2012 NBA Draft: Winners and Losers

There always has to be a postmortem on any draft, and you all know that we here at A Sea of Blue are really big on postmortems. So the question before us now is who did well, and who did not so well in the 2012 NBA Draft? I'll try not to be too much of a Kentucky partisan here, but seriously, you have to take what I say with the caveat that I am a Kentucky fan.

Really great -- New Orleans Hornets.

Not only did they get the big prize in Anthony Davis, but I happen to think Austin Rivers has been unfairly overlooked. The kid is a tremendous talent with vast skills that went largely underappreciated in his role at Duke. He can beat almost anyone off the dribble, finish at the rim, and shoot the ball with almost unlimited range. He's still a touch raw, but his skill set is unmatched by any guard his size in this draft.

Darius Miller is a genuine bonus, and a better #46 pick is impossible for me to imagine. Miller has everything you would want in a role player -- great skill for his size, the ability to handle, pass and shoot. Miller will probably never be a star in the NBA, but he will help teams win games.

Great -- Charlotte Bobcats

With all the news that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had dropped down to four or five, it was a little surprising to see that the Bobcats eschewed conventional wisdom and took MKG over Thomas Robinson. Since Corey Maggette was traded for Eric Gordon Ben Gordon, the Bobcats had a hole at small forward rather than at shooting guard, which explains why the highly-regarded Bradley Beal wasn't taken in this spot.

They could have filled that hole with Harrison Barnes, but they took MKG instead. Then, in something of a coup, they picked up Jeffrey Taylor, a legitimate first-round talent, at #31. Not only do they have an energy guy in MKG, but also an athletic scorer in Taylor that will have Charlotte forgetting all about Maggette.

Not so great -- Milwaukee Bucks

I think John Henson at the 14th pick is one they will live to regret. Henson has had a lot of trouble putting on weight, and his body, with the extremely long legs and short torso, is not really an NBA power forward's body. Henson has no real offensive game to speak of, although he is a solid rebounder, and he doesn't make his foul shots.

Doron Lamb was a bargain at 42, and gives the Bucks some much-needed shooting, but I thought that Henson was drafted way too high at 14, and that there were better players like Tyler Zeller, Royce White, or even Terrence Jones that would have come closer to filling that need.

Not so great -- Cleveland Cavaliers

Dion Waiters at #4? Really? Don't get me wrong, Waiters is a great talent and should be an excellent NBA 2-guard, but can he and will he defend? There is no evidence at all that he will. He played in a zone system where all he was required to do was come onto the floor and score. He did that pretty well, but not well enough to wind up here.

Cleveland traded away 3 picks to get Tyler Zeller at 17, and I just don't get that. They could have kept their picks and likely gotten somebody like Miles Plumlee, an athletic freak with a terrific body who can run the floor, or Fab Melo who can also run the floor and has a good upside with his overall size and pterodactyl-like wingspan, or even Festus Ezeli, another athletic big man who can run. Head-scratcher.

Here is SB Nation's Amy K. Nelson and the gang with their picks:

So now you have our opinion on the draft. What's yours?