NBA Draft 2015: 2-Round Results and Grades for Notable 1st-Round Prospects
As the NBA continues to come down from its prospect perch following Thursday's draft, the instant reaction has given way to rational thought and analysis. Teams are always optimistic about their moves, but everyone else needs time to let things sink in before discussing what happened.
This year's draft was notable simply because of its unpredictability. The only sure thing that seemed to happen was Karl-Anthony Towns going to Minnesota with the first overall pick. After that, chaos ensued even though it wasn't all bad despite what New York fans would have you believe.
Looking back on what happened, here are the full results from the draft, complete with grades and picks for the best and worst.
| Atlanta Hawks | D+ |
| Boston Celtics | C |
| Brooklyn Nets | B- |
| Charlotte Hornets | C- |
| Chicago Bulls | B |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | C+ |
| Dallas Mavericks | B |
| Denver Nuggets | B+ |
| Detroit Pistons | C- |
| Golden State Warriors | A- |
| Houston Rockets | B+ |
| Indiana Pacers | B- |
| Los Angeles Clippers | B |
| Los Angeles Lakers | A- |
| Memphis Grizzlies | B |
| Miami Heat | A |
| Milwaukee Bucks | C+ |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | A |
| New Orleans Pelicans | N/A (No Draft Picks) |
| New York Knicks | A- |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | A- |
| Orlando Magic | B+ |
| Philadelphia 76ers | B |
| Phoenix Suns | B+ |
| Portland Trail Blazers | C+ |
| Sacramento Kings | B |
| San Antonio Spurs | C |
| Toronto Raptors | B- |
| Utah Jazz | B |
| Washington Wizards | B |
Best-Value Pick: Justise Winslow to Miami (No. 10 Overall)
The consensus choice for best-value pick in the draft is Justise Winslow going to the Miami Heat. While it would be fun to play contrarian, it's hard not to see why this is such a great fit for the team and player.
After the Heat took Winslow, Sports Illustrated offered a scouting report with these particular weaknesses mentioned:
"To improve offensively, he needs to work on ball-handling in half-court sets and build a consistent jumper. Although he shot 41.8% from three-point range, he managed just 64.1% from the stripe. After playing on an elite college basketball team, many will wonder if Winslow can carry a team by himself or if he is better suited as a valuable role player.
"
While Winslow's shooting touch will have to get better, the latter point about being able to carry a team will go out the window because the Heat have such strong leadership, starting at the top with president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Dwyane Wade's status will be a focal point for the team, but Riley has said the team wants to keep the All-Star. Keeping him to work with Winslow, along with the return of Chris Bosh and re-signing Goran Dragic gives Miami a toughness on both sides of the ball and an outstanding nucleus to make a deep playoff run.
Making the pick even better for the Heat is they didn't have to give up anything for Winslow. To know why that's so critical, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com reported the Boston Celtics wanted the former Duke star so badly they offered Charlotte at No. 9 a package with as many as six future draft picks, including four first-round selections.
The Heat let the board play out and took the best player available. Winslow is a lockdown defender who proved during the NCAA tournament that he can elevate his game on the big stage. That's a rare quality to find and a sign the future is bright for the 19-year-old.
Worst Draft: Atlanta Hawks
It's not hard to see what the Atlanta Hawks were doing by trading away their first-round pick (No. 15) in a three-way deal involving Washington receiving the rights to that selection (which was Kelly Oubre) and New York getting the rights to Jerian Grant with the Hawks getting Tim Hardaway Jr. in return.
Hardaway has been abysmal in two seasons. He's a shooter who hits 40.8 percent of his attempts and is a liability on defense, ranking 94th out of 100 qualified shooting guards in ESPN's real plus-minus defensive ratings.
The Hawks will save money on Hardaway's contract, which pays him nearly $6.6 million over the next three years, per Spotrac. Jason Belzer of Forbes estimated the 15th overall pick getting $9.2 million over four years.
But therein lies the problem, as the Hawks are coming off a 60-win season and should be adding talent to build off that success instead of trying to save money. That wasn't the only bad part of Atlanta's draft, though.
As Scott Gleeson of USA Today noted in his recap of the draft, the Hawks didn't do anything with their two second-round picks.
"If the Hawks weren't trying to save money, their trade of the No. 15 pick for Tim Hardaway Jr. would be one dumb move," Gleeson wrote. "Well, it's still dumb. Then they drafted two unknown foreign players—Spain's Marcus Eriksson (No. 50) and Greece's Dimitrios Agravanis (No. 59)."
Atlanta's problem in the playoffs, other than injuries to Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll, was a lack of size beyond Al Horford. The Hawks had long athletic players, like Oubre, on the board waiting for them.
Instead, they opted to bet on a player with two lackluster NBA seasons under his belt and two foreign players who aren't expected to play in the league this season. That's not a good way to build off the franchise's most successful season since moving to Atlanta.
Don't Judge It Yet: Kristaps Porzingis to New York (No. 4 Overall)
It seemed like New York Knicks fans were destined to hate the draft once D'Angelo Russell went off the board. No one can blame them because of how bad this franchise has been, but completely dismissing a player none of them has ever seen is overreacting for the sake of overreacting.
Even Knicks star Carmelo Anthony was reportedly angry when the team selected Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:
"Anthony, according to a source, doesn’t understand why Jackson would waste such a high pick on a player who can’t help immediately. That, of course, is just the point. It would be short-sighted of Jackson to draft, for example, Willie Cauley-Stein, who could make a bigger contribution in years one and two.
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If Anthony isn't happy, that's his problem. No one twisted his arm to re-sign with the Knicks last summer. If he wanted to play for a contender, the Bulls were one of his finalists. The 30-year-old took the bigger deal, which is his prerogative.
For the record, the Knicks did send out a tweet in which Anthony was positively responding to fan questions about the team's draft.
Here's a newsflash for Anthony and other angry Knicks fans: This team wasn't going to compete for a title next year, even if it took a defensive presence in the middle like Willie Cauley-Stein. When a team picks in the top four, shooting for ceiling is exactly what needs to be done.
By all accounts, Porzingis was one of the five best players in this draft and more than worthy of being selected where the Knicks took him. ESPN's Chad Ford had the Latvian star ranked as his fourth player, behind Towns, Russell and Jahlil Okafor, with this brief synopsis on how general managers viewed him:
"Porzingis began the draft year at No. 4 on Big Board 1.0, fell to No. 5 in February, and moves back up one spot in the final rankings to reflect the renewed interest in him from teams. More GMs than ever concede that he might have the most upside of anyone in the draft. But Towns, Russell and Okafor are all seen as safer -- thus Porzingis' placement here at No. 4.
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The concern with Porzingis that Anthony brought up is development. He's not going to be an instant impact player, but how many 19-year-old talents are?
Plus, give the Knicks credit for finally seeing the forest through the trees. They've made many shortsighted moves in the past, especially during the Isiah Thomas era, so rage can be the default mode for this fanbase.
But to judge Porzingis now before any of us have seen him play a professional game is irresponsible. He may not be the player New York wanted, but he could end up being the player it needs.
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