Picks 15-20:
The Magic take a chance on Maledon, the best point guard left on the board. The French guard will turn 19 just days before the draft, and will bring a play-making, pass-first mentality to Orlando. Maledon struggled as a pro in Europe, but showed enough promise on both ends of the court to potentially sneak into the Lottery, which he just misses here.
The Wolves already added Anthony Edwards in this mock, and grab another guard who can get hot quick offensively. Maxey is great at getting to the rim, using lightning-fast moves to blow past defenders. He needs to work on his three to be a true offensive threat, which he’ll have time to do. He is undersized at 6’3, and will never be a top player on D.
I’m still confident Boston will look to shop this and/or one of the other two first-rounders they currently own, but if they don’t they can get a good role player with the pick. Vassel from Florida State fits that bill, and could play solid minutes as a rookie, even with the Celtics’ talented roster. It’s hard to label him as simply a 3-and-D prospect, as he did much more in college with assists, rebounds and steals.
McDaniels dropped steadily down draft boards throughout his underwhelming freshman season, and never had the breakout that many were expecting. He showed so much potential as a dynamic scorer in high school for him to slide too far however, and Dallas can take and groom him into a nice two-way forward.
Like Devin Vassell taken a few spots before, Josh Green can come into a winning team and play right away. The 6’6 two-guard has a pretty stroke from three, but makes his money on the defensive side of things. The Bucks are already the best defensive team in the league, and adding Green would only help protect that status.
The ACC sixth man of the year could slide into a similar role with Brooklyn, who will be looking to fill their roster behind Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant this summer. Williams won’t turn 19 until August, and could look to be a nice paint scorer in the league. He needs to work on his rebounding, and his average of 4.0 per game doesn’t look great next to his listed height of 6’8.