NBA Draft update: UK's Cousins to the Kings, Orton's draft status changing by the minute

This week’s NBA Draft update is short and simple; we’ll have full coverage of the five Kentucky Wildcats tomorrow for the NBA Draft as it goes down. Stay tuned.

1st – Washington Wizards: John Wall

5th – Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins (5, 5, 5, 6)
Cousins looks to be headed to Sac-town to play for the Kings and despite the fact that the team just traded for center Samuel Dalembert, Cousins would be an offensive upgrade to the defensive minded Dalembert.

The former Kentucky All-American has been dogged throughout the NBA Draft process and Thursday is the beginning of an entirely new career. From everything we’ve heard, I can only think that Cousins will put an emphasis on proving everyone in the league wrong especially the ones that passed him up in the draft. Whatever plays out, Cousins will be my new favorite NBA player and possibly influencing me into buying his jersey.

13th – Toronto Raptors: Patrick Patterson (12, 13, 13, 11)
Patterson is a hard working kid who will look to make an instant impact for any team that selects the former ‘Cats power forward. It looks as if Toronto is the new leader for Patterson where he could fit in well alongside Chris Bosh—if he decides to stay in Toronto—or coming off the bench.

The NBA has decided to invite Patterson to the party, where he’ll take part in the pre-draft festivities along with 15-20 other prospects looking to get drafted Thursday evening. Expect both John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins to be in attendance as well, along with Kentucky head coach John Calipari. Wherever Patterson goes, one team is going to be very thankful Patterson fell to them in the draft.

18th – Oklahoma City Thunder: Daniel Orton (18, 21, 21, 30)
When everyone thought DeMarcus Cousins to be the biggest enigma in the 2010 NBA Draft, former Wildcats reserve Daniel Orton swiftly stole that distinction away from his former teammate. Orton has yet to sign an agent—odd I know with it being this late in the draft process—while getting some ill-advised mentoring from those closest to a once Top-10 draft pick.

Orton will likely fall towards the end of the first round as some NBA teams look elsewhere. His status has raised a ton of red flags, including potential health issues that keep lingering. One of those is a serious knee injury Orton suffered before the start of his senior season that have NBA teams and personnel questioning his durability. Don’t be surprised if Orton slips drastically in Thursday draft, quite possibly going in the second round rather than the first like many had thought only weeks earlier.

19th – Boston Celtics: Eric Bledsoe (19, 19, 19, 33)
Could Bledsoe be the Celtics answer to the potential departure of free agent Ray Allen? It looks like that could be the case on Thursday based off of projections, where Bledsoe could team up with fellow and former ‘Cats point guard Rajon Rondo.

Bledsoe has a chance to go in the first-round as the second most talented guard prospect in the draft behind teammate John Wall. It will be interesting to see what teams do in the first round, as the Miami Heat have already traded their 18th pick to Oklahoma City. If an NBA team makes a move up or down in the draft, Bledsoe could be involved in those various scenarios.

WBB’s 2010 NBA Mock Draft contributors: NBADraft, DraftExpress, Hoopshype, Hoopsworld

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