NBA Draft Night

Here's my mock draft (through the lottery) for tonight's NBA Draft, as originally posted over at H-Town Sports Blog:

1. Milwaukee - Andrew Bogut: I think that this is a mistake, as Marvin Williams is a freak of nature, but apparently the Bucks are sold on Bogut. He's definitely a beast in the paint, but I'm not sure how high his potential really is. If I'm Atlanta at #2, I'm sending highlight films of Bogut to Milwaukee every 10 minutes trying to convince them to take the Ute. (Note: When's the last time the same school boasted the #1 pick in the same year's NBA and NFL drafts?)

2. Atlanta - Marvin Williams: Al Harrington, Josh Childress, Josh Smith, Donta Smith and Marvi Williams. While none of these guys are allowed to buy a bottle of beer, they sure do provide the nucleus of an exciting young roster. But since it's the Hawks, I'm sure they'll sell the kids for parts at some point in their neverending pursuit of imperfection.

3. Portland - Gerald Green: Paul or Deron Williams is probably the best pick at #3, but I'm assuming Telfair's selection in '04 will preclude the Blazers from taking a point guard at #3.

4. New Orleans - Deron Williams: I'm not sure that the Hornets have any kind of plan in place, but I do know that Dan Dickau likely is not their "PG of the future", despite how effective he was last season.

5. Charlotte - Chris Paul: Paul has the talent to be the biggest star out of this draft, in my opinion.

6. Utah - Raymond Felton: To me, Felton = Ed Cota II. We'll see if he proves me wrong.

7. Toronto - Danny Granger

8. New York - Hakim Warrick: I'm sure that Isiah will manage to screw this up somehow, but this sure seems like a nice fit to me.

9. Golden State - Charlie Villanueva: I wouldn't be surprised to see GS move up to try and get one of the 3 big PG's in the draft, but I think they think that they're not far from competing, so I don't think they'll go with a high schooler if they stay at #9. I'm not big on Villanueva, but he's certainly talented.

10. LA Lakers - Martell Webster: Since the Zenmaster admits that the Lakers are likely years away from being competitve again, a HS player seems the perfect fit.

11. Orlando - Channing Frye: Loren Woods says "Hi."

12. LA Clippers - Yaroslav Korolev: I've never heard of this guy, so he's a perfect fit for the Clips.

13. Charlotte - Rashad McCants: If the Bobcats go into next fall with Paul at the point, McCants at the 2, Okafor at the 4 and Brezec at the 5, they'll deserve a lot of credit. I'd buy tickets to see that team develop.

14. Minnesota - Andrew Bynum: Nothing like hiring a GM hours before the draft. I'm assuming that the Kandi Man might be a guy that new GM Boy King would like to replace.

As for the Cats eligible to be selected, I see Randy Morris going early in the 2nd round and Azibuike going late in the 2nd round. I don't care how Morris' size projects...I think NBA scouts will be uninspired by his play last year and will also believe that the fact that he made himself eligible for the draft this year indicates questionable judgment. Come late November, Randy will be longing for a return to college, and I think that his remaining teammates will forget that he was ever around at all.