The all-time Big East NBA mock draft
Ron Artest
SF, St. John's
1998-99 St. John’s stats (Sophomore): 14.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.1 steals per game (Lost in Elite Eight to Ohio State)
Giving Artest the NBA career wipe-down is hard, given the degree of crazy that was everything that happened between the 1999 NBA Draft and today. My stance: if we’re assuming he’s entering the NBA in 2017, we’ll make the assumption that the rule changes that came about because of him are still in place, and the state of the NBA is the same. Is that enough to turn Artest into a less completely destabilizing force, like a Markieff Morris? I say yes, which is why he’s here. But I will admit, that’s a lot of mental gymnastics, and not including him at all would also be a valid argument.
I decided to include him, and he’s a top-12 player to me, because his skill set displayed at St. John’s is one that would translate well to today’s NBA. Ignoring the mental conundrum, you have a 6-foot-8 wing that could defend four positions in college, and was an absolute monster against isolations. You have a 37.4 percent 3-point shooter (On 155 attempts) with decent form despite poor free throw numbers. You have a guy who can initiate the offense in spurts, with a nice first step and the ability to pick out teammates with passes on baseline cuts and off screens. His shooting and passing weren’t locks to translate, but it’s hard to believe the defense wouldn’t translate. To me, he had higher likelihood of being effective for a high-level team than Marshall, Okafor, or Gordon.