This is one of my favorite drafts. Extremely deep, players that already have ideal heights and have worked out their bodies so that they are filled out and not so skinny. They can withstand the tough rigors of the NBA being a long season. I'm not sure if we will really see a bust in this draft until you get to the 2nd round!! (and those picks are supposed to be busts anyway.)

A lot of you have probably seen me respond to comments and that's mainly it. I haven't really made any big posts but I really like this draft and I'm excited for next year to see them all develop into the players a lot of our favorite teams so desperately need. You might have realized from my comments, that I seem to know what I'm talking about, and I try to be realistic yet still have some bright ideas. (Yes, some of my ideas aren't the best, but we all make mistakes and I quickly change my tune). That's because I'm very knowledgeable. I got a lot of my knowledge from being an avid fan of many NBA teams not just the Jazz. I watch how a lot of teams have built their teams and I try to learn from their mistakes. So when I think of trades, I try to think how to best build a certain team. I also pay attention to rumors, who teams are looking to bring in. This year, with the free agency class being so weak, I do believe we will get a lot more trades than normal so I plan to actually give you my ideas of what I think might happen and how that will change the landscape of the NBA. So it will be my first major post and I might receive a lot of flack for it, because my predictions could be way off or some trades don't bring back the best value but I hope you'll understand why I did it the way I did. I haven't previewed it yet because I'm still perfecting my ideas, but I'm pretty close to being ready to post it. (I'll probably do so just after the Finals finish)

Since a lot of my ideas depend on what happens in the draft (mainly the Giannis trade) I've decided I should post my full mock for all 59 picks with trades so you can get a preview for what I could decide to put and what very well could happen. I'll try to make my ideas as realistic as possible. This will not be "my dream for this offseason" Instead it will be what I believe most realistically will happen. One caveat I have is the Paul George trade that I mentioned in this mock draft. I've decided with what I forsee happening regarding Cam Thomas that it won't happen. I don't like the fit of Kasparas next to the player that the Nets get to replace Cam Thomas since they weren't able to extend him last offseason. And I also didn't like a lot of adjustments that I thought the Nets could do to try and combat this, so I decided the best move was not to have them draft Kasparas at all. Instead they go for Kon Knueppel. No, it doesn't address their need for a playmaking guard, but he is the best player available. And that is the best thing to do in a draft. Worry about fit later in the offseason. You'll see that I do have the Nets bringing in a playmaking guard in the offseason right away. So they address their need right off the bat with still a young player who has really blossomed beyond even what I thought he would be. So I think that's the better route than selecting Kasparas. Instead the Pelicans select Kasparas with the 7th pick, one pick before the Nets pick to address their need for a guard while DJ Murray is out. Its possible he could come back by November, but its also more likely that he isn't back to his true form until January at the earliest, so it would be wise to find someone that can fill in for DJ in the meantime. Then when DJ comes back you either bring him off the bench or what I really like is CJ McCollum just opts in, and then you do the trade that I proposed in this mock at the trade deadline, excluding the pick from next year that is involved and the pick swap of now Ace Bailey for Kasparas, because the 76ers getting Kasparas just wouldn't make any sense next to Maxey, and no teams swap out rookies out at the trade deadline. The Wolves did trade Kessler to Utah in the Gobert trade but that was in the offseason shortly after the 2022 draft when Kessler was drafted anyways, so it wasn't quite like the Wolves liked what they saw from Kessler and then quickly changed their minds. They probably just went with the more proven veteran instead in Gobert, and Utah jumpstarted their rebuild. Anyway so that's the change. 76ers draft Bailey at 3 even though they are in a pickle financially having to pay out Embiid, Paul George and Maxey. They go into the second apron to do so, yes this isn't the preferred plan but the 76ers are okay with this because they see this draft as excellent just like a lot of us do and don't want to mess this up by getting someone with a lower pick instead of just sticking with the higher pick they were already awarded in May. Pelicans fill their major injury need and draft Kasparas as insurance for what they will have to deal with since they will be w/out DJ Murray to start the season. And the Nets take Knueppel at 8. No, he doesn't fill the need they have of a playmaker but he is the best player available with Kasparas off the board and they do have a lot of money this offseason so they decide they can address their need for a playmaking guard in the offseason in one of the first moves I'll mention in that later post. I do still like the way the 76ers could fix being over the 2nd apron but I've decided that its better if the 76ers make that trade at the deadline without the Bailey for the now Kasparas swap instead. That way if the Pelicans decide they really like what they saw in Kasparas before DJ Murray comes back then when he does come back they can just start him and DJ Murray next to each other instead! (maybe they'll put DJ at point that way he plays more on the ball and Kasparas at the 2. (although I don't think if they do it vice versa it would that bad as the Hawks playing Trae and DJ Murray next to each other was. Kasparas does better creating for others than he does as a shooting guard. He is not the shooter Trae Young is, so it wouldn't be that catastrophic. He would still probably get the ball to DJ a lot anyway since he is a ball-dominant guard. Any way sorry for the long post and explanation but I thought I should prep you for what I plan to post later on and explain my one caveat that I can't change now that I already made the picks. (But I will make the change once the Finals do finish before draft day.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy my mock.