2014 NBA DRAFT OPEN THREAD

This promises to be an unusually fun NBA Draft to begin with, thanks to a collection of talent that's widely believed to be the best in a single draft in 5-10 years, and the potential for lots of wheeling and dealing among teams trying to move up or down in the draft and/or unload assets in order to pursue certain free agent targets.  So for those reasons alone, it looked like this could be an entertaining affair (insomuch as these sorts of things are ever entertaining, at least; all drafts are a lot of sound and fury ultimately signifying very little in the present).

But as Iowa fans this year's NBA Draft holds a little extra intrigue thanks to the presence of one Roy Devyn Marble.  Marble is poised to become the first Iowa player selected in the NBA Draft since Adam Haluska was taken late in the second round in 2007.  To be clear, there's no guarantee that Marble will be drafted -- the expert consensus seems to have him as a mid-to-late second-round pick and no one in that range is a lock; that's often when teams grab athletically gifted but raw prospects or European prospects they intend to stash over in Europe for a few more years).  But several mock drafts do have him getting selected and he does seem to be picking up a bit of steam as a prospect as we get closer to the NBA Draft.  So here's hoping he does hear his name called tonight.  It would be another excellent sign of progress and the overall health of the Iowa program under Fran McCaffery.

The draft starts at 6:30 PM CT, with television coverage from ESPN. As noted earlier, Marble is expected to be a mid-second round pick, which means we likely won't hear his name called (if it is called) until after 9 PM CT.

The usual rules apply.