Suns Win Draft Lottery, #AytonsPlace

And the Atlanta Hawks acquired the third pick.

Sacramento will pick No. 2 and Atlanta got the No. 3 pick – both of them moving up and bucking some odds to get there. Not only did they deserve it as redemption for being the most unlucky lottery team of all time, they deserved it for losing the “correct” way in February and March.

Phoenix was always expected to opt for Ayton if they landed the number one pick but that now doesn’t look like a foregone conclusion after their new head coaching appointment.

Slovenian point-forward Luka Doncic is considered one of the top two prospects in the 2018 NBA Draft, but he could throw the draft for a loop if he wants to avoid being drafted by a specific team. I think this speaks to who Ayton is as a player and his attitude when he steps on the court. They did the latter but sadly are on the outside looking in at the top three robbing them of possibly being involved in the sweepstakes of this draft’s big three being Ayton/Doncic/Bagley. The Suns will also get an opportunity to correct what’s been eight straight years of futile play and even more futile roster construction.

Was the Amway Center built on a Native American burial ground?

The 76ers retained their pick for this season as it fell to No 10 overall, if it had gone between No 2 and No 5 the selection would have gone to the Celtics by way of last summer’s trade.

“We’ve got to see what happens in the lottery first and see where our position is”, Memphis executive vice president of basketball operations John Hollinger said.

And Duke’s Marvin Bagley is tipped to go early this year too despite the 6ft 11in forward’s stock falling slightly in recent months.

The million-dollar question is, who do you pick?

To one National Basketball Association front-office executive, that criticism sounded familiar – it was much the same for Detroit center Andre Drummond when he came out of CT in 2012. The teams affected by shifts were in the two through six selections. Going after Leonard would immediately vault the Clippers into playoff contention, while drafting two young studs could prepare them for a run in the future, once the current dynasties have run their course. You don’t have to work as hard as the guys who are 6-4 to stand out. While the Wildcats ended up getting bounced by Buffalo in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Ayton still scored highly with KenPom’s player ratings (seventh in the site’s player of the year metric) and was a highly efficient player overall. But he said that, at minimum, he’d expect Ayton to be similar to Drummond, except as a better scorer and not as prolific a rebounder. Their guards were not great defensively. The more I think about it, the more alternative directions come to mind.

A pretty good player the Mavs plan to mix with Dennis Smith Jr, Harrison Barnes and others as the Mavs hope to jump back into the playoff conversation as soon as next season. They were 3-0 in overtime games and had enough comebacks and game-winning shots to fill a YouTube highlight reel. The center from Texas just turned twenty years old this week, and could help solidify the Magic’s frontcourt for years to come.