Re-Drafting the 2011 NBA Draft - Top 10

The 2011 NBA draft was quietly one of the deeper drafts of the last decade. With All-NBA talents, multiple All-Stars, and quite a few rotational guys, that year's draft changed the future for many teams. Here's how things might have shaped out had we known what would have come of these players back then!

#1 Overall: Kawhi Leonard - SF - Cleveland Cavaliers
Original Pick: Kyrie Irving - PG

This is a pretty simple pick in my opinion. Knowing the trajectory that Kawhi Leonard was on, he easily takes the top spot in the re-draft. Becoming one of the best two-way players in the NBA, teaming Kawhi Leonard with LeBron James (eventually) would have likely given Cleveland multiple titles. The one aspect of this that I question though, is the fact that one of the reasons Kawhi went so late in the draft was his inability to shoot the ball. The Spurs have one of the greatest shooting coaches in Chip Egelland who has been credited with reworking Kawhi's shot to create one of the deadliest players in the NBA. Does Kawhi still become the offensive threat he has without Egelland's teaching? It's hard to know, but even if Leonard became "only" the defensive stopper he is today, he still could make a case for the number one overall pick.

#2 Overall: Kyrie Irving - PG - Minnesota Timberwolves
Original Pick: Derrick Williams - SF/PF

The original number one overall pick doesn't drop too far in the re-draft. Minnesota snatches up the best below the rim finisher in the league and if you want to get into super speculative land, take my 2010 re-draft and combine it with this one. That leaves Minnesota with the young core of Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kyrie Irving. Sure, the team may allow their opponents to score 110 points a game, but this team would be prolific on offense with that young scoring combination. Minnesota easily becomes a dominant team in the West with their own big-three. Even if you leave out Cousins on this Wolves team, they are still a potential playoff team with just Kyrie and Kevin Love.

#3 Overall: Jimmy Butler - SG - Utah Jazz
Original Pick: Enes Kanter - C

After trading away star point guard Deron Williams to the Nets, the Jazz get a pick in the top three. While they originally whiffed a little bit, in the re-draft and with perfect information, the Jazz pick up Jimmy Butler and his tenacious, energetic attitude. Butler gives Utah a defensive stopper who would mold into a prolific scorer and one of the better clutch players in the league. With a core of Al Jefferson, Paul Milsap, and Gordon Hayward, Jimmy Butler can focus on being the defensive stopper and energy guy off the bench for his first couple of years before he is inserted into the starting lineup to take on more of a scoring role. Utah becomes an actually exciting team to watch and potentially contends for a championship.

#4 Overall: Klay Thompson - SG - Cleveland Cavaliers
Original Pick: Tristan Thompson - C/PF

The Cavaliers use their second pick in the top five to snatch another quite, but effective star. Klay Thompson gives Cleveland a scoring threat while also giving the Cavs one of the best defensive wing combos in the league. It's hard for me to see Klay on any team but the Warriors, but if I had to choose a second team for him to fit on it might be the Cavaliers. With LeBron on his way in the next few years, Klay has some time to develop before the Cavaliers become the deadliest small ball lineup in the NBA with LeBron, Kawhi, and Klay manning a defensive rotation that few can compete with.

#5 Overall: Isaiah Thomas - PG - Toronto Raptors
Original Pick: Jonas Valanciunas - C

Mr. Irrelevant of 2011 moves up 55 picks to be drafted at the number five slot by the Toronto Raptors. Pairing Thomas with DeMar DeRozan creates a backcourt that would rival the splash brothers (although in this scenario the "splash brothers" don't exist in their real life iteration). Seeing Isaiah Thomas drafted this early is so odd to me because of the fact that he tends to place a massive chip on his shoulder for being drafted with the last pick of the draft. Would Thomas have become one of the top point guards in the league had he been taken this early in the draft and had more pressure on him to run a squad? Obviously, we will never know, but I suspect IT would have made things work.

#6 Overall: Kenneth Faried - PF - Washington Wizards
Original Pick: Jan Vesely - PF

There is a pretty significant dropoff from the top five picks, all of whom have made an All-NBA team in their careers, but Faried fits well with the athletic and fast-paced team that the John Wall-led Wizards want to play. The amount of Wall to Faried alley-oops this team creates is staggering. Faried might not be the best player available, but he is certainly the best fit for this Washington team. While it's hard to know exactly how Faried develops in Washington, it's pretty certain that he develops into a better player than the guy the Wizards took in Jan Vesely, who has to be one of the bigger busts in the last ten years.

#7 Overall: Kemba Walker - PG - Sacramento Kings
Original Pick: Bismack Biyombo - C

Original pick Bismack Biyombo never played a game for the Kings and was traded prior to the season starting for #10 pick Jimmer Fredette. In this scenario, rather than trading for a god-awful point guard who couldn't play defense and never found a way to score in the NBA, the Kings grab solid point guard started Kemba Walker. With a young core of Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, and Marcus Thornton already in place, Kemba doesn't need to shoulder the scoring load and can morph into more of a facilitator who can score on a more open floor. A Kemba Walker and DeMarcus Cousins pair might even give the Kings a sniff of the post-season.

#8 Overall: Tristan Thompson - C/PF - Detroit Pistons
Original Pick: Brandon Knight - PG

In this re-draft, I definitely think there is an argument to be made for Reggie Jackson at the number eight spot. Thompson has a similar style to Greg Monroe who the Pistons drafted a year earlier, but having a one-two punch of Monroe and Thompson gives Detroit a combination that hadn't had since Ben and Rasheed Wallace were bashing heads in together. Thompson provides Detroit with the glue guy they need and a young big to fill the shoes of the old Ben Wallace. The Pistons' future probably doesn't change a whole lot between Knight and Thompson, but Thompson certainly doesn't start dating a Kardashian without LeBron carrying him to the finals.

#9 Overall: Reggie Jackson - PG - Charlotte Bobcats
Original Pick: Kemba Walker - PG

It's hard to imagine the 2011-2012 Bobcats getting any worse, but with Kemba Walker already off the board, Charlotte goes with the next best option in Reggie Jackson. Does the lack of Kemba Walker drop the Bobcats' win total on the season below the 7-win mark? Possibly, but this team has many other issues to address outside of the point guard. There's really not much worse this team could get, but Jackson is certainly a downgrade from original number nine pick Kemba Walker.

#10 Overall: Chandler Parsons - SF - Milwaukee Bucks
Original Pick: Jimmer Fredette - PG/SG

With the final pick of the top ten 2011 NBA re-draft, the Milwaukee Bucks select Chandler Parsons. While Parsons has died off as of late due to injuries, his time in Houston was incredible. While the original pick of Jimmer Fredette didn't actually play a game for the Bucks, knowing what we know now, Parsons would have stayed in Milwaukee and blossomed into a solid scorer at the small forward position. It was a bit of a transition year for Milwaukee following the 2011 draft, but Parsons certainly would have been an asset to a Milwaukee team that had little in the way of shooting from the wing position. Parsons probably doesn't turn Milwaukee into a contender, but he certainly helps a team in desperate need of scoring from the outside.

It's impossible to truly gauge how differently things would have turned out for these franchises had they gone different directions in the 2011 NBA Draft. Does LeBron still come back to Cleveland with Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson as the anchors of the team? Does Kyrie Irving turn the Timberwolves into a contender with Kevin Love? Do the Bobcats become the laughing stock (moreso than they already were) of the NBA without Kemba Walker? While we may never know the answers, speculating is always a sports fan's dream!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Tell me down in the comments how you would have re-drafted the 2010 NBA draft. I look forward to writing more NBA centric articles about past drafts so if you are interested, please follow @brandonp to get all of my posts directly to your feed!