2015 NBA Draft: The Buzz in Brooklyn Tonight

The 2015 NBA Draft is less than an hour away from tipping off.

I can’t wait. I’m not sure you can either.

Every NBA general manager and their respective teams are frantically manning the phones as we speak, trying to get every possible edge leading up to the start of the 2015 NBA Draft.

This is the moment where the future of the NBA is revealed, where new chapters begin.

This is where player destinations are determined by 30 NBA executives, all hoping to one day present their city and fans with the Larry O’Brian Trophy at the end of the season the way Warriors GM Bob Myers did a week ago.

By now, GMs should know what they’re looking for, and for the most part have done all the homework necessary to make a good decision.

However, every single year, there’s at least a handful of teams that shock the basketball world either by selecting a “no-namer” or passing up on a “no-brainer” to select a player that leaves most people scratching their heads.

So, why make such a big deal over a process we have no control over (unless you happen to be an NBA general manager reading this), and why do extensive research on the matter?

We ALL want to know what’s in store for our team’s future.

It can be said that the future of your team can be made or broken through the draft.

You can select a player with plenty of promise, and for some reason, they may never live up to their full potential.

You can also select a “no-namer,” and while you might likely be the laughing stock of the entire league during the draft, there’s always that hope teams have of landing that one rare gem of a prospect that proves all the nay-sayers wrong.

Every team wants to be the last ones laughing.

But not every team chooses to take the big gamble. Some teams like to play it safe, while others go for home runs.

Last year, in the 2014 NBA Draft, one of the biggest surprises came at the 20^th overall pick in the first-round, when the Toronto Raptors selected an unknown kid named Bruno Cabolco. Some called him the Kevin Durant of Brazil, while one NBA analyst referred to him as being “two years away from being two years away.”

You could say Raptors GM Masai Ujiri swung for the fences on that pick, but if you look at the picks made following Cabolco, I think Ujiri has an argument for the prospect he chose if you want to look at the promise I see in Cabolco versus the players drafted following Cabolco (Most notably: Rodney Hood, Shabazz Napier, Jordan Clarkson, and Houston’s trio of rookies, Clint Capela, K.J. McDaniels, and Nick Johnson).

Any smart GM will tell you that you cannot base your decisions solely on what the fans would want, otherwise, you’d be doomed, for you cannot please everyone.

Each GM must do what he feels would be best for the team both short-term and long-term, and if they had to choose one over the other, that’s where GM mentalities and strategies may differ.

If you’re one or two pieces away from being a championship contender, ideally, you want to take less risk. Whereas if you’re in a rebuilding mode, picks become valuable assets to either trade to bring in talent or to find prospects to stash and/or develop through the various ranks (D-League, overseas, as a benchwarmer).

The Houston Rockets are clearly only one or two pieces away from getting over the hump they failed to get over this past post-season.

Every team endures injuries late in the season, and the Rockets were dealt a heavy blow when they lost their starting point guard to injury.

Securing the point guard position is not only what the Rockets need to do this off-season, but it’s something their star guard James Harden has requested from his team.

Johnathan Feigen with the Houston Chronicle has more on Harden’s request and what the Rockets need to do this off-season.

If you’re wondering where players may get drafted, SpaceCityScoop’s very own Tamberlyn Richardson gives her own edition of the 2015 NBA mock draft.

And of course, I decided to play around with the mock draft tool on RealGM.com. Check out the results from my mock draft.

SpaceCityScoop writers will be tweeting throughout the draft, so stay tuned for all the latest news.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you heard the following words from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at least a few times tonight: “We have a trade to announce.”

And without further adieu, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…

“With the first pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select…”

Next: Who Should Rockets Select at 32?

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