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2021 Clippers-Focused NBA Mock Draft Roundup: Four Days Out
With the 2021 NBA Draft just a few days away, we are doing another mock draft roundup of major sites’ picks for the Clippers before our final roundup the day of the draft. Without further ado, here are five sites’ picks for the Clippers and snippets of the explanations.
The Clippers might look to add depth at center.. Sharpe has
helped himself in the pre-draft process, shedding weight, showcasing much
better floor-spacing potential than previously advertised, and impressing in
private interviews…
The Athletic: Rokas Jokubaitis
The player: Jokubaitis is a combo guard with
exceptional feel for the game and the ability to play out of ball screens…
The key for him will be athletic translation and consistently gaining
separation, but he plays such an unhurried style of basketball with poise that
I think he’ll probably … at least carve out a solid bench role in the NBA.
The fit: The Clippers love toughness and are
competing for a title… one avenue open to them given their current contract
situation could be to stash a player they like overseas for another year to try
to re-shape their roster for this season.
Mann is more scorer than table-setter, but the Clippers
might have enough passers to make it work…
Ayo Dosunmu improved enough as a shooter in his third season
at Illinois to lock up a spot in the first round… he can be a big-scoring guard
who could provide depth in the Clippers’ backcourt and help them win
immediately.
Generating offense without Kawhi Leonard will be of the
utmost importance for the Clippers. Butler could bring scoring and playmaking
off the bench..
Overall, this is a mixed bag. I would love Butler, and would
be fine with Dosunmu and Mann, though neither are among my very top choices at
25. Unfortunately, the two best sourced of these (by far), are ESPN and the
Athletic, and both of them have absolutely baffling selections. Remember, these
are not the picks that they would make, but the ones they think the Clippers
*will* make.
Sharpe is a high-energy, strong-rebounding young big man from North Carolina. Unfortunately, the positives mostly stop there – he doesn’t have much in the way of touch or offensive skill outside of finishing at the basket, nor is he highly athletic. The basketball instincts aren’t bad, but the decision-making and raw skills are. As a flier in the 2nd round, maybe from the mid-30s on, he’d be a fine pick. ESPN has him as the 31st best prospect in the draft, the Ringer at 36, the Athletic at 40, and Cerebrodraft at 34. At 25, over guys like Mann, Bones Hyland, Jaden Springer, and Deuce McBride (all available in that ESPN mock), he’d be a bad look. Those guys will help sooner, and all probably have higher upside as well. While fan opinion makes no impact on the draft, I can’t imagine fans would be happy at another long-term, raw center pick in the late 1st round.
The Jokubaitis pick might be worse from a value perspective. I can’t claim to know anything about Rokas. As someone who does watch Euroleague from time to time, I’ve probably seen him play a bit at Zalgiris, but not intently. I have no information on him. However, in terms of rankings, the Athletic is highest on him at 29 on their big board. He’s at 42 on Cerebrodraft, 43 on ESPN, and 49 on the Ringer. Picking him at 25 would be a massive reach – if the Clippers want him that badly, they could probably buy the 38th pick and snag him there. He might be really good, and the Clippers could want him desperately, but it seems unlikely that anyone else would take him that high.
That about does it for this mock draft roundup of the Clippers’ 2021 picks, but expect a ton of updates to come in these mock drafts over the next few days. Hopefully picks like Butler and Mann will become a bit more prevalent as the 2021 NBA Draft approaches.
2021 Clippers-Focused NBA Mock Draft Roundup: Four Days Out
Robert Flom
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