With the draft hours away and noted immovable object Anthony Davis in front of him, it looks like this is the end of St. Louis native Bradley Beal's 2012 NBA Mock Draft rise--which is another way of saying he's gone as far as anybody could possibly have dreamed from his starting position, after the college basketball season, as an undifferentiated lottery mass. That's all the way to No. 2 and the Charlotte Bobcats in what is presumably the final NBADraft.net mock lottery, ahead of everyone but Kentucky's shot-blocking monster freshman, who the New Orleans Hornets have had their eye on from the moment the lottery positions were set.
The 7-59 Bobcats are going to be a rough assignment for anybody, but landing there would at least give Beal, who had to defer at times as a freshman, a chance to be an offensive focal point from his first professional minutes. (The Bobcats' leading scorers last year were Gerald Henderson, at 15.1, and Corey Maggette, who shot a terrifying .373 from the field.)
And since it would be almost impossible to manage such a terrible season two years in a row, Beal will be seen as part of the solution no matter what he does as a rookie. So there's that.