NBA Draft 2012 Grades: 5 Teams That Should Receive an Incomplete

Denver Nuggets first round pick Evan Fournier.
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The NBA draft has come and gone, with 60 newcomers ready to dive into the professional basketball world.

Some teams landed franchise changers—New Orleans with Anthony Davis, Charlotte with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and a few more—while other teams made some silly selections and lost out.

Of course, as quickly as the draft was complete, grades were given out.

But for some teams, a grade of incomplete is the most appropriate.

Let's take a look at the five teams most deserving of an incomplete.

Boston Celtics

Jared Sullinger with a big time block.
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The C's came into the draft loaded, with the 21st, 22nd and 51st picks to play with.

Instead of packaging them and moving up, Boston stayed put and took two big men back-to-back in the first round.

Both players were dynamite in college.

The problem is each has off-the-court issues, as well.

Jared Sullinger, arguably the second most dominant big man in this year's class, slipped all the way to No. 21 when many draft experts had him going much higher, even as high as the top 10.

But news of Sullinger's herniated disk in his back scared potential suitors away and is still a giant question mark as his NBA career just begins.

At No. 22, Boston took Fab Melo, dominant in his own right in college—but he has his own issue of being declared ineligible for the 2012 NCAA tournament.

Not that Melo will be taking classes now, but it does bring his work ethic into question a bit since he couldn't make the grades to play. And he missed out on playing against the best college players in the country during crunch time.

Then, at No. 51, they selected Kris Joseph, who will have a long way to go to prove himself and make the team.

Memphis Grizzlies

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At No. 23, Memphis selected Tony Wroten Jr., a 6'5", 200-pound shooting guard.

Though the Grizz already had star O.J. Mayo to play the 2 for them, they took Wroten as insurance since Mayo is currently testing the free-agent market.

But will Wroten be good enough to eventually replace Mayo?

He played a versatile game last year, with 16 points, five rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, but it was for Washington. The Huskies are far from a basketball powerhouse, and the conference itself was quite weak last year.

Wroten has a lot of work to do to prove himself and make it at the NBA level.

Atlanta Hawks

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John Jenkins was the first man for Atlanta, and it's unknown how well he can play in the NBA.

Jenkins is certainly a great scorer, celebrated for his sweet shot and quick release, but is he a one-trick pony?

He put up 19.9 points per, but his rebounding (2.9) and assist numbers (1.2) leave something to be desired.

Plus he played at Vanderbilt of the SEC, not nearly the best college competition.

Then at No. 43, the Hawks picked Mike Scott.

Scott is undersized to play power forward at the professional level, at 6'8", 237 pounds, and he's not an amazing athlete either.

Can he work his butt off and earn a roster spot? We'll see.

New York Knicks

Poor Knicks fans who were in attendance in New York had to wait four-plus hours for their team to finally make a selection at No. 48.

Once their time finally came, the Knickerbockers selected Kostas Papanikolaou, and the fans' reactions were classic.

People booed, put their hands on top of their heads and questioned out loud, "Who is that?!"

Papanikolaou is a 21-year-old Greek professional player who will stay in Greece for one more season before coming across the pond to play for New York.

Denver Nuggets

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Despite some who derided the picks immediately and some in the national media who have graded Denver's draft favorably, the Nuggets are most deserved of an incomplete.

At No. 20, Denver selected French-born baller Evan Fournier, and fans were upset.

Fournier was the first international player taken in 2012, and many had yet to hear of him.

He's a 6'7", 204-pound guard/forward, who is 19 years old and just completed his second professional season in France.

Fournier put up 14 points and 3.2 boards per last year, but shot a shockingly low 27.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The Nuggets needed a shooter, but Fournier can't shoot from deep.

And like New York's situation, Fournier likely won't play in Denver next season and could possibly never see the Mile High City.

At No. 38, the Nuggets took their only American-born player in Quincy Miller.

Miller was a phenomenal high school athlete, but a torn ACL held him back a bit. Miller's a 6'10", 220-pound small forward who can score decently (10.6 PPG) and rebound OK for a guy his size (4.9 RPG).

Even later in the second round at No. 50, Denver took Izzet Turkyilmaz, a true seven-footer out of Turkey.

Miller will play for the Nuggets summer league team soon, while the other two will wait to come to America.

And in turn, Denver will have to wait much longer than most teams to know what they got in the draft.

 

Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist. Follow Rich on facebook and/or twitter.