Alright, let me walk you through how I put together my 2014 NBA mock draft back in the day. It wasn’t anything super scientific, more of a gut feeling thing mixed with watching a ton of tape and reading up.
First off, I remember just immersing myself in college basketball that season. Didn’t just catch the big games on TV, I actively sought out footage of the top prospects. Spent hours watching guys like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Dante Exum, you name it. Wasn’t just looking at highlights, tried to catch full game replays when I could find them to see how they played off the ball, their defense, their body language.
Getting the Basic Info Down
After getting a feel for their games visually, I started digging into the numbers. Pulled up their college stats – points, rebounds, assists, shooting percentages, turnovers, the works. Made some basic notes comparing guys at the same position. But honestly, stats only told part of the story for me. Some guys just passed the ‘eye test’ better than others, even if their numbers weren’t drastically different.
Then came the crucial part: team needs. This is where mock drafting gets tricky. You can’t just rank the players 1 to 30 and assign them. I looked at the standings from the 2013-2014 season to get the draft order right (before the lottery, then adjusted after). Then, I checked out the rosters for the teams picking high. Who were their key players? Where were the obvious holes? Cleveland at #1, Milwaukee at #2, Philly at #3 – they all needed different things.
- Cavs: Had Kyrie, Waiters… needed that wing superstar potential.
- Bucks: Needed scoring punch, badly.
- Sixers: Full rebuild mode under Hinkie. Best Player Available, especially a potential franchise cornerstone, was the vibe.
- Magic: Young team, needed talent across the board.
- Jazz: Needed a dynamic guard to pair with their young core.
Making the Actual Picks (The Fun Part)
Okay, so putting it all together. The number one pick was the big debate: Wiggins vs. Parker.
Wiggins had insane athleticism, defensive potential, just raw talent oozing out. But sometimes he looked a bit passive.
Parker seemed more polished offensively, more NBA-ready right away. Maybe a lower ceiling, though?
I went back and forth, but I eventually slotted Andrew Wiggins to the Cavaliers at #1. The upside felt too massive to ignore for a team hoping for a superstar.
That made #2 easier. The Bucks needed offense, and Jabari Parker was right there. Felt like a natural fit for Milwaukee.
At #3, the Sixers… this was Embiid time. Joel Embiid had HUGE question marks because of the foot injury right before the draft. Big risk. But the talent? Unquestionably huge. For a team like Philly taking big swings, I put Embiid there. Gamble big or go home, right?
Then the Magic at #4. They had Oladipo and Vucevic. I thought about Aaron Gordon’s freakish athleticism and defensive potential. Also considered Dante Exum, the mystery man from Australia. I ended up mocking Aaron Gordon to Orlando. Felt like his energy and defense would fit well.
For the Jazz at #5, with Gordon off the board, Dante Exum seemed like the pick. They needed a lead guard, and Exum’s size and potential were really intriguing.
Filling Out the Rest
From there, I just continued down the list. Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, Nik Stauskas, Noah Vonleh – tried to match them with teams that made sense. Looked at who needed point guards, who needed shooting, who needed bigs. I definitely shuffled guys around a few times. Read some rumors about who liked who, which workouts went well, but tried not to let that sway me too much from my own evaluations and the team needs analysis.
Finally, I had my list, maybe the top 10 or 15 pretty solidified in my mind. Looking back, obviously some picks were way off, some were okay. That’s the nature of mock drafts, especially years later! But yeah, that was my process – lots of watching, checking stats, figuring out team needs, and making the best educated guess I could at the time. It was a fun exercise to go through.
