Category Archives: nba draft

Which Team Will Land Paul George?

As a fan of the Indiana Pacers, I knew this day was coming, but I wasn’t ready.

Paul George made it official, he wants out of Indianapolis. He wants to head back home to Southern California and play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Pacers new general manager Kevin Pritchard has a huge issue on his mind. Do they let him play next season, hope he makes the All-NBA team, so they could offer him much more money than any other team, or do they trade him now for some picks and/or another established star?

In 2010, Pritchard lost his job in Portland for a few dumb moves (and drafting Greg Oden over Kevin Durant). I’m sure he assumed a day when he needs to figure out the George problem would come, but probably didn’t think the news of George wanting out of town would leak before the 2017 NBA Draft.

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The ‘Way Too Early’ 2017 NBA Championship Betting Odds

The confetti is still clogging the drains in the streets of Cleveland, but that doesn’t stop Vegas from releasing championship betting odds for 2016-17 NBA season.

The NBA Draft just occurred and and the NBA Free Agency period hasn’t even started yet, but here we are talking about next year. A lot of players have already opted out of their contracts hoping to land more guaranteed money and others are being desperately shopped by their current teams.

Teams like the Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic and the New York Knicks have certainly helped their odds thanks to some deals they made last week.

Are the Cleveland Cavaliers early favorites to repeat?

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Sweetbob’s 2016 NBA Mock Draft

The NBA Draft starts later today and we wanted to wait until the the NBA Finals were over before we posted our mock draft. We then realized that a lot of trades may happen early in the week since we know teams like the Knicks were looking to trade into the draft…so here we are, the day of, posting our 2016 NBA Mock Draft.

A lot can (and will) happen to shuffle the draft tonight. Teams will trade up and down, especially if a prospect falls farther than expected.

I’m smart enough to know that my mock draft will not be 100% correct. Mock drafts are more about gauging where players should go if nothing changes from now until the draft…but chaos is expected. I feel like I have a good feel for the pool of draft-eligible players. I can give insight on who teams ‘should’ pick or possibly reasons why they shouldn’t choose someone.

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Pacers Acquire Jeff Teague in Three-Team Deal

With the NBA Draft taking place on Thursday, NBA teams are trying to fill holes right before the draft.

The Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz got together on a deal on Wednesday that sent Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague to the Pacers, Indiana point guard George Hill to the Jazz and the Hawks would receive Utah’s #12 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

The Pacers have been rumored to be interested in Teague for quite some time. They needed a third team’s involvement since a straight point guard for point guard swap wouldn’t work due to Atlanta’s possible salary cap issues and the fact that Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder has played well enough to now start at point guard for the Hawks.

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2015 NBA Draft: Best Undrafted Players

The NBA Draft is only 60 picks, so many players fall through the cracks…especially in a year in which a draft is deep.

The 2015 NBA Draft wasn’t the deepest draft in recent memory, but that doesn’t mean every potential NBA player was all drafted. It’s not the end of the road for these players. They will just need to work a little harder to attain their dream.

Many of these guys will be signed to play in the NBA Summer League. They can showcase their skills in hopes of earning a invite to training camp. Unfortunately for most, they will end up playing overseas or in the NBA Development League. There are still a few every year that surprise everybody and beat the odds to earn an NBA contract.

Here are the best college and international players who went undrafted during the 2015 NBA Draft.

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2015 NBA Mock Draft: Early Lottery Edition

The 2015 NBA Draft has been hyped as a two-man draft with the top prizes being Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor. I believe both big men will go onto have nice NBA careers, but this draft is deeper than most people think.

I believe Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell and Duke’s Justise Winslow could both be future NBA All-Stars…but just like any other player, they need to be in the right situation to develop.

Don’t worry international basketball fans, there’s plenty of overseas talent in this year’s draft. You have Croatian Mario Hezonja and Latvian Kristaps Prozingis as the top talents from Europe. Also, there’s an American high schooler Emmanuel Mudiay who went to China in lieu of going to college.

Here’s our early 2015 NBA mock draft for the NBA lottery selection.

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2014 NBA Draft: Best Undrafted Players

The NBA Draft is only 60 picks, so many players fall through the cracks…especially in a year in which a draft his deep.

The 2014 NBA Draft is very deep, so more good players than usual didn’t make the cut. It’s not the end of the road for these players. They will just need to work a little harder to attain their dream.

Here are the best college and international players who went undrafted during the 2014 NBA Draft.

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2014 NBA Draft Analysis – First Round

My favorite night of the year has arrived!

I love the anticipation and the speed of the NBA Draft. You don’t have fifteen minutes in-between picks like the NFL and you actually know these players, unlike the NHL and MLB.

If you can stomach two-three hours of Bill Simmons, it will be a fun night.

We give analysis for every pick in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers: Andrew Wiggins (Kansas) – No surprise here. Cleveland is looking to rebuild and they don’t need a player like Jabari Parker to be an instant boost. They loved Embiid, but they couldn’t risk a #1 overall pick on a player who is a major injury risk.

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2014 NBA Mock Draft: Who Will be #1?

Now that the NBA season is over, let’s focus on the NBA Draft. I personally think the NBA Draft is the best draft in any major sport. There’s usually more trades, the impact of these rookies is usually felt immediately and it doesn’t go on and on like the NFL Draft.

You will begin to hear a lot of rumors about what’s wrong with these prospects. You rarely hear anything positive until a day or two before the draft. Teams know how to leak information to attempt to hurt a player’s draft stock. It’s all smoke and mirrors at this point.

I try to forge through the piles of trash out there and give you where I think the player will be drafted. I personally wouldn’t draft a few of these players in the lottery, but it’s the NBA and there are a lot of bad General Managers in the league.

Here is my 2014 NBA Mock Draft for the first round.

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2014 NBA Draft: Top 20 NBA Prospects

The 2014 NBA Draft is stacked. NBA teams have been tanking all season to get the most ping-pong balls in hopes of landing the #1 pick. Two players in particular have NBA teams drooling, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker.

Not only does this draft have two potential All-Stars, but it’s deep. You could get a player late in the Lottery that could start right away. You don’t see that in most drafts. Actually, the top five players in this draft would have been #1 overall picks in last year’s draft.

Players will begin to announce their intentions to either declare for the draft or stay in school. You have the usual suspects, but there are always a few wild cards that declare, but end up going back to school after the NBA Draft Combine

We list the top 20 prospects in the 2014 NBA Draft.

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NBA Draft: Early Entry List & International Players

This year’s NBA Draft is a little light on stars, but it is filled with many rotation players who can contribute right away.

We all know the potential NBA Lottery picks (Nerlens Noel, Alex Len, Otto Porter), but the list of other underclassmen is very long.

Many early entries will just participate in the process and find out their draft stock is not where they want it to be. They will go back to school in hopes of having a breakout season in college.

Not to be outdone, the international prospect pool is filled with potential. Teams could find some real steals this year if they want to draft and stash players overseas.

Here is a list of early entries and international players currently available to be selected in the 2013 NBA Draft. Continue reading →

NBA Draft: Anthony Bennett to have surgery

Anthony Bennett, the best power forward prospect in this year’s NBA Draft, will miss the entire draft process to have shoulder surgery.

The UNLV freshman decided to forego his college career and enter the NBA Draft after they were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.

Bennett is still set to be a top-five selection, since he’s one of the most-skilled power forward prospects to enter the draft in some time. He has a vast array of post moves, which is something a big man usually doesn’t already possess before they enter the NBA.

Bennett is not the only prospect that will miss the draft process. Centers Alex Len (Maryland) and Nerlens Noel (Kentucky) will also miss draft camp and summer league. In Noel’s case, he will most likely miss most of his rookie season due to his ACL injury last season.