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The deadline to withdraw for the NBA draft has now passed. The biggest name to exit was Dario Saric, the Croatian forward who was rumored to be a possible lottery pick. Aside from a few names pulling out, the draft is now set.
According to sources, the Cleveland Cavaliers – if the draft were held today – would select Alex Len with the top pick. The Cavs believe he is the best fit longterm alongside Kyrie Irving.
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With less than two weeks until the NBA Draft, the rumors and speculation are coming from all over.
According to sources, Cleveland has been warming to Alex Len as concerns about Nerlens Noel’s knee and whether he is the best fit longterm alongside Kyrie Irving have increased.
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We are just weeks away from the 2013 NBA draft. It is June and now the pre-draft workouts go into full swing.
Within the lottery, the big news is that Orlando has pushed Victor Oladipo ahead of Ben McLemore on its draft board. McLemore has yet to formally hire an agent and has been questioned about his ties to Rodney Blackstock.
Orlando also has had conversations with the Los Angeles Clippers about acquiring point guard Eric Bledsoe, who, combined with Oladipo, could give the Magic the most athletic young backcourt in the NBA.
The back end of the lottery remains in flux as Minnesota, Portland, and Dallas all would love to move their picks. The Thunder are content to stay at 12 and grab a center unless C.J. McCollum – whom I am told they love – is available.
A few rapid risers into the first round and just outside of it who bear watching are Tim Hardaway Jr., Myck Kabongo, and Glen Rice Jr. It would not be surprising to see all three selected in the first round.
With that comes draft speculation and misinformation. Sorting through all the buzz and rumors and deciphering what is true and what isn’t makes for a full-time job.
Without further ado, here is a Mock Draft 4.0:
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The Cleveland Cavaliers are fielding calls from everywhere, but the team they’d really like to to make a deal with is Minnesota.
And if the Timberwolves are willing to surrender Kevin Love, the No. 1 pick is available to them, sources tell SheridanHoops.com.
The situation with Love in Minnesota is tricky.
He was offended when the ‘Wolves would not offer him the one five-year deal that is available to them (they are saving it for Ricky Rubio), but he buttressed his displeasure by getting an opt out in his current max deal after the third year.
“I was willing to make a commitment for five years. They thought otherwise,” Love infamously said after reaching agreement with former Wolves GM David Kahn.
The bottom line is that Love can opt out of his contract in 2015, and the Wolves could lose him as an unretricted free agent with nothing in return.
Also, Minnesota has to deal with the restricted free agency of Nikola Pekovic this summer, and as we learned with Omer Asik last summer, teams with cap space can find very creative ways to entice a very valuable player away from his old team.
Also, the Wolves are stacked with picks, holding No. 9, 26, 52 and 59, but they do not have a first-rounder next year in the loaded 2014 draft. Would an offer of Love and a ’14 No. 1 pick, along with picks 9 and 26, in exchange for Cleveland’s No. 1 constitute overpaying? Depends on how new GM Flip Saunders feels about Noel, the kid from Kentucky with the torn ACL who may become the first overall No. 1 draft pick to walk to the podium using crutches to shake commissioner David Stern’s hand.
The Cavs also love Georgetown’s Otto Porter, but they couldn’t trade down very far and still have a chance to grab him. I don’t see Porter slipping out of the Top 5.
Other chatter we are hearing from around the league:
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With the NBA combine and draft lottery officially wrapped up, we can now update our Mock Draft to officially represent the 2013 NBA draft.
Cleveland won the lottery for the second time in three years and is primed to expedite its rebuilding effort with the first, 19th, 30th, and 33rd picks in the draft to go with tons of cap space and plenty of assets to pull off a big deal, including possibly trading center Anderson Varejao.
While in Chicago this past week, there was a lot of buzz on prospects such as Steven Adams, Reggie Bullock, Allen Crabbe, Cody Zeller and Rudy Gobert, among others. With the draft still over a month away, nothing is set in stone.
Players will continue to hone their skills as well as prepare for workouts and interviews with front offices in the hope of boosting – or in some cases, salvaging – their draft stock.
