Biggest Winners And Losers Of The 2015 NBA Draft
Thursday’s NBA Draft was a night of ups and downs for basketball fans across North America. Many believe the 2015 NBA Draft class was one of the best in years.
Find out if your team is walking away from the draft feeling like winner or if your team lost out in the NBA Draft.
Winner: Minnesota Timberwolves
With the opening pick of the 2015 NBA Draft the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns. With this pick the Timberwolves now have three number one overall picks on their roster, the first time ever a team has achieved this. Towns showed his dominance at Kentucky, he can pull down rebounds with his great strength, and has amazing touch in the post. The Timberwolves are getting a player who has the potential to be an all-star and a wrecking ball in this league for many years to come.
Loser: New York Knicks Management
With the 4th pick in the NBA Draft the New York Knicks selected Kristaps Porzingis. This pick was greeted by boos and tears from the New York fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Knicks management has been losing points with fans for years after horrible decision making. Fans don’t care for this pick because they are afraid of him being another Darko Milicic or Andrea Bargnani. However, Porzingis shows great potential and can do pretty much everything on the court. The Knicks gained a little ground with a trade that gave them Jerian Grant, but the fans were still quite upset. All of this discontent could go away if Porzingis becomes the next Dirk Nowitzki.
Winner: Miami Heat
With the 10th pick in the NBA Draft the Miami Heat were able to select Duke forward Justise Winslow. It was very surprising to see Winslow drop so far because many had him going in the top-five in Thursday’s NBA Draft. Winslow does everything well on the court, Winslow scored 14.3 points per game while grabbing 9.3 rebounds. He can also shoot threes and plays stellar defense.
Loser: Emmanuel Mudiay
Emmanuel Mudiay was drafted 7th overall, respectively, to the Denver Nuggets in Thursday’s NBA Draft. Mudiay went to high school in Dallas, Texas, and was highly recruited by SMU, but decided to play professionally in China. Brandon Jennings did the same thing in Italy in 2009. Many had Mudiay going 4th to the Knicks, which the fans in New York might have liked a little more, but he slipped down to 7th. He is left wondering where he would have been drafted if he had remained stateside.
Winner: John Calipari
While John Calipari is a college coach at Kentucky, the most important goal of his is to get Kentucky’s players drafted. This Kentucky team tied the record for most players drafted in the lottery with four. North Carolina achieved the same feat in 2005. The players from John Calipari’s squad drafted were Karl-Anthony Towns (1), Willie Cauley-Stein (6), Trey Lyles (12), and Devin Booker (13). These four players combine for $27,545,040 in guaranteed money over the next two seasons after the NBA Draft.
Loser: Jerian Grant
Jerian Grant came into the NBA Draft knowing he would probably not be selected in the lottery, meaning he would come into a playoff franchise. Jerian Grant ended up being selected 19th by the Washington Wizards, a playoff team, but was traded to the New York Knicks in a trade that brought Tim Hardaway, Jr. to the Atlanta Hawks. Now, Jerian Grant goes to a team that had the 4th pick in the NBA Draft, and is at least two seasons away from being in contention. The only upside in this scenario for Grant is that he will receive extended playing time because of less competition.
[Image Source: David Dow/NBAE/Getty Images]
