By Donte Medder |Staff Writer|
Coming into this years draft with only a 1.7 percent chance of winning the number one pick, the Cleveland Cavaliers did just that, securing the pick for the third time in four years.
After suffering through 49 losses in the 2014 season, the Cavaliers were most likely to pick around the ninth spot in this year’s draft.
The Milwaukee Bucks, who had the worst record in the NBA this year, have to settle for selecting second. This years amazing depth of talent includes franchise changing talent.
Freshmen Phenoms, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, and Andrew Wiggins are all but locked in to be the first three off the board.
Parker, who spent a year at Duke, is considered the most NBA ready.
Parker has an all-around scoring skill set as well as maturity and poise beyond his years. He had a stellar season at Duke but suffered a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He has been compared to New York Knicks’ superstar Carmelo Anthony and former Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill.
Embiid, a native of Yaoundé Cameroon, has only played basketball since 2011, according to an NBA draft website. He has shown he has a rapid improvement rate, seeming to improve game-to-game during his stay at the University of Kansas.
However, Embiid was sidelined for an injury to his lower back for the Big 12 Tournament as well as the NCAA Tournament. He has been compared to NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon and San Antonio star Tim Duncan.
Andrew Wiggins, who also attended Kansas for a year, is a Native of Canada.
Wiggins was under the most scrutiny early in the season since many NBA scouting sites proclaimed him the number one pick during his senior year of high school.
Wiggins has all of Canada’s hopes resting on him. He has been called the best athlete to surface since Lebron James and has been compared to Vince Carter, an outstanding athlete in his prime, and Rudy Gay of the Sacramento Kings.
This years draft is filled with talent in the first round that can alter the future of many franchises searching for a savior.
The Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, and the Utah Jazz round out the top Five picks.
The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers pick 6th and 7th. The Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, and Sixers round out the top 10. The Denver Nuggets, Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Phoenix Suns round out the top 14 picks.
Many teams are looking for answers after this past season, the obtainable talented players could fill holes for teams immediately, they could be stashed and worked with until they are ready to contribute, or they could be trade bait for teams looking for even faster contributions.
Seniors like Doug McDermott from Creighton University and Shabazz Napier from National Championship winning University of Connecticut are expected to be drafted early in the first round and provide maturity and leadership.
Teams could also use a jolt of young talent to excite their fan bases for the future like University of Kentucky’s freshman, Julius Randle, who averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds per game or Zach Lavine, the raw athletic and highly skilled freshman guard from UCLA.
With so much talent available, this year’s draft could reshape the NBA in the next few seasons.
A team can land the stepping stones to championships or launch their fans into years of shame with a single selection on June 26.
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