2014 NBA Draft: Basketball Insiders’ new mock draft
On Wednesday evening, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders released his newest mock draft.
In his mock, he positioned the teams strictly by record. Of course, the NBA’s draft lottery will decide the order of the top of the draft.
Kyler did not overreact to the NCAA Tournament performances of several of the key prospects.
Despite just scoring four points on one-of-six shooting from the field in a 60-57 upset loss to the 10th seeded Stanford Cardinal on Sunday afternoon, Kansas Jayhawks’ forward Andrew Wiggins is still the top pick.
The Milwaukee Bucks, who are the favorite to land the top pick, could go almost any direction, but they likely have Wiggins atop their board.
The Philadelphia 76ers also reportedly have Wiggins at the top, but they’d have to settle for Duke Blue Devil’s forward Jabari Parker.
One pick later, Kyle projects the Orlando Magic, who also covet Wiggins, to select Australian point guard Dante Exum. The Magic are very high on Exum and it would be more surprising if they did not take Exum than if they did should they not be in position to get Wiggins.
Exum reportedly would prefer to play for the Magic or the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kentucky Wildcats power forward Julius Randle (Utah Jazz) and Jayhawks’ center Joel Embiid (Boston Celtics) round out the top five.