LairdNYC 2009 NBA Mock Draft

With the number of trades that are sure to happen before tonight’s draft, I’ve decided to switch it up a little bit this year for the LairdNYC Mock Draft.

Instead of trying to guess which team will pick which player in their current draft position, I am going to guess the order of the 60 players taken.  For reference sake, I will include the team who currently has the pick in parenthesis, but the goal this year is to accurately predict the 60 players chosen in order.

1. Blake Griffin, Oklahoma (current team with this pick: Los Angeles Clippers) – pretty confident about this one
2. Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut (Memphis Grizzlies) – is it just me, or does he have BUST written all over him?
3. Ricky Rubio, Spain (Oklahoma City Thunder) – this kid is going to be legit – and hopefully a Knick
4. Tyreke Evans, Memphis (Sacramento Kings) – some say the next Dwayne Wade…I don’t see it, but he’s still pretty good
5. Stephen Curry, Davidson (Minnesota Timberwolves) – should be a Knick
6. Jordan Hill, Arizona (Minnesota Timberwolves) – I know nothing about him other than he played at Arizona and should be a Top 10 pick.
7. James Harden, Arizona State (Golden State Warriors) – another Pac-10 player who is supposed to be good.
8. Jonny Flynn, Syracuse (New York Knicks) – tough but small – and no ‘h’ in his first name
9. DeMar DeRozan, USC (Toronto Raptors) – Double “De” so he’s gotta be good
10. Eric Maynor, Virginia Commonwealth (Milwaukee Bucks) – the most NBA ready point guard in the draft and yet not getting much hype
11. Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina (New Jersey Nets) – has been up and down since the college season ended, he’s bigger than people thought and a full fledged bruiser
12. Terrence Williams, Louisville (Charlotte Bobcats) – apparently he wears spongebob socks and had a barbie backpack – not even a joke there.
13. Gerald Henderson, Duke (Indiana Pacers) – not as good as advertised
14. Earl Clark, Louisville (Phoenix Suns) – the biggest potential hit or miss in the draft
15. Austin Daye, Gonzaga (Detroit Pistons) – skinny skinny skinny
16. Ty Lawson, North Carolina (Chicago Bulls) – will his game translate in the pros?
17. Jrue Holliday, UCLA (Philadelphia 76ers) – did not average double-digits in college, yet a Top 10 pick.
18. BJ Mullens, Ohio State (Minnesota Timberwolves) – the prototypical big white center
19. Brandon Jennings, too dumb for college, went to Italy (Atlanta Hawks)
20. Dejuan Blair, Pittsburgh (Utah Jazz) – he’s simply a beast
21. Sam Young, Pittsburgh (New Orleans Hornets) – why do so many people go for the headfake?
22. James Johnson, Wake Forest (Portland Trail Blazers) – another guy I know nothing about
23. Omri Casspi, Israel (Sacramento Kings) – apparently very tough…but he’s European…
24. Jeff Teague, Wake Forest (Dallas Mavericks) – too many points guards at this point
25. DeMarre Carroll, Missouri (Oklahoma City Thunder) – arms like Ben Wallace
26. Chase Budinger, Arizona (Chicago Bulls) – spell it with me now, B-U-S-T
27. Toney Douglas, Florida State (Memphis Grizzlies) – an ‘e’ in Tony huh?
28. Jonas Jerebko, Sweden (Minnesota Timberwolves) – whatever
29. DeJuan Summers, Georgetown (Los Angeles Lakers) – might be better than Jeff Green at some point
30. Derrick Brown, Xavier (Cleveland Cavaliers) – why not?

31. Taj Gibson, USC (Sacramento Kings)
32. Nick Calathes, Florida (Washington Wizards)
33. Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga (Portland Trail Blazers)
34. Victor Claver, Spain (Denver Nuggets)
35. Jeff Pendergraph, Arizona State (Detroit Pistons)
36. Jon Brockman, Washington (Memphis Grizzlies)
37. Darren Collison, UCLA (San Antonio Spurs)
38. Wayne Ellington, North Carolina (Portland Trail Blazers)
39. Jermaine Taylor, Central Florida (Detroit Pistons)
40. Dante Cunningham, Villanova (Charlotte Bobcats)
41. Patrick Mills, St. Mary’s (Milwaukee Bucks)
42. Danny Green, North Carolina (Los Angeles Lakers)
43. Jodie Meeks, Kentucky (Miami Heat)
44. Ahmad Nivins, St. Joseph’s (Detroit Pistons)
45. Jack McClinton, Miami (Minnesota Timberwolves)
46. Sergio Llull, Spain (Phoenix Suns)
47. Marcus Thornton, LSU (Minnesota Timberwolves)
48. Patrick Beverely, Ukraine (Phoenix Suns)
49. Goran Suton, Michigan State (Atlanta Hawks)
50. Dionte Christmas, Temple (Utah Jazz)
51. Joe Ingles, Australia (San Antonio Spurs)
52. Wesley Matthews, Marquette (Indiana Pacers)
53. Vyacheslav Kravtsov, Ukraine (San Antonio Spurs)
54. Jerel McNeal, Marquette (Charlotte Bobcats)
55. Nando De Colo, France (Portland Trail Blazers)
56. Leo Lyons, Missouri (Dallas Mavericks)
57. Taylor Griffin, Oklahoma (Phoenix Suns)
58. Tyrese Rice, Boston College (Boston Celtics)
59. Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin (Los Angeles lakers)
60. Jeff Adrian, Connecticut (Miami Heat)