WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #17 Dallas Mavericks

Huge offseason for us.

We basically threw in the towel this season for a chance to land Deron Williams and/or Dwight Howard this offseason. If we get one or both...success. If not...we'll have about a million angry Dallasites that need some explaining.

Jason Kidd is a free agent. If he leaves and we don't get Deron we don't have a point guard. Kendall Marshall was a perfect pick for us, but our Lone Star neighbors just snatched him right in front of us. We can't say we're happy about this. 

We desperately need an infusion of some young talent. Dirk, JET (who we expect to resign), Vince Carter and Shawn Marion are all 34 or older.

We have no big man depth. We might have no point guard. Our players are old. Things can spiral out of control VERY quickly unless we land a top free agent and nail this pick.

Good thing there is a top 5 talent on the board for us.

With the 17th pick, the Mavericks select Perry Jones III.

 A blinding talent.

We're confident that our veteran laden team can bring the best out of Perry, who fell due to an unimpressive sophomore season at Baylor. Not only will he learn from true professionals, but he grew up in Dallas County, and we believe that this scenario is the best possibility for him to succeed and grow into a star.

WRG 2011 Mock Draft - #17 New York Knicks

We were strongly considering PG Phil Gary.  He seems undersized and his shooting percentages aren't eye-popping, but our smartest and most trusted consultant recommended him.  Every day.  For the last year-and-a-half.

And hey!  We need a PG.  How bad could he be?  And we don't want to disappoint our consultant.  He is so valuable to us.  We need him.  We love him.  His advice is precious.

However, we are ashamed to admit we looked at players other than Phil Gary.

We need a big man, but the ones we liked are all gone.  We need a scoring guard and there are some good ones left we almost pulled the trigger on.  We need rebounding very badly, and there are some world-class boardsmen available that we had our eyes on.

But when we really looked at our situation, the one thing that we think will put more wins on the left side of the ledger is getting stops and shutting down opposing star players - things we completely failed at last season.

And here is a player we have graded as one of the best and most versatile defenders in the history of the draft, who can legitimately guard four positions and take a key opponent out of the game and who should fit in perfectly with the up tempo game we play.

So, with the heaviest of hearts, we eschew Phil Gary and all he can bring (according to one brilliant man) in favor of Chris Singleton.  Now excuse us while we beg forgiveness and promise to strongly consider DeJuan Wright next year.  We heard he's just fantastic.

A fine player with a great man.  This guy is probably better than who we picked. What do we know?

WRG Mock Draft #17: Philadelphia 76ers

With Andre Miller an unrestricted free agent, we aren't really sure what he's going to do. If he leaves, our starting point guard would have to be Lou Williams. We don't even really view Lou Williams as a point guard, so that puts us in a quandry. Point Guard is an obvious need. The frontcourt is also a need after trading Reggie Evans, but we've drafted big men in the past 2 drafts (Jason Smith, Marreese Speights).

We finally figured out last year that we can have a lot of success as an uptempo team. Even though we are stuck with Elton Brand's enormous contract, we know how we can win games: by playing at a very fast pace. We primarily want a point guard who can come in and team with our new coach (Eddie Jordan) to take the reigns. We want a winner and someone who can play in an up-tempo system. Our choice here is simple.

How many cheese steaks could he fit in there?

Ty Lawson, PG, UNC

If Andre Miller decides Philly isn't the place for him, we are confident that Ty can come in and have an immediate impact. With Andre Iguodola, Lou Williams, and Thaddeus Young, he'll have some running mates and won't be counted on as a primary scoring option, just as he wasn't at UNC. He's shown that he can run a successful uptempo team and is a winner, and we love that.

Even if Andre Miller stays, we love the potential of Ty Lawson to eventually take over as our point guard of the future. His value is too good to pass here.

Minnesota is on the clock.