2010 NBA Mock Draft – I’m not doing a “who are they going to draft” mock draft. Instead, I’m doing a “who should they draft” mock draft. So, ten years from now, I can make fun of myself for some of the bad picks I’ve made. And, of course, pat myself on the back for the one great pick I do.

10) Pacers– Gordon Hayward – The Pacers need to surround Danny Granger with some better players. I hope this isn’t hitting you as news. Hayward is a guy who had a great season leading Butler to the National Championship game. Do I think he’s going to be an All-Star? Nope. But I also don’t see any reason he can’t be a poor man’s Mike Miller. I hate to do the “comparing a white guy to another white guy” thing, but in this case it’s true. Miller doesn’t have elite NBA athleticism. He’s got an elite skill (shooting) as does Hayward (shooting… we think – let’s hope his 2010 3 pt % was a bit of an aberration). Having watched one season of Mike Miller with the Wolves, the thing that stood out to me is that he was always the guy making the right decisions. He rebounded better than he should. He instigated the offense from the forward position almost like Scottie Pippen did. Watching Hayward, I’ve thought this is the exact kind of player that NBA teams can hope he becomes.

9) Jazz – Luke Babbitt – Every year, one player goes 5-10 spots higher than everyone pegged them. In 204, Sebastian Telfair was pegged to go in the 20s and he went 13. Last year, Darren Collison was pegged for middle of the second round and he went 21st. Babbitt has been steadily rising the past few weeks, but I think his combine tests (he had the third highest vertical jump in the entire draft, second highest bench press amongst SF and tested better than Xavier Henry, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Wes Johnson in the lane agility test). Most importantly, he’s the best shooter in the draft and he’s always been known for a great basketball IQ. Again, I’m hoping he falls to #16 (or at least the Wolves trade #16 and #23 up to about a #10-12 if he’s still available. Plus, do you not think he’d be a great fit to play with the Jazz and Deron Williams (a team that is likely to lose Kyle Korver this offseason, may I remind you). This isn’t a guy that is just now becoming relevant, either. The following was writted in 2007 about Babbitt on draftexpress.com - “This might be a surprise considering the quality of players on the 2008 high school squad (top 10 prospects B.J. Mullens, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, many more) but the best player on the floor in the US vs. Team Africa game (in our estimation at least) was Nevada commit (and one-time Ohio State signee) Luke Babbitt. “

8) Clippers – Xavier Henry – He’s going a lot lower on most mock drafts, but I think we need to look at the last few drafts and reassess what we think about Xavier Henry. Jrue Holiday went #17 to Philly and I’m fairly confident the Sixers (rightfully) wouldn’t trade him for #6 Jonny Flynn right now. I’m very hopefully that he slides down to #16 to the Wolves, but I think some team is going to figure out his upside. Unlike Holiday and DeRozen last year, Henry actually had a good freshman year. As a comparison, he scored more on a good team last year than Evan Turner or Wesley Johnson did on average teams their freshman year.

7) Pistons – Greg Monroe – A lot of experts have Monroe going earlier at #5 to the Kings. I think this is a better fit. He’s no guarantee to be a good pro. First of all, he can’t go right (which, is actually much better than righties who can’t go left).

6) Warriors – Al-Farouq Aminu – I like this pick for the Warriors. If Don Nelson is the coach, I can’t see this not being the pick. He’s got a lot of offensive potential and he’s a really good athlete (even though the combine tests didn’t really show it). I think on a running team like the Warriors alongside Ellis and Curry, he could be a ton of fun to watch.

5) Kings – DeMarcus Cousins – Please, for the love of all that is good in the world, let this happen. My brother-in-law Ross and I were the only two guys on the planet outside of Sacramento that intentionally watched the Kings last year. Tyreke and DeMarcus Cousins seem like they would either butt heads or be fantastic together. Uncle Wes would probably help make sure they play nice. This would turn the Kings into a potentially really nice team in a few years.

4) Wolves – Wesley Johnson – Wesley Johnson is an interesting pick. First of all, I love him for the Wolves. Why not? He’s shown he can shoot. I really enjoy that’s an efficient scorer more than a volume scorer. His length and athleticism translates really well to the NBA game. He’s got more “Scottie Pippen” in him than that Kobe/Michael gene. But the possibility of a Rubio(6’4”)/Brewer(6’8”)/Johnson (6’7”) backcourt is really exciting to me. To me, this is the best case scenario for our Wolves.

3) Nets – Evan Turner – This would be a good fit for the Nets. Considering they’re in the LeBron hunt, but more likely to end up with one of the elite power forwards, they could put together a nice starting lineup. Imagine Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Evan Turner, Amare/Boozer, and Brook Lopez with Yi, CDR, and Williams coming off the bench. That’s a #7 or #8 seed in the East right now, isn’t it? I think Evan Turner is going to wind up being more Jalen Rose (solid, versatile pro) than Brandon Roy – who’s a franchise guy.

2) 76ers – Derrick Favors – Everyone has Evan Turner here. I don’t see it unless they trade. They’ve got AI 2.0. They’ve got Thaddeus Young. They’ve got Louis Williams. They’ve got Jrue Holiday. What’s the point of grabbing another wing that may or may not be an upgrade on AI and/or Young when you’ve got a frontcourt that’s quite suspect. I’ve heard a lot of talk that Wall and Cousins are the top two talented guys in the draft. What if I told you that Favors measures the exact same height as Dwight Howard and five pounds heavier (with less body fat). He’s got the exact same max vert (35.5”), benched 185 pounds 14 times vs. Howard’s 7, and has similar wingspan (7’4.5” for Howard, 7’4” for Favors). I’ll bet you a few weeks from now, you start to hear Favors name here. It makes way too much sense. Some people say he wasn’t great in college. Take a look at Al Horford’s numbers, who spent three years at Florida, and tell me that college numbers are the be-all determining factor on who’s going to be a good pro.

1) Wizards – John Wall - This seems pretty no-brainer-ish. He’s got the possibility of being the next D-Wade. I don’t see him being anything worse than a top-10 NBA point guard. What else can be said about the guy that hasn’t already been said.