The NBA draft lottery gave the Cleveland Cavaliers the number one pick for the second straight season and now mock drafts will start to come out about who the Cavs will pick and names like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon will be options, while teams like the Bucks, Lakers and Sixers will have to wait and see who they end up with.
The Cavaliers got the first overall pick in the draft for the second straight year and after using their first pick last season on Anthony Bennett, the team now has a chance to take a transformational player like Wiggins or Parker. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Cavs do not have either player rated over one another yet and that other GMs feel that Embiid is the top talent in the draft. Wiggins was looked at as the presumptive number one pick when the season started and now Parker and Embiid could also be in the mix.
Check here for the NBA mock draft for 2014 after the draft lottery.
Wiggins had a very good season at Kansas, but he wasn't fantastic and while that is a ton to ask for a freshman, he still ended up playing well and could go number one. Parker led Duke in rebounding and scoring in his first season and many see him as a player that can develop into a LeBron James type player because of his size. Embiid is being looked at as a possible number one pick and Julius Randle will also be in the mix after playing one season at Kentucky.
The Cavaliers had a 1.7 percent chance of getting the number one pick and the Bucks had a 25 percent chance and now Cleveland will go first. The Bucks were the worst team in the league and they are at two, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers, who ended up where they should have been. The Utah Jazz pick fifth after the Orlando Magic, while the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are next ahead of the Sacramento Kings. The Lakers and Celtics are down there for the first time in a while and the rest of the top 10 has the Kings and Hornets as well as the Sixers after they got that pick from the Pelicans.
The Nuggets come in at number 11 and are followed by the Magic from the Knicks, Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns for the lottery teams and past that are the Hawks and Bulls as the next picks. The Cavaliers now position themselves as a team on the rise with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Bennett and now they could try and convince Irving to sign long term if they start turning things around. The Cavs have been bad since LeBron left Cleveland, but the team could be turning things around, as the universe is clearly course correcting itself after he took his talents to south beach.
Here are some quick picks:
Cleveland Cavaliers - Joel Embiid
Milwaukee Bucks -Andrew Wiggins
Philadelphia 76ers - Jabari Parker
Orlando Magic - Julius Randle
Utah Jazz -Marcus Smart
