2013 NBA Mock Draft: Victor Oladipo 2nd, Tim Hardaway Jr. 11th
By Jason McIntyre
1. Cleveland – Nerlens Noel, C, Kentucky. Best case – he sits out 50 games, Cavs suck, are in another stacked lottery and they get LeBron in 2014.
2. Orlando – Victor Oladipo, G, Indiana. Too high? Oh well. Measured favorably against McLemore at the combine and give me defense and toughness over a jump shooter. Arron Afflalo played plenty of SF last year and he & Oladipo would be a superb 1-2 defensive punch.
3. Washington – Otto Porter, SF, Georgetown. A Wall/Beal/Porter trio is very, very nice at both ends. Porter is clutch.
4. Charlotte – Ben McLemore, SG, Kansas. The good news is, he’ll have the green light to shoot whenever.
5. Phoenix Suns – Alex Len, C, Maryland. Learns for a year under the crafty 33-year old Scola, puts up 12-10 in his second year.
21 Utah Jazz (from Golden State) – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, Georgia. Not as high on him as others, but then again, I actually watched him play in the SEC. Alec Burks hasn’t done much in two years with the Jazz.
22 Brooklyn Nets – Rudy Gobert, F, France. Athletic big-man is stashed for a year, at which point he shows up to replace Kris Humphries.
23 Indiana Pacers – Allen Crabbe, SG, California. Will add pop off the bench that the Pacers have been lacking since Barbosa left town.
24 New York Knicks – Steven Adams, C, Pittsburgh. Because bad teams do dumb things. But in reality, Adams will probably go much higher and be a huge bust.
25 Minnesota Timberwolves (from Memphis) – Reggie Bullock, SF, UNC. Lots of trade chatter about the Wolves, who might deal Kevin Love and/or Derrick Williams. Bullock’s a grinder on defense.