SB Nation Bay Area: All Posts by Tom Ziller

Cody Zeller to Kings in NBA.com, SI.com mock drafts

2013-05-22T16:00:08Z

Cody Zeller -- that's Zeller -- is the pick at No. 7 according to the latest mock drafts from NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper and SI.com's Chris Mannix. Zeller is the 7-foot center from Indiana who was pretty much a disappointment as a sophomore but showed everyone in Chicago at the Combine that he can really jump well.

Zeller is said to be highly skilled offensively, but had nearly twice as many turnovers as assists and attempted two (college) threes total in two seasons in Bloomington. He did score efficiently on two-pointers, though, and hit 75 percent of his free throws. He was only an average rebounder (which could spell doom at the pro level where there are lots of people his size) and iffy shotblocker.

Howard-Cooper implies that drafting Zeller would mean farewell from DeMarcus Cousins, while Mannix argues that Zeller complements Cousins. Who knows?

In case you're curious, Zeller is definitely The Player Ziller Perhaps Irrationally Mistrusts Because His Stats Don't Match His Narrative And Because Ziller Can't Stand Very Tall Men Who Can't Rebound At A Very Good Level.

2013 NBA Mock Draft: Michael Carter-Williams to Kings according to ESPN's Chad Ford

2013-05-22T14:00:11Z

In his first post-lottery 2013 NBA Mock Draft, Chad Ford sends Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams to the Sacramento Kings. Ford notes that small forward is the team's biggest need, but then makes the case for MCW.

While the Kings do have point guards on their roster, they don't have any that really make others around them better. Carter-Williams is a high-risk, high-reward player. He has elite size for his position, proved to be a terrific athlete at the NBA draft combine and sees the floor well. In addition, he's a rangy defender who averaged 2.8 steals per game last season.

Otto Porter, the top-rated small forward, is off the board in this scenario. Ford has the Kings taking MCW over Anthony Bennett, who could end up going as high as No. 2.

MCW has been compared to Rajon Rondo. Rondo averaged five assists and six rebounds per game as a sophomore at Kentucky. MCW averaged more than seven assists and five rebounds per game in about four more minutes per game at a sophomore.

Extra Mustard piece on Vivek

2013-05-22T13:55:34Z

Extra Mustard piece on Vivek

Trey Burke to Kings, according to DraftExpress' latest 2013 NBA Mock Draft

2013-05-22T12:36:25Z

Every single mock draft was updated in the hours following the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday, including the best in the business -- the one done by DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony for Yahoo!. The newest mock has the Sacramento Kings taking Michigan point guard Trey Burke at No. 7.

[I]t's anyone's guess who will be calling the shots from the war room, although it's clear that the team is missing quite a bit of talent to make the playoffs after a seven-year drought. Point guard, small forward and power forward are all positions, the Kings need to address at some stage, and there should be plenty of talented options to choose from here.

For what it's worth, the players off the board in this mock are Nerlens Noel, Ben McLemore, Anthony Bennett, Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter and Alex Len. C.J. McCollum goes No. 8.

We'll have lots more mock info throughout the day. In the meantime, here's DX's Burke video scouting report.

The 2 sides of Dwight Howard's latest Lakers PR nightmare

2013-05-21T16:00:04Z

Dwight Howard apparently had a second, secret exit interview once the Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs. After meeting with coach Mike D'Antoni and GM Mitch Kupchak like every other player, Dwight circled back and had a private talk with Kupchak about D'Antoni. ESPN L.A. reports that Howard groused about D'Antoni not including him in chats about the team with Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash and how he generally doesn't feel comfortable with the coach.

On one hand, does anyone in L.A. like D'Antoni right now? Fans openly (and loudly) propositioned toward Phil Jackson while D'Antoni was in the locker room trying to coach his team. Both troll and non-troll columnists have expressed skepticism at D'Antoni's ability to get this team another championship. If L.A.'s Tuesday election to pick a new mayor instead determined the next coach of the team, turnout would be multiples of the expected 25 percent. And D'Antoni would almost assuredly not finish first.

More: Howard's free agency is a blessing in disguise

So in this sense, by disliking or mistrusting D'Antoni, Howard is aligned with a great number of Lakers fans, analysts and observers ... and maybe even his teammates. Frankly, there's no problem with wanting to talk to Kupchak about D'Antoni. It's unfortunate someone -- probably one of Dwight's leaky friends -- spilled it to the media.

But then there's the actual whine itself: that D'Antoni consulted Kobe and Nash but not Dwight. Uh ... so? Kobe and Nash are legends, veterans and very obvious team leaders. Howard has been around the league a while, but had only a limited relationship with D'Antoni prior November 2012. (D'Antoni was an assistant for Team USA, which Howard has played for.) D'Antoni and Kobe go back to Bryant's childhood in Italy. D'Antoni coached Nash to two MVPs and through several playoff runs. No one knows what D'Antoni thinks of Howard, but a reasonable case can be made that the coach didn't seek to use his best players as a conduit, just the players with whom he feels most comfortable. It's pretty silly for Dwight to take offense at that ... especially when you consider there's a strong chance D'Antoni, Kobe and Nash were talking about Howard himself.

All in all, Howard comes off looking, per usual, as someone who can't avoid creating drama for himself. The fact that Howard wouldn't bring up his distaste for D'Antoni's exclusion in a meeting with D'Antoni makes him look, fairly or not, like a coward, and the fact that Howard had a second secret meeting to complain about D'Antoni makes him look, fairly or not, like a snitch. That's not good, Dwight. But it's very Dwight.

More from SB Nation:

• NBA mock draft: We know nothing

• Ziller: Defense is the way to win cheaply

• Spurs blast Grizzlies in Game 1

• Dwight Howard considering Rockets, Mavericks

• Can Nerlens Noel play in the middle? | More combine coverage

• Longform: Basketball and chaos in Europe

An NBA Draft Lottery conspiracy for every team

2013-05-21T14:25:18Z

An NBA Draft Lottery conspiracy for every team

An NBA Draft Lottery conspiracy theory for every team

2013-05-21T13:55:13Z

With the Lakers and Knicks both out of the playoffs, NBA conspiracy theorists have been getting a bit bored. It's difficult to come up with a plausible motive for David Stern to potentially set up a Grizzlies vs. Pacers NBA Finals series. But have no fear: the Super Bowl of sports conspiracy theories, the NBA Draft Lottery, arrives at 8:30 p.m. ET Tuesday.

To save you the trouble of tracking down conspiracy theorists to see what they have learned about how the ping pong balls will drop, we've put together a compendium of theories that results in a lottery win for each team. Enjoy.

More: SB Nation's complete coverage of the NBA Draft lottery

Orlando Magic: Cleveland lost LeBron James in 2010 and won the lottery in 2011. The Hornets lost Chris Paul in 2011 and won the lottery in 2012. The Magic lost Dwight Howard in 2012. You do the math. Not content at stacking the deck against superteams in the collective bargaining agreement, David Stern has placed his finger on the scale to help teams rebuild quickly.

Charlotte Horncats: Stern continues to owe Michael Jordan for retiring from a promising baseball career and preventing Shawn Kemp, Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing from becoming NBA champions. The league could never have recovered from any of those guys becoming the face of basketball. (And yes, Horncats is a thing.)

Cleveland Cavaliers: Multiple lottery victories were included in the blood oath signed by Stern and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert that led to Gilbert dropping tampering charges against the Heat. Had Gilbert continued his crusade, the Heat's 2011 Southeast Division title would have been vacated, and LeBron may have been Chris Webber'd out of history. Nerlens Noel is a small price to pay to prevent that.

Phoenix Suns: "Why is Robert Sarver carrying around that designer handbag? And why is there a glitchy film cut before the ball hopper is started? My God, did Sarver sneak loaded ping pong balls in via his wife's handbag? His wife must have told him to bring her back the No. 1 pick in a designer handbag ... interesting ..."

New Orleans Pelicans: Louisiana's hastily rewritten lemon law apparently covers horrible lottery picks. Pelicans owner Tom Benson is threatening to file for a refund for the team if the NBA doesn't make up for the lousy Austin Rivers selection pronto. Just months from retirement, David Stern really doesn't need this mess.

Sacramento Kings: This one is too easy. Sacramento keeps its team, David Stern needs to look smart. So he grants the Kings the No. 1 pick to build even more excitement for a 2013-14 season that will likely land the team back in the lottery for the bajillionth straight season.

Detroit Pistons: David Stern has major stock in General Motors. A rising tide raises all boats. Wake up, sheeple.

Washington Wizards: Nice Presidential scandals you've got there, Republican Party. Would be a shame if something happened to them. Something like blazing liberal David Stern distracting the Beltway media circuit with a shiny new Nerlens Noel. The vast left-wing sports conspiracy strikes again. So transparent.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Cleveland lost LeBron in 2010 and won the lottery in 2011. The Hornets lost Chris Paul in 2011 and won the lottery in 2012. The Wolves lost Michael Beasley in 2012. You do the math. Also, Glen Taylor was long a loyal owner and Board of Governors chairman for Stern. He's looking to offload the team. Nerlens Noel boosts the value of the team by the equivalent of one suburban strip mall.

Portland Trail Blazers: David Stern is looking for a gently used yacht to take out on the open ocean in retirement. Paul Allen drives a hard bargain. In this case, a franchise center with no injury concerns whatsoever.

Philadelphia 76ers: To try to convince the drugged-up, naive masses, David Stern brings officials from the accounting firm Ernst & Young to the lottery to verify the legitimacy of the lottery. Ernst & Young, huh? That firm is lousy with Sam Hinkie's old MIT buddies. Looks like the verisimilitude of this event has been ... [puts on sunglasses] ... deep-sixed. [yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh]

Toronto Raptors: Tim Leiweke left Illuminati party planners AEG to run the Raptors. No one can explain why. No one. But we find it very peculiar that Leiweke would choose the only NBA team outside of the United States of America. Either he's running from the law or he's assembling a business empire that plans a hostile takeover of freedom and liberty. Something smells funny.

Dallas Mavericks: This is David Stern's final draft lottery. He no doubt wants to leave a hint for future investigators. A calling card, if you will. No better way to nod at the conspiracy theorists than to hand victory to the city where modern conspiracy theory was born, especially considering that city has truly abysmal odds of winning straight-up.

Utah Jazz: The presence of three small market teams in the NBA's final four is actually a David Stern conspiracy after all! He wants to show that his lockout reforms worked as planned, and people are gullible enough to believe that nonsense. This will allow his successor Adam Silver to enact even more regressive salary rollbacks in 2017, all in the name of competitive balance and parity. Getting a small market fringe playoff team like Utah a top pick will certainly help the cause next season. The small market conspiracy continues unabated!

More from SB Nation:

• NBA mock draft: We know nothing

• Ziller: Defense is the way to win cheaply

• Spurs blast Grizzlies in Game 1

• Dwight Howard considering Rockets, Mavericks

• Can Nerlens Noel play in the middle? | More combine coverage

• Longform: Basketball and chaos in Europe

NBA Draft Lottery 2013: Cavaliers win No. 1 pick

2013-05-21T13:03:35Z

The Orlando Magic have the best chance at winning the draft lottery, but the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to win the No. 1 pick for the second time in three years.

NBA teams will learn where they'll be picking in the 2013 NBA Draft on Tuesday. The ping pong balls will decide their fate at the NBA Draft Lottery, which begins at 8:30 p.m. ET and airs on ESPN.

The Orlando Magic have the best shot of landing the No. 1 overall pick with a 25 percent chance, but the teams with lesser odds have could get lucky bounces of the balls as well. In order, the Magic are trailed in chances of winning the lottery by the Charlotte Bobcats (19.9 percent), Cleveland Cavaliers (15.6 percent), Phoenix Suns (11.9 percent) and New Orleans Pelicans (8.8 percent), but all 14 lottery teams are in the mix.

More: Complete NBA Draft coverage

The lottery hasn't been won by the team with the worst record -- and thus the best chances -- since 2004, when the Magic used their pick to select Dwight Howard.

While the 2013 draft doesn't have the likes of a Howard, there's still something to be said for having a choice of whom to pick. Kentucky big man Nerlens Noel is widely considered the first overall pick despite his continued recovery from a torn ACL, and he is joined by Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore and Georgetown swingman Otto Porter atop the draft class.

Indiana's Victor Oladipo, UNLV's Anthony Bennett, Michigan's Trey Burke and UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad are among the second-tier players eligible in the draft.

Each of the 14 lottery teams will be assigned four-number combinations based on their record with 1,000 possible. Teams with the most likely odds to win the first overall pick will have more potential combinations assigned to that pick. For example, the Magic and their 25 percent shot at winning will own 250 of the lottery combinations for the first pick.

The first through third picks will be selected by the lottery system, and the remaining 11 lottery teams will follow in order of their records and any previously-decided tiebreakers.

Time: Tuesday, May 21, 8:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Odds to winning

Team (record)	Number of combinations	Percent
Orlando (20-62)	250	25
Charlotte (21-61)	199	19.9
Cleveland (24-58)	156	15.6
Phoenix (25-57)	119	11.9
New Orleans (27-55)	88	8.8
Sacramento (28-54)	63	6.3
Detroit (29-53)	36	3.6
Washington (29-53)	35	3.5
Minnesota (31-51)	17	1.7
Portland (33-49)	11	1.1
Philadelphia (34-48)	8	0.8
Toronto (34-48)	7	0.7
Mavericks (41-41)	6	0.6
Utah (43-39)	5	0.5