Winner: Houston Rockets
Houston has a lot of work to do pivoting from the James Harden era. But the Rockets made a significant step in the draft.
First, the Rockets used their No. 2 pick on G League Ignite star Jalen Green, who has a good chance of reaching his stated goal of collecting the Rookie of the Year award and landing on an All-Defensive Team. Then, the Rockets packaged a pair of future first-round picks to Oklahoma City for the No. 16 pick that resulted in Alperen Sengun, who won the MVP of the Turkish League at only 18 years old and has plenty of upside as a big man. The same can be said about using the No. 23 pick on another international prospect (Spain’s Usman Garuba) and the No. 24 pick on a promising combo guard (Arizona State’s Josh Christopher).