NBA Draft Predictions: 5 Lottery Picks Who Will Generate Instant Buyer's Remorse

Risk and reward.

Some potential of each comes with pretty much every NBA Draft pick, particularly when your team is in the lottery and your pick has that much more to do with the fate of your franchise.

And, if your team is picking later on in the lottery, like say, seventh or lower, the player you want may be long gone by the time it's his turn, making the odds of a swing and miss go up substantially. If your team doesn't really get the guy it wants, it could be trouble in a variety of ways.

Which brings us to this year's draft, featuring a deep crop of players, some of whom will fit beautifully into your team's plans and some who won't at all.

There are always misses in the lottery, every year. Here's a look at a few candidates for buyer's remorse.

5. Jeremy Lamb

Lamb, the freakishly athletic 2-guard with the 6'11 wingspan out of UConn, has been limited in some pre-draft workouts due to an ankle sprain suffered while auditioning for the Toronto Raptors back on June 14.

Add that issue to the fact that he cooled off late last season and now seems to have garnered a reputation for being laid back (e.g. lacking a great motor) and he's slipped a bit in some projections. 

Lamb looks like he's going late in the lottery, perhaps as low as to Phoenix at No. 13, and seems to have fallen behind three other lottery-looking shooting guards (Bradley Beal, Dion Waiters, Austin Rivers).

If some of the buzz that he's disinterested follows him into to NBA, watch out.

4. John Henson

Being 6'10" is a good thing.

Being 6'10" and weighing in at 216 lbs.? 

Not as much.

This is the situation for North Carolina power forward John Henson, who is sure to go in the lottery and has a good reputation as a smart, athletic player whose specialty is shot-blocking. 

But when you're that wispy thin, you can get away with it in college. In the NBA? Banging around with some of the wide bodies down in the paint?

Could be a problem.

Henson looks like a lock to go to Detroit if he's still around at No. 9 and pair up with Greg Monroe to form an athletic frontcourt of the future.

Still, even though his game makes him a lock to play down low, Henson might get the living snot beaten out of him on a nightly basis if he stays this skinny. And if he bulks up, who's to know if his game will translate?

3. Dion Waiters

Waiters looks great. He's a tank (6'4", 221 lbs.) and knows how score, primarily through getting to the basket and finishing.

Still, some have reservations. In particular, DraftExpress, whose Jonathan Givony tweeted that he's not so sure what all the Waiters fuss is about.

Waiters looks like a guy who can contribute right away thanks to his offensive game. The Warriors are said to be into him at No. 7, and ESPN.com's Chad Ford has Waiters at or near the top of six lottery teams' big boards in his Mock 10.0.

But, like Givony wondered, what if his failure to work out or interview was a bad sign? What if it was covering something up? What if he is just a sixth man? That was OK for a guy like James Harden, but he's in a situation where two stars are playing ahead of him. What current lottery team can claim that?

None.

2. Austin Rivers

Here's another polarizing player.

The son of Doc, who SI.com's Sam Amick has potentially going as high as No. 6 to Portland, feels like a love him or hate him kind of guy.

Ford, for his part, seems to hate Rivers, comparing him to Toronto nobody Jerryd Bayless and saying, 

"

"I honestly think Rivers is the one guy I wouldn't touch in the lottery. Too toxic for team chemistry, doesn't have the physical tools to make it worth it."

"

Amick has Rivers going at No. 8 to the Raptors while Ford pegs him to go 10th to New Orleans.

If Rivers buys into the team concept and plays within himself while toning down his reputed cockiness, he should be fine. 

If not, he could have whichever GM selects him running scared.

1. Andre Drummond

Drummond and his questionable attitude looks to be sliding and where it will stop, nobody knows.

One aspect of Drummond's portfolio that appears to be beyond question is that as talented as he is, he will not contribute right away.

For a team that needs an impact player now (Golden State, Sacramento), that could spell doom.

Whether Drummond goes in the top five or falls from the lottery ranks altogether, you can count on the league watching with great interest. 

He's the biggest enigma in this year's draft.