2016 NBA Mock Draft: Built On Unpredictability
Draft night always brings unpredictable trades, surprising picks and prospects falling. In this 2016 NBA Mock Draft, HoopsHabit’s Aaron Ferguson attempts to pinpoint each prospect’s landing spot.
Draft night is an unpredictable night for everyone involved, from prospects to coaches to front office personnel to fans. It’s unpredictable due to the possibility of a player falling down a big board, or a team moving up to select a player that another team is targeting, or a player being picked earlier than expected.
As everyone saw during the NFL Draft, something out of the ordinary could happen that hurts a player’s draft stock. In the NFL’s case, it was once-projected first overall pick Laramy Tunsil’s social media accounts getting hacked, according to Deadspin. Hopefully that doesn’t happen ever again to anybody.
Unpredictability is what makes the NBA Draft entertaining. For 60 young men, their dreams of becoming a NBA player will come true.
The talent level in this draft has been questioned by some in terms of depth, rather unfairly. Players can develop to become better than anyone anticipated, such as two-time MVP Stephen Curry, who was compared to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf by NBADraft.net.
Draft Overview
This year’s draft is drawing a lot of comparisons to the 2007 NBA Draft, which featured two can’t-miss picks in Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram headline the 2016 draft and are projected to go in the top two picks.
The rest of the lottery should go along the theme of unpredictability. There are no clear cut third or fourth-best prospects in this draft, and because of the teams drafting there could even be four trades in the top five picks.
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Experience is going to be a major factor in this year’s draft. Will teams go after a younger one-and-done player or select a college veteran? A younger player allows teams to mold him into the player they want him to become and puts greater responsibility on the team to develop him. On the other hand, a veteran’s game is going to be established with minor changes to adapt to the NBA.
The depth of this draft is something that will be determined four or five years down the road, but on paper there are a lot of experienced prospects that could fill a role on NBA teams early in their careers. This is something that can, and will be evaluated further down the road.
Without further ado, here is the latest 2016 NBA Mock Draft.
Next: 1. Philadelphia 76ers