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Top 2009 NBA DraftPoint Guard Prospect, Ricky Rubio

Once you get past Hasheem Thabeet and Blake Griffin, the point guard position is one of the strongest of the 2009 NBA draft. Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, and Ty Lawson top our list although depending on team needs you may see the order get shuffled a bit. This year’s draft is a bit watered down, however, with the exodus of NCAA freshman the past two years to the draft:

2007 – Six Freshmen were drafted in the NBA Lottery – Mike Conley, Kevin Durant, Spencer Hawes, Greg Oden, Thaddeus Young, and Brandan Wright.

2008 – Seven Freshmen were drafted in the NBA Lottery – Jerryd Bayless, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon, Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, Derek Rose, and Anthony Randolph.

There are still a number of picks available that team’s hope can help turn around their franchise’s similar to how Derek Rose has helped the Bulls regain prominence. The primary question, however, is who is the next Derek Rose? Chris Paul? Only time will tell, but this is my cut on the top 5 point guard prospects for the 2009 NBA draft.

2009 NBA Mock Draft – Top Five Point Guard Prospects

#1 2009 NBA Mock Draft Point Guard – Ricky Rubio

Ricky Rubio doesn’t quite bring the Derek Rose package of speed and athleticism to the NBA, but he is showing up to the dance with the highest basketball I.Q. of all of the point guard prospects. The first time that he made big time news in the U.S. was in the 2008 Olympics when Spain played the U.S. He has work to do on his outside shot and strength conditioning, but Rubio is assessed as a big time playmaker who may just be able to help a club pull a Bulls-Style turnaround in the 2009-10 NBA season.

#2 2009 NBA Mock Draft Point Guard – Tyreke Evans

Tyreke Evans took a little longer than Derek Rose did to get going in his Freshman year at Memphis. (He also didn’t have current NBA player, Curtis Douglas Roberts to share in the scoring burden either). Once he did get going, Evans showed us all a glimpse what he can be like in the NBA. He’s got the height, the athleticism, and the speed. Outside shooting and a bit of work on his decision making and Evans isn’t too far off of being NBA-All Star caliber.

#3 2009 NBA Mock Draft Point Guard – Ty Lawson

If Ty Lawson had Tyreke Evans’ height, we would be arguing about whether he or Blake Griffin would be the number one pick this year. Did anyone notice how poor the Tar Heels played without Lawson in the lineup? Did they even notice when Hansborough was out? At 5’11”, Lawson is undersized against NBA point guards, however, he’s a seasoned player coming into the draft with a 3.4 to 1 turnover ratio. He’s the perfect fit for a team looking for a floor commander and not the next coming of M.J. He’s also got range for when he is shooting, hitting 3’s at a 47.3% last season. Oh, and did I say he’s fast? He’ll likely go after Brandon Jennings and Stephen Curry in the draft, but he’ll be a steal for the team that lands him!

#4 2009 NBA Mock Draft Point Guard – Brandon Jennings

We never did get to see Brandon Jennings play college ball. If you didn’t catch him on the Euorpean circuit, you’re not alone, I haven’t been able to either. It’s unfortunate he didn’t play a year of college ball at Arizona however, because he’s a very talented point guard who can score and is fun to watch. He’ll be a potentially franchise changing pick for the team that takes him, though it may take a few years of playing before he hits all-star caliber. He is assessed as having a high basketball I.Q., just has a tendency to go for his jump shot a bit much.

#5 2009 NBA Mock Draft Point Guard – Stephen Curry

If you watched the 2008 NCAA tournament, you know who Stephen Curry is. Giant-killer, NCAA scoring leader, and so forth. Curry shifted to the point guard position for the 2008-09 season at Davidson and increased not only his assist average but also his scoring (26 to 29 ppg) and steals (2 to 2.5 pg). His turnover average (3.7 per game) is too high to be a star NBA point guard, so we’ll have to see how long it takes him to develop as a NBA point guard.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 1:11 pm and is filed under 2009 NBA Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.