NBA Draft Express moves Crowder above final pick Djedovic on prospect list

[bamamarquettefan]

While DJO was projected as the final pick of the 1st round in the January 26th Mock Draft on Draft Express (is there really any way we could do this three years in a row), Nihad Djedovic was picked as the final pick of the 2nd round.  I just realized that while they have not updated their draft since then, they did update their Top 100 prospects and Crowder is now rated as a better prospect than Djedovic on that list.

This doesn't mean that Crowder will be listed in the next mock draft, as several other players also passed Djedovic, but Crowder is currently the "8th player out" of the draft when you go through the list – in other words Crowder would have been picked as the 8th pick of the 3rd round if we still had a 3rd round.

Anyway, here is the list of the last two "in" the draft, and then the first "11" out (wanted to include Sims who just missed the last 10 out.

Last two drafted in NBA Draft Express:
Bernard James PF/C, 27 years old, Senior, 6' 10" 240lbs., Florida State
Nihad Djedovic SG/SF, 22 years old, International, 6' 6" 195lbs.Roma

Last 11 "out" of the draft
1.   Mike Scott PF, 23 years old, Senior, 6' 8" 242lbs., Virginia (86th top prospect overall)
2.   Trevor Mbakwe PF 23 years old, Senior, 6' 8" 240lbs., Minnesota (89th)
3.   Darius Miller SF, 21 years old, Senior, 6' 7" 230lbs., Kentucky (90th)
4.   Dee Bost PG, 22 years old, Senior, 6' 2" 170lbs., Mississippi St. (91st)
5.   Alessandro Gentile SG/SF, 19 years old, International, 6' 6" 200lbs., Milano (93rd)
6.   Tomislav Zubcic PF, 22 years old, International, 6' 10" 210lbs., Cibona Zagreb (94th)
7.   Robert Sacre C, 22 years old, Senior, 7' 0" 247lbs., Gonzaga (95th)
8.   Jae Crowder SF/PF, 21 years old, Senior, 6' 6" 235lbs., Marquette (96th)
9.   Eric Griffin PF, 21 years old, Senior, 6' 8" 190lbs., Campbell (97th)
10.   Robbie Hummel SF, 22 years old, Senior, 6' 8" 208lbs., Purdue (98th)
11.   Henry Sims PF, 21 years old, Senior, 6' 10" 245lbs., Georgetown (99th)

There are 4 other players rated between the final pick and Crowder on the prospect list, but they are all juniors expected to wait until 2013 to enter the draft.

Good luck Jae - after you and DJO finish the big run here!

[🏀]

Mbakwe would be a terrible, terrible pick.

[MU82]

Aside from the teeny bit of prestige of being able to say you were an NBA draft pick, it is better to go undrafted than to be taken in the second round.

Undrafted, you are a free agent able to negotiate with any team. You can play in summer leagues for multiple teams and find your best fit. You usually sign a one-year contract and can renegotiate or leave as a free agent if you showed promise during your rookie year.

Wes Matthews was a classic example of this, but there have been countless others.

I'd wish this for Crowder rather than being something like the 28th pick in the 2nd round.

[Avenue Commons]

I get your point in theory that an undrafted FA has more options, but most 2nd round draft picks have a good chance of making the roster. GMs don't like to be wrong about their draft selections. If things are close in camp, the draft pick will get the benefit of the doubt.

[CTWarrior]

In theory an early second round pick should have a good chance, as he should be joining a weak team.  If I was a marginal NBA type talent, I would rather be undrafted than a late second round pick, trying to hook on with an elite team.

[wojosdojo]

Aside from the teeny bit of prestige of being able to say you were an NBA draft pick, it is better to go undrafted than to be taken in the second round.

Aside from saying you're in the NBA, you're in the NBA.

[MarsupialMadness]

Aside from the teeny bit of prestige of being able to say you were an NBA draft pick, it is better to go undrafted than to be taken in the second round.

Undrafted, you are a free agent able to negotiate with any team. You can play in summer leagues for multiple teams and find your best fit. You usually sign a one-year contract and can renegotiate or leave as a free agent if you showed promise during your rookie year.

Wes Matthews was a classic example of this, but there have been countless others.

I'd wish this for Crowder rather than being something like the 28th pick in the 2nd round.

Agreed.  If you make it in the first round, you're set.  Second round though... makes it tough.  If I thought I was valuable enough, I'd rather get signed a free agent like you said.

[Hards Alumni]

There is no way in hell Bernard James gets drafted as a 27 year old rookie.

[bilsu]

The key for Crowder is to get invited to Portsmouth or whatever it is called. Butler and Hayward raised their drafted stauts by doing well in the tests they did there. I think Buzz does a good job in preparing his players to do the best they can in these tryouts. Also his unstructured offense teaches his players to think on court instead of doing drilled repetitive plays.

[seakm4]

Mbakwe would be a terrible, terrible pick.

Why?  He's just a head case with knees comparable to jerry stackhouses ankles

[bamamarquettefan]

I thought I saw something last year showing that your chances are a good bit better of making the NBA as a 2nd round pick than going undrafted, but I may be wrong.  I wish they would stop letting teams do it to store rights to European picks - really makes it boring at the end.