ESPN NBA analyst and former Trail Blazers vice president of basketball operations Tom Penn talks with The Post’s Howie Kussoy about Thursday’s NBA Draft — one of the most anticipated in years — and the potential for a blockbuster trade on draft night.
Q: Which post-lottery pick will be the steal of the draft?
A; Zach LaVine from UCLA has been very interesting because he has tremendous size for the guard position. He can be a point guard, and he has ridiculous athleticism on top of it. He’s like a different version, a different-bodied Russell Westbrook, who is an explosive athlete that can attack and is rangy. He’s raw, but you get the tingles when you see his athleticism combined with his skill.
Q: Which player will make the most immediate impact?
A: I think Jabari Parker is the most ready to come in right away and help. Doug McDermott is ready to come in and help an NBA team. Both of those guys will come in and be able to score and produce, but you’re not drafting for the next six months, you’re drafting for the next six years. Over that stretch of time, who’s gonna be your potential stars, I think the other guys have more upside.
Q: Which lottery team has the best chance to make the playoffs next year because of this draft?
A: None of these guys themselves are franchise changers on Day One. You just don’t see that when you draft a 19-year-old kid. It’s more about adding a key player to your core nucleus. Cleveland is well-positioned to do that because they have Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson. They’re coming of age and should be ready to pop. If they draft the right player at [No.] 1, that could be a real difference-maker for them.
Q: Will there be a big trade on draft night?
A: There’s no question [Kevin Love] would like to be traded and there’s no question the best value Minnesota can get, in part, is the promise of a young player from this draft. Those deals usually happen at draft time when Minnesota knows precisely the player [it] can pick. If we’re going to see Kevin traded, the time to do it is going to be Thursday night.
Q: Which lottery pick presents the greatest risk?
A: [Joel] Embiid has the risk factor because he’s coming off a back injury and the recent history of 7-footers in the NBA is that they eventually get hurt, some rather quickly [Editor’s note: It was learned on Thursday Embiid suffered a foot injury]. There’s the general trend of the disappearance of the big man, they don’t have the skills they used to and they tend to get hurt….all those factors weigh into the discussion if you’re going to draft anybody over 7 feet…He’s not too “good to pass up” because there are other alternatives right there.