Latest Ladder shows it’s 3-horse race, with Cavs’ Evan Mobley firmly in 1st

The race for Jabari Smith, or Paolo Banchero

As some of you have seen from my most recent NBA Draft Big Board, I think Jabari Smith from Auburn should be the number one pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. However, some of you may feel differently and would take maybe Chet Holmgren or Paolo Banchero. Either way, it seems like the race for the number one pick is going to start to heat up in the second half of the season.

Personally, I’ve watched a lot of Smith play this year, and I haven’t seen a prospect this good come out of college in over 10 years. He is an excellent shooter, and with his size (6-foot-10, 220 pounds), he should be an excellent defender at the NBA level.

Right now, if the draft were held tomorrow, the Orlando Magic would have the number one pick, followed by the Pistons and the Houston Rockets. Now all three of those teams had top-five draft picks this past offseason, so who has the edge to receive the number one pick in the 2022 NBA Draft? Let’s check it out.

It seems like the NBA is the hardest league of all the major sports, to just flat out rebuild. I mean the Magic have been rebuilding for almost a decade now, along with the Pistons it seems. Had James Harden not had a stint in Houston, they would have been rebuilding for almost a decade as well. But, both teams were given a lot of luck this offseason, when they got their top five picks.

Orlando went with Jalen Suggs out of Gonzaga with the fifth pick, and they also picked up Franz Wagner with the eighth pick. The Pistons got the coveted number one pick, and that’s why Cade Cunningham now lives in Detroit. The Rockets, who might have had the worst luck, got Jalen Green in with the second pick. This is what I mean when I say it’s hard to rebuild in the NBA.

Suggs, Wagner, and Cunningham should all be able to help their teams enough to not fall to the absolute bottom of the league. Cunningham is a good enough leader and floor general, that the Pistons should not be picking number one next season. The Magic, who currently have the number one pick, should also rise out of that spot. Wagner has been playing much better than his draft pick this season, and they just got Jalen Suggs back from injury. I would be surprised if the Magic again got the number one pick. When I get to the Rockets, they might be the team that needs another top pick the most.

Jalen Green has been inconsistent this season, and has also struggled staying healthy. And the Rockets also have one of the youngest teams in the NBA, with an average age of 23.7. I would not be surprised to see the Rockets picking number one in the 2022 NBA Draft, as they sit in last place in the Western Conference with a record of 14-34.

I’ll just close out this article by saying this, the Rockets are the team that needs another number one pick the most. Regardless, if Jalen Green can find his groove in the second half of the season, Green and Smith would be a hell of a 1-2 punch!