2004 NBA Mock Draft: Lottery Style

With the recent influx of high-school seniors and young foreign pros into the NBA Draft, what once had been the most recognizable and fan-friendly selection process now has all the familiarity of a final exam in an 18th century French poetry class.
Look at the Top 5 picks from 1994 (the last year before Kevin Garnett began the high-school exodus) versus 2001: Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Donyell Marshall and Juwan Howard in ’94 and Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol, Eddy Curry and Jason Richardson in ‘01. In the ’94 draft any casual college basketball fan could have seen the Top 5 picks play dozens of times. In 2001 only Michigan State fans knew how good Jason Richardson was and the only footage of Brown, Chandler, Gasol and Curry was that grainy video that looked like the same camera that was used to tape Big Foot sightings.
The Top 5 this year will most likely include only two players who most people have seen play (Emeka Okafor and Luol Deng) and of the players that ESPN.com predicts will be taken in the first round, only seven have had big-time exposure.
It’s a new era for the NBA Draft. Some say it’s bad for the game, but I disagree. I mean, any draft where Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry can be in the Top Four has to be doing something right.
Below is my mock lottery draft. In parenthesis is the NBA player’s career I think the draftees will most resemble.
Onto this list:

#1 – Orlando Magic
Emeka Okafor – Forward - Connecticut (Ralph Sampson)

Sampson was the most dominant college player of his time, while Okafor was simply a great big man playing what has evolved into a small man’s game. But in today’s NBA if Jermaine O’Neal can be considered an All-NBA caliber player, then Okafor can be dominant. That is, if Okafor’s back didn’t break down more times than an Audi.
With his chronic back problems, Okafor will be one of those “this-is-the-year” players, but never realize his full potential in the NBA, just like Sampson.

#2 – Los Angeles Clippers
Dwight Howard – Forward - SW Atlanta Christian High School (Jermaine O’Neal)

While it certainly is tempting to say that Howard, a tall, skinny kid from Georgia will be like his predecessor Kwame Brown, the word on Dwight is that he has his head on straight, unlike the former #1 pick from his home state.
The Clippers have no need for a forward, as they already have Chris Wilcox on their roster, but then again, this is the Clippers. And it’s not like Shaun Livingston or Sebastian Telfair is good enough to pick at #2.

#3 – Chicago Bulls
Luol Deng - Forward – Duke (Grant Hill)

Yes, I know that Duke players never do well in the NBA. But Deng isn’t your typical Duke player. He can spread the floor, hit a shot from the top of the key and plays good defense. He’s a great talent that fit in well with Coach K’s system, not a player that was made great by Coach K’s system like so many other Dukies.
And with the Grant Hill prediction, let’s say it’s Grant Hill pre-injury. Of course, if the Bulls do draft Deng, he better stay far away from motorcycles.

#4 – Charlotte Bobcats
Shaun Livingston – Guard – Peoria High School (Jeryl Sasser)

No high-school point guard has ever been taken as high as Livingston will be in the NBA Draft. He apparently is no LeBron, instead he is supposed to be more of a project with “tons of upside”. Dasagna Diop had upside. Leon Smith had upside. Even Craig Kilborn was said to have some upside. But upside and 75 cents will buy you 45 minutes of parking in downtown DC next to Kwame Brown’s hummer.
The word is that the Bobcats don’t want to select a high school player, so they might pass on Livingston if possible. But the truth is, nobody wants a high school player (except for LeBron). But taking an 18-year old kid who nobody has seen instead of a proven college player is like those people on Let’s Make A Deal that wanted to see what was behind the secret door instead of taking the $500 in cash and walking away. Most people aren’t content with a proven commodity. They would rather take a chance in the small hopes of hitting the jackpot.
Devin Harris and Ben Gordon are the $500, Shaun Livingston is hiding behind the door.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, he’s chillin’ back there with a bag of Doritos and a mule named Gus.

#5 – Washington Bullets
Josh Childress – Forward – Stanford (Jared Jeffries)

Don’t believe what you read on other mock drafts on the internet. The Bullets aren’t taking Andris Biedrins. Nope, not gonna happen. Instead the Bullets will take the soft forward from Stanford to join him with the soft forward from Indiana they drafted two years ago (Jeffries) and the soft forward they traded Rip Hamilton for (Jerry Stackhouse). If the Bullets were any softer they’d be a Serta mattress.

#6 – Atlanta Hawks
Devin Harris – Guard – Wisconsin (Jeff McInnis)

Harris is a solid, good ball-handling point guard. He will have a solid, if unspectacular NBA career that will be hampered early-on by the fact that he’s playing in front of 6,000 people and in Atlanta.

#7 – Phoenix Suns
Andris Biedrins – Forward – Latvia (Zarko Carbarkapa)

Come on, like I have anything to say about Andris Biedrins. I could make it up like Chad Ford on ESPN.com, but I’ll pass.

#8 – Toronto Raptors
Pavel Podkolzine – Center – Soviet Union (Bryant Reeves)

Alright, I know there’s no more Soviet Union but it’s still a whole lot more fun to write than Russia. Russia isn’t menacing. It’s not scary. Of course, neither is a name like Pavel Podkolzine.
Anyway, if the Raptors do take Pavel ESPN should start a reality show that follows him around and tapes the conversations that he has with Rod Strickland, Jerome Moiso and Dion Glover.

#9 – Philadelphia 76ers
Andre Iguodala – Guard – Arizona (Gilbert Arenas)

Sure, Arenas and Iguodala don’t have the same types of games, but they both went to Arizona and were coached into the ground by Lute Olsen, so that’s gotta count for something.
My man David Dupree says that Iverson is as good as gone from Philly, so Iguodala would be a nice replacement.

#10 – Cleveland Cavaliers
Ben Gordon – Guard – Connecticut (Baron Davis)

If Gordon falls this far it will evoke memories of Caron Butler doing the same in the 2002 NBA Draft. Only, that will be unfair to Gordon. Butler was the 3rd best player of that draft (behind Amare and Yao), while Gordon will be the best player to come out of this one.
If the Cavs do indeed select the former Uconn guard, they will become the instant favorites in the East for the next five years.

#11 – Golden State Warriors
Martynas Andriuskevicius – Center – Lithuania (Maciej Lampe)

The beginning of the end of the Mike Montgomery era.

#12 – Seattle Supersonics
Rafael Araujo – Center – BYU (Greg Ostertag)

Did you watch that Uconn-BYU game in the NCAA Tournament this year? Okafor absolutely dominated Araujo. I mean, he took him to the hole more times than Ray Allen did to Denzel at the end of He Got Game.
At times, watching Okafor post-up on Araujo was like watching the Apollo-Drago fight at the beginning of Rocky IV. I half-expected to see Burt Young screaming at BYU coach Steve Cleveland “throw the damn towel!”
And for that effort Araujo gets to be a lottery pick in the NBA with a guaranteed three-year contract.

#13 – Portland Trail Blazers
Kirk Snyder – Guard – Nevada (Michael Finley)

An odd pick for the Blazers, as Snyder has never tested positive for weed.

#14 – Utah Jazz
Kosta Perovic – Center – Serbia (Rafael Araujo)

One scout declared the Perovic could be a “more athletic version of Zydrunas Ilgauskas”, which is like a car salesman saying that the Dodge Neon is a sportier version of a Geo Metro.