Old North Banter NBA Mock Draft: Zion goes first, Culver goes fourth

This one is a no brainer; Williamson didn’t come into the season as a full-fledged prospect, but those who saw his legendary high school highlights knew what the rest of the sports world found out: This kid is the real deal. New Orleans got a clean slate following trading Anthony Davis to the Lakers and got many young pieces to pair around Williamson. The real question going forward will be can the Pelicans get Williamson to a title, which they failed to do with Anthony Davis on the roster for eight years.

What better way to move on from point guard Mike Conley than by drafting a young athletic point guard, am I right? Much like Williamson, Morant didn’t start this year as a potential lottery pick, but his stellar stat-line for the season (24.5 points, 10.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 49.9 field-goal percentage) throughout the year helped propel him to a top-3 pick in the draft. His aggressive style is similar to Russel Westbrook, but at just 175 pounds, he will need to put some weight on if he’s going to constantly slash inside the paint for his layups and monstrous dunks.

Wow, what could have been for the Knicks. They missed out on the two most sure-fire superstars in the draft, and now that neither Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, or Davis will not be joining the franchise that hasn’t won a championship since 1973. Barrett is a nice consolation prize for the Knicks, however, as Barrett was the no. 1 recruit coming into the season in college and has the talent to potentially make him an all-star. The Knicks will need to improve his shooting ability, as he was only a 30-percent three-point shooter and shot an abysmal 66.5-percent free-throw shooter.

Thanks to the aforementioned Anthony Davis trade, the Pelicans will have two picks in the top-five in this draft, and the first post-Zion pick they will make will be to add shooters on the outside. Culver I believe would make a better combo with Zion than the other prospect in the draft. While his shooting numbers were down, Culver vastly improved his rebounding in his sophomore season with the Red Raiders, improving from four rebounds per game his freshman season to six rebounds per game in his sophomore season. With Zion taking most of the attention, and the opportunity to learn the offense sitting behind Jrue Holliday, Culver could have the chance to flourish in the Crescent City.

The biggest trade of the night will happen at five and I think the Hawks have the most capital to give the Cavs, I think it will involve eight, 17 and some combo of future draft assets. I think the first thing they will do is draft a replacement for the aging Vince Carter, and they will pick Hunter. Hunter showed improvement in his three-point shooting over his last two seasons. Not only that, he played guard as well in college and with the size of a three with the ball handling of a two, it will be a great player to add with Trae Young and John Collins.

Let’s continue this NBA Mock Draft on the next slide.