Oladipo, Zeller remain in lottery in updated projections

  • 05/22/2013 8:13 am in

The 2013 NBA Draft lottery took place Tuesday night which revealed the order of the top 14 picks and allowed various analysts to update their mock projections with team needs taken into consideration

Here are the lottery results: 1. Cleveland Cavaliers, 2. Orlando Magic, 3. Washington Wizards, 4. Charlotte Bobcats, 5. Phoenix Suns, 6. New Orleans Pelicans, 7. Sacramento Kings, 8. Detroit Pistons, 9. Minnesota Timberwolves, 10. Portland Trail Blazers, 11. Philadelphia 76ers, 12. Oklahoma City Thunder (via Raptors), 13. Dallas Mavericks, 14. Utah Jazz

And here are several updated projections for Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller:

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While there’s no true consensus with either guy, Oladipo looks to have firmed up a spot in the top five, with Charlotte and Phoenix as the most mentioned destinations. A look at the fit in each franchise:

· Phoenix: “You have to think that the Suns are going to head more towards defense, and they need a wing who can score with some muscle, making Jared Dudley movable. This is perfect and a good way to start off a new era in Phoenix.” – Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com.

· Charlotte: “With Rich Cho in charge of the Bobcats, the decision will likely be to address Charlotte’s putrid offense. The Bobcats were 26th in scoring and 27th in 3-point shooting, two areas where Oladipo can help right away. With Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the Bobcats would like to slide someone between them and complement their skill sets. Oladipo is not projected as a 20-point scorer but he improved dramatically as a shooter and has the athleticism and upside to be an impact starter on both ends of the court. With Oladipo, Charlotte gets one of the highest upside players in the draft, but more importantly a guy who will come in and potentially become a team leader.” – Joe Kotoch of SheridanHoops.com.

Zeller’s projections range all the way from Phoenix at No. 5 to Philadelphia at No. 11. The 76ers have been frequently mentioned as  possible landing spot:

· Philadelphia: “The Cody Zeller bandwagon is officially filling up again. All it took was an incredible display of athletic prowess at the draft combine to convince NBA teams who had soured on him to give him another look. Of course, we all knew Zeller was athletic, but few knew he was capable of what he did at the combine. Zeller is trying to make the transition to the four and seems like an obvious fit in Philly — a team without a legitimate four man on its roster.” – Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

With the combine and lottery now in the books, the next step for both players will be setting up workouts with teams and continuing to prep for the draft, which takes place five weeks from tomorrow at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

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