It seems as if mock drafts are spreading like wildfire across all sports. The NFL and NBA have captured this activity and capitalized on the excitement that it brings to fans. It has all fans playing "General Manager" and gives them a closeness to the team and the players that their team ends up drafting. But there are some major differences between the NFL and NBA draft for fans and it's actually very simple.
The problem with the NBA draft is that too often the players who are drafted to a particular team end up getting traded within the hour to another team. It makes the whole process a little anticlimactic. There were 17 trades last season that affected the first-round of the NBA draft. Some of these were made pre-draft and some of them were draft-day trades. Either way it seems as if it's too easy for teams to move around. The NFL draft this past month showed what happens in the NFL if you really want to go after a certain player. The Atlanta Falcons had to mortgage their future on one player, Julio Jones. They gave up their first, second, and fourth round picks this past year, and their first and fourth round picks next year. They gave up 5 picks in order to take one player.
In the NBA you are allowed to draft a guy and then just trade him for "cash considerations". Last year the Memphis Grizzlies traded their first-round pick, #25 Dominique Jones to the Dallas Mavericks for cash. The Grizzlies did have a couple of other first-round picks and it's not that they weren't doing what's best for their team. It's just that the draft isn't exciting to watch as you root for your team to get that next great player if they can so easily just get rid of that player after they were drafted.
The end result is the same for all drafts of every sport. You hope your team got better and you hope they made the right decisions. But with the NBA draft you'll need to hold your applause and praise until the draft is completely over, because you never know if your new-favorite player will get traded again before you could text your friends.