Earlier this week, Anthony Davis refused to acknowledge that he would definitely be the first overall pick in this year's draft, calling that just a "rumor" for now. But after the Hornets won the draft lottery and the right to pick first overall in June, Davis sounded like he was fully expecting to be the first pick, as Andy Katz of ESPN.com writes.
"I won a national championship in New Orleans," said Davis, referring to the site of Kentucky's NCAA title in April. "So why not win another one in New Orleans?"
Davis at #1 may be a lock, but there are plenty of questions surrounding the rest of the draft order. Here are a few draft-related items for Thursday afternoon….
- The Cavaliers won't be trading down in the draft, but there's a chance they could trade up from fourth overall, writes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. While the Wizards have said they aren't looking to move their pick, the Bobcats could be open to a deal, says Lloyd.
- Alex Raskin of HoopsWorld points out that the Bobcats had a better chance of landing the fourth pick than the first pick, so ending up second shouldn't be a huge disappointment for Charlotte.
- If Andre Drummond and Meyers Leonard are off the board when the Bucks make their pick at #12, Milwaukee figures to target an athletic wing, says Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times.
- Doug Smith of the Toronto Star discusses the possibility of the Raptors trading their lottery pick (eighth overall).
- The Raptors feel like they're landing an additional lottery player in Jonas Valanciunas, who executive VP of basketball operations Ed Stefanski thinks would be the number two pick in this year's draft. Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld has the details.
- In a Pistons.com mailbag, Keith Langlois fielded a number of questions from Pistons fans on the possibilities for Detroit with the ninth pick.
- You can check out the complete 2012 draft order here and bookmark this page to follow all of our draft-related updates.
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