Final NBA mock drafts: Who Rockets may take at No. 16 overall

In mock drafts published since the Houston-Portland trade, here are five prospects who experts believe could be in play for the Rockets.

Courtesy of the pending trade involving Houston’s Robert Covington and Portland’s Trevor Ariza, the Rockets currently own the No. 16 overall selection in Wednesday’s 2020 NBA draft.

The Trail Blazers will technically make the selection, since the trade won’t be finalized until after the draft. But unless the Rockets move that pick to another team in a subsequent deal, new Houston GM Rafael Stone will be telling Portland who to select for them at No. 16.

Assuming they keep the pick, it will be the first time for Houston to select in the draft’s first round since taking Sam Dekker in 2015.

While most mock drafts were published before Monday night’s trade, there have been a few published since (i.e. while knowing that No. 16 belongs to Houston). Here’s a look at who those analysts picked for the Rockets, along with player summaries via Rookie Wire’s final big board.

The Ringer: Precious Achiuwa, 6-foot-9 big, Memphis

Rookie Wire summary: University of Memphis big man Precious Achiuwa, a top-15 recruit in the class of 2019, averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game as a freshman. There are flashes of greatness, like when he put up 22 points and 22 rebounds with four blocks against Tulane. Overall, his defensive rebound percentage (24.7%) ranked sixth-best among all freshmen.

 

CBS Sports: R.J. Hampton, 6-foot-5 guard, New Zealand Breakers

Rookie Wire summary: RJ Hampton is one of the most athletic prospects in this class. He registered 28.8 points per game for Drive Nation on the Nike EYBL AAU circuit in 2019, per Open Look Analytics, and six assists per game on the UA Association circuit in 2018.

He has since played professional basketball overseas and has also drastically improved his shooting form working with former NBA swingman Mike Miller.

 

Bleacher Report: Tyrese Maxey, 6-foot-3 guard, Kentucky

Rookie Wire summary: Tyrese Maxey was a top recruit coming out of high school who was one of the top scorers for Kentucky last season. Maxey may be a bit undersized to play the two and does not necessarily have the playmaking chops to be the one.

But he plays bigger than his 6-foot-3 frame, thanks to his 6-foot-6 wingspan. The offense often ran through him at Kentucky, and he averaged 0.93 points per possession as the ball handler in pick-and-roll sets — which ranked in the 86th percentile among NCAA players.

 

New York Post: Killian Hayes, 6-foot-5 guard, ratiopharm ulm (German BBL)

Rookie Wire summary: Killian Hayes is a combo guard with good positional size. He led the top German league in transition scoring (3.3 points per game) at age 18, connecting on more than 84% of such attempts. Hayes ranked fifth-best for isolation scoring (2.3 ppg) in the EuroCup, shooting well off the dribble.

Meanwhile, his distribution (5.1 assists per game) ranked third-best during those games. The guard won MVP at the U16 Euro Championship in 2017 and was named to the all-tournament team at the 2018 U17 World Cup.

 

The Athletic: Aleksej Pokusevski, 7-foot-0 big, Olympiacos B.C. (Greek HEBA A2)

Rookie Wire summary: Serbia’s Aleksej Pokusevski is the closest thing to a unicorn of any player in the 2020 NBA draft. He averaged 18.7 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 3.1 blocks and 2.2 steals per 40 minutes playing in the Greek HEBA A2 league last season. He was 17-for-53 (32.1%) from 3-point range, hardly a poor shooter. During the U18 Euro Championships, Pokusevski recorded 16.0 points with 11.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists with 6.4 blocks (!) and 4.0 steals per game. The big man was also the overall leader in blocks during the tournament.

While his frame is slight enough where it is hard to imagine how he could be able to match up with a prototypical big man at the next level, as one of the youngest prospects in this class, he has plenty of time to put it all together.

Wednesday’s draft starts at 7:00 p.m. Central, with a nationally televised broadcast on ESPN. Assuming Houston retains the No. 16 pick, it should be made during the 8:00 p.m. Central hour.

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