WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #13 Phoenix Suns

This could be the end of an era for us. Steve Nash looks like he could leave in free agency after we selfishly refused to trade him. It's time to rebuild.

Luckily, we DO have another area of strength in our center position with Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez. Last year's first round pick, Markieff Morris looks promising at forward, and we feel good about that. What we really need is a guard who can create his own shot and score. We've been missing a player like that since Jason Richardson was our SG.

We want...no, we need an explosive back court scorer. There are a couple guards here that get looks, but one in particular stands out. Do we take the guy with perhaps the most potential, but routinely disappeared at times last season? Do we take the guy who came off the bench for a collegiate powerhouse, but clashed with his coach at times? Do we take the guy with a basketball pedigree and a lot of hype, but didn't quite live up to his hype at times during his freshman season. All three of these choices have some sort of drawback, but they also have plenty of upside. We might as well pick one out of a hat, and that would be par for the course for our crappy owner. Luckily he doesn't make this pick and Kid Chocolate does.

With the 13th pick, the Phoenix Suns select Austin Rivers.

He's got balls.

What we liked about Austin Rivers a little more than the others is that he shows passion. Jeremy Lamb disappeared for half of last year at UConn, and Dion Waiters' attitude clashed with Jim Boeheim at times. Austin Rivers has the upbringing of learning from an NBA coach, and we think he has the most potential to also play a little PG eventually. Not to mention, he has the upside to be an elite scorer.

WRG 2011 Mock Draft - #13 Phoenix Suns

A Russian gentleman keeps calling us and offering three million dollars for our pick.

He keeps making unsettling statements like "You have such a nice arena. Hopefully it never gets so hot there it bursts into flames." Then he gives a little chuckle, like he knows the sun can't conflagrate a 100,000 square foot building.  That's where the humor comes from, I guess.

Still, we aren't sellers anymore.  We are making this pick and we need a home run because we are attempting the impossible - building for the future while remaining competitive.

We already made some shrewd trades, are solid at every position and our cap situation is in decent shape.

But we didn't make the playoffs because "solid" isn't good enough. We need a general talent upgrade, and that means taking a risk rather than going safe and addressing a need.

So even though we have money committed to his position and don't have a lot of immediate minutes for him, we are taking the player we feel has the most talent of any remaining player and the best chance to be a future All-Star.

We'll take Donatas Motiejunas, and also we have arson dogs.  Everywhere. Lots of them.

What does mean "Bring fire hose"?  If joke I don't like it.

WRG 2010 Mock Draft - #13 Toronto Raptors

We have holes aplenty. Turkoglu wants to be traded & Bosh is more into twitter than basketball. Our center is a perimeter PF. We don't have much quality depth.

We could go a number of ways here, but we're gonna go with the best fit. We want a player who is a professional. We don't want him asking his twitter followers where he should play or sign. We don't want him to sign with us and then renege on his contract a year later and ask for a trade. We're gonna purge our franchise of undesirables and add players who fits into our culture.

After we let Bosh walk and trade Turkoglu, we have two major holes: SF and big man.

There are a number of big men, but a lot of the good big men left right now are huge question marks and need time to develop. We don't want that. We want someone we know is going to be solid, so we're looking at wings. The player we want even sounds like a French-Canadian. Xavier Henry.

HIGH FIVE!

WRG Mock Draft, #13: Indiana Pacers

Many people look at us and say "The Pacers need a point guard". Jarret Jack is hitting free agency, TJ Ford is injury prone, and we've banished Jamaal Tinsley to Elba. Travis Diener is nothing more than a backup at best. In a point guard heavy draft, we obviously are going to take a point guard, right? WRONG.

We would have happily snatched up Jrue, Brandon, Jonny, Ricky, Tyreke, or Stephen if they somehow fell to us...but they didn't. After these guys, we feel there is a dropoff on our draft board in point guards. TJ Ford is small and has injury problems, and Ty Lawson is shorter than him (he also has a couple injury concerns of his own). Eric Maynor only weighs 2 pounds heavier than TJ Ford. We don't want to take a chance with that. None of these available point guards tickle our fancy enough to "reach" for them right here.

We would like get some toughness and height inside, and while we like DeJuan Blair, we are frightened by his knee issues more than we let on. Mike Dunleavy has knee issues. Danny Granger reportedly had knee issues. Marquis Daniels had knee issues. If we take Blair, we will take a huge cap hit and have to sign on Dr. James Andrews as our trainer.

With the 13th pick, the Indiana Pacers select:

I'm gonna take advantage of the mismashes.

Earl Clark, F, Louisville

While we weren't thrilled with Earl Clark's interviews (who was?), we do like his versatility and athleticism. He can come in and play the 3 and 4, as well as be a player who can orchestrate offense. With Mike Dunleavy, Earl Clark, and Roy Hibbert, we can put a lineup out there with 3 outstanding passers who aren't point guards, and get the ball to Danny Granger, an elite scorer. Clark also has shown he can run the floor, and we want to make sure our pick can run, as we play at one of the fastest paces in the league.