Harden (right) after being selected #3. (AP/Seth Wenig)
Choosing James Harden at #3, a swap for B.J. Mullens selected at #24, and a second-round pickup of UAB’s Robert Vaden…overall I’d say that’s not a bad haul for the Thunder.
Some mock drafts had a different selection at #3 and would consider selecting Harden as a surprise. Quite honestly, he was the best player available at the time and will be able to provide quality minutes very quickly. Adding Harden to the trio of Westbrook, Durant, and Jeff Green makes me wonder just how explosive this young team has the potential to be. Oklahoma City is quickly becoming a team loaded with offensive firepower, and with a little more experience and overall work on defense, this could be a team that takes a few games by surprise.
Mullens is my favorite pick. Not because he’s the best player or I like his style, but because the Thunder desperately, definitely, absolutely needed a man of his size. He is 7 feet tall and weighs 275 pounds. He wasn’t much of a scoring threat at Ohio State, but quite honestly, OKC doesn’t need him to be a consistent scoring machine. Sure, he needs a few moves so that he isn’t a liability on the offensive end, but becoming an efficient passer and offensive rebounder is just as important, probably more so with the amount of shooters already on the roster. No, what the Thunder really needs out of Mullens is a few extra pounds from the weight room and to learn how to play some defense on guys his size and bigger.
Vaden is most intriguing choice to me. He is a great shooter, and therefore can find a role in any offense. He started off is college career at Indiana, but transferred to UAB after his sophomore year, sat out the 2006-2007 season, and then proceeded to torch defenses in Conference USA. If you check out the man’s college game stats, you’ll see a guy that can rain 3-pointers on any team. Vaden set the C-USA record for three-pointers made in a season during his junior year, making 142 of them. Look for a player profile to come out about him; I can’t say enough about a scorer who was only held to single-digit scoring twice his entire senior year.
Food for thought: I don’t know who predicted Stephen Curry to land with Golden State, but could there be a more perfect fit for a trigger-happy guard than to play for a Don Nelson ballclub? Ty Lawson will benefit greatly in Denver by getting to learn from Chauncey Billups. Watch out for Jack McClinton in San Antonio, the guy had excellent range on his 3-pointer down in Miami. That shot can be deadly once he becomes more disciplined.
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