"The Voice of the Clippers", Ralph Lawler, is checking in with Clippers.com with his predictions on the top 14 picks in the 2004 NBA Draft will play out. Keep following Clippers.com as Ralph will update his Mock Draft periodically.
| Version 1.0 | Posted: June 1st, 2004
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The Chicago Pre-Draft Camp (June 8th to 11th) and individual work-outs will shuffle this list a bit this year. Trades will also impact this Draft . As of now, here’s the way it looks:
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#1) ORLANDO |
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Emeka Okafor
Forward | 6-10 | Connecticut
He’s the perfect fit for the Magic and a good complement to Tracy McGrady. They’ll flirt with others, but I’d be amazed if he’s not their pick.
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#2) CLIPPERS |
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Dwight Howard
Forward/Center | 6-11 | SW Atlanta Christian HS
Clearly the best player available. Has big upside and is variously compared to Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan. However, the team already has a star power forward in Elton Brand. The need is point guard. I smell a trade.
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#3) CHICAGO |
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Luol Deng
Forward | 6-8 | Duke
He might be the second coming of Grant Hill and he fills the team’s need at small forward.
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#4) CHARLOTTE |
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Josh Childress
Forward | 6-8 | Stanford
Hard to know where they stand until after the Expansion Draft, but the word is they won’t pick a high school player. This veteran collegian may fill the bill for them as their first-ever draft pick.
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#5) WASHINGTON |
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Josh Smith
Forward | 6-8 | Oak Hill Academy
May be the best athlete in the draft. He’s hard to pass up at #5, but the Wiz may choose to go big or could trade down.
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#6) ATLANTA |
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Devin Harris
Guard | 6-3 | Wisconsin
[They could be picking here for the Clippers] They’ve openly coveted local favorite, Dwight Howard. They’ll need to trade spots with the Clippers to get him. They also own the 17th pick in this year’s draft. Other possibilities here would be Shaun Livingston or Ben Gordon.
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#7) PHOENIX |
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Martynas Andriuskevicius
Center | 7-3 | Lithuania
He could be the game’s next great center. The Suns could draft him and wait a year for him to come to the NBA. His agent says he’ll pull out of the draft if he’s not a top 5 pick, but the Suns can make a very compelling case for the big man to stay in the draft.
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#8) TORONTO |
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Shaun Livingston
Guard | 6-7 | Peoria Central High School
Hard to tell what will happen at #8 because I don’t know who is running the show in Toronto. Ben Gordon could go here or they might opt for a European big man.
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#9) PHILADELPHIA |
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Pavel Podkolzine
Center | 7-5 | Russia
A new coach and a new system in Philly, but its still Allen Iverson’s team. This big 19 year old was a Top 10 pick a year ago before pulling out of the draft. He’s been impressive this week in the Eurocamp in Italy.
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#10) CLEVELAND |
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Ben Gordon
Guard | 6-3 | Connecticut
He could spend a year playing behind Jeff McInnis before taking over as the starting point guard in the LeBron James back-court for a decade or so.
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#11) GOLDEN STATE |
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Andris Biedrins
Forward | 6-10 | Latvia
With Dampier and Foyle having one foot out the door, the Warriors are desperate for a big man. Biedrins and Perovic are their best choices with #11.
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#12) SEATTLE |
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Kosta Perovic
Center | 7-3 | Serbia-Montenegro
He needs to put on some pounds, but he has more upside than any of the Sonics' under-achieving centers.
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#13) PORTLAND |
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Andre Iguodala
Forward | 6-6 | Arizona
They’d really like one of those big Euro centers here, but they may not be available at this point. This is not a bad consolation prize. He’s very athletic and has a good feel for the game.
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#14) UTAH |
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Rafael Araujo
Center | 6-11| BYU
He’ll be perfect in Jerry Sloan’s system. Not a harder worker in college basketball last season. With Greg Ostertag likely gone, he could step right in and start for the Jazz.
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Others to watch for: Jameer Nelson, Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair,
J.R. Smith, Peja Samardizki, Sergei Monya.
