ESPN basketball insider Chad Ford has released his fifth 2011 NBA mock draft with less than a week to go until the actual draft is finally here. This time around there is a shakeup in his top five. He still has the Cavaliers taking Kyrie Irving at #1 and the T’Wolves taking Arizona F Derrick Williams at #2. Just like his previous two mocks he’s got the Jazz taking Kentucky PG Brandon Knight at #3.
The change comes at #4 where he previously had the Cavs taking center Enes Kanter. However, this time around he hears that Cleveland has become high Jonas Valanciunas, who is the new #4 pick. He’s still got Jan Vesely going to Toronto at #5.
The rest of his top 10 are as follows: #6 Enes Kanter, #7 Kawhi Leonard. #8 Kemba Walker, #9 Marcus Morris, #10 Klay Thompson.
For the Sixers, there is a change as well. In his previous mock, Ford had them taking Texas SF Jordan Hamilton. This time he’s got them grabbing his Texas teammate Tristan Thompson.
Thompson could go as high as No. 5 or No. 6. But he also could slide. Just about every team I spoke to likes him a lot, but I’ve yet to find the team that’s fallen in love. I doubt he slips further than this though. The Sixers need more size, toughness and rebounding. Thompson provides all three. Jordan Hamilton and Markieff Morris are also options here.
As for other possible Sixers targets, he’s got Bismack Biyombo at #11, Nikola Vucevic at #14, Jordan Hamilton at #18, Markieff Morris at #19, Donatas Motiejunas at #20 and Kenneth Faried at #21.