The 2010 SB Nation NBA Mock Draft is still underway, with each SB Nation blogger making selections for their respective teams. Tom Lewis, manager at SB Nation's Indiana Pacers blog Indy Cornrows, checks in to make the tenth overall selection in this year's mock.
With the tenth overall pick in the 2010 SB Nation NBA Mock Draft, the Indiana Pacers have selected Avery Bradley, guard, Texas Longhorns.
Lewis explains: Like the Pacers, I'd prefer using the 10th pick as part of a trade for immediate point guard help and/or more picks later in the draft. Patrick Patterson fits the mold of a perfect Larry Bird/David Morway pick at this spot thanks to his college experience and strong workouts. The problem is, last year they drafted a similar player in Tyler Hansbrough while leaving several point guard options on the board.
So why not go against the grain again and take a point guard with several strong power forward options on the board. Avery Bradley will have to develop into a point guard but the Pacers liked what they saw in his workouts and he has the talent and upside worth taking a chance with the 10th pick. With A.J. Price nursing a severe knee injury and T.J. Ford on the outs, the Pacers have to add a guard to the roster. Plus, the lack of options may force Jim O'Brien to play Bradley despite JOB's reluctance to play young players.
The Pacers have indicated they'll be very active in trying to change their roster this summer and the rumor mill seems to back that up, but for this draft I'm assuming they are making no other moves than adding players through the draft. If the Pacers don't make any other moves then they're headed for the lottery again, so they might as well add a talented, young asset at a position of desperate need.
Ridiculous Upside reacts: I agree with Tom - Patterson would be great, but he doesn't fill a need - regardless of your thoughts on Hansbrough.
Bradley could fill a glaring hole at the point - and be very good at it - but he's currently more of a two-guard in a point guard's body rather than someone you draft in the top 10 to shore up the point guard rotation.
Best option, as previously mentioned, is to probably trade down and get a little bit better value.
Burnt Orange Nation weighs in: It seems the Texas blogs focus a bit more on football than basketball, but I was able to find this lovely anecdote from a post entitled What I'll Remember From 2009-2010:
2) Avery Bradley's Monster Dunk Against Western Carolina: Due to representing UT Law in a Mock Trial Competition, I missed our first game against UC Irvine. My first exposure to the team--and the freshmen--came in the game against Western Carolina. This dunk was how Avery Bradley welcomed me back to the Drum. In this one :13 highlight, you can see why he was ranked as the #1 HS player in the country.
Uh, yeah. That'll do.
Ridiculous Upside's Top 5 remaining prospects: 1 - Patrick Patterson, PF, Kentucky. 2 - Luke Babbitt, F, Nevada. 3 - Ekpe Udoh, PF/C, Baylor. 4 - Ed Davis, PF, North Carolina. 5 - Hassan Whiteside, PF/C, Marshall.
Sound off, SB Nation! What say you of the Bradley-to-Indiana pick?
And please, remember to check out Indy Cornrows for everything you need to know about the Pacers (including the profile Cornrows' contributor Levy2725 did on Bradley earlier this month).
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