2015 NBA Draft Results: The Biggest Surprises

The 2015 NBA draft is in the books, and there were plenty of surprises. Here’s a look at the biggest shocks of the night.

2015 NBA Draft Results

The 2015 NBA Draft was held on June 25, 2015, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was televised nationally in the United States on ESPN. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including International Players The Draft Lottery took place during the playoffs on May 19, 2015. This Draft Class is considered to be one of the deepest and most talented in recent years with many analysts predicting that as many as ten or more All-Stars will emerge from it in the next few years.

Notable undrafted players that eventually became stars in the NBA were: Jimmy Butler Adrian Dantley, Paul Millsap, Dennis Rodman and Ben Wallace

The Biggest Surprises

The 2015 NBA draft is in the books, and it was full of surprises. Here are the five biggest from a draft that will have a profound impact on the league for years to come.

1. The Minnesota Timberwolves passed on Duke center Jahlil Okafor with the No. 1 overall pick, opting instead for Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns
2. The Los Angeles Lakers took Ohio State point guard D’Angelo Russell with the No. 2 pick, passing on Okafor and passing on Towns (perhaps because they believe he’s headed to Minnesota anyway).
3. The Philadelphia 76ers drafted Okafor with the No. 3 pick, passing on Russell (perhaps because they believe he’s headed to Los Angeles anyway).
4. The New York Knicks draftedKristaps Porzingiswith the No. 4 pick, passing on Russell and taking a big gamble on an inexperienced Latvian prospect.
5. The Orlando Magic pulled off a major trade, sending point guard Victor Oladipo and Power Forward Ersan Ilyasova to the Oklahoma City Thunder for shooting guard Dion Waiters and power forward Domantas Sabonis.

Who Went Where

The 2015 NBA draft has come and gone, and there were plenty of surprises along the way. Here’s a look at some of the biggest:

-The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Karl-Anthony Towns with the first overall pick, as expected. However, they then traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans for Tyreke Evans which came as a surprise to many.

-The Los Angeles Lakers used the second overall pick on point guard D’Angelo Russell, which was a bit of a surprise given that they had been rumored to be interested in Jahlil Okafor.

-The Philadelphia 76ers used the third overall pick on center Joel Embiid who had been expected to go much higher before injury concerns caused him to slide down draft boards.

-The New York Knicks used the fourth overall pick on Kristaps Porzingis a European big man who was relatively unknown before the draft. This was viewed as a reach by many experts.

Best Players Available

Going into the 2015 NBA Draft there were a few players that were thought to be can’t-miss prospects. However, on draft night there were a number of surprises that left some of the best players available.

Here are some of the biggest surprises from the 2015 NBA Draft

--point guard Emmanuel Mudiay slipped to seventh overall, despite being considered one of the best prospects in the draft.
--small forward Stanley Johnson fell to eighth overall, despite being projected as a top-five pick by many experts.
--power forward Myles Turner was thought to be a lottery pick, but fell all the way to eleventh overall before being drafted by the Indiana Pacers

Biggest Busts

There were some big surprises in the 2015 NBA Draft Some players went much higher than expected, while others fell further than anyone could have predicted. Here’s a look at the biggest busts of the draft.

1. Emmanuel Mudiay, 7th overall to the Denver Nuggets
Mudiay was supposed to be one of the best point guards in the draft, but he struggled mightily during his one season at SMU. He shot just 42 percent from the field and averaged 3.8 turnovers per game. The Nuggets took a big risk with Mudiay, and it didn’t pay off.

2. Delon Wright, 20th overall to the Toronto Raptors
Wright was another point guard who disappointed in his final collegiate season. He averaged just 12 points and 5 assists per game for Utah, and fell all the way to 20th in the draft. He’ll have to prove himself in the NBA if he wants to avoid being labelled a bust.

3. Sam Dekker, 18th overall to the Houston Rockets
Dekker was considered a possible lottery pick after averaging 19 points and 6 rebounds per game for Wisconsin, but he slipped all the way to 18th on draft night. He’ll need to improve his outside shooting if he wants to stick in the NBA.

4. Kelly Oubre Jr., 15th overall to the Atlanta Hawks
Oubre was a raw prospect coming out of Kansas, and it showed during his rookie season with the Hawks. He averaged just 3 points per game while shooting 29 percent from three-point range Oubre will need time to develop his game before he can make an impact in the NBA.

Best Value Picks

The best value pick of the 2015 NBA draft turned out to be Cameron Payne of the Oklahoma City Thunder who was drafted with the 14th overall pick. Payne was projected by many to be a late first-round pick or early second-round pick, so the Thunder got great value with him at #14. Other good value picks included Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Brooklyn Nets 23rd overall), Chris McCullough (Brooklyn Nets 29th overall), and Kevon Looney (Golden State Warriors 30th overall).

Most Disappointing Picks

The 2015 NBA draft is in the books, and there were a lot of surprises. The biggest surprise of the night might have been the fact that Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns was not the first overall pick. Instead, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell with the number two overall pick. The following is a list of some of the other biggest surprises of the night:

-The Los Angeles Lakers selecting Indiana’s Trey Lyles with the 12th overall pick. Lyles was widely considered to be a lottery pick, but he ended up slipping all the way to the Lakers at number 12.

-The Boston Celtics selecting Texas’ Myles Turner with the 16th overall pick. Turner was another player who was widely expected to be a lottery pick, but he fell all the way to 16th overall.

-The Miami Heat selecting Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant with the 19th overall pick. Grant was a projected first round pick, but he fell all the way to 19th overall before being selected by the Heat.

-The Brooklyn Nets selecting Virginia’s Justin Anderson with the 21st overall pick. Anderson was yet another player who was projected to be a first round pick, but he slipped all the way to 21st overall before being selected by the Nets.

Surprise Trades

The 2015 NBA Draft was full of surprises, from the Minnesota Timberwolves passing on Duke’s Jahlil Okafor with the No. 1 overall pick to the Sacramento Kings trading away Demarcus Cousins just hours before the event began.

But the biggest surprises of the night came in the form of trades, with several teams making moves that nobody saw coming. Here’s a look at the three most surprising trades of the 2015 NBA Draft

Reactions

Many experts and fans had very different opinions on how the draft would play out and there were plenty of surprises on draft night. Some of the biggest surprises included:
-The New York Knicks drafting Kristaps Porzingis with the 4th overall pick
-The Minnesota Timberwolves drafting Tyus Jones with the 24th overall pick
-The San Antonio Spurs trading for LaMarcus Aldridge
-The Sacramento Kings drafting Willie Cauley-Stein with the 6th overall pick

Analysis

The 2015 NBA Draft is complete, and while there were plenty of big names taken off the board in the first round as expected, there were also some surprises. We break down the five biggest draft night surprises.