Let's dive into what happened last night in the NBA draft

a blog by Big Red

So the draft has now come and gone, so let's take a look at what exactly happened. 

Here are the top 15 picks from last night:

1. Ben Simmons-76er's
2. Brandon Ingram-Lakers
3. Jaylen Brown-Celtics
4. Dragan Bender-Suns
5. Kris Dunn-Timberwolves
6. Buddy Hield-Pelicans
7. Jamal Murray-Nuggets
8. Marquese Chriss -Kings but traded to Suns
9. Jakob Poeltl - Raptors
10. Thon Maker-Bucks
11. Damontas Sabonis-Magic but traded to OKC
12. Taurean Prince-Jazz but traded to Atlanta
13. Georgios Papagiannis-Suns but traded to Kings
14. Denzel Valentine-Bulls
15. Juan Hernangomez-Nuggets

A couple of surprises:

For starters I was shocked to see Jaylen Brown go at the number 3 spot to the Celtics. I'm sure you may have noticed the rant I went on in my Celtics post draft blog, but Jaylen Brown is the opposite of the guy we need right now. I like the thought that the Celtics need another strong guy on defense, and a guy who can finish near the rim, but Jaylen Brown does not have much else going for him. 

THON MAKER. I said it in my pre draft blog, and I'll say it again, Thon Maker has potential to be one of the biggest steals of this years draft. I guess the GM for the Bucks was reading my blogs... While I am a little shocked to see that Thon was chosen at the 10 spot, he honestly deserves it. As long as the kid can put on some weight and muscle, there's no doubt in my mind that he could be a success in this league. 

The Timberwolves will be a power house in a couple of years. Drafting Kris Dunn was definitely the right move for them, the only way they could get any better is if they give Zach Lavine the reigns at the point guard spot and trade away Ricky Rubio for future draft picks and maybe a veteran role player for their bench. Kris Dunn is the full package, and I truly think he's going to become an all star shooting guard in this league in just a few short years. 

​Very surprised to actually see Dragan Bender drafted in the top 5. I get that he has upside if his game pans out. But for christ's sake the dude barely got minutes for a European Jewish team... Meanwhile he only averaged 4.6 ppg and 2.6 rpg. The guys who were commentating the draft tried to make Bender seem like a great 3 point shooter, and then mentioned his % from 3 was something like 30%.. Hopefully Bender pans out, because if you ask me the Suns should have drafted either Dunn, Hield, or even taken Sabonis at the 8 pick and Marquese Chriss at the 4th spot.

Last guy I was surprised to see get called on in the first 15 was Denzel Valentine. He was drafted 14th overall to the very desperate Chicago Bulls. Seems like The Bulls are about to get rid of Butler and head into a massive rebuild mode. Hopefully things pan out for them, but Valentine's game is pretty standard and I don't think he's going to be nearly as good of a shooter as he was in college. Not to mention Valentine is still recovering form his arthroscopic surgery and no one knows how he's going to play until summer league comes around. However, if the bulls decide to keep Jimmy Butler and give him the reigns on the team, then I could actually see Denzel Valentine becoming a decent back up for Butler.