Draft review: Southwest review

Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks traded down from their pick at 17 to 24 and selected Jared Cunningham, a super athletic two guard who may be able to transition to point guard ala Russell Westbrook. Cunningham is intriguing because he's got the potential to be an elite defender but also led college basketball in fouls drawn. Also, if Cunningham can improve his shooting he could stay at shooting guard. Either way he'll have value as a defender and slasher. Their second round picks were a little more interesting though, when they went back-to-back taking 27 year old war vet Bernard James (33) and 6-5 power forward Jae Crowder (34). Both are very tough players and could be valuable by toughing up practices, but I don't see either being much of a  contributor. This may have been a move to avoid having to take on money, though I don't know why they didn't take a chance on Quincy Miller or Will Barton or take a solid contributor like Draymond Green or Doron Lamb. I worry that Dallas is putting all their eggs in the Deron Williams basket and if he picks Brooklyn, they'll be left with a pretty weak roster. They already will have nothing at center after they amnesty Brendan Haywood are seriously lacking in depth.

Projected depth chart
PG: Rodrigue Beaubois/Jared Cunningham
SG: Vince Carter/Dominique Jones
SF: Shawn Marion/Jae Crowder
PF: Dirk Nowitzki/Brendan Wright
C: Bernard James

Houston Rockets
It seems safe to say that most if not all of these players that Houston has drafted, including three first round picks, will actually end up on the Rockets roster, these picks are all about acquiring assets to swing a big trade, though their first pick Jeremy Lamb (12) does fill a big need for backup shooting guard and an insurance policy for the injury prone Kevin Martin. I really like Lamb's potential to be a lockdown defender who can also light up the score board on occasion, down the line he could develop into a solid number 2 or 3 for a good team. Their next pick could be seen as a big steal down the line because of the potential Royce White (16) has, White is a big and athletic point forward who can do just about everything on the floor and could really turn into a star for Houston, or he could be out of the league in three years because of an anxiety issue and a fear of flying, though if that was a really big concern, I doubt any team would have taken him, let alone at 16. The next Rockets pick doesn't make much sense unless you're viewing these picks as simply trade assets, there's no reason Terrence Jones should have fallen to 18, so he was a good value, but he's very similar to White as a player and plays the same position a number of other Rockets players, again these are all just being acquired as trade assets. The Rockets also acquired Clippers second round pick Furkan Aldemir, an undersized Turkish center who can really rebound. The Rockets will look like a drastically different team at the start of the season, it's just impossible to know how, but one thing's for sure is Greg Smith probably won't be the starting center.

Projected depth chart
PG: Kyle Lowry/Courtney Fortson
SG: Kevin Martin/Jeremy Lamb
SF: Chandler Parsons/Royce White/Marcus Morris
PF: Luis Scola/Patrick Paterson/Terrence Jones
C: Greg Smith

Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies had one really big need going into the draft, backup point guard, and filled it with their one pick at 25 with a good value in high upside point guard Tony Wroten. Wroten is a huge, 6-6 athletic point guard who can get to the rim at will and has great court vision and passing ability, sort of a more raw Tyreke Evans. Wroten can play out of control though and his jump shot needs work, but even if he gets a passable jumper and learns to reign it in a little, he could be a star. Also, with his size he can guard shootings guards and should be able to play alongside Mike Conley, which is good because Memphis is likely to lose O.J. Mayo to free agency and they'll need to replace his offense off the bench.

Projected depth chart
PG: Mike Conley Jr/Tony Wroten Jr/Josh Selby
SG: Tony Allen/Wroten Jr
SF: Rudy Gay/Quincy Pondexter
PF: Zach Randolph/Darrell Arthur*
C: Marc Gasol

New Orleans Hornets
The Hornets would have had a successful draft even if they didn't do anything after their first pick, because with their first pick they got easily the best prospect in the draft, Anthony Davis. The question with Davis is just how good he'll be, we know right off the bat he'll be a game changer defensively and he's got the tools and the work ethic to be a force offensively as well. The Hornets also had a very good rest of the draft, with the tenth pick they got from the Chris Paul trade, they selected Austin Rivers, who I have reservations about because of his demeanor and effort in other parts of the game besides offense, but he's in a great situation with teammates who demand the most of him and one of the best coaches of young players, Monty Williams. If Rivers doesn't succeed in New Orleans, he probably wasn't going to succeed anywhere. In the second round New Orleans made a great pick in Darius Miller, Anthony Davis' former teammate at Kentucky and a great backup small forward who can stretch the floor and play defense. The future is very bright in New Orleans.

Projected depth chart
PG: Greivis Vasquez/Jarrett Jack
SG: Eric Gordon/Austin Rivers/Xavier Henry
SF: Al-Farouq Aminu/Darius Miller
PF: Anthony Davis/Jason Smith
C: Gustavo Ayon/Smith

San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs only had 1 really late second round pick, 59, but they took one of my favorite players in the draft and someone who can easily make their team and see minutes. Marcus Denmon is a combo guard who is a knockdown shooter who defends well and can handle to ball well enough to be a primary ball handler. Gary Neal really struggled at times during the playoffs, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Spurs replaced him with Denmon, who is a better defender.

Projected depth chart
PG: Tony Parker/Cory Joseph
SG: Danny Green*/Manu Ginobili
SF: Kawhi Leonard/Stephen Jackson
PF: Tim Duncan/DaJuan Blair
C: Tiago Splitter/Duncan

*Currently unsigned