seems like the myriad of draft experts start to panik. there have been so many different mocks out there (more than ever I guess) and now they are like....hey, we need to pull out something no other mock has ever brought up. who has never been put at #1?? damn, almost everybody has been there at some point........ok, can't find a mock with Salaun at #1. so, let's start from this and claim teams are so impressed with his workouts and we put Salaun on the top. (note...I completely made this up, don't ask for a source)
the funny thing is, there's so much talk about who is falling, Sarr, Risacher, Topic, Dillingham, Buzelis, Holland, Collier, Flip, and so on. the final mock will look like a list of guys they forgot to push down. that way a guy like da Silva will end up top ten on some boards.
I'd say the tendency is the opposite, for mocks to start conforming to each other. No one wants to be dinged in the future for making a mistake.
But this year is so impossible to guage and the intel is so hard to get certain that many mockers are trying out a lot of different ideas or sticking with personal preferences.
I saw a podcast where someone said that no player should get too attached to the hat they’re given on stage. Gonna be some activity.
New BR mock has the Grizzlies trading up to the #4 spot in a 3-team deal including the Spurs.
- Memphis Grizzlies receive: No. 4 pick and Keldon Johnson
San Antonio Spurs receive: Marcus Smart, Ziaire Williams, No. 9 pick, No. 39 pick and a 2025 second-round pick (via MEM, HOU or OKC)
- If the Grizzlies try and fail to get up to No. 3, this front office would be doing backflips if Clingan dropped to No. 4.
Their frontcourt could use a glass-cleaning, shot-blocking, close-range-finishing big body in the middle, and Clingan just filled that very role on consecutive national championship teams at UConn.
Losing Smart's leadership, experience and table-setting would sting, but he has always appeared on paper as a less-than-ideal fit with Ja Morant. Johnson wouldn't be the focus of this deal, but his scoring punch and downhill attacking could be helpful to have nonetheless.
The Spurs, meanwhile, seem likely to pick up a playmaker, and Smart brings that label to both ends. A defense featuring him as the head of the snake and Victor Wembanyama on the back end sounds like a nightmare—even before accounting for the long-limbed duo of Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan—and Smart's vision could help give the big fella cleaner looks than he found during his rookie season.
The Spurs also add three picks to keep or trade, plus they get the chance to see what happens when they run Williams through their famed developmental program.
They also have Charlotte trading up to 3 in a 3-team deal to take Sheppard. It says the Hornets, Blazers, and Grizzlies have all reached out to HOU about trading up for that pick.
I would hate this trade personally. Smart is already 30 years old and doesn't fit Wemby's timeline at all. He also only has 2 years left on his deal. Makes very little sense for the Spurs so I don't think it happens. Decided to post anyways.
10125486-2024-nba-mock-draft-with-5-trades-in-round-1
They also have us trading our newly acquired 9th pick via MEM to the Bulls for #11 where we take Dilly fwiw. None of this is going to happen though.
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