Post NBA Lottery Mock Drafts: Sochan and Brown trending up
The NBA Draft Lottery was completed on Tuesday, the Combine is all this week till May 22nd, and the NBA Draft is on June 23rd. Let’s take a look at where all the various media outlets have Baylor’s two stars, Jeremy Sochan and Kendall Brown, at this point in the draft process.
Jeremy Sochan
ESPN: Bulls at 18
CBS: Knicks at 11
SI: Thunder at 12
NBA.com: Knicks at 11
Yahoo: Bulls at 18
NBADraft.net: Hawks at 16
The Ringer: Wizards at 10
SBNation: Thunder at 12
NBCSports: Hornets at 13
The consensus seems to have Sochan as a for sure top 20 pick who will likely fall just outside the top 10 in the NBA Draft. Typically that is a good thing as many times the teams in that area are pretty good unfortunately there are some land mines that I hope Sochan can avoid such as the Knicks, Wizards, and Hornets. Neither team feels very close to competing especially compared to the teams around that area who are better setup for success in the future like the Thunder, Cavs, Hawks, and Bulls (if they re-sign Zach LaVine).
Kendall Brown
ESPN: Spurs at 25
CBS: Nuggets at 21
SI: Grizzlies at 22
Yahoo: Nets at 23
NBADraft.net: Bulls at 18
The Ringer: Spurs at 25
SBNation: Timberwolves at 19
NBCSports: Spurs at 20
The odds are pretty good that Kendall Brown is taken inside the top 25 picks in the NBA Draft with the upside to be taken near the top 15 if things shake out well in the draft process. The good news for Brown is the teams in the area he is projected to go all have very bright futures for one reason or another.
If he can fall to 20 then he would have a great shot at falling into a great situation where he could take some time to be developed on a good team. The Spurs, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Nets, and Bucks would all give him a nice opportunity to grow his game while not being asked to be a starter day one.
Things are looking really good for Sochan and Brown to be added to Baylor’s list of first round picks in the NBA Draft. On the flip side Matthew Mayer, Adam Flagler, and James Akinjo weren’t listed in any of the mocks I saw. Mayer looks like he may be destined for a return to college, Flagler looks like he is continuing to trend towards a return to Baylor, and Akinjo needs to find himself a landing spot in the G-League or overseas. Sadly Akinjo was not one of the seven prospects who got the NBA Draft Combine callup from the G League Elite which limits his chances to prove what he can do.
It will be interesting to see how things progress as the lottery is just the first step of many in this process leading up to the NBA Draft.