Maybe you haven’t heard yet. Today is the NBA Draft. Future stars are going to be taken left and right.
We’ll remember tonight as the beginning of the Anthony Davis era and if the Hornets don’t pick him, then we’ll remember it as one of the worst draft decisions in NBA history. Unless they trade the pick for Dwight Howard. Then everyone kinda wins.
Basically, over the past few days, your NBA site editors from Fansided.com have been taking part in a mock draft where we are the General Managers for the respective teams that we cover on a day-to-day basis. It was a ton of fun and it’s a shame we can only do it once a year.
There were two big stories from the Grizzlies’ end of the draft. First and foremost, since I was General Manager of the Memphis Grizzlies for a week, I was able to trade Rudy Gay for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Again, no knock on Rudy who is a great player, we just had to do some maneuvering around the salary cap. Secondly, I really like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and think that he’ll be an awesome pro.
The second big move was the Grizzlies’ actual draft pick and I selected Marquis Teague from the University of Kentucky to be Mike Conley Jr.’s back-up point guard.
If you’re keeping up at home, the Grizzlies rotation as of today looks something like this:
PG- Mike Conley Jr./Marquis Teague/Jeremy Pargo
SG- Tony Allen/Quincy Pondexter/Josh Selby (O.J. Mayo???)
SF- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist/Dante Cunningham/Quincy Pondexter
PF- Zach Randolph/Darrell Arthur or Marreese Speights/ Cunningham
C- Marc Gasol/Marreese Speights or Hamed Haddadi
That’s not terrible, right? The 3 could get a little thin after Kidd-Gilchrist, but there are always veteran swingmen available and Grant Hill would look good in Beale Street Blue, right?
The move also frees up cap space to re-sign O.J. Mayo, at least on paper.
If you’re curious as to how the rest of the (mock) draft went, take a look at the following. If you think your team could have done better, tell us why in the comments or e-mail us at bealestreetbears@gmail.com.
On with the mock!
1. Anthony Davis (NOH): Duh.
2. Thomas Robinson (CHA)
3. Brad Beal (WAS)
4. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (CLE): This pick was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for Rudy Gay. The Cavs add Gay to their already intriguing core of Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao (for now.)
5. Harrison Barnes (SAC)
6. Andre Drummond (POR)
7. John Henson (GSW)
8. Jeremy Lamb (TOR): Toronto has been shopping this pick but settled on lamb in the mock.
9. Arnett Moultrie (DET)
10. Tyler Zeller (BOS from NOH): This was originally the Hornets’ pick, but traded it to Boston for the 21st and 22nd picks in the draft.
11. Austin Rivers (POR)
12. Perry Jones (MIL)
13. Kendall Marshall (PHX)
14. Damian Lillard (HOU)
15. Terrence Ross (PHI)
16. Dion Waiters (HOU)
17. Terrence Jones (DAL)
18. Meyers Leonard (HOU)
19. Moe Harkless (ORL)
20. Jared Sullinger (DEN)
21. Royce White (NOH from BOS): Traded to New Orleans for the 1oth pick.
22. Tony Wroten, Jr. (NOH from BOS): Traded to New Orleans for the 10th pick.
23. Quincy Miller (ATL)
24. Andrew Nicholson (CLE)
25. Marquis Teague (MEM)
26. Fab Melo (IND)
27. Evan Fournier (MIA)
28. Draymond Green (OKC)
29. Doron Lamb (CHI)
30. Warriors: We never got around to getting this pick in at time of publication.