Here we go again, this time for version 2.0 of the NBA mock draft, where, as promised, I will add my personal reasoning behind each pick. Remember that this isn’t my predictions for what will actually happen in the draft; it is what I would do if I were the GM in each team’s position. With each pick I will reset my mind and focus on just that teams spot, who is available and what the biggest need is for the franchise. I am not factoring in rumors that I’ve read on players that teams are interested in or what players will surely be gone by a certain pick. This is all about my team breakdowns and player research.

If I am not buying into the hype of a player rumored to be going top-5, I may not pick him until beyond the mid-way point of the round. This is my job on the line for each of these picks, so if a pick winds up getting me fired, at least it will be my own fault, not because I fell for other people’s values/opinions on a player. Let’s do this!

Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner: “Good evening and welcome to the 2015 NBA Draft here at the Barclay Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets. Thank you to the best fans in the world for your support this season and for being here tonight. It’s a great night where 60 players will soon be joining the NBA. First, let me say congratulations to the Golden State Warriors on winning the 2014-15 NBA Championship. All of these players have been dreaming of this night for a long time, so let’s not make them wait any longer. The first pick in the draft belongs to the Minnesota Timberwolves and they are now on the clock.

*5 minutes later*

With the 1st pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select…”

1) Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl Anthony-Towns — PF/C — Kentucky
For the first time in franchise history the Timberwolves landed the first overall pick in the draft, but after this selection they will have the 2013, 2014 and 2015 1st overall picks on their roster thanks to the trade last off-season with the Cavs. As the team’s GM I couldn’t be happier to land the top spot this year to deliver the next stud PF/C to the organization, soon to make fans forget about the guy we parted with last year. I am no doubt taking Karl Anthony-Towns here, and I am ecstatic about the future of our Andrew Wiggins – Ricky Rubio – Karl Towns trio going forward. Towns will be a terrific defender right away and a more than competent offensive big fella, too. It will not be easy getting buckets in the paint with Towns and Gorgui Dieng on patrol. I previously explained why I prefer Towns over Okafor as the top guy in the draft.

2) Los Angeles Lakers: Jahlil Okafor — C — Duke
I went in to the NBA draft lottery hoping that my Lakeshow would stick inside the top-4 overall picks and was very pleased that not only did we stick, but the team landed the 2nd overall pick, moving up two spots. This is a great year to land inside the top-2 with two ballerific big men sitting there for the picking, and we’re happy to have the next great center of the Lakers franchise in Jahlil Okafor. Pairing up Okafor and our 1st-rounder from last year, Julius Randle, is a nice start to a team resurrection, but the truth is there’s a lot more holes left to fill.

I am confident that Jahlil will be a major producer on the offensive end from year one, and our coaching staff believes it can build on his weaknesses (defense, defensive rebounding and FT shooting). I think Russell is the better overall player, but I can’t pass up a center as smooth as Okafor, and I have faith in myself to bring in a nice point guard this summer to play in front of Jordan Clarkson. Rajon Rondo’s agent has been ringing my phone off the hook, but will he take a reasonable amount of money or does he still want all-star pay?

3) Philadelphia 76ers: D’Angelo Russell — PG — Ohio State
Much like the Lakers, the 76ers have team needs all over the place, so going best player available is our path once again this year. As the GM of the 76ers, knowing I traded away Michael Carter-Williams this past season and having to watch a second half with Isaiah Cannan and Ish Smith as the team’s point guards, I am taking a player I view as not only safe but also ready to start day one with nice upside, D’Angelo Russell.

The freshman point man out of Ohio State has the perfect kind of skill and swag that this team needs to lead our team into the future. With Russell running the show and our big man duo of Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid bossing in the paint, I believe our fans will finally see a glimpse of what we’ve been rebuilding over the past handful of seasons. Now, if I can just get Dario Saric freed to come over from his Turkish team, we’ll be in real business. We also have FIVE 2nd-round picks in this draft which we’ll use mostly as lotto tickets in hopes of hitting on at least one or two of them.

4) New York Knicks: Emmanuel Mudiay — PG — International
Are you kidding me?? Do you know how hard it was to tank that blatantly in a city like New York!? I was taking heat every day from our fans for the moves I made to not only lose but to clear up some cap space, and I thought when we landed Towns or Okafor everyone would get over it. Well, here we are sliding two spots down to the 4th selection where there’s a lot more risk, aka a lot more pressure on my shoulders. There are guys like Porzingis who are being hyped, but this isn’t a team that has patience for development. We need a guy who is ready to show flair right away, and that’s why we have selected Emmanuel Mudiay.

Mudiay getting injured early in his Chinese season was unfortunate, but when he was given a big chance in the few playoff games he played there, he showed why he was so highly touted. The kid has all of the ability and size to fit the mold of the new age point guards in the NBA, and it’s time that the Knicks get one of these guys. Free agents like Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, Greg Monroe, Monta Ellis and anyone else good that is available should be prepared to hear from us as soon as free agency opens.

(In honesty, I am being biased to my home team Orlando Magic here because I want them to land Willie Cauley-Stein, but truth be told, if I were the Knicks I would draft Willie as you’ll see just how high I am on him in a second.)

5) Orlando Magic: Willie Cauley-Stein — PF/C — Kentucky
The new age Magic are all about speed, athleticism and defense, and we’ve built our core to be just that, but there are acouple glaring issues, one being Nikola Vucevic. Vucci Mane is a terrific offensive player and rebounder, but he’s a push over on defense and it’s critical that we add a defensive minded big man to go beside him so that our paint isn’t giving out free buckets nightly. That is why we’ve selected Willie Cauley-Stein who some think of as strictly a center, but he moves so well for a 7-footer that we have no doubt he’ll be able to guard at the 4 just as he does the 5.

We definitely thought about adding a shooter like Hezonja, but it’s easier to find guards with shooting range than defensive Gods like Willie. I’m sticking my neck out a bit here, but I personally believe Willie Trill is going to be the second best pro to come out of this draft behind Towns and will also work out playing a decent bit of power forward. The team is trusting my judgement here and I know it’s viewed as ‘early’ to some, but if Willie is great but just doesn’t pan out at the 4, I’m not afraid to look at trading Vucevic down the road if it comes to that, knowing he’ll draw tons of interest on the market.

6) Sacramento Kings: Kristaps Porzingis — PF/C — International
We were really hoping that Emmanuel Mudiay would slip by the Knicks and land in our laps here, but with him taken, we focused on our next best option and that’s to bring in Kristaps Porzingis. The 7-foot, 19-year-old is amazingly versatile with a great inside-out game that should fit really well next to DeMarcus Cousins. We love Kristaps ability to extend out to hit triples making 38% (33/87) in his 38 games for Sevilla this past season. We like having Jason Thompson and Carl Landry but they don’t touch the defensive upside of this young man and KP can play at the 4 or 5. I don’t think he’s the best player on the board here, but he’s got the upside we desire in an area of supreme need, so we’re taking the gamble and hoping we can put some (major) weight/muscle on this set of bones ASAP.

— OK, writer, non-GM Zack here. I know the hype is really real right now for Porzingis and that’s often the case with a big international player or two, but while I understand his mix of size and touch is potentially drool-worthy, I’m not ready to move him into my top-5 (as seen here). I actually don’t even value him in the top-10 of the class but if I were running the Kings, I’d take the gamble here as it’s a need and drafting a third SG in a row wouldn’t sit well with the fan base.

Every euro like this (7-footers who can shoot) are instantly compared to the likes of Dirk Nowitzki which is just ridiculous and truthfully unfair to players like Kristaps. Dirk is a future hall of famer and the last few guys labeled as Dirk-esque haven’t panned out, which isn’t to say KP will stink, but you get what I’m saying here. I just think he’s a couple of years away from actually being able to hang with the bigs of the NBA. He’ll be bullied down low on both ends of the floor and his basketball IQ is not on par. One perk though is that he already speaks english quite well.

Why do we always compare these foreign players with the greats? Sure, there’s workout videos of him knocking down uncontested jumpers over and over and his interviews sound great, but that’s not selling me on anyone. You know who Porzingis reminds me more than anyone (and it scares the piss out of me) with his size, shooting ability and hype taking a huge leap pre-draft due to his workouts, solid interviews and proclaimed ‘gym rat’ nature? Yi Jianlian, who was drafted — you guessed it — 6th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2007. What legend did they choose to compare Yi to? Obviously Yao Ming. Sorry for the rant, let’s continue.

7) Denver Nuggets: Mario Hezonja — SG/SF — International
Boom! Sorry, we’re just fired up to land Mario Hezonja here, who we’re confident is going to be a high level player in this league for a long time. He’s a much needed burst of talent for this admittedly lost team. I mean look around, we have a roster full of role players who would mostly be coming off of the bench on upper echelon teams aside from (maybe?) Ty Lawson and (maybe if the development continues?) Jusuf Nurkic. We aren’t happy rolling out Randy Foye or Will Barton as our starting SG, and are seeking a player to come in and be a go-to guy on offense but who also holds his own on the defensive end — we feel this is that guy. We are in love with everything Mario can do along with the swagger (some call it pompous arrogance, but I’m ok with some cockiness) he steps onto the floor every night with. The kid is smart as hell out there and should team up well with Lawson, Faried, Nurkic and a healthy Gallinari.

8) Detroit Pistons: Justise Winslow — SG/SF — Duke
We were somewhat counting on Hezonja being the selection here but we have no issues swooping up the proven winner, Justise Winslow. It is no secret that our team’s biggest need is at the SF position and while Winslow may be a tad undersized for that spot, he makes up for it with his defensive tenacity and reach. We view Justise as a potential Jimmy Butler type of player to help take this franchise to the next level. Stan Van Gundy and I shed a couple of our scrub guys to bring in under-appreciated Ersan Ilyasova from the Bucks to both be a safety net if we lose Greg Monroe and a quality back up SF/PF if we retain Monroe. I think Winslow will be a starter for us right away and help lift our defense as well as add a dimension to our offense. Watch out for us as a sleeper team in the East this year.

9) Charlotte Hornets: Devin Booker — SG — Kentucky
There I sat, discussing this draft with the greatest player of all-time, Michael Jordan, while watching the NBA Finals. We both agreed that this team needed to find a Klay Thompson type of player and while there’s nobody quite equal to Klay at this point in the draft, there is our selection Devin Booker, who shares a lot of traits with Klay coming out of college. Their height and weight are about the same (despite Klay having more wingspan) and both have smooth jumpers from long range. A big difference is the age, though. Klay came out as a junior (21-years-old), while Booker is the youngest player in the 2015 draft, not turning 19 until October 30th. We’re optimistic that our coaching staff can turn Devin into a force on offense. He’s already got the shot, IQ and passing ability. The youngin’ just needs to improve a bit on the defensive end and become more confident when attacking the rim. The team fills a big need here with a lethal shooter from behind the arc and Booker has a ton of room to continue growing as a player at his youthful age.

10) Miami Heat: Stanley Johnson — SF — Arizona
The needs around South Beach are a plenty, with several key players having opt-out clauses, AKA we’ve got a lot of negotiating to do. While we’d love to over-analyze the draft class and target our team’s best fit, the reality is that we don’t even know for certain who we’ll have on the roster come October with Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside all needing new deals. So, I’m not going to BS you here. We just went with the guy on top of our scouting department’s talent board and at this spot it was Stanley Johnson narrowly ahead of Trey Lyles. Our scouts couldn’t stop raving about Johnson’s athletic ability and said we will have to force this kid out of the gym, he loves bettering himself. We think Stanley will be a great fit in Eric Spoelsta’s offense as a get-out-and-go guy who can get to the basket and has really improved his jump shot from mid and long range.

11) Indiana Pacers: Trey Lyles — PF — Kentucky
We’re ready to face the facts here in Indy. David West is 50/50 on whether he’ll opt-in/out this offseason and even if he opts in, it’d likely be his last season as a Pacer. Who better to play behind him for a year than a player we view as a young David West, Trey Lyles. We really enjoyed watching tape on this young man and his freight train of a Kentucky team. He has good size and length while also having the giddy-up to run the floor. Like West, he’s not electric, so he will rarely be dunking on anybody but his soft jumper is something we will look to make the most of. His defensive woes were helped a bit last season playing a decent bit of SF at Kentucky and having to try and defend much quicker players, which at times he was exploited, but it was good for him to get that work in to benefit him as a PF at this level. We definitely considered going for a back-up PG here in Cameron Payne but in the end decided getting a clone of a young George Hill really wasn’t top of the priority list.

12) Utah Jazz: Bobby Portis — PF — Arkansas
“Whoa that seems early.” This isn’t a do what everyone thinks you should do event here, kids. This is trusting your own scouting and analysis and taking the guy that you feel is going to be the best player for your team whether it be right away or down the road. Bobby Portis may not quite be ready to start day one, but fortunately we’re not going to need him to start for us. Bobby will come off of the bench behind our two towers, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors as he improves his game. We can’t stop raving about his combination of offensive rebounding and shooting the ball. What better way to become a better player against NBA sized bigs than to practice against our talented starters everyday? This kid has a lot of room to grow still considering his NBA size at the age of just 20.

13) Phoenix Suns: Frank Kaminsky — C — Wisconsin
Our team is in need of depth in the front-court as well as a big man who can spread the floor a bit, and Big Frank does both. With Alex Len and Markieff Morris locked in as our starting bigs, we now bring in Kaminsky to upgrade our benches offense and hope to re-sign Brandan Wright this off-season to really solidify our front court. Having a variety of PF/C weapons at our arsenal is key whenever we’re already confident in Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight (yes, we plan to bring him back) and T.J. Warren as our young flashy guards/wings with vets Marcus Morris and P.J. Tucker coming off the bench as well. We fully believe we’ll be ready to finish strongly and step up into the playoffs right away.

14) Oklahoma City Thunder: Jerian Grant — PG — Notre Dame
We’ve been putting out smoke screens that we have been locked in on Cameron Payne for awhile now simply to avoid adding any attention to our real target, Jerian Grant. Our need was undoubtedly backup point here and we feel that the best guy for this job is Jerian. He has the size we like and is a big time play-maker. I already had eyes for the kid, but when he led Notre Dame to an ACC conference tournament win, I was fully sprung by his ability and knew he was the guy I wanted playing behind Russell [Westbrook]. Grant was my personal #3 PG in the draft and I couldn’t be more enthused to land him here.

15) Atlanta Hawks: Myles Turner — C — Texas
Ahh, we were really hoping that Lyles or Portis would’ve still been on the board here but with those options gone, we decided to go with our next highest rated big man, Myles Turner. Turner is a bit more raw than the former two mentioned but it’s possible he has the greatest upside of the bunch with his combination of length, defense and shooting stroke. Myles gives our defense a shot blocking threat that we haven’t had the past couple of years, and he should only becomes a more well rounded player practicing against Al Horford daily.

16) Boston Celtics: Sam Dekker — SF — Wisconsin
We landed the guy that we really wanted here, Sam Dekker. One of the more NBA ready wings in the draft will bring a scoring threat to our rotation right away. The guy is 6’9″ and can shoot the lights out with flair, and our scouting department all agreed that Sam has that oh so important “it” factor. Our team has many needs as we’re far from confident that several of our bigs will become legitimate NBA starters or even role players, but we do love our set of guards with Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley. Look for us to be fishing for big names in the free agency pond with plenty of cash to bait our hooks.

17) Milwaukee Bucks: R.J. Hunter — SG — Georgia State
There’s no denying that we have holes at shooting guard and center this off-season, but we’re really happy at where we are sitting right now and are willing to take a gamble on R.J. Hunter here. Hunter will be our 3-point sniper off of the bench and we’ll likely hide his defensive deficiencies by keeping strong defenders like Giannis Antetokounmpo and John Henson on the floor at the same time. The East won’t be sleeping on us this year and with a healthy Jabari Parker we hope to make a bigger playoff impact in 2015-16. We’ll absolutely be looking for an upgraded center in free agency with guys like Brook Lopez, DeAndre Jordan, Robin Lopez and more available and within the realm of possibility.

18) Houston Rockets: Cameron Payne — PG — Murray State
With only one team outside the top handful in the draft targeting a PG, it benefit us to have a player like Cameron Payne fall a bit to us here at 18. Payne looks like a George Hill type of point man and we’re happy to pair that with Patrick Beverley, giving us a nice mix at the point. Payne will only become better on both ends practicing with Bev. Pat can teach him how to lock down opposing guards and will work him hard when they matchup in practice making the defense he faces in games seem less overwhelming. Payne is the #5 PG for me, but he’s a better fit for Houston than my #4 guy.

19) Washington Wizards: Montrezl Harrell — PF — Louisville
The team has just one (overpaid) year of Nene remaining, and it’s important that we bring in a guy who can be mentored this year and potentially take over his spot when Nene leaves next summer. I believe Montrezl Harrell is the physical, defensive minded guy we’re looking for and his ability to make electric plays (dunks) on the other end is a plus as well. The league better be ready for a lot of firework alley-oops from John Wall to Harell.

20) Toronto Raptors: Kevon Looney — PF — UCLA
We had dreams that Dekker may slip to us here and give us a scoring SF, but with him gone we decided to be ok with our current trio of James Johnson, Terrence Ross and the upside of Bruno Caboclo at SF and look at our other need, PF. Kevon Looney gives us a big time rebounder with potential to be a great defender and scorer in the paint. With guys like Amir Johnson and Tyler Hansbrough facing free agency, landing a solid PF here was comforting.

21) Dallas Mavericks: Delon Wright — PG — Utah
Love. This. Kid. And soon enough the Dallas faithful will share that sentiment. Delon Wright was our guy here from the jump, despite all of the Tyus Jones rumors that we surely never started. Wright is an absolute animal defensively on and off the ball with the ability and size to defend both 1s and 2s. Already a superb defender, he will need help offensively but we’re also not expecting our point man to be a 20PPG scorer, but he is good at getting to the rim and has an improving jumper. Delon is a great pick-and-roll passer, which is a must here in Dallas, and our shooters like Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons should see lots of nice kick outs from this future stud. He was the ONLY player in the Draftexpress top-100 to average 2.5 steals and 1.0 block per-40.

22) Chicago Bulls: Tyus Jones — PG — Duke
Do I really need to go into detail as to why it’s important that we have a solid back-up point guard on a roster that is led by Derrick Rose? With Kirk Hinrich debating his $2-million option, it’s possible that we currently have only one PG on our depth chart and it’s terrifying to add any extra weight on Derrick Rose’s knee. So, we bring in the very confident, Tyus Jones to be our PG2 and he’ll be ready to step up as needed when Rose needs days off. Yeah, the lack of on-ball defensive skill is worrisome but we have a strong front-court behind him and we love what he brings on the offensive end with his pick-n-roll game. We’re happy to net a backup of this caliber this late in the draft, even if his eventual upside isn’t dynamic.

23) Portland Trailblazers: Kelly Oubre — SF — Kansas
Here in Portland we’ve got our work cut out for us this summer with superstar LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo all becoming unrestricted free agents. So, while it may seem like we should go SG or maybe PF here, we can’t pass up a talented kid like Kelly Oubre this late in the draft, especially when our SF, Nicolas Batum will be a free agent next summer. So smooth out on the court, the upside is just undeniable with this young fella. We love his jumper and the 7’1.5″ wingspan doesn’t hurt his appeal either. We’re very pleased to land a player this skilled at this spot in the draft.

24) Cleveland Cavaliers: Rashad Vaughn — SG — UNLV
When you have the best active player in the world on your team who single-handedly drug a battered and beaten down team to the NBA Finals this past season, it’s not hard to sell players on joining our team each Summer, especially vets. So, while we do like our selection here of Rashad Vaughn to bring in a physical player on defense who can shoot it with range, if you think we plan on him being our starter at SG this season, you need to get on some enhanced meds. We just took the top guy on our board as all of our focus will be on signing key free agents this summer along with re-signing guys like LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson (maybe) and Timofey Mozgov. There’s a lot of work to be done, and you can hate it or love it, but trust we’ll have a top contender in the East once again in 2015-16.

25) Memphis Grizzlies: Jarell Martin — PF — LSU
For a 6’9″ 240lb power forward, Jarell Martin does a lot of things as small forwards would. He runs the floor very well, has good handles and at the same time is able to finish strongly above the rim. Martin is very strong on the inside and great at getting a body on a man to grab boards. He’ll be a great fit for this Memphis team and hopefully we’ll be re-signing Zach Randolph for Jarell to play alongside for a couple of years. Zach and Marc Gasol are of course our top priorities this summer and this gives us a really quality bench big man with eventual starter upside to go with them.

26) San Antonio Spurs: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson — SF — Arizona
We’re the Spurs, we go with the guy we think has the most upside regardless of positional need, nothing new here. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is very physical, is a plus defender and should have a great future as a backup on our team behind Kawhi Leonard (No, he has no chance of leaving via free agency). We’ll target our other needs via free agency after we talk Timmy Duncan into coming back for one more run at the title.

27) Los Angeles Lakers: Justin Anderson — SF — Virginia
With Jahlil Okafor our first selection and another pick coming up at 34th overall, we are really optimistic that we can get this rebuild going the right direction sooner rather than later. Justin Anderson available at pick 27 was a pleasant surprise. We like the versatility we get with Anderson who can do a little bit of everything despite his streaky shooting. We’re mostly interested in his physicality and defensive upside. He’ll get plenty of defensive work in practice trying to stop Kobe Bryant.

28) Boston Celtics: Guillermo Hernangomez — C — International
We already drafted a SF in this draft and our top guy on the board was a SF, so we had to look beyond that and our next option was Guillermo Hernangomez. He’s gotten a lot of experience playing in Spain as he’s seen a lot of playing time, which is a plus. Guillermo is a free agent this summer so the team will have the option to wait on him a bit or bring him right over, and with just Kelly Olynyk, Jared Sullinger and Tyler Zeller under contract as the team’s big men, we’ll likely opt to bring him right in pending what free agents we may potentially land.

29) Brooklyn Nets: Rakeem Christmas — PF/C — Syracuse
Still trying to dig ourselves out of the pit that our owner shoveled, the Nets have a lot of issues and needs. We have to pay Joe Johnson $24-million one more year, Deron Williams $21-million two more years and we’re at risk of potentially losing Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young via free agency. Either way we’re in need of a big body and Christmas delivers the gift we need there. His crazy 7’5.25″ wingspan helps him rise above his defenders when taking mid-range jumpers and finishing at the rim. Rakeem can run the pick-and-roll very well and is great with his back to the basket or facing his defender, very dangerous. He also hit 71% from the foul line, so no worries about hack-a-rakeem. We think Christmas will be a great off the bench big in our rotation right away, but we have a lot of work to do before we have any hint of our depth chart.

30) Golden State Warriors: Terry Rozier — PG — Louisville
We have a great returning staff from our championship team and after we lock in Draymond Green, we should have a legitimate shot at a repeat, although nothing in the West is a sure thing. Here we are just taking best available and it lands us a nice backup PG in Terry Rozier out of Louisville. Rozier does a great job making crisp passes and keeping turnovers to a minimum which is a key if you want to land a job in our bench rotation. Rozier hopefully can learn a lot from Steph Curry and veteran backup Shaun Livingston over the next year, before Livingston becomes a free agent. Ideally Rozier will have progressed enough to take over the primary backup PG duties by then.

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That will do it. My role playing as GM for 28 teams over 30 picks was a lot of fun, and it should give you a general idea of how I value incoming rookies and team needs around the league. I hope you enjoyed my journey here, and I’m sure you’re just as pumped for Thursday night’s draft as I am. I look forward to pumping out some rookie content after we know where each player lands soon enough. If you agree or disagree with any of my selections, let me hear it via the comments section or on Twitter.

For more fantasy hoops analysis and to have any questions you may have answered, follow Zack on Twitter @BigZack44