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The Utah Jazz finished last season with a whimper -- they should have made the NBA Playoffs, but injuries (an excuse) and losing games they should have won (lots of 4th quarter collapses, also remember that game against LAC's 3rd stringers?) contributed to them missing it. For their efforts they were rewarded with a Lottery pick in this NBA Draft -- but instead of using it on a player they used it in a three team trade with the Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers for a veteran point guard (George Hill). Utah still has possession of the #42, #52, and #60 draft picks. And I set my mind out to finding out who the rest of the world thought we'd select.
N.B. This is from the same massive data set as my consensus ranking, but because not everyone of those 40 lists included a second round, the data set for this one is only 20. Also, one site, not naming names but it rhymes with "Reacher Deport" just stopped after 51 for no good reason, leaving 9 blank spots -- two of which are reflected below.
| Pick #42 | School | Pick #52 | School | Pick #60 | School | |||
| 1 | Anthony "Cat" Barber | North Carolina St. | Gary Payton II | Oregon St. | Andrey Desynatnikov | Russia | ||
| 2 | Brice Johnson | North Carolina | Isaia Cordiner | France | Andrey Desynatnikov | Russia | ||
| 3 | Damian Jones | Vanderbilt | Isaia Cordiner | France | Anthony "Cat" Barber | North Carolina St. | ||
| 4 | Diamond Stone | Maryland | Isaiah Cousins | Oklahoma | Fred VanVleet | Wichita St. | ||
| 5 | Diamond Stone | Maryland | Isaiah Whitehead | Seton Hall | Georges Niang | Iowa St. | ||
| 6 | Isaia Cordiner | France | Isaiah Whitehead | Seton Hall | Gracin Bakumanya | Congo | ||
| 7 | Isaiah Whitehead | Seton Hall | Jake Layman | Maryland | James Webb III | Boise St. | ||
| 8 | Isaiah Whitehead | Seton Hall | Jake Layman | Maryland | James Webb III | Boise St. | ||
| 9 | Joel Bolomboy | Weber St. | Jake Layman | Maryland | Jarrod Uthoff | Iowa | ||
| 10 | Kahlil Felder | Oakland | Jarrod Uthoff | Iowa | Joel Bolomboy | Weber St. | ||
| 11 | Malcolm Brogdon | Virginia | Kahlil Felder | Oakland | Joel Bolomboy | Weber St. | ||
| 12 | Malcolm Brogdon | Virginia | Malachi Richardson | Syracuse | Julian Jacobs | USC | ||
| 13 | Pascal Siakam | New Mexico St. | Michael Gbinije | Syracuse | Kahlil Felder | Oakland | ||
| 14 | Patrick McCaw | UNLV | Pascal Siakam | New Mexico St. | Marshall Plumlee | Duke | ||
| 15 | Patrick McCaw | UNLV | Paul Zipser | Germany | Perry Ellis | Kansas | ||
| 16 | Petr Cornelie | France | Perry Ellis | Kansas | Petr Cornelie | France | ||
| 17 | Rade Zagorac | Serbia | Sheldon McClellan | Miami Flordia | Sheldon McClellan | Miami Flordia | ||
| 18 | Stephen Zimmerman Jr. | UNLV | Stephen Zimmerman Jr. | UNLV | Sheldon McClellan | Miami Flordia | ||
| 19 | Stephen Zimmerman Jr. | UNLV | Zhou Qi | China | Zach Auguste | Notre Dame | ||
| 20 | Tyrone Wallace | California |
For the #42 pick there really isn't any consensus, but a few guys pop up twice. Personally if Brice Johnson (or Damian Jones) falls to #42 I am happy with that. But that's not going to happen. Out of these guys I have no favorites but Diamond Stone shouldn't be horrible. He's not the right guy for what Quin Snyder wants, but he is projected frequently as a 31-35 guy.
The #52 spot seems to want us to collect another Maryland product, Jake Layman (3 people think so!) -- however three is just one more than two, and there's no trend. I would love to add a French player for Rudy Gobert to pal around with, and while I was hoping it would be Timothe Luwawu it may just have to be Isaia Cordinier. They are much different wing players, but it can't hurt if I have to pick from this lot.
For the last pick of the draft there's no one guy who stands out either, but I wouldn't mine Joel Bolomboy or Gracin Bakumanya or Andrey Desynatnikov. If we have five point guards we should also have five centers on the roster, just my two cents.
Personally, I do not believe that the Utah Jazz will be leaving the night with all three of these picks. The players the team may end up with this draft could all hail from different picks altogether. Dennis Lindsey wants to keep us on our toes, it seems.
Last, a few of these guys seem to be on the board at #42, #52, and #60. That shows you how much of the draft is a crapshoot, and also how ultimately non-Earth shattering the 2nd round is.