NBA Draft 2011: 10 Things You Need to Know About the Draft
On June 23 in Newark, New Jersey, representatives from all 30 NBA teams will gather together in the hopes of inundating their respective squads with fresh talent.
Joining them in Newark will be plenty of college basketball players wearing their finest suits and waiting patiently to walk across the stage and shake David Stern's hand.
It's always an exciting day for all parties involved, especially the fans.
Read on for 10 things you should know about the 2011 NBA Draft.
The Lottery Will Actually Determine Who Is Selected at No. 1
1 of 10
A lot of times, the first overall pick is essentially set in stone.
Take John Wall for example in last year's draft. No one thought that Wall would be passed up by whichever team happened to win the ping-pong ball contest for the top overall selection.
But this year, no such player exists. Depending on how the balls roll out of the lottery machine, either Derrick Williams or Kyrie Irving could be drafted at No. 1.
It all depends on who ends up with the pick and what position they need to fill.
There Is a Solid Amount of International Talent
2 of 10
International prospects are always head-scratchers.
The vast majority of people watching the NBA Draft haven't heard of many of them. Moreover, if they have, they probably don't know much about them. The international players are enigmas to the fans.
Sometimes they work out fabulously, but other times, the D-League is the destination, and that's never what anyone wants to see out of a first-round selection.
This year, there are plenty of international prospects, so get ready for the head-scratching.
Donatas Motiejunas (Lithuania), Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Jonas Valanciunias (Lithuania), Bismack Biyambo (Congo), Nikola Mirotic (Montenegro), Davis Bertans (Latvia) and Robin Benzing (Germany) are all projected as draft picks by NBADraft.net's latest mock draft.
If you want to push it even more, Enes Kanter is an international player from Turkey who will be billed as a Kentucky Wildcat even though he never put on the uniform in a game situation because he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA.
There's also Jeremy Tyler, an American prospect who chose to play internationally because he was tired of high school-level competition.
The Draft as a Whole Is Pretty Weak
3 of 10
In its entirety, the 2011 NBA draft class is not going to be one of the strongest that has ever collectively stood up, rejoiced, walked across the stage and then shaken hands with the commissioner of the league.
When you glance through the names of the prospects, there really aren't too many that make you stop and think to yourself, "Wow! I can absolutely see that guy making the All-Star Game year after year."
As for me, I have that reaction when I come across the name Kyrie Irving, but that's really the only one. Even Derrick Williams, a potential No. 1 pick, doesn't have star power in my mind.
The draft is filled with solid players, but relatively devoid of weak ones.
There Are Not Too Many Elite Guards
4 of 10
After Kyrie Irving is selected either first or second overall, the talent at the guard position drops quite a bit.
Brandon Knight is the next one at that position on most boards, but would he really be if he hadn't made a few clutch shots in the NCAA Tournament?
Then there's the dynamic duo of Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette. The two celebrities have each achieved first name only status but questions abound about Kemba and Jimmer.
Is the former big enough to play in the NBA? Is the latter quick enough or skilled enough on defense to make it?
Then there's Alec Burks, the unknown guard from Colorado who has the talent to be the second-best guard taken in this draft.
Excluding the swingmen like Jordan Hamilton and Tyler Honeycutt, the next guards taken will most likely be Nolan Smith and Shelvin Mack, although not necessarily in that order.
There are plenty of good guards in this draft class, but not many are unquestioned talents filled with potential greatness.
Rebounding Though Can Be Found
5 of 10
While small-ball players aren't too abundant in the 2011 NBA Draft, forwards with excellent rebounding skills are quite plentiful.
Take the Morris twins for example. Both Markieff and Marcus are proficient rebounders and can be picked towards the back end of the lottery.
But no player in the history of college basketball has ever been a better rebounder over the course of his career than Morehead State's Kenneth Faried, who passed Tim Duncan this season as the all-time leader in cleaning up missed shots.
Faried is not even going to be a lottery pick, unless something drastically changes.
Although Weak, the Draft Is Still Fairly Deep
6 of 10
I know I said earlier that there wasn't too much top-end talent in the 2011 draft class, but there isn't a huge dropoff in skill level at the back end of the draft either.
From top to bottom, the draft is filled with quality players. I'll give you a couple examples of course.
Josh Selby, a freshman from Kansas, is projected to go in the beginning of the second round. Remember that this is the player who was hailed as a potential lottery pick before he stepped foot onto the court at the collegiate level.
Also included in the second round mocks are college stars Jamie Skeen, Brad Wanamaker, E'twaun Moore, Jacob Pullen, Isaiah Thomas, Scotty Hopson and many others.
If You're Looking for a Forward, You're in Luck
7 of 10
According to NBADraft.net, 21 of the 30 projected first round picks play either small forward or power forward. When you include the second round, the number is still an insanely high 36 out of 60 picks.
Looking at a smaller level, eight of the 14 lottery picks are projected to be forwards.
If that's what you're looking for, you're going to be able to find it.
There Will Be Controversy
8 of 10
This NBA Draft is going to inspire quite a bit of debate.
First of all, there isn't really a consensus No. 1 pick and that will be talked about without end as the draft draws ever closer.
Then there are the dynamic players known as Kemba and Jimmer. Fredette in particular has generated an unbelievable amount of debate because of the polarity between his supporters and detractors.
Add to that the normal talk that inherently comes with a draft, and you're looking at a sure-fire controversial day.
A Pair of Twins Will Be Lottery Picks
9 of 10
We've had Dick and Tom Van Arsdale, Horace and Harvey Grant, Jason and Jarron Collins, Robin and Brook Lopez, Joey and Stephen Graham and Carl and Charles Thomas. Those are the only six sets of twins to ever play in the NBA.
Now you can add to that exclusive list the pair of Kansas Jayhawks: Marcus and Markieff Morris.
The Grants were both selected in the lottery, but Horace was picked in 1987 while Harvey was drafted in 1988.
The Lopez's came close, but Robin was selected at No. 15 in 2008 while Brook went at No. 10.
Each of the other four sets wasn't even close to having both members selected in the lottery.
Right now, NBADraft.net has Marcus going at No. 9 and Markieff at No. 11, which would make them the first twins to ever be selected in the same NBA Draft lottery.
Duke Will Have the Most First Round Picks
10 of 10
Sorry Duke haters, but you probably won't want to watch the entire first round of the draft. If you do, you're going to see quite a few Blue Devils selected by various NBA teams.
Kyrie Irving is a potential No. 1 overall pick, while Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler should both be selected towards the end of the opening round.
The only schools that can challenge them for the most first round selections are Kansas and Kentucky.
Kentucky technically will have three players picked as well (Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter and Terrence Jones), but since Kanter never played a single game in a Wildcats jersey, I refuse to count him as a John Calipari one-and-done product.
Kansas will definitely have two selections in the first round thanks to the aforementioned Morris twins. A third player, Josh Selby, is a fringe first-round prospect, but I think he'll be taken in the second round.
That means that Duke, which couldn't finish on top of the college basketball world in March, will finish on top of the draft world.
