NBA Draft 2012 Grades: Which 1st-Round Teams Didn't Do Their Homework?
The NBA draft is not a crapshoot.
Teams cannot pull the trigger on a selection and simply hope for the best. Workouts have to be held, game footage has to be studied, and tendencies discovered.
In short, every team must do their due diligence before being put on the clock.
After witnessing the highly entertaining—albeit somewhat head-scratcher—of a first round, though, it's clear plenty of franchise neglected to do just that.
Atlanta Hawks
1 of 5With the 23rd overall pick the Hawks made a reach of their own, selecting the one-dimensional John Jenkins out of Vanderbilt.
Jenkins has a Ray Allen-like touch, but he rarely attacks the basket nor does he excel on the defensive end.
For a team that could have certainly used some additional size or a potential replacement for Marvin Williams, the Hawks sure drafted like they didn't have a pressing need worth filling.
Toronto Raptors
2 of 5After selecting sharpshooter Terrence Ross with the eighth overall pick of the draft, the Raptors are another team that clearly phoned in their draft tactics.
Ross can shoot, but he's not a top-10 talent. If Toronto was that keen on selecting him, trading down should have been made an option.
The shooting guard struggles to create his own offense and isn't known for his ball protection. He's also going to need add significant bulk to his fragile frame if he ever wishes to attack the rim.
In their pursuit of Steve Nash, Ross' accuracy from behind the arc means a lot, but that's no excuse for making an unnecessary reach.
Houston Rockets
3 of 5The Rockets needed a sizable inside presence, a need they opted not to fulfill with one of their three first-round draft picks.
Though Houston selected some quality players in Terrence Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Royce White, none of them provide that true low-post presence the Rockets lack.
Jones is the closest the Rockets came, but while he stands at 6'10", he favors the playing style of a small forward, not a power forward or center.
By passing on talented bigs such as John Henson and Tyler Zeller, Houston dropped the ball at this year's draft.
Indiana Pacers
4 of 5Miles Plumlee was a fringe draft-caliber player, but the Pacers opted to take him in the first round.
While Plumlee is an athletic freak, there's no real flow to his game. He's uncoordinated on the offensive end, grabs minimal rebounds for a seven-footer and struggles with timing when attempting to block shots.
It's hard to ignore someone as big as Plumlee and while seven-foot big men are far from a dime a dozen, Indiana's newest addition isn't definitive in any aspect of the game.
In fact, it's quite the contrary, as Plumlee is no less than an enormous project.
One the Pacers may come to regret undertaking.
Cleveland Cavaliers
5 of 5With the fourth overall pick of the draft, the Cavaliers selected a dynamic scorer in Dion Waiters.
Why exactly?
I couldn't tell you. As talented as Waiters is, he wasn't going to be taken in the top seven, let alone the top four. Cleveland should have opted to trade down to a team like the Raptors, where they could have gotten yet another scorer in return.
While Waiters will unlikely amount to a draft bust, his presence will be marred by the fact that the Cavaliers should have done more. Whether more entailed trading down or drafting the explosive Thomas Robinson is irrelevant.
Something else should have been done.
