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1. Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose
Rose's knee is the only reason I think Chicago would reconsider.
2. Miami Heat: Kevin Love
K-Love on the Superfriends and the league would be a wrap. (And they still could have landed LeBron and Bosh, they just wouldn't have been able to sign Mike Miller.)
3. Minnesota Timberwolves: Russell Westbrook
Russ working with Big Al Jefferson on offense could be interesting.
4. Seattle Supersonics: Brook Lopez
It wouldn't have kept them in Seattle but it fills the hole at center and builds an interesting Lopez, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant frontcourt.
5. Memphis Grizzlies: Serge Ibaka
They had Kyle Lowry/Mike Conley, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, and had just acquired Marc Gasol in the Pau trade. Ibaka is the best fit for that team.
6. New York Knicks: Roy Hibbert
The Knicks needed a PG at the time (Chris Duhon would start in 2008-9) and had David Lee and Z-Bo in the frontcourt but adding a defensive anchor like Hibbert would have helped more than the remaining PGs.
7. Los Angeles Clippers: Eric Gordon
The Clippers probably wouldn't want to change their fortunes much since sucking got them Blake Griffin and Gordon was later a key piece to acquire Chris Paul.
8. Milwaukee Bucks: Nic Batum
On draft night, Ryan Anderson might have been the pick to pair with Ridnour/Sessions, Redd, Richard Jefferson, and Andrew Bogut. But seeing how that fell apart, they go with the best talent available in Batum.
9. Charlotte Bobcats: Ryan Anderson
Not the best player available but a good fit in between Okafor and Gerald Wallace.
10. New Jersey Nets: Danilo Gallinari
The Nets had just dumped Richard Jefferson and The Rooster would have been a nice guy to play off of Jason Kidd and Vince Carter.
11. Indiana Pacers: OJ Mayo
Well, first off, if I'm Portland, I don't trade Jarrett Jack and the #13 pick for the #11 so this pick stays with Indiana. The Pacers fill their hole at shooting guard with OJ.
12. Sacramento Kings: Omer Asik
They need a PG but, regardless of this pick, they'd have a top pick in 2009, which is a PG heavy draft so no need to waste a pick on that now. This team desperately needs some basketball IQ, which eliminates most of the big men remaining. Asik is a mess on offense but this team needs some defense so I'll go with him. Also, Asik's development was slow enough that he's cheaper than his fellow big men in this draft and money is what's most important to the Maloofs..
13. Portland Trailblazers: DeAndre Jordan
I think they stick with Jarrett Jack running the point so the PGs aren't an option. I'm not a huge fan of Jordan but out of the remaining big men, he's the best fit alongside Aldridge.
14. Golden State Warriors: Nikola Pekovic
They just lost Baron Davis and were about to implode. Pekovic gives them some offense in the frontcourt and is probably good enough to convince the Warriors that they don't need to re-sign Andris Biedrins to a big deal.
15. Phoenix Suns: Brandon Rush
This was the Nash, Amar'e, Shaq Suns. All Rush has to do is shoot the ball and that's something he's very good at doing.
Honorable Mention: George Hill and Goran Dragic. They probably deserved to go earlier but point guard is the easiest position to fill nowadays and, as noted, 2009 was loaded with point guards so, knowing what we know, it makes more sense to go after a project big man than a good but not great point guard.
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NBA MOCK DRAFT #1 - https://thecourierclass.com/whole-shebang/2017/5/18/2017-nba-mock-draft-1-just-lotto-and-lotta-trades
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