The thing I find a little strange about this draft is the amount of teams looking or at least willing to offload their picks.

Seattle, Bucks, Heat and Portland could be interested in trading their pick.

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I think alot of teams which have been middle of the road teams fighting for those last playoff spots simply just want to win right now. And as good as so many of these young players are and can be, they will take a few years. Maybe these teams feel they have gone so long being just average teams that they cannot handle a few more years of this? Also the league is full of budding young superstars atm, so adding more youth to rosters already dependant on young players may not be an attractive option for these teams if they already feel they have their 'franchise' player.

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I beleive that teams should draft the best player available... Time and time again the teams will pick for need rather than talent. Bowie picked in front of Jordan is a classic example. Havent looked in to this years draft, yet. But Beasley looks the goods.

I tend to disagree with you sharpshooter. What's the point picking the best player you can with your pick when you already have that position covered.

Using Jordan as your example, the year before the Trailblazers picked some scrub called Clyde Drexler who played the same position. Drexler's rookie season was very average, but obviously Portland saw something in him to say that the kid could play.

Bowie had some huge kudo's as a highschooler/college player, but was coming of a serious injury. He averaged over 28 points and 18 rebounds per game, and was a McDonald's All-American and Parade All-American. At the time Portland needed a centre as they missed out on Hakeem who went No 1. Hindsight is a beautiful thing.....

BPA outside of the lottery I agree with, but at the top of the draft positional requirements of the squad have to come into consideration.

If Utah or New Orleans won the draft do you think they would select Rose????

Jawai is welcome @ the Knicks.

Hi Quagmire,
Tough decision for the Bulls, though a good one to have! Hinrich must be feeling pretty nervous.

At first glance you are right, Beasley seems the obvious choice. But scouts really seem to think Rose can be a team leader in the Paul or Williams mode, and he is from Chicago to boot.

I have to say I hate Chicago's roster. Deng is really the only guy I think is a keeper and he will never be a franchise player, he might not even be your second best player on a good playoff team. For the right price, I like Nocioni as a gunslingin' sixth man too, but he may not even be in Chicago next year.

So I think it is best player available from Chicago's point of view, then readjust your roster around whoever you take.

Philadelphia could make good use of either Rose or Beasley, but won't be keen to break up their core, which performed really well this season.

I don't think they could trade Miller or Dalembert to Miami very easily either, since Miami has very few large contracts to send back (Marion and Wade aren't getting traded to Philly and that leaves horrible contracts like Blount $7m and Banks $4m which Philly would be unlikely to take).

If it were to happen, the most likely scenario might be a trade of Thaddeus Young in order to get Beasley from the Heat. That would keep Philly's roster intact while giving it the one thing it lacks: a scoring presence in the post. Question is, does Riley think Thaddeus will be better in the long run than Beasley?

Incidentally, it could work with Iguodala too, but Miami would need certain guarantees from Iggy that he would sign with them before the trade could go through (since a sign and trade would not work).

I must admit; out of all the draft groups I've seen over the past 10 years; this draft probably stands out the least.

Beyond the aussie hopefuls; I don't recognize many people. Must admit that I haven't caught up on much NCAA this past year. Stupid working and all.

Chicago need a Shooter and a centre. Gordon is good, but only as a 6th man; he doesn't have a starter impact on the team.

Hey Beantown;
Your spot on with the money being an issue in any Phi/Heat trades but the beauty of trading for picks in a lottery is that you pay the rookies f@#%all for three years. This means they could eat up the salaries of Banks and/or Blount, wait for their contracts to expire, use the cap releif to sign the rookie to a max deal extension.

I think Phi needs to realise that they over-achieved this year. Much love to Iggy but he was SHUT DOWN by prince. Miller getting on in years, that team is done. The future should be about Louis williams at PG, Iggy and Young with Beasley at the 4, center by commision. And for gods sake keep that coach!

Hey Quagmire, you're right in the sense that Philadelphia is not going any further with what they have and that they could eat contracts like Blount and Banks if they got a good enough rookie. But I would be loathe to give up Dalembert unless you are getting an upgrade at centre in the deal, because while the big cheese has some flaws, he is still better than most pivots going around these days. Giving up Miller might be a possibility, but I think Riley would want more than a guy on the way down, even with his expiring contract, for the no. 2 pick. That's why I would look at cashing in on either Iggy or Thaddeus Young - they are both wings and you have to give up talent to get talent (unless you are trading with the Knicks).

It would be great to see something work out though. I'd enjoy seeing a L Williams-Green-Iguodala-Beasley-Dalembert starting 5 with say Jason Williams and Reggie Evans off the bench as well. Would be a pretty decent team for a couple of years.

(If they get Banks and/or Blount in the deal they should give them tickets to the Caribbean and tell them to enjoy themselves until their contracts expire! No way I let those cancers anywhere near my other players)

Why do most mock drafts seem to have Seattle picking Jerryd Bayless at #4? With their current roster, I think they are in dire need of a proper Shooting Guard with superstar potential, who can create their own shot, rather than a smaller PG/SG combo, who'll either have his minutes cut into by those already there (Luke Ridnour, Earl Watson etc.), or not fit in at SG? So really, wouldn't O.J. Mayo be the perfect pick, and make more sense than Mayo going at #5 to Memphis, like a lot of these mock drafts also have?

Just for the record, my top 5 (barring trades) at this stage would probably be:

#1 - Chicago Bulls - Derrick Rose, PG
#2 - Miami Heat - Michael Beasley, PF
#3 - Minnesota Timberwolves - Brook Lopez, C
#4 - Seattle Sonics - O.J. Mayo, SG
#5 - Memphis Grizzlies - Anthony Randolph, PF

Fair call TR, however the potential is still there to trade the drafted player. If Portland had of drafted Jordan, they then could have traded either he or Drexler for a pretty handy player to fill their needs. Orlando took Webber and then made the draft day trade for Hardaway. Gave them what they needed and Golden State got what they wanted. The draft realy is a lottery.

Totally agree shooter, but for reason of ego a GM will very rarely trade a lottery pick the year after they have selected them. Trading a lotto pick early on (unless in a great deal for a superstar or fills a drastic hole) sort of scream "I picked the wrong guy".

Just imagine if Portland got the first pick in that draft they still would of selected Hakeem or Bowie. If Houston selected Bowie with the 1st pick, Portland would of gone Hakeem as they were lacking a big man and they had no need for another young SG.

If Jordan had been selected by Portland who is to say that Drexler would of developed to a HoFer and Jordan arguable the best player in the history of the game. A rookie back then didn't really have much trade value, especially back in the days where the media didn't crawl over each college or highschool star like they do now.

Remember Jordan wasn't the star or player in College he turned into whilst in the NBA. Jordan had a great college career and that Tarheel squad was absolutely loaded. There where 4 first round picks in that starting 5.

I feel that the lottery is where a team looks to fill a position of need or weakness with the best available talent. Teams don't end up in the lottery because they have a loaded roster, they are in the lottery because the are missing some pieces.

It would make little sense for Utah, Portland, Raptors, Hornets and Spurs (to name a few) to take Beasley as they are loading at power forward, same as it would be pointless for Utah and the Hornets to take Rose.

I have no idea what Utah or the Hornets would of done with the first pick this year. I suspect that Utah may of gone Beasley due to Boozers contract ending soon, and the Hornets may of traded the pick down for Mayo or done a draft day trade.