WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #6 Portland Trail Blazers

This pick is a gift and a blessing for us.  The Basketball Gods owed us one (or three) and sent us a savior in the form of a King.  And this King bestowed upon us a second, better lottery pick to go with the one we earned on the court.

And the guy we think helps us the most is still on the board.  He should take a lot of pressure off our best player on both ends and fill a huge gap in our roster that we couldn't overcome last season.


We aren't over-thinking this one.

We want a PG, the best one is available here, and we are taking him.

The Portland Trail Blazers select Damian Lillard, PG, Weber State.

This guy is great in the pick-and-roll, but he brings his stupid dog everywhere and we question the legality of "Scooby Snacks" under the CBA.

WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #5 Sacramento Kings

Lots of question marks here. What do we do with Tyreke Evans? We're exploring trade options for him as we speak, but we're still not really sure what position he plays.

DeMarcus Cousins looks like a cornerstone big man, but his maturity issues will always leave question marks.

The Jimmer didn't light up the league like we thought he would.

The rest of our team is filled with journey-men, role players, and unproven young guys. We do have a lot of young guards, though. Problem is that there aren't really any big men we feel are worthy of this pick.

Two guys are really in the running for our pick, from a pure talent perspective. They are Brad Beal and Harrison Barnes. We like both players a lot, but what really makes this pick for us is the fact that Harrison Barnes can play SF, while Beal can only play guard.

With the 5th pick, the Sacramento Kings select Harrison Barnes, SF, UNC.

MMMMMMM WINGSPAN!

We not only like that Harrison is a talented player who can score at the 3 spot, but his athleticism tested off the charts at the combine, and he interviews as a very mature player. Our team can really use some maturity and hope it rubs off on some of our other young guys.

WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #4 Cleveland Cavaliers

Our plan:

1. Draft around our NEW franchise player.

2. Wait two years.


3. Sign our OLD franchise player.  All is forgiven.


4. Win eight Championships.

And since we need almost everything and won't be contending until 2014, we will take an intimidating, freakishly built, athletic rim protector even if he is a bit of a project.  He might not ever be good during his rookie contract, but we shouldn't have any trouble re-signing him if everything goes according to plan.  

If it doesn't (and it better) - hey - these guys don't grow on trees!

The Cavaliers select Andre Drummond, C, Connecticut

Everybody pretend this guy never went to college.

WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #3 Washington Wizards

How is it that we had the #1 pick in the draft two years ago and our record has gotten worse every year since then? We thought John Wall was our savior, but he hasn't been able to single-handedly make us into a winner.

What we need to do is create a winning culture. Winning the lottery and John Wall sweepstakes didn't do us any favors when he was brought into a toxic environment with players who didn't exactly embrace winning. We've been attempting to purge our roster of these types of players and add players of high character, heart and motor to the equation. Doing this will bring out the best in our other young players and hopefully improve chemistry and promote winning basketball with a solid young core.

Luckily enough we are in a position to bring in a high character player who is also incredibly talented.

With the 3rd pick, the Washington Wizards select Thomas Robinson, PF, Kansas.

He's already embracing Washington!

Having a legitimate big man next to him in Nene will help his development and we feel that along with John Wall, this is a solid foundation to start the next era in Wizards basketball. Now who wants to take Andray Blatche off our hands???

WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #2 Charlotte Bobcats

Are we the worst franchise in the history of sports?

I mean the Cubs haven't won since Teddy Roosevelt was shooting up the White House.  Aren't they worse? We've only been around since 2004.  We even made the playoffs once!  Yeah, we're better than the Cubs.  Eat it, Cubs!

So, we were 7-59 last year.  We have no star players, no breakout prospects, and our financial situation isn't too great, either.  We needed a miracle, and we didn't get it.

Now, even worse, this draft is one star deep and filled with wonderful role-players.  Well, WE DON"T NEED ROLE PLAYERS!!  That's all we have.  We need STAR players.  We need talent.  We need to select a player who has the chance to become great.

And that can't be in five years, this guy has to be a legitimate candidate to be a cornerstone of our team within a year or two.

Unfortunately, we just do not see anyone who fits that criteria available here, so we need a bit of out-of-the-box thinking.

A few years back we had a guy who wasn't a superstar or even a star player, was never a focal point of his team, and wasn't the most technically skilled guy, to put it politely.  However, this guy played so hard, he affected every other player and had an enormous impact on every game.  We had our only success when this guy was with us and when he left the whole franchise fell apart.

That might not be a superstar player, but he was an All-Star for us.  We can win with someone like that someday, and someone exactly like that is our pick.

The Bobcats select Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky. (And NOT Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky. But we're not bitter.)

This facial expression is approximately 2000 times happier than the one he'll have six seconds after he finds out who drafted him.

WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #1 New Orleans Hornets

Was it fixed? Some say it was. Some say it wasn't. We don't really care. We won and that's all that matters.

Drew Brees and the Saints did their part to revive the city of New Orleans. Now we do our part to pick up the city and it starts with a franchise player

One of the greatest things about having the first pick in this draft is that there IS a clear cut number 1 player. We don't need to think about it, and we won't entertain trade offers. We won the lottery, and now we sit back and relax until we are officially on the clock and can stroll up to the podium and announce our new cornerstone big man.

The Hornets select Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky.

With a wingspan almost as big as his unibrow and a demeanor almost as nasty as his teeth, he's a once in a generation talent. Welcome aboard big man.

2012 Draft Time!

Instead of attempting to come up with my own witty introduction, I won't even try to improve on the amazing poetic introduction of my cohort, ghoti, from last year's draft. So here it is!

Greetings, NBA fans and welcome to June!

You get a week of intense finals basketball when we all get to hop aboard the bandwagon of the Lesser of Two Evils.

After that, we can focus on NBA Christmas, a magical day when Santa Stern and his elf Russ Granik Adam Silver leave some shiny new players under your team's tree.

But who will that be?  What will these new guys bring?  Can my team finally get rid of those bums holding them back from their rightful place as the Lesser of Two Evils?

That's where the internet comes in.  A flotilla of scouts, experts, possible experts, near experts, non-experts, bloggers, paid reporters, columnists, ex-jocks and whoever the hell writes for Bleacher Report meticulously compile every type of information about every eligible player so you can make an informed decision on what your team should do.  (And since they won't do anything close to that, you have complaining rights for infinity if they screw it up.)

And once you are done poring through all of that, we at WRG invite you to read our jokey blurbs - plunked out  mostly with one hand while eating - and learn what it might really be like to be an NBA GM.