Category archive: Kentucky Wildcats
To no one's surprise, Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel declared for the 2013 NBA draft on Monday.
The bigger question is whether he'll be the No. 1 pick in the draft.
When we put together our first lottery mock draft in late February, we had six players in the mix for the No. 1 pick: Noel, Kansas' Ben McLemore, Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart, UNLV's Anthony Bennett, Indiana's Victor Oladipo and Maryland's Alex Len. We dubbed this the "Player To Be Named Later Draft."
At the time, I felt three of the six -- McLemore, Noel and Smart -- were the favorites, but it was clear there was no consensus No. 1. Indeed, most NBA GMs were struggling to come up with anyone deserving of the top pick in the draft.
Two months later, two of those three players are still in the running to be the No. 1 pick, but Noel has become the favorite to be the first player taken.
To read Chad Ford's full NBA draft blog on Nerlens Noel, become an Insider today.
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Chad Ford covers the NBA and NBA draft for ESPN Insider. He also is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine and makes weekly appearances on ESPN Radio and ESPNEWS.
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Fran Fraschilla
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David Thorpe is an NBA analyst for ESPN.com's Scouts Inc. and the executive director of the Pro Training Center in Clearwater, Fla., where he oversees the player development program for NBA and college players. David has trained Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, Omri Casspi, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Yi Jianlian, Courtney Lee, Kyrylo Fesenko, Earl Clark, Jrue Holiday, DeJuan Blair and others.
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