DBSF 2010 NBA Draft: Top 5 Projected First Round Busts

Obvious there are many mock drafts on the internet (including DBSF's). For the sake of this exercise DBSF will go off Mike McGraw's June 15 draft on Yahoo! Sports. Players projected higher in the draft will earn greater consideration with respect to their bust-worthiness.

1. Ed Davis (UNC) -- DBSF has lamented over Davis before. (That won't stop him here.) Davis reminds DBSF of a bad Marvin Williams, who is a bad NBA player that gets a lot of clock because of the expectations that came with him when he was drafted second overall in 2005. If DBSF were an NBA general manager, Davis wouldn't crack the top 20. Look tall and athletic is one thing. But, being able to play basketball well is another.

2. Gordon Hayward (Butler) -- Now this critique should be qualified as many other mock drafts have Hayward going later (and that's why he falls below Davis even though he is projected two picks higher). Let DBSF make one thing clear--when it comes to college basketball DBSF is a major-conference elitist. Hayward looked great in the Horizon League but, here's the thing: nobody from Youngstown St. or Wisconsin-Green Bay is gonna play in the League. It's great that you dropped 25 on Valpraiso but that 6'3" small forward that guarded you all game becomes 6'10" and (admittedly, DBSF is being racist by assuming Hayward's whiteness makes him vertically inclined) can jump and play defense that would make Japanese soldiers on some WWII South Pacific atol proud. (Reference point for Hayward: Adam Morrison. Sure Morrison wins in the NBA, just not when he's in the game.)

3. Luke Babbitt (Nevada) -- Babbitt's another guy that seems to be skyrocketing up draft boards. One important fact to consider here: nobody--not one person--who attended the University of Nevada was ever good in the NBA. Let him fall to the late first round where he serve as formidable competitor in practice for four years before he finds a gig in Greece.

4. Ekpe Udoh (Baylor) -- Udoh could add value resting a big man off the bench so he's further down on the bust list. But, the league needs another 6'10" shot blocker with limited offense like the Memphis Grizzlies need Hasheem Thabeet. Wait a second? And, Thabeet's 7'3".

5. Craig Brackins (Iowa State) -- Two ominous signs for a power forward coming out after his junior year. First, a decline in his points and rebounds per game and FG% from his sophomore year. Second, in the draft analysis, they state that on an upside he could be Jason Thompson, (who on an upside could be another player who on that other player's upside could be Lamar Odom). Most people West of, oh, Sacramento--save his immediate family--don't even know who Jason Thomspon is unless they share DBSF's neurotic fascination of fastidiously checking each NBA box score in the morning.