Draft Express Mock Draft (May 10th)

[alldaboston]

Important to note that it states "teams needs have not been taken into account", so it's more of a reflection of where they rank prospects. That said, even though they didn't mock based on our needs I wouldn't be opposed to this at all. We do add size and shooting. We obviously won't keep more than 3 of these picks (at most), but it's always good to have an idea of where prospects are moving on reputable boards.


http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2016/

#3 Bender (Ingram went 1, Simmons 2)

#16 Valentine (over Korkmaz and Sabonis)

#23 Zizic (Likely draft and stash)

#31 D. Murray (over Stone)

#35 Zimmerman (over Carnier who is a Lavine type French player and likely a draft and stash)

#45 Newman (over Payton and Uthoff)

#51 Carter (over Bentil and Ibeh)

#58 Felder (over Hart, Hayes, Ellis, Pope)

not a fan of how this plays out if all 8 picks are actually made.
ok with Valentine and Zizic but starting to seriously wonder about taking Bender at #3. 

hard to believe Bentil would last until #52.

Bentil's wingspan is going to be huge for him. If he measures well he could soar. He reminds me a lot of Millsap. Could see us drafting him and then having him and Mickey battle it out for a roster spot.

I love Bentil. Whenever I watched Providence to scout Dunn, Bentil stood out. I really hope he winds up with a good fit; he could be really good.

Bentil is really solid, I don't know why he's often ranked so low.

[konkmv]

Brown skai stone maker jones are the players i prefer

[loco_91]

Valentine and Bender? Talk about drafting the two biggest busts

What makes you say that about Valentine? If you're looking for a star, he's not the guy. However, he has the skills (shooting, passing, rebounding, IQ) to be a solid role player for years to come. Low ceiling/high floor type, much like Sabonis. At #16 that would be an awesome pick.

I think Valentine is an OK selection around #16, but I can see not liking him. He cannot physically guard NBA players. That isn't really what you want in a role player, so he doesn't have a lot of upside. On the other hand, he might be just good enough on offense and just competent enough on defense to earn rotation minutes right away, and then you get a solid rotation player on a cheap deal for 4 years, which has some value.

[Eddie20]

Valentine and Bender? Talk about drafting the two biggest busts

What makes you say that about Valentine? If you're looking for a star, he's not the guy. However, he has the skills (shooting, passing, rebounding, IQ) to be a solid role player for years to come. Low ceiling/high floor type, much like Sabonis. At #16 that would be an awesome pick.

I think Valentine is an OK selection around #16, but I can see not liking him. He cannot physically guard NBA players. That isn't really what you want in a role player, so he doesn't have a lot of upside. On the other hand, he might be just good enough on offense and just competent enough on defense to earn rotation minutes right away, and then you get a solid rotation player on a cheap deal for 4 years, which has some value.

This is something that if often said about him, but he's a smart player and I can see him doing really well as a team defender. Plus, having him as a second team guy will mean he'll be going up against second team players. So looking at the final four teams in the East he would be matched up vs. players such as Shumpert, R. Jefferson, Ross, Powell, G. Green, Winslow, Sefolosha, Hardaway Jr. None is particularly terrifying and on our team he'll be flanked by such good perimeter defenders (Smart, Bradley, Crowder, Rozier) that we can always have him on the worst offensive player.

[nickagneta]

I just don't see Ainge selecting Bender. He has shied away from the international players in the first round during draft nights. I also think Ainge is going to want to focus on bigs that can rebound the ball at a high level, which isn't Bender.

Valentine is an interesting selection. He is so smart on the court but his defense is just plain awful. He could provide a very valuable role as scorer off the bench where you could hide him by playing him alongside Smart and Rozier. I think he is a definite upgrade over Young or Hunter.

But what I am really hoping for is either packaging a bunch of picks including the 16th to move up to select a player of tremendous potential who slips. It happens every year. It happened with players like Al Jefferson and Paul Pierce. It happened last year with Winslow. It could happen again this year.

My first preference is trading for a star using draft picks, though not if we land one of the top two picks, but if we have to pick, please, Danny, do some packaging of picks to get higher in the draft and add only two high quality rookies to next year's team. Dump Hunter and Young with a second round picks to clear roster space and add the rooks that way. Then use the cap space to add vets that can contribute.

As  whole, this team does not need to get younger.

[greece66]

iirc they have kept the same order for some months now. Last major change was replacing Simmons with Ingram at 1.

[trickybilly]

No way in hell Danny passes on Korkmaz if he is still there at 16

[Evantime34]

Since team needs aren't taken into account I view Draft Express' pre lottery mocks as a ranking of players and not an actual mock.

In terms of who I would like to see us pick based on the DE rankings, I would still go with Bender and Valentine with our first two picks.

From there I would draft Zizic at 23, Yabusele at 31, Cordinier at 35, and attempt to move all the other picks or select more draft and stash guys.

If the C's are trying to trade up from the 16th spot, I'd target the 10-13 range to draft Skal, Davis, Chriss or Luwawu.

[Eddie20]

No way in hell Danny passes on Korkmaz if he is still there at 16

He's probably going to fall now...


Via David Pick
Sounds like first-round prospect Furkan Korkmaz will take NBA draft-and-stash route.

[trickybilly]

Important to note that it states "teams needs have not been taken into account", so it's more of a reflection of where they rank prospects. That said, even though they didn't mock based on our needs I wouldn't be opposed to this at all. We do add size and shooting. We obviously won't keep more than 3 of these picks (at most), but it's always good to have an idea of where prospects are moving on reputable boards.


http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2016/

#3 Bender (Ingram went 1, Simmons 2)

#16 Valentine (over Korkmaz and Sabonis)

#23 Zizic (Likely draft and stash)

#31 D. Murray (over Stone)

#35 Zimmerman (over Carnier who is a Lavine type French player and likely a draft and stash)

#45 Newman (over Payton and Uthoff)

#51 Carter (over Bentil and Ibeh)

#58 Felder (over Hart, Hayes, Ellis, Pope)

not a fan of how this plays out if all 8 picks are actually made.
ok with Valentine and Zizic but starting to seriously wonder about taking Bender at #3. 

hard to believe Bentil would last until #52.

Bentil's wingspan is going to be huge for him. If he measures well he could soar. He reminds me a lot of Millsap. Could see us drafting him and then having him and Mickey battle it out for a roster spot.

I love Bentil. Whenever I watched Providence to scout Dunn, Bentil stood out. I really hope he winds up with a good fit; he could be really good.

Bentil is really solid, I don't know why he's often ranked so low.

Little undersized, he's so polished and steady though.

[Moranis]

It isn't a mock if they don't account for team needs.

[chilidawg]

Since team needs aren't taken into account I view Draft Express' pre lottery mocks as a ranking of players and not an actual mock.

In terms of who I would like to see us pick based on the DE rankings, I would still go with Bender and Valentine with our first two picks.

From there I would draft Zizic at 23, Yabusele at 31, Cordinier at 35, and attempt to move all the other picks or select more draft and stash guys.

If the C's are trying to trade up from the 16th spot, I'd target the 10-13 range to draft Skal, Davis, Chriss or Luwawu.

I like this strategy.

[hwangjini_1]

I just don't see Ainge selecting Bender. He has shied away from the international players in the first round during draft nights. I also think Ainge is going to want to focus on bigs that can rebound the ball at a high level, which isn't Bender.

Valentine is an interesting selection. He is so smart on the court but his defense is just plain awful. He could provide a very valuable role as scorer off the bench where you could hide him by playing him alongside Smart and Rozier. I think he is a definite upgrade over Young or Hunter.

But what I am really hoping for is either packaging a bunch of picks including the 16th to move up to select a player of tremendous potential who slips. It happens every year. It happened with players like Al Jefferson and Paul Pierce. It happened last year with Winslow. It could happen again this year.

My first preference is trading for a star using draft picks, though not if we land one of the top two picks, but if we have to pick, please, Danny, do some packaging of picks to get higher in the draft and add only two high quality rookies to next year's team. Dump Hunter and Young with a second round picks to clear roster space and add the rooks that way. Then use the cap space to add vets that can contribute.

As  whole, this team does not need to get younger.

yet, by all accounts ainge was extremely interested in porzingas.

further, i know that boris once posted an interesting thread about how ainge and his supposed avoidance of drafting international players was a very, very questionable assumption.

boris, if i remember correctly, showed historically that for the choices available to ainge in the first round, very rarely was there a strong international player on the board. the biggest exception was of course antetokounmpo. but, as has been debated here, given the knowledge available then, the choice of a "surer thing" in olly was not an unreasonable decision.

with the first pick available to the celtics this year, i believe that ainge will pick the player he believes is the bpa, regardless.

[hwangjini_1]

No way in hell Danny passes on Korkmaz if he is still there at 16

i agree, unless some else has fallen down the draft rankings.

[Eddie20]

No way in hell Danny passes on Korkmaz if he is still there at 16

i agree, unless some else has fallen down the draft rankings.

Word is he's staying in Europe though.