Most of the players in the top 11 of this mock draft are seen as somewhat safe bets to be selected in that relative range, but it’s pretty much a free-for-all after that. NBA teams are all over the map on a ton of players this year because this is an extremely young class, even by the standards of the modern NBA Draft. Precious few upperclassmen with NBA-level athleticism and size emerged at the wing and guard positions this season. Because of that, NBA teams are looking closer at younger players as more interesting bets, some of which had very mixed results this season. South Carolina’s G.G. Jackson scored a lot and showed real shot-creation skills, but his maturity was lacking. Michigan’s Jett Howard is a terrific shooter who really struggled on defense. Arkansas’ Anthony Black was in a messy offense with zero spacing, in part because Nick Smith missed half of the year — though Black didn’t play well even when Smith was there. NBA teams are desperate to see these guys outside of their collegiate situations to get a more holistic view of some of their weaknesses. How fixable is Black’s jumper? How will Jackson interview? Can Howard tighten up his frame and add quickness on defense? (Ages listed are as of draft day, June 22.) 1. Detroit Pistons: Victor Wembanyama | 7-4 center | 19 years old | Metropolitans 92 2. Houston Rockets: Scoot Henderson | 6-2 lead guard | 19 years old | G League Ignite As I wrote recently, the race for No. 2 is on in NBA front offices. Scoot Henderson didn’t close the season particularly well for the Ignite after the All-Star break, averaging just 14.9 points while shooting 39 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3 in those eight games. With that being the end of his second season with the Ignite, with nothing left to prove or to play for, I think Henderson put things in neutral to get him to the next stage of his career. He is still among the best teenage lead guards I’ve ever evaluated. His first step is lightning quick, and he possesses a real blend of explosiveness and power. His handle is terrific, as is passing and playmaking vision. He’s comfortable pulling up from the midrange — almost too comfortable given how often he settles for those shots — but needs to work on his efficiency from those spots around the elbows and from beyond the 3-point line. Still, I’m expecting him to be an instant impact player and project him as a potential All-NBA guard down the road. The Rockets desperately need an answer at the lead guard spot. Kevin Porter Jr. can be a useful sixth man, but he can’t be the guy running the show and initiating a team’s offense night after night. Jalen Green also needs someone who can set the table and make life easier for him on a night-to-night basis. Getting one of Henderson or Wembanyama would allow things to fall more solidly in place in Houston around the team’s young core, making these last three disastrous years worthwhile. 3. San Antonio Spurs: Brandon Miller | 6-9 wing | 20 years old | Alabama I’ve talked to evaluators and high-level decision-makers who have Brandon Miller ahead of Henderson. They tend to fall back on the idea that the NBA is desperately looking for players with legitimate positional size and skill, along with shooting ability and defense. At 6-foot-9 with solid mobility, role flexibility and potential to create shots in space, Miller has a lot of the tools NBA teams look for in wing prospects. He also was the best player on what was the best team in the country for large swaths of the season as a freshman (albeit a bit of an older freshman). Having said that, it’s hard to overemphasize Miller’s cold streak to finish the season. He ended up at 38 percent from 3 after making just 25 percent from distance in his final nine games. Over those last nine games as a whole, he had just a 47.5 true shooting percentage. Many of the issues Miller has creating his own shot were particularly on display in the Crimson Tide’s loss to San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament, during which Miller shot 3-for-19 and turned it over six times. Still, expect Miller to go somewhere in the top five. Because of that intersection of positional size and skill, he’s seen as a safe bet to turn into a valuable player, and he does have All-Star upside if things break right. The Spurs could use another wing — especially one with Miller’s size given that Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell are more in the 6-foot-6 range. Miller would really fit this young core well and provide them with another creation option as the team looks to continue rebuilding the roster. 4. Charlotte Hornets: Amen Thompson | 6-7 lead guard | 20 years old | Overtime Elite 5. Orlando Magic: Cam Whitmore | 6-7 wing | 18 years old | Villanova 6.Washington Wizards: Ausar Thompson | 6-7 wing | 20 years old | Overtime Elite 7. Portland Trail Blazers: Anthony Black | 6-7 guard | 19 years old | Arkansas 8. Indiana Pacers: Jarace Walker | 6-8 forward | 19 years old | Houston 9. Orlando Magic: Taylor Hendricks | 6-9 forward | 19 years old | UCF 10. Toronto Raptors: Cason Wallace | 6-4 guard | 19 years old | Kentucky 11. Utah Jazz: Gradey Dick | 6-8 wing | 19 years old | Kansas 12. Oklahoma City Thunder: Jordan Hawkins | 6-5 wing | 21 years old | Connecticut 13. New Orleans Pelicans: Jalen Hood-Schifino | 6-6 wing | 20 years old | Indiana 14. Los Angeles Lakers: Dereck Lively II | 7-1 center| 19 years old| Duke 15. New York Knicks: Keyonte George | 6-4 guard | 19 years old | Baylor 16. Atlanta Hawks: Nick Smith Jr. | 6-4 combo guard | 19 years old | Arkansas 17. Utah Jazz: Leonard Miller | 6-10 forward | 19 years old | G League Ignite 18. Golden State Warriors: Kyle Filipowski | 6-11 big | 19 years old | Duke 19. Houston Rockets: Brice Sensabaugh | 6-6 wing | 19 years old | Ohio State Brice Sensabaugh declared for the draft over the weekend, noting that he’d be retaining his collegiate eligibility. Much like all of the players in this range, he is a bit polarizing for scouts. Some worry about his lack of defensive acumen; Ohio State often had to remove him for critical possessions because of his struggles off the ball and issues when involved in on-ball actions. However, most scouts think his offense outweighs those concerns. Sensabaugh is a three-level scorer, as he averaged 16 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3 this season. He’s a terrific shot creator in the midrange already, with a deep bag of tricks to separate and get the extra space he needs to fire up a consistent look. The Rockets have tended to value scorers and guys who produce at younger ages under this Rafael Stone-led front office. One note with Sensabaugh: He missed Ohio State’s final two games of the season with a knee injury from the Big Ten tournament, and there has not yet been a substantial update. Teams will want to confirm the injury is not serious in any way. 20. Brooklyn Nets: Kris Murray | 6-8 wing | 22 years old | Iowa 21. Brooklyn Nets: Kobe Bufkin | 6-4 guard | 19 years old | Michigan 22. Miami Heat: Dariq Whitehead | 6-6 wing | 18 years old | Duke 23. Portland Trail Blazers: Rayan Rupert | 6-7 wing | 19 years old | New Zealand Breakers 24. Sacramento Kings: Jett Howard | 6-8 wing | 19 years old | Michigan 25. Memphis Grizzlies: Noah Clowney | 6-10 forward | 18 years old | Alabama 26. Indiana Pacers: Gregory “G.G.” Jackson | 6-9 forward | 18 years old | South Carolina 27. Charlotte Hornets: Julian Strawther | 6-7 wing | 21 years old | Gonzaga 28. Utah Jazz: Max Lewis | 6-7 wing | 20 years old | Pepperdine 29. Indiana Pacers: Colby Jones | 6-6 wing | 21 years old | Xavier 30. LA Clippers: Marcus Sasser | 6-2 guard | 22 years old | Houston Second Round 31. Detroit Pistons: Sidy Cissoko | 6-7 wing | G League Ignite 32. Indiana Pacers: Jaime Jaquez Jr. | 6-7 guard | UCLA 33. San Antonio Spurs: Bilal Coulibaly | 6-7 wing | Metropolitans 92 34. Charlotte Hornets: Terrence Shannon Jr. | 6-6 wing | 22 years old | Illinois 35. Orlando Magic: Julian Phillips | 6-8 wing | Tennessee 36. Oklahoma City Thunder: Jalen Wilson | 6-8 wing | Kansas 37. Boston Celtics: James Nnaji | 6-10 big | Barcelona 38. Sacramento Kings: Terquavion Smith | 6-4 guard | NC State 39. Washington Wizards: Trayce Jackson-Davis | 6-9 big | Indiana 40. Toronto Raptors: Judah Mintz | 6-3 guard | Syracuse 41. Charlotte Hornets: Jaylen Clark | 6-5 wing | UCLA 42. Denver Nuggets: Jordan Miller | 6-7 wing | Miami (Fla.) 43. Los Angeles Lakers: Ricky Council IV | 6-7 wing | Arkansas 44. New Orleans Pelicans: Brandin Podziemski | 6-5 wing | Santa Clara 45. Denver Nuggets: Zach Edey | 7-4 center | Purdue 46. Portland Trail Blazers: Andre Jackson | 6-6 wing | Connecticut 47. Memphis Grizzlies: Kevin McCullar Jr. | 6-6 wing | Kansas 48. Cleveland Cavaliers: Ryan Kalkbrenner | 7-1 center | Creighton 49. LA Clippers: Olivier-Maxence Prosper | 6-8 wing | Marquette 50. Phoenix Suns: Arthur Kaluma | 6-7 wing | Creighton 51. Brooklyn Nets: Nikola Đurišić | 6-8 wing | KK Mega Basket 52. Boston Celtics: Bryce Hopkins | 6-7 wing | Providence 53. Minnesota Timberwolves: Coleman Hawkins | 6-10 big | Illinois 54. Sacramento Kings: Adam Flagler | 6-3 guard | Baylor 55. Memphis Grizzlies: DaRon Holmes | 6-10 big | Dayton 56. Milwaukee Bucks: Colin Castleton | 6-11 big | Florida 57. Milwaukee Bucks: Kobe Brown | 6-8 wing | Missouri 58. Boston Celtics: Baylor Scheierman | 6-6 wing | Creighton (Philadelphia and Chicago have forfeited picks due to free-agency tomfoolery and shenanigans)
Financially and structurally, there is no way it would succeed in major 4 US professional sports. Heck, it's not even certain it will work financially in England/Europe over the next few decades which is why the elite teams tried to create their super league a few years ago before reneging. If it is ever going to happen in the US/NA, it would probably have to be implemented either in one of the NCAA sports or say the minor leagues of either baseball or hockey where there are enough functional teams and leagues that may be able to pull it off and have a financial incentive to pool together. Maybe a smaller league like say Arena Football, Rugby, etc. could try it, but it would be hard to keep relegated teams afloat given those profit margins. USFL could try it as a method of expansion but that league is not truly on solid footing to make that gamble yet.
They wanted to do the Super League to pump and dump their investment and failed miserably. Now Glazers, Kroenke and Fenway are stuck having to actually run football clubs or try and sell them off to the highest bidder. Boehly meanwhile is in his own sandbox ripping heads off of Barbies and catapulting them with a slingshot. The Super League was a disastrous idea that only had legs because the 2 Spanish clubs and Juventus are in such bad spots financially from years of cooking books and shady under the table deals that are about to bite them in the ass.
While the Spurs and the Pistons play 3rd stringers and g league players, the Rockets continue to play all of their players and win meaningless games down the stretch. Makes sense to be trash all year long then decide to mess up your lottery odds right at the end. If their pick turns out to be less than desirable they have nobody to blame but themselves.
That sounds like Silas has not been assured that he will have a job next year. If they were going to bring him back, I think they would have let him know already so he could work on maximizing the draft pick instead of trying to squeeze out meaningless wins. I also don't think you can tell him that you aren't bringing him back and then ask him to tank games when he still has a resume to build. In other words, they have to give him the chance to put together wins, or why not just fire him? The question is, if they were on the fence about bringing him back, has he shown enough over the last quarter season or so to warrant keeping him around? I say No.
No understatement that Silas has been the worst in history not just Rockets history. This is a travesty if true.
I agree that Silas is not a good head coach, as evidenced by his .240 record. But I also think there could be some residual guilt from yanking the rug out from under him when he first got here. Over the last 20 games, his record has been .350. Maybe the Rockets decided to do him a solid and continue to try winning games against other tanking teams, knowing that it would likely not hurt their chances at #1 overall, which it didn't.
Lol we could spin it that way but it's also the worst outcome and your chance at 6th or 7th seed increased with a slightly better record. This hypocrisy is funny by the Rockets, Silas was hung out there to dry all season and now suddenly they value him?
I would argue that there isn't much difference between 4th and 6th or 7th. But what you are missing here is that to get 6th or 7th means that the Rockets were never going to get #1 anyway. Being angry about picking 7th instead of 4th is fine, but it's not that big of a deal to me. The only way I would have been upset is if they had jacked with their odds at #1. Just a different outlook, I suppose. And I'm not saying that they do or they don't value him. I'm suggesting that they might be trying to do right by him in some way. Hopefully, not to the point that they actually bring him back.
