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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Hunter Felt

2015 NBA Draft – as it happened

NBA commissioner Adam Silver shakes hands with Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns who the Minnesota Timberwolves made the top pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver shakes hands with Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns who the Minnesota Timberwolves made the top pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Photograph: Brad Penner/USA Today Sports

Final thoughts

Alright. It’s been a long night and I doubt that anybody would be interested in in-depth analysis even if I were in any condition to give it. After all, nothing really gets settled on draft night. Although these days we’ve come to view collecting draft picks and getting the best possible lottery position as goals in themselves, NBA Draft Day is actually where everything starts.

In other words, there’s a lot more to come, and the Guardian will continue to monitor the NBA as we head to free agency and beyond. Thank you everyone who followed along with us tonight, especially those who contributed with your emails and tweets. Ciao!

Updated

2015 NBA Draft is over!

No60: Luka Mitrovic! Power forward from Serbia

Alright: One last player. Guess what, it’s the 76ers again! Let’s see how Mr. Irrelevant is...

No. 59: The Atlanta Hawks pick Dimitrios Agravanis from Greece. This second round has fried my spell check.

At No57, the Denver Nuggets picked Serbia’s Nikola Radicevic.

No. 58: The Philadelphia 76ers draft J.P. Tokoto, SF from North Carolina.

New Orleans Pelicans cameo! They take Branden Dawson from Michigan State at No56.

No 53: The Cleveland Cavaliers take St. John’s Sir Dominic Pointer

No 54: The Utah Jazz take Spanish forward Daniel Diez

No 55: San Antonio Spurs take Massachusetts PF Cady Lalanne

No52: The Dallas Mavericks make big man Satnam Singh the first Indian born player to be drafted by the NBA.

No51: the Orlando Magic take Eastern Washington’s Tyler Harvey

We’re getting there everyone! No. 50: The Atlanta Hawks take Sweden’s Marcus Eriksson. Meanwhile, ESPN is concentrating on bow tie analysis and completely misses it.

Updated

No49: Washington Wizards take Iowa PF Aaron White, who looks exactly like what you would imagine an Aaron White would look like.

Updated

The Oklahoma City Thunder take center Dakari Johnson at No48. That means we’re one more Kentucky selection away from a draft record.

At 47. The Philadelphia 76ers take Arturas Gudaitis a center from Lithuania. Supposedly.

The Milwaukee Bucks take UCLA shooting guard Norman Powell at No46. The ESPN analysts are clearly just guessing now.

No45, the Boston celtics grab poing guard Marcus Thornton from William and Mary.

Hey one of the Harrison twins goes off the board. The Phoenix Suns take Andrew with the 44th pick. That’s the fifth player from Kentucky taken in this draft.

Updated

No42: The Utah Jazz take Boston College SG Oliver Hanlan.

No43: The Indiana Pacers take Oregon shooting guard Joseph Young.

Teams have been making selections during the commercials:

No39: The Charlotte Hornets take SF Juan Vaulet from Argentina.

No. 40: The Miami Heat take SG Josh Richardson from Tennessee.

No. 41: The Brooklyn Nets take SF Pat Connaughton from Notre Dame

Updated

Well then.

At no38, the Detroit Pistons take Villanova SG Darrun Hilliard.

Hey guess what, the Philadelphia 76ers are on the clock again! At No37, they take Bowling Green PF Richaun Holmes.

This is like all going to be “random foreign players you won’t see until 2018.” At No36, the Timberwolves take Syracuse PF Rakeem Christmas for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Definitely my favorite name in the draft so far.

No35, the Philadelphia 76ers take, oh my stars I can’t wait to see this name on a jersey, Willy Hernangomez, center from Spain.

No34, the Los Angels Lakers take Stanford SF Anthony Brown.

At No33, the Boston Celtics pick LSU’s Jordan Mickey, a quality shot blocker for a Celtics team with zero size.

As soon as we hit the second round that’s when it becomes obvious who really knows their stuff, prospects-wise. This is when Chad Ford becomes invaluable.

At No32, the Houston Rockets take Louisville PF Montrezl Harrell.

At No. 31, the Minnesota Timberwolves take SG Cedi Osman from Turkey, but the Cleveland Cavaliers will be getting his rights thanks to the Tyrus Jones trade.

And Adam Silver takes off. Which means that we’ll be more informal for the rest of the evening. It also might be a great time to discuss what your team did or didn’t do in the first round. You can email Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com or tweet @HunterFelt.

And we have zoomed through the first round of the NBA Draft. Now we are officially in the Nobody Knows Anything portion of the evening.

Warriors pick Kevon Looney at No30

The Golden State Warriors make UCLA power forward Kevon Looney the last pick of the first round.

And we’ve hit the last pick of the first round. The Golden State Warriors are actually allowed to add another player to fill a non-existent hole.

Nets take Chris McCullough with No29

And finally Brooklyn Nets fans at Barclays get to cheer for their team. The Brooklyn Nets take PF Chris McCullough from Syracuse, who was sitting in the general admission section.

You may remember RJ Hunter for hitting this game-winner in the NCAA tournament:

Celtics take RJ Hunter at No28

Boston Celtics wisely take Georgia State’s RJ Hunter with the No28 pick.

Lakers take Larry Nance Jr at No27

The Los Angeles Lakers’ second pick in the draft is Wyoming forward Larry Nance Jr. This won’t be quite as impactful as the D’Angelo Russell pick, I’m guessing.

Spurs take Nikola Milutinov at No26

From my completely wrong mock draft: “the Spurs will pick a relatively unknown foreign player.” Well I got that right. The San Antonio Spurs take Serbian center Nikola Milutinov.

Bucks take Jarrell Martin at No25

The Memphis Grizzlies grab forward Jarrell Martin from LSU with the 25th pick.

Another Questlove outro. No shot he’s going to play Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” right?

Trade?

At this point I want the Cavaliers to fire David Blatt and for Kevin Love to sign elsewhere just to shut up ESPN.

Oh, and the Cavaliers are trading Tyrus Jones to the Timberwolves for their second round picks?

Cavaliers select Tyrus Jones at No24

Silver makes the Hawks/Knicks moves official, to the cheers of Knicks fans in the audience. Then the Cleveland Cavaliers pick Duke point guard Tyrus Jones with the 24th pick.

It’s weird seeing the Cleveland Cavaliers picking somewhere in the draft that is not first overall.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Hollis-Jefferson is wearing golf pants.

Trail Blazers select Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at No23

And Woj, as always, is right. The Portland Trail Blazers Suddenly Rebuilding Movement starts with Arizona forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who they take with the 23rd pick.

Woj knows all. But there’s one question not even he can answer about the Draft tonight:

Are these Rozier updates legit or is this like the Onion version of Joe Biden?

Bulls take Bobby Portis at No22

Oh thank god. Lots of hugs go around to Arkansas forward Bobby Portis, chosen by the Chicago Bulls with the 22nd pick.

Updated

Shots of Bobby Portis looking lost and forlorn in the crowd make me feel sad.

Mavericks take Justin Anderson at No21

The Dallas Mavericks take Virginia small forward Justin Anderson, a solid defensive player.

Not sure if this is a joke.

And now a Phil Jackson interview because this is now all about the Knicks. Jackson in this interview reminds me of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character in “The Master” except without the humility.

Raptors pick Delon Wright at No20

The Toronto Raptors take Utah point guard Delon Wright.

Knicks fans are much more upbeat now than they were earlier.

Wizards pick Jerian Grant at No19

That looks like what’s going to happen. The Washington Wizards select him FOR the Atlanta Hawks who will, apparently, trade him to the New York Knicks. Man, New York might actually have a real point guard soon.

Rumor is that the Hawks will draft Notre Dame point guard Jerian Grant with the 19th pick and then trade him to the Knicks for Tim Hardaway Jr.

That.... That’s actually a really good move for the Knicks.

Rockets pick Sam Dekker at No18

The Houston Rockets now have a chance to decide which player I will now hate solely for the team he’s on.

They go with Wisconsin small forward Sam Dekker, one of the best scorers in the draft. If I were a Celtics fan, I’d be annoyed that he was available.

Wait, I AM a Celtics fan. Ugh.

Bucks select Rashad Vaughn at No17

The Milwaukee Bucks take UNLV shooting guard Rashad Vaughn with the No17 pick. It’s possible the Bucks could have a steal here, he’s recovering from a meniscus injury that hurt his draft stock.

It feels like the Celtics just over-thought the hell out of this.

So, the Boston Celtics have selected point guard with Louisville’s Terry Rozier with the 16th pick. Nobody had this.

Celtics take Terry Rozier at No16

Huh?

No word on whether or not Oubre’s shoes are part of the Washington trade.

“Graceland” era Paul Simon approves.

Or maybe not Atlanta’s gain. Possible trade here It looks like the Hawks are trading Oubre to the Washington Wizards for the 19th pick in this draft plus future picks.

Hawks pick Kelly Oubre at No15

That Atlanta Hawks take Kansas small forward Kelly Oubre Jr with the 15th pick. Oubre had top ten talent but was something of a disappointment at Kansas. That might end up being Atlanta’s gain.

Dear young NBA players, you will never live down things like this. Cameron Payne will be forced to deal with this footage for the rest of his career. Learn from his mistake.

Cameron Payne whips out a Selfie Stick. That’s all I need to see. I’m calling him a “bust” right now because clearly he has issues with decision making.

Thunder pick Cameron Payne at No14

The Oklahoma City Thunder take Murry State point guard Cameron Payne at No14. It would be really nice if the Thunder could actually get absolutely anything offensively from a young player at some point during the possibly endangered Kevin Durant Era.

Apparently the Milwaukee Bucks are moving their franchise to a distant planet.

Suns pick Devin Booker at No13

The Phoenix Suns pick shooting uard Devin Booker at No13, and that’s the 4th Kentucky Wildcat chosen tonight. He might end up being the best shooter in this draft.

John Calipari is in the audience, hoping that all seven eligible Kentucky players get drafted tonight which would be a record. An interesting plot when we move on to the second round and other storylines run dry.

Jazz pick Trey Lyles at No12

The Utah Jazz pick Kentucky power forward at No. 12. He’s a solid player but not anyone to get too excited about. Which is pretty much the definition of the platonic ideal of a Utah Jazz player.

ESPN has Questlove drum solos as intro/outro music for the NBA Draft. This is a lot less stressful than the Black Eyed Peas’ apparently sarcastically titled “This Is Awesome” spots played during the NBA Playoffs.

Pacers pick Myles Turner at No11

Indiana Pacers take Texas center Myles Turner at No11. Something of a surprise here. What does this say about the future of Roy Hibbert?

The hilarious thing is that the Hornets and Heat are in the same division, which means plenty of future opportunities for Charlotte fans to realize that their front office could have had Winslow but instead chose Adam Morrison 2.0.

Heat take Justise Winslow at no10

Huge get for the Miami Heat, as they pick up Duke forward Justise Winslow.

Did Justise Winslow run over like... everybody’s dog?

Hornets pick Frank Kaminsky at No9

Charlotte Hornets, true to form, are the ones to take Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky way too early in the draft.

And Cauley-Stein played with fellow big man Karl-Anthony Towns in Kentucky last year and, if I remember correctly, that team did okay for itself.

Translation: “I’m NOT A 76ER OR KNICK! #Exhales”

Pistons pick Stanley Johnson at no8

The Detroit Pistons go with Arizona small forward Stanley Johnson. We’re now officially in Justise Winslow Watch.

Updated

“The Ty Lawson Era in Denver is over.”

And with one sentence “The X Era” has officially lost any and all meaning.

Tom Jenkins thinks the writing’s on the wall for Cousins in Sacramento:

Lakers take a PG. Kings take a C that’s close to NBA-ready.

Cauley-Stein; Randle; McLemore; Stauskas; Russell.

Young guys at nearly every spot. I’m saying bye bye Boogie.

Our friend David Lengel doesn’t understand what exactly Phil Jackson’s plan for the New York Knicks actually entails.

Me? I’m not sure there has ever even been one.

Nuggets pick Emmanuel Mudiay at No7

The Denver Nuggets take poing guard Emmanuel Mudiay, who played in China instead of college last year.

ESPN are saying that there’s no serious chance at them trading Cousins. So, we could see Cauley-Stein and Cousins on the floor at the same time. That could be interesting.

Kings take Willie Cauley-Stein at No6

Sacramento Kings take Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein at No6. He’s maybe the best defensive player in the draft but is limited in just about every aspect of the game.

Magic select Mario Hezonja at No5

The Orlando Magic take Croatia’s Mario Hezonja with the 5th pick in the draft. Hey I predicted this one right!

I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad sign for Orlando.

And the first comparison between Kristaps and Darko. That’s never a great sign.

Knicks select Kristaps Porzingis at No4

Right now. They pick Latvia’s Kristaps Porzingis, the first international player chosen in the draft. The many Knicks fans in the audience are furious and angry and booing and it’s glorious.

Updated

They ask Okafor about how he feels to be playing for the 76ers and he basically shrugs and says he’s happy to be paying for a NBA team.

He sounds SUPER thrilled.

It is now officially the worst season in New York Knicks history.

76ers pick Okafor at No. 3

Speaking of the 76ers. They’re up next. First, Adam Silver pays tribute to Philadelphia scorekeeper Harvey Pollack.

Then, the 76ers make the obvious move and select Duke big man Jahlil Okafor.

Email from Tom Jenkins:

With regards Sacramento, the Lakers pick is surely the one to look for; if they take Russell over Okafor then I think a Boogie trade is on. Boogie’s clearly not enjoying life in Sac-town, and even if they nab Lawson in a trade and all their young players improve, it’s hard to see how Sacramento could seriously compete over the next few years in this West. Sacramento have the chance to do what the Sixers have devoted years to: a rebuild with a roster packed full of high-pick rookie-scale guys and a guaranteed ticket to next year’s lottery. Add Randle, Russell and Hill - on a sign and trade for salary-matching purposes - from the Lakers to McLemore, Stauskas and whoever Sacramento take at six this year - Porzingis ideally - and whoever they take high in the draft next year: is that not a more exciting future than a few middling years in the West before watching Boogie walk to a better situation as a free agent in a few years?

Well, we’ll see. If I were a Kings fan I would be absolutely frightened if the Sacramento front office was trying to do something like the 76ers rebuild. I wouldn’t even trust them to get a sandwich order correct.

I wonder if selecting Russell, possibly ready to contribute immediately, means that the Lakers won’t go after free agent point guard Rajon Rondo over the summer like we all assumed.

Lakers take D'Angelo Russell at No. 2

Welp, my mock draft is already busted. The Los Angeles Lakers decide upon Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell. Wow.

Interview with Towns shows that he’s already elite at spouting boring cliches.

Karl-Anthony Towns goes No1

The Minnesota Timberwolves select Karl-Anthony Towns from Kentucky. That was going to happen. So they now have the previous three No1 picks on their roster. (Note: that’s a bit misleading, since one of those players in Anthony Bennett.)

The NBA Draft has begun!

Here comes Adam Silver... He congratulates the Golden State Warriors, giving a speech that is very PTA meeting. I miss David Stern every draft night, I won’t lie.

Frank Kaminsky is dressed like he’s auditioning to be John Turturro’s understudy in a Coen Brothers gangster movie.

Sacramento things...

It will be interesting when the Sacramento Kings will make their selection at No6. They’ve been in the news for all the wrong reasons, as new head coach George Karl is trying to convince management to trade away DeMarcus Cousins, a.k.a. their good player. It’s hard to figure out what your team’s future could be when you don’t even know what your team’s present is.

Everybody is wearing red. Everybody.

And the early answer to the previous question: Yes.

Pre-Draft chatter

The Minnesota Timberwolves will take Towns. Source: Literally every carbon-based lifeform.

Hawks will be picking at No. 15. Also: there’s a good bet to make: will any regrettable fashion statement made by a player tonight be any worse that the Hawks uniforms?

Updated

Possibly. I fear that the success of Golden State Warriors will put some unreasonable expectations on younger players. “Okay, you’re a fantastic defensive player, can you also score 20 in a game?”

From Jonathan Reeve:


What are the prospects of a reworking of the lottery system? I understand that there needs to be a disincentive to out and out tanking but I’m not convinced the current lottery system is the most equitable. Concerned Knickerbocker

Commissioner Adam Silver has already said that they will look into making changes. The problem is: nobody knows exactly what changes would actually work to curtail tanking. I’d say the draft lottery system will be different by 2017.

I’m still saying Charlotte with the 9th pick. Whoever ends up with them, they will almost certainly be reaching.

Speaking of Duke players, there are rumors that the Los Angeles Lakers, who have the second pick in the draft, might not be sold on Okafor. That could shake up the entire draft considering that pretty much every mock draft had Towns and Okafor both being gone by the third pick.

Competition? Nah. I’m for anything that increases basketball’s profile in the UK, or anywhere else in the world. It’s like being a NBA missionary of sorts, that’s how I see things.

Email from Paul Gallagher:

This is not exactly on topic, but I can’t help but be pessimistic about the prospects of my team - Portland. Rip City’s going to be a different place with Nico Batum traded and LaMarcus Aldridge possibly / probably opting out for a new franchise. Batum made a bunch of mistakes and was injured a lot in recent seasons, but we’ll still miss him. LA will leave a massive hole. Major waves for Portland as a franchise. The eager faces and sharp tailoring of the Draft aren’t enough to cheer me up here in London tonight.

Everything about the NBA is on-topic tonight. Honestly, you should be right to be depressed about the near-future of your team. The Batum trade, they sent him to the Charlotte Hornets for Gerald Henderson and Noah Vonleh, was a clear signal that the Trail Blazers weren’t expecting LaMarcus Aldridge back, a feeling that was reinforced by rumors that came out this afternoon. In all likelihood, Portland are already heading back into rebuilding mode.

Mock draft

Almost certainly this will only useful “for comedic purposes only,” I did attempt a mock draft after the lottery order was determined. Note that a) this assumes that no teams will make any trades b) team situations have changed in the last few weeks and c) I’m terrible at these.

Or what Joseph said.

Ah, the poor New York Knicks. They suffered their worst regular season ever, but the good news was supposed to be that they actually had their first round draft pick this year where there were three can’t miss players available. (Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Duke’s Jahlil Okafor and Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell.)

When the lottery came, the Knicks were locked in with... the fourth pick. So, now they are thinking abou trading down. If the Knicks end up with Wisconsin’s Kaminsky as their top get, this will go down as the most soul-crushingly depressing periods in New York basketball history.

And welcome all to the 2015 NBA Draft! My name is Hunter Felt, I’ll be your host for the next few hours as teams search for their next stars from the top college teams and, as is increasingly the case, around the world.

The draft itself starts in around 45 minutes, but we’ll be here going over what has already been a surreal few days in the NBA. We would love to hear from you throughout tonight and your thoughts about what teams need to do what, who is overrated, who is underrated, and most importantly: what everyone is wearing. You can tweet them to @HunterFelt or email them to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com.

Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Kevin Fixler on Towns’s Kentucky teammate Devin Booker:

University of Kentucky guard Devin Booker, like his father Melvin before him, is a basketball prodigy and a product of tiny Moss Point, Mississippi. But come Thursday night in Brooklyn, Devin will undoubtedly do something his dad, a standout at Mizzou in the early 1990s, was never able to accomplish – being drafted into the world’s premier professional basketball league.

The younger Booker, the SEC Sixth Man of the Year and an All-SEC Freshman Team selection, is in the discussion as the class’s best shooter and may even go in the top-10 picks. No matter the differences, father and son will both anxiously await the commissioner reading the surname they share.

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