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 2011 Mock Draft - #2 Minnesota Timberwolves

So who's the best PG available? Just kidding, this isn't David Kahn.

There's a consensus top two players, and we're picking second. We can screw this up, but we won't, not as long as I'm in charge.

Maybe we trade this pick for some veterans. Maybe we trade Beasley or Love, but with this pick we take the top talent available in Derrick Williams. We need someone who is nasty inside and can instill fear into other teams, because our current front court doesn't exactly have that nasty image.

The Timberwolves select Derrick Williams with the second pick.

The snow comes up to where in Minnesota???

WRG 2010 Mock Draft - #2 Philadelphia 76ers

 
Our organization hasn't had much luck.  We gave out some questionable contracts and haven't been able to shed them.  We acquired an injured All-Star big man who preceded to play like an injured big man.

We had a few scrappy playoff runs but no one ever took us seriously.  We are basically in NBA hell.

So we have now shifted our focus to the draft.  We did well last year and raised our talent level, and we want to be sure to do the same this year.

We have narrowed our pick to two players who would do just that.

One is a huge risk, but a much better fit.  If we decide to keep our current roster intact, we would be very strong and pretty deep at every position.  We think we would be good right now, and everyone we are trying to develop would stay on their paths with no interruption.

The other is a player we consider a star and would certainly make our team better.  He is clearly the less risky pick.  However, we would have to make some adjustments to our roster, and we think he could impede the progress of our best young player.

To sum it up, we want to trade down.  But if we are picking here, we are taking the guy we think is right for us.  With the luck we've had, we might just be due.

With the #2 pick in the 2010 draft, the Philiadelphis 76ers select the best center on the board and the player that improves us the most - DeMarcus Cousins.

 Geno's or Pat's?  Boogie says both!
    

WRG 2010 Mock Draft: #1 Washington Wizards

ghoti and myself will be conducting a mock draft, taking turns picking for teams. To be clear, this is not how we predict the draft to go, but rather we will be taking the approach that we are the GM for that team, and if we were in that position, who we would draft, as if we are in charge.

We just blew our team up. We traded our core, but we are still on the hook for Gilbert Arenas' monster contract and tarnished rep.
We need talent; we need character; we need...JOHN WALL!

Welcome to the Wizards fraternity.

John Wall is far and away the best player in this draft. He's a franchise player, and we're a franchise in major need of someone to represent our team. This is a no brainer.

WRG Mock Draft: #10, Milwaukee Bucks

No organization is perfect. We gather the information, assess the situation, and make the decision we think is best for us at the time.

Even the best of us don't always make the right calls. You can research and dig and be as diligent as you can - but sometimes you need a little luck to carry you through. In the last few years, our organization has had precious little of that.

We are in a slump. We paid too much money to players we thought would help us, and now we can't pay the ones that are. We drafted guys we really loved and thought would help us, but they just haven't worked out the way we planned. (But, hey! We did get a few things right. We drafted a kid with a low pick that won us some games, and we are very happy with our coach and the way he gets our guys to fight!)

So now we are in a bit of a mess. We can't afford to keep our starting PF and our backcourt has been decimated. We need help.

We had our eye on the 6th best PG on our board. We interviewed him, watched his tape, got a feel for his game. We got a great vibe from him. Honestly, we sort of settled on him before the draft. But... we didn't give him a promise. After all, he was our sixth ranked guy at his position - heck, the last six picks are at his position - and there have only been nine picks.

What's happened here is kind of a mitzvah for us. We don't have to make the tough decision. The draft has done the work for us. We can break free of the shackles of our instincts, make a sudden stop and send this monkey on our backs hurling headlong into a vat of golden, delicious, foamy Genuine Draft.

And we address a huge need for our team in the process.

So we forgo taking our sixth ranked point guard and select the second power forward on our board.

The Milwaukee Bucks knock wood, cross our fingers, sink our teeth into the big, juicy brat of life and select Jordan Hill. Thanks, lottery teams, for all but forcing us to do it.

Look! Snow!

The New Jersey Nets are on the clock.

WRG Mock Draft: #2, Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizz got a little bit hosed by moving up in the lottery. They have to pay more for whoever they take, and there really isn't a great fit for them at the top of this draft.

As a matter of fact, what they really need is some steady veteran leadership to mix in with their extremely young and inconsistent core.

If I'm using the pick, however, I think the best things I could accomplish is to make the frontcourt tougher defensively or to take a complimentary guard to pair with our best player, OJ Mayo.

Since I would not spend a pick this high on Hasheem Thabeet (who I consider a mid-first round project), frontcourt toughness will have to be addressed another way.

That leaves me with a choice of guards to play with Mayo. Mayo can play off the ball, but he is a playmaker and we want him to be an offensive initiator. That eliminates all the guards who need the ball to be effective. Take those away, and you are effectively left with one choice this high in the draft.

The Grizzlies select James Harden.

He's not a perfect fit, and honestly he could be taken lower, but he has almost no bust potential and I feel very good about our guard rotation going forward. Now I can focus on the other huge holes in the team.

The Oklahoma City Thunder is on the clock.