WRG 2012 Mock Draft - #9 Detroit Pistons

Every once in a while, a prospect is a perfect fit for a team, and everyone realizes it.

Look through the mock drafts on all the major draft sites. They all pair this pick with John Henson. Who are we to disagree?

Greg Monroe is going to be our center for years to come. He's a skilled center who has legitimate size and skill. The only knock on him is that he doesn't protect the rim well and isn't an uber athletic freak. That's ok, though. He does so many things well, that we can live with his shortcomings in those areas.

So we obviously want to pair him with an athletic freak who can swat shots into the front row next to him. Sound like John Henson?

Henson is a spider of a specimen. He has a ridiculous reach, a gargantuan wingspan, and is a perfect complement for The Moose. Rarely do you see such a perfect fit realized, but we are just tickled pink.

With the 9th pick, the Pistons select John Henson.

Did we just pick an assistant coach?

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.

Height, Length, Width

The annual list of pre-draft measurements were released this week, and of course there were numbers that came out that weren't expected. Some of the surprises were positive, and some were negative. Many prospects' stocks rose and dipped because of these measurements, which leads me to think, how much do these measurements really matter, and how much should they matter.

Power Forward DeJuan Blair measured just over 6-5 without shoes. This was a guy who we saw have a great year at Pittsburgh, but now that the news that he's only 6-5 come out, many people want to discount him. Others want to say, it's ok, because he has a wingspan of a player who is a few inches taller, or his standing reach is better than average.
This is the same 6 foot 5 inch DeJuan Blair who outmuscled and dominated the 7 foot 1 inch Hasheem Thabeet during a meeting between Pitt and UConn this year. Apparently his lack of height didn't hurt him in that game, but now that the news is out, I guess we should all expect DeJuan Blair to have no shot to compete in the NBA, since he's, you know, only 6 foot 5.

Blake Griffin is the conensus best player in the draft, and expected to go #1 overall, but he only has an average wingspan for his height. Surely that makes the Clippers feel less confident about selecting him with the #1 pick. Forget that he won 4 different national player of the year awards, he has average sized arms.

We also found out that Ty Lawson has alligator arms. While Lawson and Jonny Flynn are the same exact height, surely Flynn is the better prospect since he has a wingspan of over 3 inches more. Forget that Ty Lawson ran the best team in college basketball last year, and improved across the board from his sophomore to junior year. His tiny arms definitely are a hinderance to his pro career.

Speaking of wingspan, DeJuan Blair has a huge wingspan. So he's short, but has a wingspan of a player a half foot taller. Does his wingspan cancel out his lack of ideal height for the power forward spot? His wingspan is a positive, but his height is a negative, so I guess we're back to square one. Blair's wingspan is a half an inch bigger than Jordan Hill's wingspan, and Hill is 4 inches taller. What do you make of that? I don't know what to make of it, I'll tell you that much, but what I can make of all of this is that this list sends the masses of draftniks and fans into a frenzy about how players are rising and falling, based on black and white numbers, while their skill-sets and accomplishments throughout the season are momentarily forgotten.

Just ask Saer Sene. >>