NBA Draft Winners and Losers

Let's get this out of the way. My mock draft got embarrassed. But you know what? I'm pretty damn sure every one else's did too. There was such a ridiculous amount of uncertainty with almost everyone in the draft that it was near impossible to nail down what each team was going to do.  Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the ride. Let's see who drafted well, and who came out looking like dumbasses. Looking at you Sacramento.

Draft Winners:

Cleveland Cavaliers - When you get the top pick, and take the top player in the draft (Kyrie Irving), you're certainly off to a good start. Tristan Thompson is also a great talent, and they will be able to play and develop him immediately, which they wouldn't have been able to do if they had drafted Jonas Valanciunas.

Washington Wizards- Probably my favorite draft for a team. Jan Vesely is a freak athlete, and is sure to bring some swagger and excitement to Wizard fans. In his words, "Blake Griffin is the American Jan Vesely". if he can back that kind of talk up, he and John Wall are going to make some serous highlights on the fast break. They then drafted Chris Singleton, one of my favorite players in the draft, and one of the best, if not the best, defensive players in the draft at the 18 spot. Great value. They later drafted proven winner Shelvin Mack as a back-up guard.  Wizard fans have plenty to be excited about next year, with three quality players joining John Wall.

Detroit Pistons- They managed to snag the second best PG in the draft, Brandon Knight, at #8.  He will hopefully reach his potential and help lead the Pistons back to the playoffs.  Their second round pick Kyle Singler also brings a winning attitude to a team that hasn't done a whole lot of that the past couple of years.



Charlotte Bobcats- After making a very solid trade to gain another top 10 pick, the Bobcats made two very solid choices.  They first took the high potential Bismack Biyombo.  Already a monster athlete and a first class defender, if Biyombo can improve offensively he will be a very good player in the long run.  They then chose Kemba Walker, a player who will bring leadership and a winning attitude to a team that needs both desperately.

San Antonio Spurs- Even though they gave up future point guard George Hill, the Spurs managed to swoop in and take a top 10 player in Kawhi Leonard, a player who has a chance to be very good in this league, particularly when learning from Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich.

Draft Losers:


Sacramento Kings- Really just made a terrible trade, and I'm still trying to see where they benefit from it. Even if they were enamored with Jimmer Fredette, was getting John Salmons (who plays the same position as Tyreke Evans) and his piece of shit contract worth trading up from the 7 to 10 and giving up Beno Udrih, arguably a better backup guard than an aging Salmons?  There must have been a better trade option for that prized 7 pick. Just seems like they could have done much better, and didn't.

Houston Rockets- Marcus Morris wasn't a terrible pick. But their trade for Jonny Flynn and Donas Montiejunas wasn't all that great. As I mentioned in my trade reactions, each player plays at a position that the Rockets already have loaded. At PG, Flynn has to compete Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic, and Montiejunas has a bunch of Houston forwards that he will have to beat out for minutes. They both could end up talented players, but it doesn't appear the Rockets drafted for need.

Los Angeles Clippers- Really should have protected that pick in the Baron Davis trade. If they had, we'd be getting pretty excited about a nucleus of Kyrie Irving, Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin for the next few years in LA.

Portland Trail Blazers- Some are saying that the Blazers gave up too much for Raymond Felton, which may be true. I still believe it was a good trade, and that Felton has the potential to be a quality PG for the Blazers for years to come. However, when the criticized trade is combined with the questionable selection of Nolan Smith at #21, it is hard to call the Blazers winners in this draft.  Smith has the potential to be a good role player in the NBA, but that was a serious reach at #21.

Feel free to talk about your draft winners and losers in the comments section. Here's to hoping we get some more exciting trades done before the lockout begins.