NBA Draft Grades: Central Division

Detailing the draft picks of the Central Division teams

Indiana Pacers

As I touched on in “Analysis of the 10 Traded First-Round Picks Heading Into the 2014 NBA Draft,” the Pacers were fleeced for their first-round pick and breakout performers in Gerald Green and Miles Plumee in exchange for Luis Scola (owed $4.9M in 2014-15, but only 940K is guaranteed). The Suns used the Pacers pick (27th overall) to draft Serbian shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic. No typo here; that’s really his name. Don’t be ashamed if you don’t know him yet—ESPN just apologized for showing highlights of Bojan Bogdanovic by mistake last night when Bogdan was drafted. He’s a 6-6 shooting guard with passing ability who was rumored to be attractive to the Spurs, and he seems like a fine fit in Jeff Hornacek’s system. The Pacers also traded their second-round pick (57th overall), Louis Labeyrie, to the Knicks for cash considerations. It was a boring night to be a Pacer fan, as they traded the only pick they had.

There may not have been much opportunity for Indiana to be active in this year’s draft, but it makes no sense trading the only pick they had away for cash instead of trying to make a second-round splash.

Grade: D

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls traded up and got the shooter they desperately needed in Doug McDermott, exchanging Jusuf Nurkic (16^th overall pick) and Gary Harris (19^th overall pick). This was a great deal for the Bulls, who preferred McDermott to Harris, and so do I.  At 6-8, 218 pounds, McDermott has the size to play small forward in the NBA, whereas Harris is just a tad undersized to play the two at 6-4. McDermott finished fifth all time in scoring in NCAA history, and the Bulls will welcome his scoring touch with open arms. His defense will be a question mark entering the NBA, but the Bulls are already one of the best defensive squads in the league.

The Bulls also selected senior small forward from New Mexico St. Cameron Bairstow with the 49^th overall pick. Bairstow was relatively unheard of prior to this year when he raised his scoring average from 9.7 points per game to 20.4 points per game.

In McBuckets and Bairstow the Bulls addressed their glaring need for shooting and scoring, and they didn’t reach in order to fill those needs.

Grade: A

Cleveland Cavaliers

While the Cavs didn’t follow my suggestion in “Cavs Should Do Anything For Love” to trade this pick for the Love Doctor in hopes of wooing LeBron back, they made a safe and solid selection in Andrew Wiggins. You can’t really be upset if you’re Cleveland. I would be shocked to find someone among the Cavs faithful fuming over this one. It was reported the day before the draft that the Cavs front office was split on drafting Wiggins or Parker, and that Dan Gilbert wanted to draft Wiggins. After stunning the basketball world and taking Anthony Bennett despite Gilbert’s apparent preference to nab Oladipo with the top pick in 2013, it seemed quite evident that Gilbert would go with his gut on this one and welcome Wiggins to the squad.

There are a few things we know we’re getting from Wiggins: tough defense and elite leaping ability. Wiggins also takes high quality shots—he doesn’t take shots that make you shake your head and say why? He definitely has all the physical tools to be a star in the league, and it will be intriguing to watch how he handles the pressure of playing in LeBron’s footsteps for a starved sports city.

The Cavs also selected Joe Harris 33^rd overall. The 6-6, 215 pound guard from Virginia is simply a smart and solid player. He can shoot the ball, he can handle it, and he’s a decent athlete as well.

Grade: A

Detroit Pistons

Thanks to the ping-pong balls falling in the Hornets’ favor, Spencer Dinwiddie became the first draft pick of the Stan Van Gundy Era. I have a feeling the 6-6 guard who played four years at Colorado is going to have a solid pro career. The Pistons targeted him within the last week and did medical research given the fact that he tore his ACL in the middle of his senior season. Dinwiddie likely would have been a lock to go in the first round had he not suffered the injury, and he’s a guy a lot of folks are really high on.

He’s a versatile guard who improved a great deal during his college career, and the Pistons may have nabbed a second-round steal.

Grade: A

Milwaukee Bucks

I’m not completely sold on second overall pick Jabari Parker becoming an All-Star, but he definitely has potential. Parker actually wanted to get drafted by Milwaukee, and with news coming out the Bucks had promised to select him should he still be available, this was no surprise.

Parker will need to improve defensively and become less one-dimensional on offense. The fact that he had nearly twice as many turnovers as assists at Duke is troubling, and which position he matches up with defensively will be interesting to see, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders and it apppears he’s ready to work hard and meet the challenge of the NBA grind.

The Bucks also drafted 19-year-old forward Damien Inglis from France with the first pick of the second round and snagged LSU forward Johnny O’Bryant 36^th overall before trading Lamar Patterson (48^th overall pick) to the Hawks for a future second-round pick.

Drafting a guy who wants to play for your team probably can’t be a bad thing, right? As I said I’m not sold on Jabari being a star, but I’m not going to rip the Bucks apart for drafting a guy who actually wanted to go there.

Grade: B+