2020 NBA Mock Draft: Predicting Round 1 of the NBA Draft (V. 5)

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The Pistons get some much-needed luck here winning the lottery. For a franchise that hasn’t sniffed relevance since the mid-to-late 2000s, a star that has the potential for the Pistons to build around is a great start to a rebuild. Sure, Blake Griffin is still there, but it’s pretty hard to count on him to be both healthy and the player he was once upon a time.

Ball isn’t a sure thing at the NBA level. He needs to improve his jumper, add strength, make better decisions on a consistent basis, and in some sense, just put it all together. But if those things are done, Ball has the chance to be a franchise cornerstone. There isn’t a pass on the court that he can’t make – or won’t try. It’s still going to be awhile before Detroit is back to any sort of relevance in terms of contending, but with Ball in the fold plenty of eyes would be on them starting next year. 

The Hawks have not only the benefit of landing the second overall pick in this simulation, but also the fact that they don’t need to try and find a franchise player with the pick. In a sense, there’s a little bit of room for error for the Hawks here by virtue of already having Trae Young as a budding star. 

Adding Edwards to the mix in Atlanta could be a terrific pairing with Young. Edwards isn’t a guy that will be primarily running the offense at the NBA level, but with Young as his backcourt mate, he won’t be doing that most of the time. Young’s passing could unlock Edwards path to the rim more than it was at Georgia thanks to his cutting ability off the ball. Edwards does need to improve his shooting from the outside – along with his shot selection – but being placed in a situation where he isn’t asked to do everything on the offense end would help to ease that. 

Alright, this is where we’ve made the biggest, and most notable jump in all our mock drafts so far. Maybe it’s foolish, maybe it’s a result of Avdija being one of the only guys playing actual basketball games during the pandemic, but he’s moved up as a result of some strong performances lately. 

Since Maccabi Tel-Aviv returned to the floor, Avdija has averaged 18.2 points per game on 48.2% from beyond the arc to go along with six rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. The biggest issue with him had been his shot from the outside, and that continues to be a worry, but this latest stretch of play for him has been very encouraging. In Cleveland, he would be a perfect fit considering he would be entering a team that’s heavy on guards and big men but ultra-light out on the wing. 

The Suns have an unexpected high pick in this simulation, vaulting up from their current slot of 10th. That puts them in a bit of a predicament despite the good fortune. The Suns have the choice of selecting the best talent available with the highest ceiling – which is undoubtedly Wiseman at this point – or rolling with a better fit such as Devin Vassell, Aaron Nesmith or Killian Hayes. 

Wiseman is the best player available even though he might not be the best fit with a Phoenix team that selected DeAndre Ayton the year before. In fact, trading back out of this spot and gathering an asset or two in order to move down a few spots. As far as Wiseman goes, he’s got the potential to be a cornerstone big man but is a bit of an unknown thanks to his very brief stint playing college basketball. He can run the floor and explode toward the rim in halfcourt settings as a role man as well.

Even if the gap year Warriors end up sliding down as far as they possibly could in the lottery (which is here) they’re not going to get an ounce of sympathy from anyone because of it. Even with that said, this would still be a pretty solid pick for Golden State, should they choose to keep it. 

Toppin is a bit of a do-everything player that should be able to fit in with the Warriors relatively seamlessly. He needs to improve defensively for sure, but on the offensive end it’s hard to find glaring weaknesses. He won’t need to dominate the ball or need plays run for him to be successful. He’ll also bring athleticism to the court in a way that the aging group of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green may be unable muster in the coming years. 

The Wolves look much different entering this year’s draft than they did last year’s draft, and they’re going to continue to turn the roster over until they find something that works. The biggest piece that’s been moved was Robert Covington as part of a massive four-team trade that reshaped the Wolves. 

Vassell should be able to slide right into the same role that Covington played for Minnesota, even if he wouldn’t be as good at it right away. While at Florida State he shot better than 40% from deep and showed a much more versatile offensive game than he’ll likely be tasked with being responsible for early on in the NBA. Defensively, he won’t step in and be an All-Defense guy on day one, but he should be adequate enough on that end of the floor to give hope that one day he can be an above-average defender. 

Finding the perfect pairing with RJ Barrett should be one of the top priorities for the Knicks at this spot and they have a couple of pretty enticing options here between Hayes and Tyrese Haliburton. And with Leon Rose now running things in New York we really don’t have much of a history there to tell us which way things will go. It’s a toss-up, but we’ll go with Hayes here. 

When watching Hayes’ tape from overseas it’s really difficult not to immediately make the comparison to D’Angelo Russell. He’s left-handed and operates in the pick-and-roll pretty smoothly. His step-back 3-point jumper is incredibly polished already, but he does need to improve his ability to play on the right side of the floor. He’s so left-hand dominant that it’s currently a detriment to his game. 

The Bulls were one of the more disappointing teams of the 2019-20 season after not getting invited to the NBA’s bubble down in Orlando. With that said, they still have some exciting young pieces despite underachieving to date. Zach LaVine and Coby White both need the ball quite often in order to be successful. Those two figuring out how to be successful with each other could be a big key to Chicago taking another step forward. 

With that said, the Bulls are relatively thin on the wing after Otto Porter Jr. Adding a guy like Nesmith could turn out to be a pretty good fit. He can come in to find immediate playing time with a role that prioritizes knocking down catch-and-shoot threes and playing defense. 

Haliburton is a pretty strong value at this spot, even for a franchise that already has Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham on the roster. Those two out-performed expectations in year one of their pairing, but the future still seems a little murky as far as how high the ceiling there is. 

Haliburton has posted really impressive numbers in his collegiate career at Iowa State. His shooting form certainly doesn’t look like it should work, but the 42% mark from deep over the course of the last two years doesn’t lie. There’s little worry that he’ll be able to run an offense at the next level, but his athleticism isn’t going to blow anyone away in the NBA and could lead to problems for him in terms of creating his own shot.  

It’s no question that the Wizards need defense. Their offense throughout this season was consistently terrific, mostly thanks to Bradley Beal’s explosion on that end, but their defense couldn’t have been much worse. With Beal sitting out the restart, and John Wall waiting until next season to return from his torn Achilles, the next season feels like a pretty important one for Washington. 

If that season is going to go well, the Wizards are going to have to have a pulse on the defensive end of the floor, and Okoro would be able to help make that happen. Offensively, his game isn’t great yet. He’s good around the rim on that end of the floor but needs to expand his game and improve his shot. With the Wizards having Beal and Wall, a huge offensive impact won’t be needed. 

We’ve been doing mock drafts for like two or three months now and it still feels really weird having the Spurs in the lottery. I mean, the last time it happened Complex was still five years away from being founded. So, yeah, it’s been some time. 

Okongwu won’t be as good as the last big man they drafted in the lottery, but he can be a solid rotational player in the NBA for some time. He’s crafty around the rim as a finisher both as a role man and as a post player – both scoring and passing. He also is already a pretty strong defender despite having the propensity to chase blocks at times. The biggest worry defensively for him is his size, however. It’s easy to get away with being a center in college at 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, but that will prove to be more of a challenge in the NBA. 

The Kings are slated to play in Orlando but probably are going to find themselves in the lottery yet again, which is where they’ve been every year that they’ve owned their own pick since 2007. So, that’s quite a contrast to the Spurs picking just ahead of the Kings. It does appear that now, more so than many times in the last 13 years of failure, the Kings have things moving in the right direction. The positive results haven’t been there all the way yet, but there’s at least some semblance of a bright future. 

Bey would be able to step right in and play a 3-and-D role for the Kings opposite of Buddy Hield. He doesn’t need to have the ball in his hands to be successful and as long as he can be a relatively high-level role player the Kings will be happy to have another asset on the roster. 

There are a lot of people across the country hoping to see the Pelicans grab the final playoff spot in the Western Conference down in Orlando. It’s hard to blame anyone to want to see more Zion Williamson on the basketball court. But if they don’t find themselves there, being in the lottery isn’t the worst consolation with the chance to add some real talent. 

The young core for the Pelicans is strong and it’s a tough one to nitpick at the moment, especially with so much development yet to come for so many of the guys on the roster. One of the areas that could be added to is the backcourt off the bench. JJ Redick is getting up there in age, even if it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down quite yet, and there’s reason to wonder how much time Jrue Holiday will spend in New Orleans still. Nickeil Alexander-Walker certainly didn’t impress as a rookie, but he’s still got time to get better, and no one is ready to give up on him. But adding another scoring punch off the bench could be a good thing for New Orleans, and Maxey could be that guy. 

With Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in the fold for the considerable future in Portland things look relatively bright for the Blazers despite the injury-filled year that’s gone on so far this season. They’ve got an opportunity to change things in Orlando, but they’ll have to do things without Trevor Ariza, and that brings us to our point. 

Ariza’s contract is nonguaranteed for the 2021 season, but even if the Blazers do keep him for next season, he’s already 35 years old and won’t be getting any younger. Surrounding the smaller backcourt of Lillard and McCollum with good defenders that can knock down open shots and be successful without dominating the ball offensively is going to be part of the recipe to contending. 

The Magic have one goal in the Orlando bubble, and that’s to avoid the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. With Bradley Beal, Davis Bertans, and John Wall all out of action for the Wizards, and what feels like the entire Brooklyn Nets team missing the restart, that shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. 

It does seem like a difficult task to envision the Magic becoming a true contender in the next couple of years. For that to happen they’ll need to greatly improve how things go on the offensive end of the floor. Adding Markelle Fultz this year gives hope, but adding a guy like Terry that can compliment him in the backcourt could be another step in that right direction. 

As mentioned before, the Wolves totally remade their roster twice under Gersson Rosas already, and one of the things that happened as a result of that was the point guard depth was sapped. While the team doesn’t operate under a conventional two-guard system all the time, the backup point guard after D’Angelo Russell is two-way guard Jordan McLaughlin. 

Adding another point guard that can both run an offense and pose a scoring threat off the bench when Russell sits seems like a pretty smart play here at No. 16. Anthony didn’t have the best year at North Carolina thanks in part to a knee injury and not being surrounded by the typical amount of talent expected on a Tar Heels team. With that said, it’s fair to expect improvement from Anthony with better talent and spacing around him, which should mean creating his own shot is that much easier. 

The Celtics, as we’ve said in the last couple versions of this mock draft, have too many draft picks for a team as good as they are. It feels inconceivable that each of the three first round selections they’re slated to own in this year’s draft. Boston is a team that’s pretty loaded in terms of its roster, but has had depth issues this season. Romeo Langford was last year’s top selection and couldn’t find much time on the court this season for Boston, and Carsen Edwards didn’t either after being snagged in the second round. 

So now, we’re going to have the Celtics take another stab at some backcourt help as a backup to Kemba Walker. Lewis Jr. should be able to be a bit of instant offense for Boston. Whether or not he’ll be able to run the offense at the NBA level is yet to be seen, but Boston needs to attempt to be better than 29th in bench scoring in the future.

The goal for Dallas is building a winner around Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis as soon as possible. Whether that’s next season or in the near future after that is yet to be seen. The other thing that was commonly thought – at least before the pandemic complicated the future salary cap – was that the Mavericks were going to try and keep cap space open to chase a max-level free agent in the summer of 2021. We don’t know if that will happen yet, but it’s worth thinking about in regard to this pick being used or traded. 

As far as Hampton goes, he’s a guy that made the choice to skip college and head overseas until he became draft eligible for the NBA. There’s no telling how a collegiate career would have gone for him, but his stint for the Breakers didn’t go as planned. He struggled to get substantial minutes in New Zealand which suggests that things won’t go well early on in the NBA. On the Brightside, he’s got exceptional athleticism and a high motor to go along with strong passing skills. 

The Bucks have championship aspirations, and rightfully so. If the Bucks don’t win big this summer or next year, they’ll risk losing Giannis Antetokounmpo to free agency. Whether this pick is used to improve the team with an actual selection, or as part of a trade that adds more talent, it’s a useful asset for Milwaukee. 

In Mike Budenholzer’s system the most important things are getting to the rim, shooting 3-pointers, and playing stout defense. Williams isn’t all the way there as a 3-point shooter quite yet despite being an 83% shooter from the free throw stripe at Florida State. As far as the other two important aspects go, he’ll fit right in with the Bucks as a good defender and a guy that has a knack for being able to finish around the rim. 

We’ve mentioned it in just about every mock that we’ve had so far this year, but the Nets are a prime candidate to add another big piece via trade this offseason should one become available. If that’s the case, it’s pretty far to envision that trade package coming together and not including this pick. There are a few options if they do keep the pick, but the best route for Brooklyn might be a trade here. 

As far as Woodard II goes, there’s plenty to like about this two-way wing. He’s got good size to switch across multiple defenders (even if he may not be quick enough for some guards), a solid stroke from the outside. Finding a player that can be successful without the ball offensively is going to be a necessity for a team that has Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Caris LeVert already handling things. 

Are the Nuggets going to be good enough to be a championship contender over the next couple of seasons, or are they just going to be a really good regular season that never really has a chance to win it all? This is the most prominent question moving forward with them, and despite drafting pretty well over the last five years or so, it feels like they’ll need a little help from an established player acquired in a different way other than the draft to reach that place in the NBA’s hierarchy. 

Switching gears to Maledon here, he’s not a guy that’s quite ready for the NBA game, but does have potential to be pretty decent down the road. Especially with the way that the Nuggets have gone about developing guys they’ve selected in the last few years, there’s reason for optimism that he’ll pan out too in that situation. 

There aren’t many teams around with the type of potential and pure talent that the Sixers have right now. Unfortunately for them, things haven’t panned out that way on the court this year. The fit offensively hasn’t been as good as it should be, thanks in part to a lack of shooting from the perimeter. It’s been pretty evident that the Sixers not only miss Jimmy Butler, who could go get them a bucket whenever one was needed down the stretch last season, but also JJ Redick’s ability to stretch defenses with his outside shot. 

While Ramsey isn’t either of those guys, he’s someone that can thrive in a catch-and-shoot role in a halfcourt style of play. While he seems a bit limited other than that in the halfcourt right now, he also can fly up and down the court in transition, making him a terrific pairing with Ben Simmons. 

Miami seems to have things in a great spot right now. They’ll go as far as Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, and the Heat Culture can take them. The biggest question around the team right now is whether they have enough star power to win a title. Right now, it feels as if they’re a team nobody wants to face in the playoffs, but also a team that somebody is going to inevitably beat, too. Adding a star is going to be on Pat Riley’s mind as long as he’s involved with the Heat, and it should come to no surprise to anyone if he finds a way to do that this offseason. 

As for Achiuwa, he’s a guy that could fit in with Miami next to Adebayo in the frontcourt at times. He’s not a guy that’s ever going to dominate the ball, but rather someone willing to do the little things necessary to create winning. He’s a good rebounder and screener that’s more than athletic enough to make plays at the rim with the ball. 

Utah has an interesting offseason ahead as center Rudy Gobert is eligible for a supermax extension and the Jazz need to determine the best course of action there. While it’s fair to believe that he’ll be re-signed in Utah, the salary at which he’s inked will likely be less than what it could be. Even if Gobert is part of the plan for the future in Utah, finding someone to play the minutes without him hasn’t always been easy for the Jazz. 

Smith is a bit of a project in this spot, but he has flashed potential as a rim defender and as a stretch five on the offensive end of the floor. He isn’t a great defender in many other aspects other than blocking shots right now, but consistently puts himself in the right spot often enough to make sure he’s not a detriment on that end, either. 

The Thunder are in a similar place that the Heat are in terms of being a team that absolutely no one is going to want to see when the playoffs begin in Orlando. Are they really a threat to win the title? Probably not. Do the Lakers or Clippers want to see them in the second round of the playoffs? Probably not. It’s going to take a tough effort to knock them out four times in two weeks. 

This pick makes sense for the Thunder considering their history. OKC has consistently picked up athletic wings that might not be all the way there as basketball players yet, but have potential to be pretty good. McDaniels didn’t have the freshman year at Washington that many people expected him to have, but if he ever puts everything together, this could be a terrific value selection for the Thunder. 

Hello, another reminder that the Celtics have too many first-round picks for a good team. There’s no way they keep them all. Goodbye. 

Stewart, like the two picks ahead of him, doesn’t look quite ready for the NBA yet. With that said, he’s a guy worth betting on thanks to his high motor on the floor that parlays into his ability to block shots and grab boards. He has the look of a guy that you hate to have to play against but absolutely love to have on your favorite team. 

Bey has been absent from our last few mocks as a borderline first-round talent but finds himself back in the mix in this edition. He’s a bit of a project, like many guys still left on the board at this point. While he was at Colorado, he played an entirely different position than he’s likely going to play in the NBA, which isn’t a very common thing. Bey was tasked with being a post player in college but will probably be more of a wing in the NBA. His experience in college should help him in defending bigger guys at the NBA level on switches. Bey’s shot looks funky but hasn’t been bad to date, but it’s probably something that will get a makeover in the NBA. 

Dotson is an undersized guard coming out of Kansas, to the best possible situation for undersized guards. Now, whether the Raptors still have Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet next season is still yet to be decided, but they’ve been able to turn those guys into an ultra-successful backcourt over the past couple of years. 

Dotson is one of the quicker guys left on the board at this point. He’ll be able to work his way near the basket because of it, but that’s where his height could become more of an issue at the NBA level than it did while at Kansas. He doesn’t shoot the ball well enough from the perimeter yet but his free throw mark of 83% this year gives hope that things could change for the better. 

If the Lakers do make this draft pick and keep the player, the draftee would become just the fourth first-round draft selection to play alongside LeBron James as a rookie since he took his talents from Cleveland to South Beach back in 2010. Basically, if this pick gets traded, no one at all should be the least bit surprised. 

Winston makes sense here as a guy that won’t blow anyone away in the NBA, but also won’t be a bad player, either. He won’t really raise the ceiling of the Lakers when he’s on the floor, but he might be able to help the offense from falling off a cliff when James sits, which has been quite an issue for the Lakers. 

Oturu took a big step forward in his second year at Minnesota in terms of being a guy that can stretch the floor. As a freshman for the Gophers he didn’t attempt 3-pointers at any significant volume, but in his second year he knocked down 37% of those shots at nearly two attempts per game. He’s far from a sure thing, but at the end of the first round there aren’t exactly any of those left.