2011 NBA Draft Rumors Featuring Mock Drafts, Tristan Thompson And George Hill

It's come to that point in time leading up to the 2011 NBA Draft that the morning posting of NBA rumors simply isn't enough. Stories are breaking, sources are talking and trades are a-brewin' all over the internet.

The newest report comes from Sam Amick's latest NBA mock draft for Sports Illustrated. Amick's a pretty well connected individual, so when he says there's a good chance that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to take Tristan Thompson if Enes Kanter is off the board within the first three picks, it means something.

It isn't crazy to think that Thompson is worth the No. 4 pick, either, as ESPN's John Hollinger ranked him as the third best prospect in this year's draft class. He might not be worth a top-four pick, but the Cavs may as well swing for the fences as they try beating LeBron James and the Miami Heat to an NBA championship.

The other big news coming out of the internet is that the Spurs are dangling George Hill for a later lottery pick if nobody bites on Tony Parker earlier in the lottery, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express. Other trade possibilities that Givony put out are that the Milwaukee Bucks are shopping Ersan Ilyasova and the Spurs probably have their eye on Jonas Valanciunas if they ship out Parker.

Those are the big rumors for the day, but there was plenty of great analysis that came through the pipeline this morning as well.

The always excellent Kevin Pelton posted his similarity scores Wednesday morning. Is Bismack Biyombo the next Sean Williams? Is Kyle Singler or Jon Leuer the next Brian Cook?  So many questions, so little time to decide

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated put together his annual anonymous scout's take on 40 of this year's draft prospects. The best analysis, I think, is regarding Jeremy Tyler.

"We're all over the board on him. I watched him when he was in the ninth grade and he was just destroying people. When you sit down and talk with the kid, he's very impressive, but then during our workout he got pushed around and his immaturity came out," Davis wrote of the consensus opinion from those he talked to regarding Tyler. "He's very raw offensively, but he looks like Shawn Kemp sometimes when he's running and jumping. He could be like a Jamaal Magloire, but I don't know if he's even that good. He can't shoot at all."

When a player might not be good enough to be the next Magloire, he's probably not worth the hype some having been heaping.

Also, be sure to check out Tom Ziller's latest mock draft as well as the SB Nation collaborative effort.