D.J Wilson trending up in multiple NBA mock drafts per Wolverine 247
General consensus around here was Wilson made a mistake keeping his name in the draft but 6 of 7 NBA mock drafts think otherwise. From the 247 article:
BleacherReport — 24th, Utah. Prior — none.
Sports Illustrated — 24th, Utah. Prior — 28th.
NBADraft.net — 25th, Orlando. Prior — none.
DraftExpress — 27th, Brooklyn. Prior — 30th.
SB Nation — 29th, San Antonio. Prior — 17th.
NBC Sports — 30th, Utah. Prior — none.
Only the Sporting News mock had him falling outside of round one and they rated him as the 30th best prospect available. Although time will tell it seems that people outside of our little community of experts think he's making the right choice in leaving.
http://michigan.247sports.com/Bolt/DJ-Wilson-trending-up-in-NBA-Mock-Drafts-52954882
I think he's a lock to be picked by 25, and I think there is an outside shot he can be picked in the teens-- mainly because of his outside shot.
I'm happy for the guy, regardless of where he gets picked. What I'm most excited to see is if he decides to wear the ultra-tight jersey and short shorts? One of my favorite memories of his emergence this year was yelling "c'mon singlet!" when we needed a big play. Hoping it continues..
Let him avoid Orlando or Brooklyn. My hope was when D.J declared and was pegged as a late first rounder that he would go to San Antonio or another contender, an actual stable franchise that can make him better. If he lands in NBA purgatory, I wish the best for him, but am more nervous about his chances.
As mentioned back at the top, a lot of people said it was a bad decision based on the projections - if these projections came out earlier, it would have shifted the conversation for a lot of posters.
Based on the latest mock drafts, it seems like the "right" decision, regardless of where he goes - however, i don't think we will know if its a "good" decision until the actual draft...when we know where he gets picked.
Remember, these are projections of what people think will happen, not an evaluation of talent. It makes sense that people are projecting him in the first round now, because it's likely that he got a first-round promise that swayed him to stay in the draft.
I'm still unsure why people thought he was making a bad decision, there was plenty of up-trend info on him before the draft and it seemed likely he wanted to bounce.
DJ's a good athlete and had a chance to go to the league and it's not like the Beilein system highlights bigs. The reason Wagner came back is he didn't have the same uptick.
that Beilein's system doesn't highlight bigs. We run a pro-style pick and roll oriented offense that allows big like Wagner who can roll and/or pick and pop to shine. He was the highest usage player on the team this year. When we have good bigs that can shoot, there isn't a better offense for them to be in.
That idea is simply based on the fact that we don't post up our bigs which is mostly becoming extinct anyway. It's a fallacy used to recruit against us without considering the skills NBA bigs need these days.
The beauty of Beilein's offense is that it's well-equipped to highlight creators on offense, regardless of position. A PG that can drive but not shoot? See Darius Morris. A score first PG? See Trey. An alpha-dog wing man? See Stauskas and Levert. A highly skilled big? See Wagner. We highlight the players that deserve to be highlighted. Jon Horford (his family, really) cried about Belien's use of bigs but Horford was being used as well as his skills dictated.