Kentucky Sports Radio

The NBA draft is only a week away, and that means there’s only a week left for people on the internet to update their mock drafts before fading into obscurity for another year. This time the mock comes from CBS’ Matt Moore, and it includes a couple of new potential destinations for the Cats. Anthony Davis is first, of course, with MKG going fourth to the Cavs after the Wizards trade yesterday made it unlikely he ends up in Washington:

4. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky: That sound you hear is Chris Grant sprinting to the phone and dialing so hard his fingers break. Kidd-Gilchrist provides a lot of what the Cavaliers need. An athletic wing to run the floor with Kyrie Irving, a lock-down defender for Byron Scott, and a beast on the offensive glass beside Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao.

With Kidd-Gilchrist alongside Kyrie Irving, the Cavs could have a very good young core to continue the post-LeBron rebuild. The first surprise for Cat fans, though, is how soon after Kidd-Gilchrist that Moore thinks Terrence Jones will be coming off the board. He has the Warriors drafting Jones with the seventh overall pick:

7. Terrence Jones, PF, Kentucky: Here’s where the picks get dicey. Does Golden State take Andre Drummond, hoping that by learning behind Andrew Bogut he can develop in time? Do they take Dion Waiters and hope his impressive wingspan makes up for his 6-4 height? Or do they reach for Jones? Here’s the thing. Jones at 6-10 can handle the new breed of NBA small forwards who are all monstrously athletic. Anything he lacks in perimeter speed is mitigated by length. He provides versatility on a team that needs it.

Jones has generally been in the 10-20 range in most mock drafts, but this seems to indicate that he’s on the rise, and there isn’t a better time for that to be happening than right before the draft. After Jones, Marquis Teague is projected to go 28th overall to Oklahoma City:

28. Marquis Teague, PG, Kentucky: Eric Maynor is returning from injury and will be up for extension eventually. Teague gives the Thunder pure speed they don’t need immediately. One of the best development teams in the league could do wonders with Teague.

It might be a reunion with last summer’s pickup game partners for Teague, and that could be a great situation for the young point guard as he could play for a winner and develop without a ton of pressure on him. And, he could learn the NBA game without being burdened by needing to shoot, because Russell Westbrook takes care of that for pretty much the whole team.

Doron Lamb and Darius Miller are still projected outside the top 30, and they’ll both need to make an impression on a team soon if they want to sneak into the end of the first round. I still think it’s possible for both of them to end up there, but a lot of the experts seem to disagree. And that’s why we don’t like experts.