2016 NBA Mock Draft: Updated 1st-Round Predictions After Lottery

Following Tuesday night’s lottery, everyone at least has a fighting chance of projecting the 2016 NBA draft.

In an encouraging development for lottery opponents and anyone who already assembled a mock draft, the random selection process kept everything the same. The Philadelphia 76ers will pick first, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Even with the finalized order, this draft remains a challenging code to crack. Despite all the meteoric hype surrounding Ben Simmons last year, he’s not the consensus top choice over Brandon Ingram. Those two are at least safe bets to play for the 76ers or Lakers in whichever order, but it’s anyone’s guess who the Celtics will snag next in a class without a clear third star.

Now that the lottery has decided picks No. 1-14, here’s an updated mock draft and the latest outlook for top-pick candidates.

Brandon Ingram, F, Duke

Barring a substantial surprise, Ingram will now play in Philadelphia or Los Angeles this fall. Not perceived as a lottery pick when he entered Duke, he rose up draft boards by scoring at least 20 points in all three NCAA tournament games.

The 6’9″ prospect registered 17.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game with a 55.2 true shooting percentage as a freshman. His lanky frame might have hindered his stock more in previous years, but scouts are now enamored by the 18-year-old’s shooting stroke and 7’3″ wingspan, per DraftExpress. 

While Simmons checks off nearly every box, his questionable shooting range keeps Ingram in the No. 1 pick running. Per SI.com’s Luke Winn, an anonymous NBA front office member described the Duke forward’s perfect assortment of traits for the NBA’s evolving style:   

He’s what teams are looking for right now, from a standpoint of how the game is becoming more position-less and focused on versatile skill sets. You can see it in the playoffs right now: Teams are cross-matching defensively, and the record for threes in a playoff game gets broken [by the Cleveland Cavaliers]. … Ingram walks in the door with that combination of wingspan, shooting and ballhandling, so until the [NBA] trend shifts to something else, …

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