HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

Alex’s Weekly Update: Because they own both the first and fourth overall picks, the Cavaliers will have a choice of whether to pair likely first selection Kyrie Irving with Jonas Valanciunas, Enes Kanter or Jan Vesely.

The good news for Cleveland is that they still have 6-10 Anderson Varejao under contract and that means they can feel free to take a project big, like Valanciunas, without the pressure of having him start immediately. Another feather in the 6-11 Lithuanian center’s hat is his talent for the pick-and-roll game—a style that Irving prefers himself. The two could make a memorable pairing under Cavs coach Byron Scott, who, coincidentally, likes to call pick-and-rolls. Valanciunas is also a back-to-the-basket player, and that might complement J.J. Hickson, who is more of a slasher. 

Joel’s Weekly Update: I didn’t change a single one of my picks in the Top 6 this week, and I feel disappointed in myself about that. Usually it’s nicer to shake things up, but I just kind find it in my heart to do it. Not yet, at least, and here’s why:

Kyrie Irving should go #1 to Cleveland, and Derrick Williams is easily the second-best player in the draft. Whether or not Minnesota feels like they need him, he’s the best pick at that position, and they’d be crazy to pass him up. Utah could do a lot of things at #3, but my belief is that Kemba Walker is the third best player in the draft, and so he rounds out my top three.

I’ve seen Jonas Valanciunas going to Cleveland at #4 in a lot of mock drafts, but they’re trying to sell the future of their franchise on these two top-four picks, and I don’t know that Valanciunas is a guy that puts butts in seats. Enes Kanter seems every bit as promising (if not more so), and could be more convincing as a franchise building block. The Raptors need a point guard and Brandon Knight is a Top 5 talent (at least this year), and Kawhi Leonard seems like a great fit for Washington at #6. Biyombo is jumping up a lot of people’s boards, but Leonard seems less risky.

Are those justifications justified enough? We’ll see, but for this week at least, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything dramatic at the top of my board.

Yannis’ Weekly Update: Every week when doing the mock draft I put myself in the general manager’s shoes and try do what they would think is best. Nobody’s situation creates more of a headache than David Kahn’s in Minnesota. Of all the criticism Kahn receives, the critiques that are draft-related are the most legitimate. Drafting Jonny Flynn in 2009 was a mistake. Some could say the same about taking Ricky Rubio right before, although there’s still a chance they could see some benefits from that selection. The jury is also still out on Wes Johnson, but by no means was he a home run in year one. Whomever Kahn selects at number two is going to have a tremendous amount of pressure.

Derrick Williams is the second best player in the draft, but he doesn’t play a position of need. Enes Kanter is really what they need and had he played this past year he’d probably be a justifiable number two selection overall. However, he didn’t and he hasn’t played consistently in over a year. Timberwolves’ ownership isn’t in a patient mood right now. They’ve waited for development long enough.

The best route for them to go is trading the pick, but everyone knows that’s what they want to do. Because of that the offers aren’t going to be spectacular. It’s a tough position for Kahn to be in. I’m just glad I only have to pretend to be him for a few moments.

Steve’s Weekly Update:  The 2011 NBA Draft Class features a larger than normal number of International prospects and in most years the hype surrounding the International guys rarely tends to line up on draft night and this years’ class could be much of the same.

The hype surrounding Jonas Valanciunas is justified. he is a great pick and roll player, that plays at the rim. He is not overly explosive, but it is easy to see why he’s considered a top 5 pick, because he looks the part.

Valanciunas is current negotiating a buyout with his International team Lietuvos Rytas and his camp believes they will have an agreement on buyout terms well in advance of the draft. As long as Jonas does not hit any legal snags, he could go very high in the top ten.

After Valanciunas the hype on the next wave is not nearly as justified.

Donatas Motiejunas and Nikola Mirotic are absolutely the next best wave of players, however their stock seem to be too low. Both play in highly competetive leagues and are putting up decent numbers against real pros, where guys like Bismack Biyombo and Lucas Nogueira just don’t have the body of work to justify their hype.

There is almost no doubt that at least six International players are selected in the first round, simply because they are that talented in a fairly talentless draft class, however where some of them are projected may be based more on hype than substance.