NBA Mock Draft Pick #22 -- Erick Green, Guard, Virginia Tech
We have a trade to announce:
The Orlando Magic have traded Glen Davis, Arron Afflalo, and Andrew Nicholson for to the Brooklyn Nets in echange for Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, and the 22nd pick.
SB Nation's Magic blog Orlando Pinstriped Post explains the pick:
With the 22nd pick in the 2013 SB Nation NBA Mock Draft, the Orlando Magic select Erick Green from Virginia Tech University.
Green helps the Magic in a number of ways: he'll improve the offense from the get-go, and he can play either guard position. Orlando needs a young point guard whom it can develop over the course of its rebuilding project, and Green is the best fit of any still left on the board.
In his final two years at Virginia Tech, Green really filled it up, averaging 20.4 points per game and shooting 38.3 percent on three-pointers. As a senior, he averaged nearly one free-throw attempt for every two field-goal attempts. In other words, he's a versatile and creative scorer.
Green also provides playmaking, with an assist rate of 27 percent as a senior. He'll need to cut his turnovers at the NBA level, and he doesn't project as a future star, but he's nonetheless capable of giving the Magic stability for years to come at what is now their weakest position.
Orlando also considered North Texas forward Tony Mitchell with this selection. Assistant General Manager / Director of College Scouting Tyler Lashbrook provided invaluable sight.
SB Nation's Magic blog Orlando Pinstriped Post explains the trade:
Trading Glen Davis, Arron Afflalo, and Andrew Nicholson for Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, and the 22nd pick in the Mock Draft was an easy call for the Orlando Magic to make. While Davis and Afflalo are valuable in their own ways--in addition to their scoring, they're both veteran leaders on a young, rebuilding team, and Davis even serves as a co-captain--they are owed approximately $36 million over the next three seasons. Orlando need not commit so much long-term money to players who, even when at their best, are only slightly above-average. Humphries offers great production, particularly as a rebounder, but he won't clog Orlando's long-term cap sheet.
Meanwhile, Brooks can take on a larger role with Orlando than he had with the Nets--even if he's coming off the bench in relief of Ben McLemore, the second overall pick in this Mock Draft--and the Magic will certainly need his shot-getting ability as they brace for another losing season.
Parting with Andrew Nicholson wasn't easy after a sneakily productive rookie campaign, one in which he led his team in points per minute. However, there are questions about how much he'll improve--he's already 23--and how his slight frame and awkward gait will affect his development at the NBA level. The emergence of Tobias Harris at power forward after February's trade with the Milwaukee Bucks made Nicholson less essential to the Magic's rebuilding effort. The benefits of clearing long-term salary and obtaining the 22nd pick in this Mock Draft outweighed the cost of losing, in Nicholson, a productive and efficient young player.
As a result of this trade, the only salary on the Magic's books for the 2014/15 season is the $2 million guarantee for Jameer Nelson, plus whatever amount for which they buy out Al Harrington. All of Orlando's other players will be on rookie contracts with options which the team can exercise as it pleases. The Magic can then use their gobs of cap space to seek free-agent signings or big-name trades. The key to building a team is finding a superstar, and with none available in this Mock Draft, the Magic elected to make a money-saving deal so that they'll be ready to strike when the right superstar opportunity presents itself.
SB Nation's Nets blog NetsDaily explains the trade:
The main reason this trade works for the Nets is because they arebuilt to win-ish now, with Johnson, Williams, Lopez and Wallace on thebooks for three more seasons. They have no cap space and no youngassets, which makes a major blockbuster trade difficult to pull off.They can't trade Wallace or Johnson, and they won't trade Williams orLopez. What my thinking was, improve the bench by adding Davis andAffllalo, who can provide the offense in the second unit that Hump andBrooks couldn't. In fact, the Nets get two players who started lastseason for the Orlando Magic and scored 15-plus points per game, andNicholson, a young player with plenty of ability -- who arguably couldturn out to be better than anyone available at No. 22 in this year'sdraft.
Once Gorgui Dieng went off the board, there didn't seem to be a playerwho fits the Nets needs -- a big who can come in and play right away.It's not a perfect trade for the Nets, but given their window and needto upgrade the bench, it worked for me. Does it work for the NetsDailyreaders? Well... #FireLorenzo.
Updated 2013 NBA Mock Draft Board: