With the first mock draft released over at ESPN after the official results from the NBA Draft Lottery, NBA analyst Chad Ford has left every draft entrant from the Kansas Jayhawks out of the lottery. However, it's well-rounded forward Marcus Morris who breaks the streak at No. 14 overall, the first choice outside of the lottery, to go to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Specifically, Ford notes that the loss of a forward who can be similarly described, Shane Battier, might have the Rockets wanting to find a replacement. "The Rockets traded away Shane Battier in February, and Morris wouldn't be a bad long-term replacement. His ability to stretch the floor and rebound, combined with a high basketball IQ, should be welcome in Houston"
This would certainly be a disappointing scenario for Morris to drop out of the lottery altogether, but the Rockets would provide a competitive team that also would know best how to utilize his inside out game. The draft stock of Morris and all other draft entrants will change over the course of the next month, but the Rockets seem a likely scenario when everything is analyzed from top to bottom.