One more day. One more day till the 2014 NBA Draft. I already had my mock draft a couple weeks ago, and that was assuming no trades would happen. Then, all the trade rumors hit. A possible 3 way trade between the Kings, Celtics and the Cavs. Rondo to Kings, 1st overall pick to Celtics, Cousins to the Cavs. Also, a possible trade between the Kings and Pistons which involve moving Josh Smith. As always, those are all speculations until they actually happen. On to James and Julius.
James Young:
Teams that have shown interest in James have been the Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls. Of those 4 teams only 2 of them have a need for a shooting guard, and those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks.
In my mock draft I had James going to the Phoenix Suns for this reason:
"Some people may say that James Young doesn’t look like he can play 3, but he has the size, he can shoot it from the outside, and he can take his guy off the bounce, drive and score. If the Suns need him to they can use him as depth for their shooting guard position, but I think the Suns will give him a go at the small forward position. James Young will be an All-Star one day, there’ no doubt in my mind, whether its playing shooting guard or small forward, that remains to be seen."
I still think that Young will be drafted by the Suns. I don’t see the Lakers taking James with the 7th pick. Therefore, if the Lakers were to draft James they would have to trade to get him. As far as the Bulls being interested in James I can’t see them taking him either. That said, if, IF, the Suns don’t take James then look for the Hawks to be more than excited to draft him.
Julius Randle
Julius is a little more difficult to assess where he’ll be going. You have the whole foot injury issue and people have him slipping in the draft. Then, you have people going as high as top 3. I don’t see him being a top 3 pick even though he should be. The only teams I’ve seen that were interested in Julius were the Celtics, Lakers and the Kings. If the Pistons end up trading Josh Smith to the Kings for their pick, you can add the Pistons to the teams that would be interested in taking him.
Here’s what I had to say about Julius going to the Celtics in my mock draft:
"The physical specimen that Julius Randle is, is outrageous. Randle has probably the best motor of anyone in the this class. The Celtics need pretty much everything except point guard, and even that might be in jeopardy if the Celtics end up trading away Rajon Rondo. Randle will bring back that fire to the Celtics organization. Randle does have some things that he needs to work on. Randle needs to work on using BOTH hands to finish, he can’t just be going to his left hand all the time, he got away with it in college but he wont in the NBA. Lastly, Randle needs to improve on his defense if he wants to be effective in the League."
If for some reason the Celtics pass on Julius the Lakers will take him with the very next pick. I really can’t imagine Julius going anywhere other than the Lakers or the Celtics. I stand be my earlier prediction of Julius being a Boston Celtic.