WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #28 Oklahoma City Thunder

One thing we learned in our playoff run is you can never have enough shooting.  You can carefully build your team and come up with a finished product that you are satisfied with, but then in the Finals you have James Harden flailing around trying to guard a monsterous LeBron.  That kind of stuff happens in mid-June.  We couldn't avoid it, but we know the answer is more depth and firepower off the bench.

This year we get back Eric Maynor, who we needed and will certainly help, but we also want to upgrade our perimeter shooting further so even if we have to live with matchup problems on defense, we can at least keep up on the scoreboard.  We couldn't do that with our tired stars and it really cost us.

Here we have what we believe is a top-notch specialist who will almost certainly be able to shoot over 40% from long range and open things up for our many offensive weapons.  We also think he's a better athlete than most players in his role and can be coached to fit in with what we do on both ends.  He's got some room to grow while he's knocking down all those threes.

The Thunder selects John Jenkins, SG, Vanderbilt

It's not an NBA draft unless Vanderbilt has three players go in the first round.

WRG Mock Draft, #19: Atlanta Hawks

We have a lot of question marks this off-season. Mike Bibby, Zaza Pachulia, Flip Murray, and Marvin Williams are all free agents. We drafted Acie Law a couple years ago, after passing on Deron Williams and Chris Paul, but aren't thrilled with the progress (saying he's made progress is being nice) he's made. We still have a glaring hole at point guard. Mike Bibby has been a nice stopgap fix, but he's 31 years old, and we don't have any other point guards that we feel comfortable trusting.

Center is also a position we could use help at. If Pachulia leaves, we are in a big bind. Al Horford can play some minutes, but he's more of a 4. We aren't really thrilled at any of the center options in this guard heavy draft, so we don't want to go this direction with the 19th pick. BJ Mullens is on our board, but after the major screw ups we've pulled in past drafts, we don't want to take that risk.

We look to the point guards, and one point guard on our list is above the others at this pick. We lightly considered Jeff Teague, but we want more of a sure thing in someone who has produced over a period of time, and hasn't just had one big year.

With the 19th pick, the Atlanta Hawks select:

Get Low, Get Low!

Eric Maynor, PG, VCU

Maynor has improved his game throughout his time at VCU, and is remembered for making a huge shot to sink Duke in the NCAA tournament as a sophomore. We feel that we FINALLY found our point guard of the future, and view Maynor as a solid guard, who will have a long career and knows how to run a team.

The Utah Jazz are on the clock.

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.