It’s always mock season around here, but this time we did it a little differently. Jonas Nader and I did a 12-team mock draft with each of us getting six teams and alternating picks. This is a nine-cat, head-to-head format, so turnovers do play a factor here. Although, the H2H aspect means it’s easy to punt on a category.
Basically, these are kind of like our rankings, but we have to factor in fit for each team. Personally, I took the best player available for the first four rounds -- that’s usually the way to fly in all drafts. The outcome is a little different from the 10-man draft we did last month (Part 1 here, Part 2 here).
I should also add we did kind of go YOLO style and did favor some buzz guys after the third round. I’ll also tie in some analysis from the last draft on guys we took earlier/later than the June draft.
Here we go.
| Team | Player | |
| 1 | Jonas 1 | Giannis Antetokounmpo |
| 2 | Mike 1 | Karl-Anthony Towns |
| 3 | Jonas 2 | Kevin Durant |
| 4 | Mike 2 | Stephen Curry |
| 5 | Jonas 3 | Kawhi Leonard |
| 6 | Mike 3 | James Harden |
| 7 | Jonas 4 | Nikola Jokic |
| 8 | Mike 4 | Russell Westbrook |
| 9 | Jonas 5 | Anthony Davis |
| 10 | Mike 5 | Rudy Gobert |
| 11 | Jonas 6 | Jimmy Butler |
| 12 | Mike 6 | John Wall |
Not too much going on here. Jonas took Jokic a little earlier than last time, but that’s obviously fine. It’s worth mentioning that point guard is slightly deeper now with a few rookies set for big roles while center is easily the thinnest position. Even with Jimmy Butler in the mix, I still have KAT at No. 1. Yeah, his dimes will drop, but he’s still a great bet for 24 points with across-the-board output.
Jonas doesn’t think Jimmy Butler takes a hit in Minnesota and I don’t either. He’s a lot like Kawhi where he’ll just do so much in the non-scoring departments. Sure, the Wolves will probably be one of the slowest teams in the league, but that’s fine. I kind of love Rudy Gobert. Ricky Rubio should really open up Gobert’s game, especially after he became one of the best PNR roll men.
We did see Brodie and Harden fall a couple spots. Westbrook probably won’t match his ridiculous usage rate from last year, but he could still average a triple-double. Is PG-13 going to give Westy some free boards?
| Team | Player | |
| 13 | Mike 1 | Chris Paul |
| 14 | Jonas 1 | LeBron James |
| 15 | Mike 2 | Damian Lillard |
| 16 | Jonas 2 | Kyrie Irving |
| 17 | Mike 3 | Myles Turner |
| 18 | Jonas 3 | Kristaps Porzingis |
| 19 | Mike 4 | Draymond Green |
| 20 | Jonas 4 | DeMarcus Cousins |
| 21 | Mike 5 | Isaiah Thomas |
| 22 | Jonas 5 | C.J. McCollum |
| 23 | Mike 6 | Kyle Lowry |
| 24 | Jonas 6 | Paul George |
No surprises again. CP3 should get 12-15 minutes without Harden, so expect him to cash in during that time. Coach Mike D’Antoni said he was going to stagger those two, which makes sense. Myles Turner is locked and loaded as a top-20 pick and I actually would take him over LeBron James -- yes, fantasy is weird. PG-13 probably won’t fall off a cliff and there’s a good chance he can hit 3.0 treys.
Boogie Cousins fired away from deep with the Pels with 2.1 treys per game in his 17 games. I also thought there was a slight drop off after Myles T.
| Team | Player | |
| 25 | Jonas 1 | Hassan Whiteside |
| 26 | Mike 1 | Bradley Beal |
| 27 | Jonas 2 | Kevin Love |
| 28 | Mike 2 | Joel Embiid |
| 29 | Jonas 3 | Klay Thompson |
| 30 | Mike 3 | Blake Griffin |
| 31 | Jonas 4 | Kemba Walker |
| 32 | Mike 4 | Marc Gasol |
| 33 | Jonas 5 | Gordon Hayward |
| 34 | Mike 5 | Victor Oladipo |
| 35 | Jonas 6 | Mike Conley |
| 36 | Mike 6 | Al Horford |
I reached a bit on Bradley Beal, but he was a first-round value in the second half of the season. I’m not worried about that stress fracture in his leg and he should have an even bigger opportunity next season. I also rolled the dice on The Process, which probably hammers home the point that center is really thin this year. Blake and Dipo also saw some big value jumps with the offseason moves, so they’re both firm third-round guys.
Hayward went a little earlier than I thought and I probably won’t draft #ChinaKlay this season. #ChinaKlay is living his best life, by the way. Anyway, Conley was a bargain and he should be busy in a faster offense.
| Team | Player | |
| 37 | Mike 1 | Paul Millsap |
| 38 | Jonas 1 | Khris Middleton |
| 39 | Mike 2 | Brook Lopez |
| 40 | Jonas 2 | D’Angelo Russell |
| 41 | Mike 3 | Ricky Rubio |
| 42 | Jonas 3 | Eric Bledsoe |
| 43 | Mike 4 | Goran Dragic |
| 44 | Jonas 4 | Jrue Holiday |
| 45 | Mike 5 | Nikola Vucevic |
| 46 | Jonas 5 | Markelle Fultz |
| 47 | Mike 6 | Marquese Chriss |
| 48 | Jonas 6 | Jeff Teague |
Millsap was a fairly big letdown last year, but the up-tempo Denver offense should get him going again. We had a little PG run in the middle of this round with DAR kicking it off. The Nets are probably going to be a fantasy factory this year, so it wouldn’t be crazy to see DAR be a top-20 guy.
I’m kind of all in on Marquese Chriss. He’s going to play some center and he’ll likely get 30-33 minutes, assuming he keeps his fouls down. I thought Fultz was a little early, but he should add some defensive stats in Brett Brown‘s fantasy-friendly system.
| Team | Player | |
| 49 | Jonas 1 | Avery Bradley |
| 50 | Mike 1 | Aaron Gordon |
| 51 | Jonas 2 | Nicolas Batum |
| 52 | Mike 2 | Jamal Murray |
| 53 | Jonas 3 | Robert Covington |
| 54 | Mike 3 | Serge Ibaka |
| 55 | Jonas 4 | Otto Porter |
| 56 | Mike 4 | Lonzo Ball |
| 57 | Jonas 5 | Jusuf Nurkic |
| 58 | Mike 5 | Ben Simmons |
| 59 | Jonas 6 | DeAndre Jordan |
| 60 | Mike 6 | Andre Drummond |
The top of this round had a lot of solid players. Bradley could seriously be a top-15 player in Detroit -- he has to stay healthy after that Achilles injury, though.
I always have a “guy” for every season. Luckily, my “guy” has been Draymond Green, C.J. McCollum and Myles Turner for the last three years for their breakouts. This year, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be Jamal Murray. Coach Mike Malone said he wanted to play him late last year in the thick of a playoff race, so he should be the man. Plus, president Tim Connelly said he drew a line on trade talks when teams asked about the Blue Arrow.
Porter was a really good value even though he wasn’t lighting it up late in the season. I went Triple B after that, but I would probably rather have Dennis Smith Jr. over Lonzo after Sunday (more below). As bad as Serge has been, his game is just so fantasy friendly, so he almost has to hit value at 54.
My last two teams are going to punt for field goal percentage (5) and free throw percentage (6).
| Team | Player | |
| 61 | Mike 1 | Clint Capela |
| 62 | Jonas 1 | Nerlens Noel |
| 63 | Mike 2 | Dennis Smith Jr. |
| 64 | Jonas 2 | Gary Harris |
| 65 | Mike 3 | Tobias Harris |
| 66 | Jonas 3 | DeMar DeRozan |
| 67 | Mike 4 | Trevor Ariza |
| 68 | Jonas 4 | LaMarcus Aldridge |
| 69 | Mike 5 | Devin Booker |
| 70 | Jonas 5 | Gorgui Dieng |
| 71 | Mike 6 | Carmelo Anthony |
| 72 | Jonas 6 | Andrew Wiggins |
I picked DSJ before Sunday’s gem, so I would probably move him up like 10 spots. He’s incredible and I don’t think the Mavs will be dead last in pace again. Someone had to take DeMar DeRozan and you could say the same thing for LaMarcus Aldridge. Besides my DSJ pick, it’s a fairly unsexy round. I probably wont be drafting Dieng this year, especially with how much coach Tom Thibodeau loves Taj Gibson.
| Team | Player | |
| 73 | Jonas 1 | Willy Hernangomez |
| 74 | Mike 1 | Taurean Prince |
| 75 | Jonas 2 | Marcin Gortat |
| 76 | Mike 2 | Richaun Holmes |
| 77 | Jonas 3 | Jae Crowder |
| 78 | Mike 3 | Seth Curry |
| 79 | Jonas 4 | Danilo Gallinari |
| 80 | Mike 4 | Dennis Schroder |
| 81 | Jonas 5 | Harrison Barnes |
| 82 | Mike 5 | Jeremy Lin |
| 83 | Jonas 6 | George Hill |
| 84 | Mike 6 | Tim Hardaway Jr. |
If you go with The Process, you have to draft Holmes. If TTP does get hurt, Holmes should wind up being a top-50 guy in the games he misses. Taurean Prince hasn’t quite lit it up in summer league, but he should be all set for huge minutes regardless. By the way, DeAndre Bembry and John Collins are killing it in Vegas.
Jae Crowder slipped a little, but that makes sense. He should still get plenty of minutes at the four and Avery Bradley heading to Detroit helps Crowder because guys like Jaylen Brown will play the two. I was pretty happy to get Lin where I did. Yeah, he was hurt last year, but don’t forget the Nets played Brook Lopez for 75 games. If he’s healthy, he’ll play a bunch in a great system.
