Dunk Base

The second round of the NBA Draft has never been known as a place where superstars come from, but occasionally one slips in. What it does to on a regular basis is provide a good role player or a player who goes to play in Europe for a couple of years before coming to the NBA and being a higher level role player. This is going to look over every rookie this season who was a second round pick, as far as ones who really look like they can make a difference for their team. These could be second round picks from the 2010 NBA Draft, the 2008 NBA Draft, or any other draft, as long as they are a rookie this season and were drafted in the second round.

We're going to start with Luke Harangody. The Celtics just signed him to join their team after a very impressive summer league performance. With Harangody you're not going to get anyone who will tear things up in the NBA, but despite being undersized, he has the strength and offensive skill to be a good bench player for many years to come. However, he's not the only second round player that the Celtics have who should be able to make a difference this season. Semih Erden is coming to the Celtics from Turkey. He was the final pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. He's a center with legitimate size. He's a borderline player on making this post, but for now we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He could wind up being another Hamed Haddadi.

Moving past the Celtics, we reach one of the best players in college basketball last season in Sherron Collins. He's clearly very undersized for the NBA, but he did play very well during the summer league. However, don't look for him to be anything beyond a borderline rotational player off the bench for the Bobcats. However, a single injury can give him plenty of opportunities to show what he can do. If he can show that he can pass the ball he may start gradually building up minutes.

The Bulls haven't had a second round pick in a while, but back in 2008 after drafting Derrick Rose with the first overall pick they decided to trade away their second round pick, Sonny Weems, and two future second round picks to get Omer Asik. The Turkish big man is said to be one of the top players in his country and the Bulls seem very excited to have him come over. The Bulls look to be ready to put him into their rotation right away although they have got insurance in case he doesn't work out.

While the Bulls have a team that's ready to compete rather their second round rookie performs at a high level or not, the Indiana Pacers are not nearly as lucky. Lance Stephenson is someone who can come in and really score. When he tries he can be a good defender, but the big question is how well he can play within the team concept. He'll be 19 at the start of the season, so he is still going to be a project, but the Pacers may be able to expect him to come in off the bench and occasionally get some scoring in there.

The Miami are a bit of both the Bulls and Pacers. The Heat have a team that looks like it will likely take the Eastern Conference this coming season, but at the same time they have almost all of their talent consolidated within a few players. It's going to be important for Dexter Pittman to be able to play a big role for them. He's a center with decent skill and absolutely huge size, but in college he was never able to average more than 15 minutes per game due to horrible conditioning. Before his final season he had dropped his weight down to about 300 pounds, but hasn't seemed to drop it since then. He's going to need to get himself down to about 270 or so in order to play as many minutes as he may need to. If he can do that he can be a solid role player for the Heat.

Now, going back to European players coming to the NBA we have Nikola Pekovic. The man looks like a giant Soviet agent. He's got good size and supposedly has a nice post game. Playing for the Timberwolves there will likely be plenty of chances for him to get some minutes in there, especially if those in front of him are not performing. Right now he looks like he may even be a rotation player for the Timberwolves, depending what they do with their wealth of tweener players.

Gani Lawal is going to be an interesting second round rookie to watch. He's still raw, but he does know how to play in the post. He's got good enough size that he should be able to survive in the post at the NBA level, but he still has a lot of developing to do. He may be someone that needs a couple of years before he is a productive player, but it's really hard to say, he could wind up being a decent role player right away.

Armon Johnson turned a lot of heads with his play at Nevada. He's an undersized shooting guard who is quick and athletic. He may be more of a highlight reel type of player at the start, but if he can develop a jumper he can wind up being a great third guard eventually. With the Trailblazers he'll likely get limited minutes due to the depth that the team has at the guard position, but he should be able to find the court occasionally.

Hassan Whiteside is one of the better known second round picks who will be a rookie this coming season. He's a long center with great ahtleticism. He was an absolute shot blocking machine in college and hopes to be able to bring that to the NBA. He's also going to have to bring a more refined offensive game. Right now he has a nice jumper, but is very raw down low. He'll likely make an impact for the Kings with his defense, but on offense he's going to need to develop his game.

By the time the season starts there may be more, but these are the best of the ones who have been signed. Players like Terrico White, Jarvis Varnado, Da'Sean Butler, Jerome Jordan, Solomon Alabi, Willie Warren, and Derrick Caracter are all among second round picks from this past season who remain unsigned, but will likely eventually sign and play this season.

There were ten players who were mentioned as players signed already who may be able to be productive players this season and another seven who will likely sign who can be productive right away. Obviously there will be a number of those players who fall flat on their face or just really don't play much, but just the idea that there are potentially seventeen productive second round rookies this season really shows how deep the talent coming into the league is once again reaching.

Keep an eye on the players mentioned here. While we cannot expect any of them to become stars, you will likely see many of them lead productive NBA careers.

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