepped to the podium to announce their selection of Indiana’s Victor Oladipo. With those two picks alone every mock draft across the country was blown away.
Now that the dust has settled on the draft in it’s entirety we can take stock of all the draft picks and make our early assessment of just which teams scored big and which teams whiffed on their picks. We will focus solely on the teams and their selections here and eDraft will follow up with a piece breaking down the trades of significance, their impact and the winners and losers from each deal.
Lets start with the winners. While this draft might not have a clear cut franchise player in it, teams were forced to scout a bit harder and workout more players to gauge exactly where and how their pick would be best served. It is clear that as the draft unfolded, teams began drafting based on pure athleticism and speculation.
WINNERS:
Anthony Bennett was a definite winner on Thursday as the former UNLV forward heard his name called first by the Cavaliers. Apparently this came as a surprise to even Bennett as the Cavs held their cards close to their chest throughout the process. The Cavaliers threw up smoke screen after smoke screen and let the rumour mill churn away as mock drafts projected either Nerlens Noel or Alex Len in this spot. Bennett now has the luxury of playing on one of the strongest and best teams in the lottery and he will benefit from having Kyrie Irving pushing the pace and getting him into ideal scoring situations. Bennett also became the first Canadian baller to get drafted first overall into the NBA and that in itself is a huge accomplishment not just for Bennett but for Basketball Canada and the National program.
The Sacramento Kings were picking with the seventh overall pick in the draft and with that selection it is conceivable that they got the most-talented player of the entire day. Ben McLemore fell right into their laps and the Kings couldn’t have been any happier about it. McLemore was believed to be a top three pick with the likely landing spot being in Orlando. Once Orlando passed and with Bennett already off the board; the Kings draft room must have been on the edge of the their chairs. As big man after big man followed with picks four, five and six; McLemore was sitting there like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow for the Kings.
This catch and shoot guard will need to work on his mobility and shot creation off the dribble, but in the meantime he will allow the Kings to space the floor nicely and he should be an effective option on the post kick outs and spot up shots in transition.
It might be a bit of a stretch to label the Dallas Mavericks a winner in the draft in so much as they picked 13th overall. The Mavericks selected Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynuk and immediately shipped him to the Boston Celtics for their 16th overall pick. The Mavericks weren’t done there as they flipped the 16th pick to Atlanta for the 18th pick. Dallas also parted ways with their first-rounder from last season Jared Cunningham as well as a second round selection later in the draft and acquired two future second round picks from Boston in the swap.
It had long been rumoured that Dallas wanted no part in this draft and preferred to save it’s available cap space for a max Dwight Howard offer. Well, by making two draft day trades and by dropping down in the draft they saved $400,000 in guaranteed rookie money and they dropped $1.2 million off the books from Cunningham. In addition to the cost saving they were still able to address their point guard needs in the draft by selecting Shane Larkin from the University of Miami. A busy day for the Mavericks and Donnie Nelson to be sure, but very shrewdly played and in the end they shaved payroll and filled a need on the court.
LOSERS:
It seems like every year we go back and mention the Charlotte Bobcats as being losers in the draft. Granted Kemba Walker was a nice surprise last year and here’s hoping his success continues but the misses on draft day continue to outweigh the success stories. The Bobcats held the fourth overall pick and many figured that they were in a good position to grab either Bennett or Oladipo, well both were off the board and so was Otto Porter by the time the Bobcats came to the podium.
Instead of taking the available Nerlens Noel or even Alex Len the Bobcats reached for and selected Cody Zeller. The smart choice would have been Noel in this spot as the Bobcats should be thinking long term here. Noel would have been able to rehab his injury and make his debut around December in a stress-free environment with little to zero expectations. The Bobcats are not going to be a playoff team and they should be thinking ahead to the talent-laden 2014 draft. Chalk this draft up to another blown opportunity for the Bobcats.
Moving from Charlotte, we focus on another team that is full on rebuilding mode. The Philadelphia 76ers traded their best player in Jrue Holiday for the injured Nerlens Noel and a top three protected pick in 2014. While the draft pick save this deal come next season, the deal for now is a horrible one for Philadelphia.
The real losers in this deal are the faithful fans in Philadelphia. This trade signifies the start of what will be a painful rebuild. It is clear that signing Andrew Bynum isn’t going to happen and to only compound the sorrows of many they trade away a 23-year old all-star for yet another injured big man who likely isn’t going to play for half a season. The real head scratcher in this whole deal is the fact that Holiday’s contract is actually quite cap friendly for the next four years at $11 million per.
The single biggest head-shaking mistake made on draft day was the Minnesota Timberwolves selecting Shabazz Mahammad. If there was ever a franchise where you’d have hoped they could learn from their mistakes of drafting for and trading for the problem-children of the NBA it is the Timberwolves. They have seen the likes of Latrell Sprewell, Michael Beasley, Stephon Marbury, O.J. Mayo, Isaiah Rider and Derrick Williams come through their doors and each were a disaster.
Why on earth would they now take a kid whose own parents perpetuated a lie about his age so that Mahammad could dominate against younger competition. This kid is originally from Las Vegas and he went to school in California; now no offense to anyone in or from Minnesota but that is one heck of a culture shock. I truly believe that this kid is destined to flame out in the NBA as his work ethic, attitude and character are suspect.
A team alongside Philadelphia that has sent a clear message to it’s fans that they will need to buckle up and prepare to be awful are the Milwaukee Bucks. So let me get this straight, a team that is about to lose Monta Ellis and J.J. Redick and are offering Brandon Jennings around as trade bait and whose roster is full of needs and weakness go ahead and draft a guy who is likely to spend next season overseas and then trade their second round selection for pretty much nothing. I might not be an NBA general manager (yet) but I’m absolutely certain that in order to make a team better you need actual players not draft rights to players.
The Milwaukee Buck fans, if there are any left, will need to prepare themselves to root for a horrific team. The playoffs will become a fading memory and soon fans will long for the chance to be swept out of the first round again.