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SALT LAKE CITY — We're just under one week away from the NBA Draft, which means it's time to put together our mock draft. This is what I believe what each NBA team will do, not necessarily should do, at this point in the draft. My comments follow each pick. Thanks to RealGM for their terrific Mock Draft simulation tool.
| 1 |  | [Markelle Fultz](http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Markelle-Fultz/Summary/85903), PG, [Washington](http://basketball.realgm.com/ncaa/conferences/Pacific-12-Conference/7/Washington/163) [Boston Celtics](http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Boston-Celtics/2/Home) Swap with Brooklyn This is Markelle Fultz's slot. Fultz is, by most measures, one of the top two players in this draft, and scouts have fewer questions about him than any prospect. The Celtics have been linked to Fultz as soon as the season ended, and they had the No. 1 slot in the lottery. That being said, here are two things that might shake up that pairing: first, ESPN's Chad Ford had a report that the Celtics might be considering Josh Jackson instead of Fultz with No. 1. Secondly, I thought [Seth's Draft House's scout](https://sethsdrafthouse.com/1-markelle-fultz-2bb55423d384) had a thought that scared me: "I don’t like that he cruises sometimes. He’s almost like Daryl Strawberry. Is he loafing or is he just that smooth? I don’t know that winning has ever been important to him. I’ve talked to friends who recruited him, and they said even when they watched him in open gyms or playing AAU, his team hardly ever won. That scares the crap out of me.” |
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| 2 |  | Lonzo Ball, PG, UCLA I love Lonzo Ball. If I had the No. 1 pick in this year's draft, I think I'd choose Lonzo. His passing and basketball IQ are elite skills that you see in a player once every five years or so. His weaknesses that people try to pick apart are actually pretty strong: sure, he has a funny looking shot, but it goes in! And he's a much better defender than his critics give him credit for. Statistical models think he should go first. He's so much fun to watch, and I'd rather he not go to the Lakers. So it goes. |
| 3 |  | Jayson Tatum, SF, Duke Philadelphia SixersSwap with Sacramento This is where the draft really begins, in all likelihood. The most likely candidates here are Jackson, De'Aaron Fox and Jayson Tatum. If Sam Hinkie were still in charge, I think he'd choose Fox or Jackson because of their upside, but Tatum's shooting fits in best theoretically alongside Simmons and Embiid. I like Tatum, but think his upside is somewhat limited. |
| 4 |  | Josh Jackson, SF, Kansas While the Suns fell from No. 2 to No. 4 in the lottery, they still have their choice between a solid point guard and a solid small forward in the draft. I'll give them Jackson, probably the best prospect left that's incredibly talented in essentially every way but shooting the ball. Some argue that he has the highest upside in this class, and that's exactly what the Suns need. |
| 5 |  | De'Aaron Fox, PG, Kentucky Sacramento KingsSwap with Philadelphia While it sounds very possible that the Kings package this pick and No. 10 to move up to No. 2 or No. 3, if they do stay put, De'Aaron Fox makes a lot of sense. He can contribute on both sides of the ball for the Kings, and it's not as if they have any long-term contributors at the point guard position. Jonathan Isaac, on the other hand, might be too much of a role player to immediately help the talent-deficient Kings. |
| 6 |  | There's a whole new front office in Orlando, so it's hard to know what to expect here. And there are some positional similarities between Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon, Orlando's best long-term asset. But Isaac's talent means he deserves to be picked this high, with some models having him as the second or third best player in the draft. |
| 7 |  | Lauri Markkanen, SF, Arizona The Timberwolves have already selected their supposed point guard of the future, Kris Dunn, but he underwhelmed in his first season in Minnesota. Do they pick another point guard in Dennis Smith or Frank Ntilikina, both who have their own question marks? Instead, I think it makes more sense for them to draft Lauri Markkanen here, the best shooter in the draft who also happens to be 7-foot tall. I love the potential of a Markkanen/Karl-Anthony Towns frontcourt. |
| 8 |  | Frank Ntilikina, PG, Strasbourg IG (France) A couple of good options for the Knicks here: Smith, the high-flying scorer from NC State, or Frank Ntilikina, the athletic Frenchman doing good work overseas. President Phil Jackson is obsessed with the triangle offense, and I don't know that a ball-dominant PG like Smith is a great fit. So I'll say the Knicks select Ntilikina here. Luke Kennard is also reportedly an option. |
| 9 |  | Dennis Smith, PG, NC State That Ntilikina is off the board is a shame for the Mavericks, who recently sent owner Mark Cuban and the basketball operations staff to Venice, Italy, where Ntilikina was staying. Smith, though, is not a bad consolation prize, and Mavericks officials recently traveled to see him work out as well. |
| 10 | | Zach Collins, C, Gonzaga Sacramento Kingsfrom New Orleans To me, there's only two players left in the large top tier of this draft: Malik Monk and Zach Collins. Having just taken Fox, and with a SG already on the roster that they hugely believe in with Buddy Hield, Zach Collins makes more sense to me. He'd give them a big man who can shoot, and fill a big hole down low. I think Collins is an excellent prospect, and it'd be a little bit of a shame to see him end up in Sacramento, but he could find minutes there, to be sure. |
| 11 |  | Malik Monk, SG, Kentucky Now we're down to just one player left that I consider to be in the top tier, Monk, though again, Kennard is allegedly moving up. Monk is such a terrific shooter, and could slide Nicolas Batum to the SF spot if he turns out well. I wish Monk was a more reliable defender, but getting more scoring on the Hornets isn't a terrible idea. |
| 12 |  | Luke Kennard, SG, Duke Another possible trade spot in the draft, as coach and vice president Stan Van Gundy allegedly wants to look for a win-now player over selecting another rookie. If he does keep the pick, though, I think this is a natural landing spot for Kennard, especially as the Pistons need wing shooting and playmaking. Another possibility: Donovan Mitchell. |
| 13 |  | Ogugua Anunoby, SF, Indiana With the wing position in doubt with the possible free agent departure of Danilo Gallinari, there are two good wings left in this draft, in my opinion: Mitchell, the lanky SG from Louisville, and OG Anunoby, the very hyped, but recently injured SF from Indiana. In the end, I like Anunoby's likelihood of upside and fit next to one of the most underrated players in the league, Nikola Jokic. |
| 14 |  | Harry Giles, PF, Duke ESPN's Fran Fraschilla said this about the Heat's pick at 14 in a media conference call Thursday: "I just think at 14, it's not about -- to me it's not about safe or risk. It's about who you value that you think long-term is going to be the best NBA player." The highest upside player left on the board is probably Harry Giles, who draftniks thought was going to be the No. 1 player in this class until he required two knee surgeries. |
| 15 |  | John Collins, PF, Wake Forest The Blazers need better bigs, and luckily for them, there's a ton on the board. John Collins has the best statistical projection of the remaining big men, and there's also agreement among scouts that he's an excellent prospect. I'd be very interested to see how they develop Collins in Portland next to their two young guards. |
| 16 |  | The Bulls seem to have an affinity for proven NCAA players who I don't like very much as prospects, having recently taken Doug McDermott and Denzel Valentine. They should have probably learned by now, but I'm not convinced the Bulls front office ever actually learns. I give them Justin Jackson and feel kind of bad about it. I'm not sure I'd draft him in the first round. |
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| 17 |  | Donovan Mitchell, SG, Louisville The Milwaukee Bucks GM search has been a little bit of an up-and-down mess, and I feel badly for Justin Zanik, the former Jazz assistant GM who moved to Milwaukee. Milwaukee has a ton of young big men, but not a lot of depth on the wings. Donovan Mitchell, a shooting guard, also seems like a good Bucks pick in that he can use his wingspan to impact the defense in a big way. |
| 18 |  | With Thaddeus Young maybe not being the power forward of the future, I'm looking toward that style of player more than a traditional center like Justin Patton or Jarrett Allen. For that reason, I think Kevin Pritchard takes T.J. Leaf here, pretty easily the best positional prospect on the board in my mind. What Leaf did as a freshman is pretty impressive from a productivity point of view. |
| 19 |  | Bam Adebayo, C, Kentucky I won't be the first or the last to predict Bam Adebayo to Atlanta at No. 19. Word is the Hawks like Adebayo, and that he can learn under Dwight Howard, a center he's been compared to, is a nice coincidence. Adebayo showed some things in Kentucky as a prospect in the first round, and has great upside as a DeAndre Jordan-style big, maybe with less shot blocking. |
| 20 | | Portland Trail Blazersfrom Memphis via Cleveland and Denver This is Portland's second selection of the draft, and they have one more. Word is they're very interested in trading one of the three picks to either get a better player now, or to dump one of their onerous contracts on another team. Since trades aren't allowed in this mock draft, though, they'll have to pick somebody. I could see them trying to solve their long-troubling backup point guard spot with Jawun Evans. |
| 21 |  | Frank Jackson, SG, Duke The Thunder need shooting, and they've been chasing that need for years now, it seems. The problem: the players left who can shoot are bigs, and the Thunder have so many of those already. In the end, I see them reaching a little for Duke's Frank Jackson, a player who didn't show much in his freshman year, but has the potential to be something if he gets his game together. Also attended Lone Peak High School in Utah. |
| 22 |  | Jarrett Allen, C, Texas Brooklyn Netsfrom Washington Since they had to give away their No. 1 pick, the Nets are looking for upside here. And while their best player is Brook Lopez, the best players on the board all play center too. With that in mind, I'm still taking Jarrett Allen, thanks to his huge wingspan (7-foot-5) and his potential on both ends of the floor. With Lopez's spacing skills, they could play together a little bit, enough to get Allen on the floor. |
| 23 |  | Anzejs Pasecniks, C, BC VEF Riga (Latvia) Given Toronto's draft history, an international player seems likely here. I'm torn between Anzejs Pasecniks and Isaiah Hartenstein, both 7-footers but pretty different players. In the end, I'll give them Pasecniks, mostly because there seems to be agreement in ESPN and DraftExpress' mocks that he ends up in Canada. |
| 24 |  | This is my draft day guarantee: some big man who people think should be taken in the teens will be taken in the mid-20s, just because of positional scarcity. Will the Jazz take that sliding big man? I don't see why not: it allows them to get a higher quality player at this slot than they were planning, then allow them to pick among their favorites at 30. For this mock draft, that player is Justin Patton, an athletic center who can explode and finish above the rim vertically, and just enough skill to make you think he can put something together and be a special player. I like him. |
| 25 | | Orlando Magicfrom L.A. Clippers via Toronto and Milwaukee Another team that would probably rather take a guard or a wing here. Ike Anigbogu is tempting, but the Magic have so much salary tied up in Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo, and they definitely shouldn't play together. Terrance Ferguson is a logical upside selection. After being the first high school player to go directly to Australia, Ferguson wasn't very valuable at all in Adelaide this last year, but his athleticism gives him an upside that the other wing prospects left in the draft simply don't have. |
| 26 | | Ike Anigbogu, C, UCLA Portland Trail Blazersfrom Cleveland Another Portland pick! While I don't think it's likely they actually make this selection, I'm fine with giving the Blazers a backup center for now who might develop into more, though he might start in the D-League. But Ike Anigbogu, the youngest player in the draft, also has some of its highest upside. He's a little bit short, at just 6-foot-10, but he has an unbelievable 7-foot-6 wingspan to make up for it. He could really become something interesting. |
| 27 | | Tyler Lydon, PF, Syracuse Brooklyn NetsSwap with Boston I could see Tyler Lydon filling the Bojan Bogdanovic role for the Nets, as a late first-round floor space who could develop. I don't love Lydon, as I think he's not going to be able to defend very well, and I worry about his lack of mid-range, but his basketball IQ is high, and he can definitely shoot. This wouldn't be bad for the Nets. |
| 28 | | D.J. Wilson, F, Michigan Los Angeles Lakersfrom Houston While everyone's focused on what the Lakers do with the No. 2 pick in the draft, what they do at No. 28 has a bigger impact on the Jazz's fortunes at No. 30. The rumor is that they like D.J. Wilson, and well, he's available. Wilson took some time to get going in his collegiate career, but he has similarities to Utah's Trey Lyles in the fluidity of his game, as well as the tendency to float in and out of competitiveness. |
| 29 |  | Jordan Bell, PF, Oregon Two picks stand out for me as good Spurs fits. First, they could simply draft-and-stash Hartenstein, a move they've made time and time again. Or they could select Jordan Bell from Oregon and make him into the versatile defensive monster that many think he could be. Bell doesn't have much of an offensive game to speak of, but the Spurs can afford to overlook that and focus on his upside. |
| 30 | | Utah Jazzfrom Golden State And with the final pick in the first round, the Jazz's pickings are slim. I think it's fair to say that the Jazz were hurt by the withdrawal of two international players, Jonathan Jeanne and Rodions Kurucs, who could have gone in the 20s, leaving them with players they liked more. Hamidou Diallo's withdrawal also probably hurt Utah. There are a few reasonable options left: Mathias Lessort apparently dominated top NCAA competition in Caleb Swanigan in his workout with the Jazz. Hartenstein is a logical international pick. Tony Bradley's decent production as a freshman in limited minutes for UNC could make him a good choice, and Semi Ojeleye's strength and defensive fundamentals could make him a good choice. In the end, I think given the earlier selection of Patton, Ojeleye makes the most sense as a potential 3-and-D prospect. The Jazz don't know if he'll be able to play small forward right away, but if he can shoot and defend like he did in college, he might be able to contribute anyway. |
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