2011 NBA Mock Draft: Coach Cal, UK Again to Have 5 Go in 1st Round?
It’s only August and football season is just around the corner, but this is as good a time as any to make up a mock 2011 NBA Draft.
The 2009-10 NCAA basketball season was disappointing for Coach John Calipari and the rest of the University of Kentucky family. It was a failure not to have won the NCAA championship, not with such a heralded freshman class joining the talent already there.
The sting from not winning it all in April was probably not lessened by what happened in this past NBA Draft, when the NCAA hoops power made NBA and NCAA history by having 5 of its players selected in the first round. Wildcat fans can take solace, however, in the fact that Coach Cal has once more reloaded his roster with top-notch talent and will again target a national championship as his team’s goal.
So, will it happen again next year? Will 5 Kentucky players be chosen in the first round?
No, not next year, it won’t, but the Wildcats will still have as many as 3 players taken as quickly as the first ten picks, as some inside the circles of the 2011 Mock NBA Draft family believe.
It says here, however, that while Big Blue will, indeed, send 3 players to the NBA in the first round, it won’t happen within the first ten picks.
Just as a freshman was chosen 1st overall in this past June’s draft (John Wall of Kentucky, of course), so one will again be chosen next June’s. He won’t be a Wildcat, but, instead, a Tar Heel: incoming freshman SG/SF Harrison Barnes will be one-and-done in Chapel Hill.
In fact, the first UK player won’t be taken until the Pistons take, in the 7th spot, incoming freshman C Enes Kanter. Freshman PG Brandon Knight, Wall’s replacement, will not go until 14th to the Jazz, and freshman PF Terrence Jones will be picked by the Bucks.
Kansas and Duke both will match Kentucky’s 3 players who will be drafted. Kansas freshman SG Josh Selby will go 5th to Sacramento; sophomore teammate, PG Tyshawn Taylor, will go 21st to the Hawks; and junior PF Marcus Morris will go 29th to the Celtics.
As for Duke, it will send incoming freshman PG/SG Kyrie Irving to the Warriors in the 6th slot; strong and athletic sophomore PF Mason Plumlee to the Pacers in 10th; and senior SF Kyle Singler to the Bulls at 24th.
Enjoy the postulations, as it’s been a good distraction for me to compile it while the Dodgers go down in flames and I await football season.
*NOTE: the order of teams picking in the mock draft below is based solely on how I feel the teams will finish the season.
In other words, the team picking 30th is the team I feel will win the NBA Championship, the team picking 29th is the Finals runner-up, and so on. The team picking 1st is the team I feel will have the worst record in the league, not the team I feel will win the lottery.
Otherwise, I’d be picking the local Lotto numbers if I knew the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery winner.
JaJuan Johnson Could Join D-Wade and Co. in Miami in 2011
1 of 3
21. Hawks - Tyshawn Taylor, PG, Kansas
22. Clippers - Aaric Murray, C, La Salle
23. Blazers - Malcolm Lee, SG, UCLA
24. Bulls - Kyle Singler, SF, Duke
25. Magic - William Buford, SG, Ohio State
26. Mavs - Travis Leslie, SF, Georgia
27. Thunder - Kawhi Leonard, SF/PF, San Diego St.
28. Heat - JaJuan Johnson, PF/C, Purdue
29. Celtics - Marcus Morris, PF, Kansas
30. Lakers - Jimmer Fredette, PG/SG, BYU
Unheralded Kenneth Faried Could Be Picked by the Grizzlies
2 of 3
11. Hornets - Jeff Taylor, SF, Vanderbilt
12. Knicks - John Henson, PF, North Carolina
13. Suns - Elias Harris, SF, Gonzaga
14. Jazz - Brandon Knight, PG, Kentucky
15. Bobcats - Fab Melo, C, Syracuse
16. Grizzlies - Kenneth Faried, PF, Morehead St.
17. Spurs - Kemba Walker, PG, UConn
18. Nuggets - Trey Thompkins, PF, Georgia
19. Bucks - Terrence Jones, SF, Kentucky
20. Rockets - Jordan Hamilton, SF, Texas
Terrence Jones and Perry Jones Will Go High in the Draft
3 of 3
1. Raptors - Harrison Barnes, SG/SF, UNC
2. Cavs - Perry Jones, PF, Baylor
3. Nets - Jan Vesely, SF/PF, Serbia
4. T’wolves - Jared Sullinger, PF, Ohio St.
5. Kings - Josh Selby, SG, Kansas
6. Warriors - Kyrie Irving, PG/SG, Duke
7. Pistons - Enes Kanter, PF/C, Turkey
8. Wizards - Jonas Valanciunas, PF/C, Lithuania
9. Sixers - Donatas Motiejunas, PF/C, Lithuania
10. Pacers - Mason Plumlee, PF, Duke
