As ESPN.com's David Thorpe (Insider link) looks back to June 2011 and re-drafts the top 20 based on what we know now, we'll look ahead to this June, with the latest updates on the upcoming NBA draft:
- Iowa State's Royce White has hired an agent and will enter the draft, reports Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. Goodman hears from several NBA execs that White has likely worked his way into the first round of the draft, though only one of the three mocks we looked at yesterday had White coming off the board in the top 30.
- One of those mock drafts came from ESPN.com's Chad Ford, who has received feedback from NBA GMs on his top 30 (Insider link).
- This draft may not be as deep as it looks, since many of the underclassmen who would go in the first round aren't locks to come out of school, says Ford.
- Multiple GMs told Ford they have Austin Rivers ranked considerably higher than where Ford had him in his mock (21st).
- Point guards may end up going a few spots higher than they should this year, since it appears there'll be a dearth of point guards in the 2013 draft, says Ford.
- Perry Jones III and Andre Drummond are viewed as high-risk, high-reward picks. "They get you fired either way," one GM told Ford. "Don't take them and they blow up, everyone asks you what you were thinking. Do take them and they underachieve and everyone says you shouldn't have taken the risk. It's a no-win situation so … you just take them. It's better to swing for the fences and miss than to bunt and miss the chance to hit a home run."
- Ford also answered plenty of draft-related questions in his ESPN.com chat today.