NBA Mock Draft 2017: 2 Rounds of Picks After Celtics-Sixers Trade

What direction the Lakers go at No. 2 is up for debate. (Getty)

Fans normally have to wait until draft night for a frenzy of moves. However, the Celtics and Sixers got things started early by agreeing to a trade with the number one pick as the centerpiece.

There is debate as to how much this trade will impact the rest of the draft. As of now, Heavy has the Sixers taking Markelle Fultz, and the Celtics selecting Josh Jackson. Both these players were the early favorites to be selected with the first and third picks.

If Boston opts to go in another direction such as Jayson Tatum, things get much more interesting. The Lakers are also a bit of a wild card given their reported lack of certainty on selecting Lonzo Ball.

Over the weekend, Heavy focused on the first round of the draft with various scenarios after the big trade. The importance of the draft for teams goes far beyond the top selections.

Heavy had an opportunity to speak with ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla on a recent pre-draft conference call. Fraschilla gave us his favorite first round sleepers to keep an eye on in Thursday’s draft.

…I think the guy whose stock was high early and it dropped and now is going back up is Bam of Kentucky. Bam is the modern NBA high-energy big. You’re looking at 6-10, strong, athletic, runs the floor, can guard pick-and-roll, can ball screen and run to the rim and catch lobs, and he’s young.

So Adebayo comes to mind as maybe someone that slipped in the so-called mock drafts that might be a good really good value.

A guy that’s a mystery to a lot of people is Terrance Ferguson who is the first American player to spend his first year out of high school in the Australian league. It wasn’t long ago that he was considered one of the top 20 high school players in the country, and at 6-7, highly athletic, with range and a good defensive IQ, it could be out of sight, out of mind, to many people. So that’s another guy that comes to mind.

And then you know, I would say a guy that has moved into the first round that not a lot of people knew about until about three weeks ago, and I love saying this, Anzejs Pasecniks, 7-2 kid from Latvia who played this year in Spain, who all of a sudden, you know, is popping up on all the mock draft, first-round boards.

Here’s a look at our latest mock draft for every pick in the draft.

NBA Mock Draft 1st Round

Jonathan Isaac is a name generating a lot of buzz. ESPN Minnesota’s Darren Wolfson reported Isaac will only work out for teams picking in the top four. Isaac has had two workouts with the Suns. Either he is trying to improve his draft stock by creating demand, or he has an inkling the Suns plan on picking him.

If Fultz and Ball go in the top two, the entire league will be watching what the Celtics do on draft night. The Celtics’ decision could create a domino effect on draft night.

NBA Mock Draft 2nd Round

One of the things you start to notice at the end of the first round, and early part of the second is the amount of big men available. Perimeter players have become increasingly valuable causing big men to fall further in drafts than we used to see.

This year’s draft is strongest at point guard and on the wings. This will likely push down talented bigs later than they normally would be picked. These two factors could cause fans to see post players with first round talent still available in the second round. It is definitely the value play for teams in the top half of the second round.