 2009 1st Round Mock - Full Mock | | # | Team | Player | | 1 | Thunder | Blake Griffin PF/C
Age: 19, 6'10", 239 lbs.
Oklahoma, Sophomore | | 2 | Timberwolves | James Harden SG
Age: 19, 6'5", 218 lbs.
Arizona State, Sophomore | | 3 | Wizards | Greg Monroe PF/C
Age: 18, 6'10", 226 lbs.
Georgetown, Freshman | | 4 | Kings | Jrue Holiday PG/SG
Age: 18, 6'4", 200 lbs.
UCLA, Freshman | | 5 | Warriors | Jordan Hill PF
Age: 21, 6'10", 235 lbs.
Arizona, Junior | | 6 | Clippers | Ty Lawson PG
Age: 21, 6'0", 195 lbs.
North Carolina, Junior | | 7 | Grizzlies | Stephen Curry PG/SG
Age: 20, 6'3", 185 lbs.
Davidson, Junior | | 8 | Bobcats | Hasheem Thabeet C
Age: 21, 7'3", 260 lbs.
Connecticut, Junior | | 9 | Pacers | Earl Clark SF/PF
Age: 20, 6'9", 200 lbs.
Louisville, Junior | | 10 | Raptors | Brandon Jennings PG
Age: 19, 6'1", 170 lbs.
Lottomatica Roma, International | | 11 | Knicks | B.J. Mullens C
Age: , 7'0", 260 lbs.
Ohio State, Freshman | | 12 | 76ers | Demar DeRozan SG/SF
Age: 19, 6'7", 207 lbs.
USC, Freshman | | 13 | Bulls | Kyle Singler SF/PF
Age: 20, 6'9", 210 lbs.
Duke, Sophomore | | 14 | Jazz | Chase Budinger SG/SF
Age: 21, 6'7", 190 lbs.
Arizona, Junior | | 15 | Bucks | Gani Lawal PF/C
Age: 20, 6'8", 233 lbs.
Georgia Tech, Sophomore | | 16 | Nets | Patrick Mills PG
Age: 20, 6'0", 175 lbs.
Saint Mary's, Sophomore | | 17 | Heat | Andrew Ogilvy C
Age: 20, 7'0", 240 lbs.
Vanderbilt, Sophomore | | 18 | Pistons | Darren Collison PG
Age: 21, 6'1", 165 lbs.
UCLA, Senior | | 19 | Mavericks | Patrick Patterson PF
Age: 19, 6'8", 223 lbs.
Kentucky, Sophomore | | 20 | Suns | DeJuan Blair PF/C
Age: 19, 6'7", 265 lbs.
Pittsburgh, Sophomore | | 21 | Nuggets | Eric Maynor PG
Age: 21, 6'2", 165 lbs.
VCU, Senior | | 22 | Trailblazers | Jonny Flynn PG
Age: 19, 6'0", 172 lbs.
Syracuse, Sophomore | | 23 | Hawks | Willie Warren SG
Age: 19, 6'4", 200 lbs.
Oklahoma, Freshman | | 24 | Spurs | Tyler Hansbrough PF
Age: 23, 6'9", 230 lbs.
North Carolina, Senior | | 25 | Rockets | Damion James PF
Age: 21, 6'7", 225 lbs.
Texas, Junior | | 26 | Hornets | Jerome Jordan C
Age: 22, 7'0", 235 lbs.
Tulsa, Junior | | 27 | Magic | Tyler Smith SF/PF
Age: 22, 6'7", 210 lbs.
Tennessee, Junior | | 28 | Lakers | Sam Young SF/PF
Age: 23, 6'6", 210 lbs.
Pittsburgh, Senior | | 29 | Cavaliers | Terrence Williams SG/SF
Age: 21, 6'5", 207 lbs.
Louisville, Senior | | 30 | Celtics | Omri Casspi SF/PF
Age: 20, 6'8", 220 lbs.
Maccabi Tel Aviv, International |
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Blog: D-League Showcase- Day One
by Jonathan Givony, Scott Nadler |
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We’re back for our third straight D-League Showcase, undoubtedly one of our favorite events on the basketball calendar. This is a setting for the hardcore only—you better be very serious about basketball if you decided to make it over here—and is always a good place to catch up on the latest in the industry with the numerous scouts, International teams, agents and players that make the trip.
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| | Blog: College Road Report: BYU-Wake Forest
by Jonathan Givony |
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 | | Jonathan Givony/DraftExpress |
While planning our itinerary for this year’s D-League Showcase in Orem, Utah, we recognized a great opportunity to take in what was sure to be one of the best out of conference games on this week’s college basketball schedule—Wake Forest at BYU. This turned out to be a very wise move, as not only was the game an absolute thriller, but it featured no less than 5 or 6 potential future first round picks, and was attended by 24 NBA scouts representing 20 separate teams. This game was unique from another aspect too, the seating arrangement.
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| From Discarded to NBA Starter—the Story of Rob Kurz
by Joey Whelan |
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 | | Icon SMI |
Rob Kurz’s journey to the NBA isn’t improbable; a late second round pick making a roster is improbable. No, Kurz’s story is downright out of a Hollywood script.
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| Blog: The Week in Review: What to Watch in College Basketball (1/3-1/9)
by Kyle Nelson |
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 | | AP |
Happy New Year basketball addicts! This week in college basketball promises to start 2009 off right with some of the year’s best games and intriguing matchups. With non-conference slates winding down and conference schedules in-progress or on the horizon, teams will be on their toes with March firmly in the back of their collective minds. For us at DraftExpress, these are must see-games, as some of the nation’s best players will be in the spotlight jockeying for draft position. Here are some of the games we’ll be watching intently this coming week.
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| College Road Report: UConn – Georgetown
by Jonathan Givony, Joseph Treutlein |
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 | | Icon SMI |
DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony and Joseph Treutlein hit the road to take in one of the top matchups of the season—UConn vs. Georgetown at the XL Center in Hartford. According to our database, there were no less than 13 NBA prospects participating in this game. For this article we’ll take a deeper look into what we were able to learn from four of the top prospects—Hasheem Thabeet, Greg Monroe, A.J. Price and DaJuan Summers—both from this matchup and on the season as a whole. 31 NBA scouts and executives were present, which should tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the quality of the prospects involved.
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| | Blog: Awake or Not?
by Jared Reiner |
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On a Monday the 15th I found out that my services were needed in Europe. On that Tuesday afternoon I traveled for roughly twenty hours to Germany. On that Friday, I went through two fun-filled practices with some serious jetlag. On Saturday, I played surprisingly well against my former team considering I had the biggest case of noodle-legs ever. On Sunday morning, I boarded another flight back to the states for a four day Christmas break. On Christmas Day, I flew back to Germany.
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| European Roundup: Emir Preldzic Blossoming in the Euroleague
by Luis Fernández, Jonathan Givony, Matt Kamalsky |
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 | | Reuters |
Emir Preldzic earns player of the week honors based on his play for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbache-Ulker. The 1987-born Slovenian prospect has stepped into a role that few players his age get the opportunity to fill, and has boosted his stock significantly in the process. We also take a look at Kevin Seraphin, a young French post player with great promise, and former Rockets draft selection Lior Eliyahu, who has come up big in recent weeks for perennial contender Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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| NCAA Weekly Performers, 12/28/08
by Jonathan Givony, Kyle Nelson, Joseph Treutlein, Joey Whelan |
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 | | Icon SMI |
We're back with another version of Top Weekly Performers, to evaluate four of the more impressive prospects in the early part of the NCAA season thus far. Ohio State's Evan Turner, North Carolina's Ty Lawson, Pitt's DeJuan Blair and Kansas' Cole Aldrich receive an extended look.
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| Rookie Retrospective: O.J. Mayo
by Scott Nadler |
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 | | Icon SMI |
Can he run the point, or is he an undersized shooting guard? Will his game translate to the NBA? Will he be a problem off the court? The flood of questions surrounding O.J. Mayo’s draft prospects appear to have been a reflection of what can happen when a player spends too much time on the NBA radar. After a while it became all too easy to forget just how precocious of a talent Mayo is, while highlighting all the potential problems the talented guard could run into –finding reasons why the overexposed high school star couldn’t reproduce the success he found during his freshman year at USC.
Only a few months into his rookie season, Mayo is proving it doesn’t matter what position he plays, his game is translating very well, and that his only focus is becoming a better basketball player and helping a young Grizzlies team improve. He has surpassed all expectations, and even though it’s early, has shown that he’s a rising star in the League. In our third installment of our new “Rookie Retrospectives” series, we’ll be analyzing the play of the third of three former freshman standouts that are vying for the Rookie of the Year Award.
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| Evaluating the NCAA Freshman Class
by Jonathan Givony, Scott Nadler, Joseph Treutlein |
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 | | Icon SMI |
We take an early look at four of the more highly touted members of the NCAA freshman class--DeMar DeRozan, B.J. Mullens, Willie Warren and Tyreke Evans--to see what we can learn from their performance about a third of the way through the college season. It's pretty obvious from the underwhelming early results that this class is nowhere near as talented and polished as last year's, which will significantly weaken this year's draft.
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| Blog: Nenad Krstic to Oklahoma City?
by Jonathan Givony |
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 | | FIBAEurope.com |
Nenad Krstic is close to signing a 3-year, 16 million dollar contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, multiple sources in the US and Europe told DraftExpress.com.
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| Blog: Rookie Retrospective: Michael Beasley
by Rick Ditto |
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 | | AP |
In our second installment of our new “Rookie Retrospectives” series, we’ll be analyzing the play of the second of three former freshman standouts that are vying for the Rookie of the Year Award. After one of the most impressive freshman seasons in recent NCAA history, no player in this class may have began their career facing expectations as lofty as those Beasley set for himself with his play at Kansas State.
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