WaltWhat is this? This is my 18th-annual NBA Draft Blog. I’ll be posting my thoughts about the first round of the NBA Draft here. That will include everything from the actual picks, to the ESPN “personalities,” to the commercials, etc. Anything goes. This page will be updated every five minutes or so, so I hope you join me for the 2023 NBA Draft!
Also, I will be posting NBA Draft Grades on this page.
7:58: It’s time for the NBA Draft to begin! I’ve written up grades on the Bullets drafting Dybantsa and the Jazz drafting Peterson, so if the selections don’t go that way, I’m screwed!
7:59: I used to watch the NBA Draft with my dad almost every year. That has stopped because I have two young kids at home. I’m a bit worried about my 4-year-old son Conrad going to sleep because I always put him to bed, but my wife will be doing so tonight. There’s a good chance he comes downstairs to watch this with me, so the circle of life could be complete.
8:01: I can see why New Yorkers were happy about a parade. Their city sucks, so they need something to get excited about.
8:02: I imagine some New Yorkers will e-mail me saying, “Hurr durr, Philly sucks too bro.” I know. It does. My friend once told me a joke: What’s the difference between Philadelphians and New Yorkers? Philadelphians know their city sucks.
8:04: One of the best things about watching the NBA Draft with my dad is hearing the expletives he shouts at Adam Silver.
8:05: Crazy that Jalen Brunson and Nikola Jokic were both second-round picks.
8:06: Washington Bullets* not Wizards.
8:07: Can someone tell me why ESPN has two sideline reporters sitting on their set? They did this last year.
8:08: Whoa, where did Tim Legler get his tan, the planet Mercury?
8:09: Nice to see that Scott Van Pelt is on the set as well.
8:10: Did the ESPN sideline reporter just say that the agent’s phone hasn’t rung yet? That’s insane.
With the No. 1 pick the Wizards select A.J. Dybantsa
8:12: I usually joke about being happy about getting the first pick right when it’s such a given, but there were mock drafts out there that had the Bullets drafting Peterson.
8:13: The Jazz are up. My dad always jokes, “They’re going to draft the best white player available.”
8:15: Five minutes per pick is way too rushed.
8:16: “The Jazz are now on the clock.” No, they already made their pick. ESPN already behind.
With the No. 2 pick the Wizards select Darryn Peterson
8:18: Two for two in my mock. Absolute perfection.
8:19: The NBA about to set off the fire alarm with all that smoke they have for players entering the stage.
8:20: Darryn Peterson’s mom looks like she’s from the year 2190 with that spacesuit coat she’s wearing.
8:22: It feels like Cameron Boozer has already been in the NBA for years with all the commecials he’s been in the past six months.
With the No. 3 pick the Grizzlies select Cameron Boozer
8:25: Three for three, let’s go! (Although many other mocks are also 3-for-3.)
8:26: Here come the Bulls, who may also be moving to Hammond, Indiana at this point.
8:29: Lisa Salters just named the wrong Boozer kid, and Carlos did not look very happy.
With the No. 4 pick the Bulls select Caleb Wilson
8:31: Four for four! Hotter than the Las Vegas sun!
8:32: This new Clippers logo sucks. It looks like a purple blob. I’m aware it’s supposed to be a ship, but you can only tell that if you look closely. Surely they could have come up with something better than that.
8:33: Who designed those baseball caps, Mrs. Goldberg?
8:34: Is Caleb Wilson’s dad Jerry Rice? Looked exactly like him.
With the No. 5 pick the Clippers select Keaton Wagler
8:37: Five for five. Speaking of five, the Five Guys near me has closed for good, and as a fat man, I’ve never been more upset.
8:38: Come on, Nets, take Acuff, and have me go six for six.
8:39: I like this family room-style setup for the interviews. It’d be nicer if we had slightly longer interviews. Teams should have seven minutes in between picks.
8:40: The ESPN sideline reporter just said she looks like she’s 12? Oooookayyy.
With the No. 6 pick the Nets select Mikel Brown Jr.
8:43: Nooooooo!!! No six of six. Oh well. I had a nice run, along with everyone else. If only the NFL Draft was so predictable.
8:44: Speaking of six, that reminds me of the word sex. I heard a funny joke recently. They call sex before marriage a sin. What do they call sex after marriage? A miracle.
8:45: Mikel Brown Jr. just said, “I’m home.” Does he think this family room setup is his actual home?
With the No. 7 pick the Nets select Darius Acuff Jr.
8:48: No lie, I thought about switching the sixth and seventh picks, but didn’t pull the trigger. Damn it!
8:49: ESPN is so far behind that when Lisa Salters was interviewing Mikel Brown, and she said he’d be playing in this arena, I thought she meant the Kings because the Kings’ pick was in.
8:50: “Darius, what makes this moment so special?” “Very special.”
8:52: Great, now with the commercials, ESPN will fall even further behind.
With the No. 8 pick the Hawks select Kingston Flemings
8:56: Six of eight is not bad. We’re rooting for Brayden Burries now.
8:57: NFL and NBA front offices always clap for themselves whenever they make a pick. It’s not that impressive to make a pick, guys.
With the No. 9 pick the Mavericks select Morez Johnson
9:03: A long time ago, Pete Carroll caught a lot of flak for drafting Earl Thomas over one of his USC safeties. He definitely made the right choice, as Thomas ended up being one of the great players in the Legion of Boom. The Mavericks just made the opposite decision. Then again, this is a team that traded Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson for very little.
9:04: I just became blind looking at Morez Johnson’s mother’s dress.
With the No. 10 pick the Mavericks select Brayden Burries
9:08: ESPN’s sideline reporter: “The clock is ticking down, the Bucks’ pick will be in soon.” Meanwhile, the screen said “the pick is in.”
9:09: “Brayden Burries has no memory.” So, this is like Fifty First Dates?
9:10: Just saw that the Warriors are trying to trade the pick.
9:12: The ESPN sideline reporter just said that Golden State is her “home town.” My condolences on dealing with all of the poop on the street.
9:13: Got distracted by the talent sitting behind Yaxel.
With the No. 11 pick the Warriors select Yaxel Lendeborg
9:17: Every player thus far has had a strong family unit. That’s nice to see. No one has had their fourth aunt’s cousin’s roomate once removed sitting with them in Lisa Salters’ family room.
9:18: That was correct pick No. 7 for me. I know you guys care so much about this.
9:19: ESPN’s sideline reporter said, “He’s mobile. He moves well.” From the redundancy department of redundancy.
9:20: No dad in this interview. Spoke too soon.
With the No. 12 pick the Thunder select Aday Mara
9:23: Why is the Michigan Maverick coach yelling “damn it” after all of his players are selected? Is he trying to draft every Michigan player?
9:25: Why does ESPN have the Heat drafting now? Did they not hear about the Giannis trade?
9:27: It’d be great if the city that hosted the NBA Draft didn’t smell like sour milk.
9:28: The Heat/Bucks ran out of time. Hornets, make the pick now!!!
With the No. 13 pick the Bucks select Nate Ament
9:32: I had the Bucks drafting Ament at No. 10. Given that these two picks were so close together, I’m going to count this as correct. That would be eight. Again, I know you guys are so interested.
9:33: I just realized that I had Aday Mara written as “Andy Mara” in my mock draft. Whoops! In my defense, Andy sounds much better than Aday.
9:34: Colenol Sanders sitting with Nate Ament and his mom for some reason.
With the No. 14 pick the Hornets select Hannes Steinbach
9:40: Nice job by Adam Silver announcing a trade that happened 24 hours ago.
9:41: Great words from Dirk Nowitzki. Very inspiring.
9:42: Who is that 7-foot-tall woman on the couch with Steinbach?
9:44: Glad to see Tormund getting a job now that the Wall is down.
9:45: Salad in a roll? Just eat a f**king salad.
9:46: Salad in a salad wrap makes sense. Bread defeats the whole purpose.
With the No. 15 pick the Bulls select Dailyn Swain
9:47: The Thunder traded the 17th pick an hour ago, apparently, but ESPN has yet to mention it.
9:49: No idea why ESPN is listing Swain as a guard. He’s a 6-foot-8 rebounding small forward.
9:50: ESPN kicked Scott Van Pelt off the set for the A.J. Dybantsa interview.
With the No. 16 pick the Thunder select Bennett Stirtz
9:57: The Thunder and Grizzlies flip-flopped picks for some reason.
9:58: It’d be nice if ESPN reported this trade when it was made an hour ago! How incompetent are these people?
9:59: Where’s Brian Windworst? Why is he not on the set?
With the No. 17 pick the Pistons select Ebuka Okorie
10:04: Sorry, lots to catch up on. I don’t think anyone knows who really has the 16th and 17th picks.
10:05: What a reach! Detroit making a poor draft pick? When have we heard that before?
With the No. 18 pick the Hornets select Hans Christian Anderson
10:09: I can’t wait to hear about all of these trades. You’d think one of the sideline reporters they have on the set would announce them. Or what about Adam Silver? Why’s he not announcing them?
10:10: Bad look for Hans Christian Anderson to take a picture with soccer players, but people from third-world countries don’t know any better.
10:11: Seeing this sideline reporter up close for the first time. She doesn’t look like she’s 12. I suppose that means that Krassenstein brothers won’t want to shower with her.
With the No. 19 pick the Raptors select Allen Graves
10:15: Eight picks correct, but I’ve been one off on four selections. Could have easily been 12!
10:16: 1969 is part of the modern draft era???
10:17: The biggest choke artists in sports history are now on the clock.
With the No. 20 pick the Spurs select Jayden Quaintance
10:21: Will Quaintance keep the Spurs from choking?
10:23: OK, so based on what the doctor guy ESPN had on air said, this next pick will be sent to Memphis.
10:24: Bring back the dollar slice? Just go back in time and prevent Woodrow Wilson from installing the Federal Reserve.
10:25: If ESPN wants people to download their app, perhaps they shouldn’t show Mina Kimes as one of the broadcasters.
With the No. 21 pick the Grizzlies select Karim Lopez
10:29: Did they just say Karim Lopez is from Ana Lucia, Mexico? Oh, I miss LOST so much.
10:31: The Seventy Sucksers are on the clock. Let’s see how they screw this up.
10:32: The 76ers should draft one of these mega values at guard or a center to eventually take over for Joel Embiid.
With the No. 22 pick the 76ers select Labaron Philon
10:36: I wonder what my dad thinks about this. I know he wanted a center to replace Joel Embiid, but this pick was a steal.
10:37: Speaking of dads, I haven’t seen my son yet. I thought he’d come downstairs for sure.
10:41: WWE Night of Champions beings at 1 p.m. Eastern? Don’t they mean Afternoon of Champions?
With the No. 23 pick the Hawks select Zuby Ejiofor
10:45: A crappy song for a crappy city.
10:46: The Knicks traded this pick to the Lakers. Sad times for all of the Epstein Island clients who sat courtside during the Finals.
10:48: The 76ers are the Seventy Selectors.
With the No. 24 pick the Lakers select Cameron Carr
10:52: Scott Van Pelt just got completely confused by the trades. He thought the Lakers were still on the clock at No. 25.
With the No. 25 pick the Knicks select Sergio De Larrea
10:58: Another ESPN guy – that Fran person – just said this was a good pick by the Lakers. No one was paying attention to the doctor guy reporting the trades, apparently.
11:00: Five more picks! Great move, by the way, to split up the two rounds. I don’t think I could handle a second round right now.
11:02: Scott Van Pelt doing SportsCenter and NBA Draft coverage? What an iron man.
With the No. 26 pick the Nuggets select Tarris Reed
11:05: Denver is trading this pick to San Antonio.
11:07: Is someone ringing a bell in the background, or this another instance of my Exploding Head Syndrome?
With the No. 27 pick the Celtics select Chris Cenac
11:11: It was pretty shocking to me that the Celtics offered Jaylen Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I didn’t think Brown was on the trade block.
11:13: I can’t get anymore picks correct. So sad.
11:14: The Timberwolves changed their logo again? Just go back to the original!
11:15: This is the Nets pick, so why are they talking about the Timberwolves?
With the No. 28 pick the Nets select Joshua Jefferson
11:18: I just noticed that my draft grades don’t have any in-content ads. Ugh. Looks like I’ll have to beg for more money from you guys. Please sign up for premium!
11:21: Is the dad from the Hersheys smore commercial the fat kid from Sandlot?
With the No. 29 pick the Cavaliers select Joshua Jefferson
11:27: “We’re getting closer to the pick being made.” Wow, what great insight!
With the No. 30 pick the Suns select Koa Peat
11:33: That was an interesting night. The NBA and ESPN need to improve their draft presentation. Adam Silver has to stop announcing old trades and needs to start calling out the correct drafting teams. ESPN needs to have real sports analysts on their desk instead of glorified sideline reporters. And who was that 7-foot-tall woman?
11:35: I’ll have NBA Draft Grades posted tomorrow as well. There will be no live blog because the picks will happen too quickly.
But thank you for reading my incoherent thoughts. Hopefully I offended lots of people! Check out my 2027 NBA Mock Draft.
Follow me on Twitter @walterfootball for updates.
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