Mock Draft 1.0: First look at projecting the draft lottery

The Detroit Pistons have a cornerstone player in Cade Cunningham to build around, and his playmaking and scoring as a big wing give the Pistons plenty of flexibility in building out the rest of their roster. They could use an elite rim protector, a guard, or a wing, and so here they take this draft’s best perimeter player in Jaden Ivey.

Ivey returned to Purdue for his sophomore season and had the breakout he was banking on, leading Purdue to a high seed and roasting defenders with his combination of quickness and strength. Like many dynamic lead guards, he lags in both effort and ability on the defensive end, and his passing isn’t elite, but playing alongside Cunningham lessens the impact of those weaknesses as Ivey continues to develop.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have started to amass some extremely talented players in the midst of their bold rebuild, the cornerstones being Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey as two ball-handling perimeter players. The Thunder now need to add blue-chip players to their frontcourt and would love to take any of the three bigs at the top of this draft.

Here they take Banchero, a 6’10” offensive beast with a polished skill set of dribbling, shooting and ballhandling that allowed him to roast a wide variety of defenders throughout his freshman season at Duke. He has a crafty dribble game and excellent finishing touch, with the strength to finish through contact, making him an elite interior scorer. If his outside shooting ends up a strength instead of a neutral trait, he could easily be the best player to come out of this draft.