Which teams are wild cards in this year's NBA draft?
With the NBA draft less than two weeks away, the picture should start to become clearer on what teams are looking to do in the upcoming draft.
While that doesn't necessarily translate into certainty of who a team will select in June 25th's draft, a general direction is at least frequently discernible.
For some teams. For a select few, however, every and any possibility is still up in the air.
Who are some of the biggest wildcards in the upcoming NBA draft?
New York Knicks
Picks: No. 4
Few teams are as unpredictable as the New York Knicks, for a number of reasons.
First, and perhaps foremost, is Phil Jackson's lack of experience in his current role. Hired last spring as the Knicks' president, Jackson has yet to make a first round selection in his 13 months on the job, as New York didn't have a first round pick last year.
That complete lack of a track record alone makes the Knicks unpredictable. Because of that, and because of the Knicks falling down to the fourth pick on lottery night, any and all possibilities are in play.
While Emmanuel Mudiay is considered by many to be the best talent available should Karl Towns, Jahlil Okafor, and D'Angelo Russell be selected in the top three, some have questioned whether Mudiay, who struggles to shoot consistently from the perimeter, would fit in the triangle offense.
The Knicks could trade the pick for a veteran. They could also look to trade up to get one of their prized targets, such as Okafor or Russell, although the lack of resources at their disposal would likely be a hindrance to that.
They have been reportedly interested in using the pick to add one of the top defenders in the draft, having been tied to both Justise Winslow and Willie Cauley-Stein. While both are considered top-10 picks, both would be slight deviations from popular opinion.
Boston Celtics
Picks: No. 16, No. 28, No. 33, No. 45
While nobody would be surprised if the Knicks traded away their pick, the team that is in perhaps the best position to make a major change, in large part because of the sheer number of picks and young players they have at their disposal, is the Boston Celtics.
That surplus of options makes the Celtics somewhat unpredictable.
Between the four selections this year and two additional first round picks (Brooklyn and Dallas) likely to come next year, the Celtics have a lot of flexibility. Whether they would use that flexibility to target somebody in this year's draft, or to combine their picks with some of the young players on their roster to pursue a star to fit with recently acquired Isaiah Thomas, Danny Ainge has a lot of options at his disposal to be a major player on draft night.
Philadelphia 76ers
Picks: No. 3, No. 35, No. 37, No. 47, No. 58, No. 60
Like the Celtics, the Sixers quantity of draft picks makes it a very strong possibility that they move around on draft night. Also like the Celtics, the Sixers have future draft picks – a top-3 protected pick from the Lakers, a top-10 protected pick from the Heat, and a top-15 protected pick from the Thunder – that are likely to convey next year.
Beyond just the quantity of picks, the Sixers have shown themselves to be unpredictable on draft night. One year after acquiring Nerlens Noel, who missed the entire season recovering from a torn ACL he suffered while in college, in a draft-night trade with New Orleans, the Sixers selected Joel Embiid (Navicular bone fracture) and Dario Saric (contract with Anadolu Efes in Turkey) in the lottery, neither of whom played for Philadelphia this past season.
Perhaps the only thing that you know for sure about the Philadelphia 76ers is that general manager Sam Hinkie has the flexibility to focus on long-term potential over a shot-term turnaround. While Russell seems like a logical fit for what the Sixers need, that flexibility, along with the sheer number of picks the Sixers have, puts anything in play: whether that would be to acquire a second lottery pick, moving back from No. 3 in a trade down, or bucking the trend and selecting somebody nobody expected.
Sacramento Kings
Pick: No. 6
The Kings have been the definition of uncertainty since Vivek Ranadive bought them in 2013.
Perhaps no situation exemplifies this unpredictability more than the hiring of Vlade Divac, who had just a brief stint as a Lakers scout on his resume in terms of NBA front office experience, as the Kings lead decision-maker earlier this year.
While they are reportedly interested in Cauley-Stein at No. 6 to provide a defensive presence next to DeMarcus Cousins and allow their franchise big man to play more power forward, if Cauley-Stein is off the board before the Kings select anything could be on the table, especially with Ranadive's hands-on managerial style and Divac's inexperience in his new role.