The first 2019 Valley of the Suns Mock Draft

Trevor Ariza might love DC and the Wiz might love Ariza, but he’s not the long-term answer at small forward.  They had two of those, but now one plays for the Bulls and we hope the other will play for the Suns.  Enter an elite defender playing right down the road. It’s tough to know what he can give you on offense because Tony Bennett isn’t exactly Mike D’Antoni, but you know for sure that Hunter gives you elite length and the best 3 and D player in this draft.  Give him a year or two to learn from Ariza and the Wiz have a nice piece to play with Beal and the remains of John Wall.

I admit it, I was wrong about Trae Young.  Young has developed into an elite offensive player.  The Hawks claimed they wanted to create a second coming of the splash brothers when they drafted Young and Kevin Huerter last year.  Young has fit the bill.  Huerter is a nice player, but not quite the Klay clone they would need.  I’m not convinced Culver fits the bill either, but between the two you’d have a chance at seeing if either high volume scorer can fit the bill.  Culver reminds me a lot of TJ Warren in a shooting guard’s body.  He’s not explosive, he’s just crafty.  He doesn’t hit the long ball well, but he finds a lot of ways to score.  He’s worth the risk here.

This is too high of a selection for Darius, but given the other options, it’s the most logical for Chicago.  Kris Dunn has had some flashes over the last twelve months, but nothing that would suggest he’s the kind of point guard the baby bulls need.  Garland would give the bulls another guard coming off knee injuries.  Unlike Dunn, Darius has the ability to create his own shot at any time and really take over a game.  He’s not the kind of elite distributor that a team like Chicago needs, but if he can be a poor man’s CJ McCollum they might be able to piece this together enough to make it work.