Any idea what time the balls roll TR?

My bad..... 10:30am tomorrow...

Oh well, lets celebrate the day today and tomorrow.. Lets all drink to ping pong balls (and hot asian chics)

TR... your not trying to suggest old man Stern is weighting some knick balls????

Imagine that for a conspiracy theory!!!

I do in fact have a time travel device... It's called yeager and red bull..

I was gonna go the thailand joke but the poster got in first, that says something about the people who contribute to this site.

It tells me TR has too much time to watch Porn in Canberra.

the Knicks should get 1 or 2 or at least a great shot at the free agency (ie LeBron). The Bulls are already back along the right path - time for the other BIG market for the NBA to head towards the "right" direction

Any tips on who will go No 1?

I hope oklahoma gets it and takes oklahoma player blake griffin. The teams that definately won't take Mills are in my opinion Phoenix (they're going the slow route these days), Portland (got enough PGs), same as Houston, Orlando, Chicago, Lakers (don't go for small pgs with Phil Jackson).

Best fits would be any team with a strong PG who requires 10-15 mins back up, Hawks with Bibby, Spurs/Parker, NOH, Dallas.

I hope he goes to GSW, close to his old college and he will play 15-20 mins whilst their Monta Ellis is a similar pg and on the outer it seems.

Just went through the NBA Lottery Wiki Article and the NBA.com article it links to at the bottom...

...the portion of my brain that dealt with Uni maths hasn't been that active for quite sometime.

Good breakdown of the Lottery Teams % chances of a #1 pick (250 in 1000, so 25%). Also cool conspiracy re: Ewing being drafted to the Knicks.

Mills at Cleveland would be nice. They are using Gibson to back up Williams at the moment but he is more of a SG.

Today is the day....

All Cats fans are requested to sacrifice 1 beer to the ping pong ball gods to pleae him in the chance that they get the 1st or 2nd pick...

TR,

I know you love your Cats and for the sake of Charlotte I hope they can get pick 1 or 2. Just curious though - we know who will go number 1, but if the cats can snag a top 4 pick who would you like to see taken a spot 2,3 & 4?

If the Cats win they select Griffin. In this scenario I wouldn't be surprised if they offer Okafor in a trade for a good SG. That could depend if AI comes across (as rumoured) to play under Coach Brown again. I'm happy for AI to run the 2. Whilst the Centre position would be thin, I think they could get away with Nazr/Diop/Ajinca.

If they get 2 they go with Rubio and possibly trade him down. Rubio isn't third string, so it means either trading him, or keeping him and trading either DJ or Felton. Felton is a restricted free agent at the moment, but has mentioned he wants to stay close to home, and it's not about the money. I'd prefer to keep them both and leverage something out of a team that wants Rubio. Rubio could offer the protection at the PG position if Felton moves on.

The Cats are liking Harden at the moment. If they get the 3rd, I think they'll take him.

There isn't much different between 3 and 10 in this draft. The talent is pretty thin.

14 - Phoenix
13 - Indiana
12 - Charlotte
11 - New Jersey
10 - Milwaukee
9 - Toronto
8 - New York
7 - Golden State
6 - Minnesota
5 - Washington
4 - Sacramento

Held form until the 6th pick - leaves Memphis, OKC & Clippers fighting it out.

3 - Thunder
2 - Grizzlies
1 - Clippers

What's the bet the Clippers f*ck it up and pick like Brandon Jennings @ #1 haha

Washington and Sac will be p*ssed......

Oh god... The Clippers with another number 1 pick.

Interesting time. Zac Randolph finding a new home?

So where is Griffin going to play in 4 years time?????

Clippers need to clean the house out ASAP
Build around Thorton, Gordon and Griffin.
Fire sale on Baron and Zach!!!!!
Not sure who is going to want their contracts though.
Trade them both to Detroit for Prince and salary cap space??

Interesting.. the Clippers actually have a good core group of youngsters to build around, I wonder how long it will take them to stuff it up. Hope the Thunder manage to land Ricky Rubio.

Griffin would be absolutely spewing that the Clips scored the #1 pick...

Haha sucked in sacramento, Chris Webber had a good laugh when they came in 4th

Not enough room on the one team for Camby, Kaman, Randolph and Griffin.

My suggestion - they trade one of their bigs for Kirk Hinrich. And dump B-Diddy for whatever they can get to fill out their bench.

What a disaster. The Clippers will find a way to screw things up - unfortunately it won't be in the draft, where they will select Griffin. I hope for Griffin's sake they can move Randolph, but who the hell is going to want his salary?

It would have to be a team that is going nowhere long-term, but desperate to win a little more short-term to get some bums on seats...Memphis maybe?

If Memphis takes Rubio, do they look to trade Conley? Perhaps back to the Clips as part of a Randolph deal? Conley would then be PG in waiting behind Baron Davis for a couple of years.

On the awesome side of the draft, it looks like the Thunder are now in the box seat to get Thabeet, who would be perfect for them at centre. All of a sudden, Westbrook, Green and Durant can gamble a lot more on defence, and then get out on the break more if Thabeet can get them stops at the rim.

Nobody wants Randolph! End of story.

Poor Griffin! It's like getting drafted by the Dockers... welcome to perpetual ineptitude.

With the Clippers young core of Griffin, Gordon and Thornton (and perhaps DeAndre Jordan) most teams would be feeling pretty good about their future. Not in Clipperland. I think their first offseason move should be to trade Donald Sterling for a bag of donuts.

Beantown, is Shawn Kemp looking at purchasing a team now??

DB5 - yeah the Bag o Donuts franchise owned by Kemp, Oliver Miller, Vin Baker and Eddy Curry. Oliver and Vin have the flour and bread market cornered, Kemp brings the 'sugar' and Curry knows how to market to the 'fat slobs' demographic.

I worry about Thabeet. He seems to be a bit soft and I can see a few of his stat lines reading something like 15 min, 3 boards, 0 pts, 6 fouls.

TC - I'm not sure the Thunder would want Rubio? (given they have Westbrook). They need a bid and unfortunately (IMO) Thabeet looks like it.

As for just getting rid of Davis, Randolph etc.. It is gonna be mighty hard with those contracts. Barin might surprise a bit - he sometimes just needs a reason to give a rats - and Griffin might just be that reason/incentive.

LA Clippers should move - maybe ta San Diego or Mexico or soemthing - it must be hard, no, impossible to be playin in the shadow of greatness - Kobe and the LAkers ..

Kemp brings the sugar...lol

also about 15 trainees at low pay ala the kids.

Oden08, I liked the look of Thabeet when I saw him play a couple of late NCAA tournament games. He was a monster defensively and seemed to have the strength not to be pushed around. He was mechanical offensively, but still won position down low on a number of occasions, and showed he could make the jump hook fairly well.

It is always difficult to compare because the athleticism and size in the NBA is so much greater, but I think he has what it takes physically. Like so many guys, it will just comes down to desire and the ability to learn the pro game.

Oden08 - I disagree about Thabeet. For a guy that is 7"3' he is VERY mobile and either blocks or changes most shots near the rim. Aggressive rebounder and someone who plays "all business" rather than show. I think he will have some monster matchups with Howard and Oden for a few years.

As for just getting rid of Davis, Randolph etc.. It is gonna be mighty hard with those contracts.

Mantis, Randolph has two years left. See Hoops Hype:
http://linky.com.au/cwfe7

On Thabeet, I just read this article by Chad Ford:
http://linky.com.au/y53f4

Ford says that Thabeet has polarised NBA opinions, and includes himself as one that was unsure about him until recently. However, he does go onto say that some of the things he has seen Thabeet doing recently have made him change his mind. These mainly seem to be anecdotes about Thabeet's hard work and determination. So there's one guy who has changed his mind. Or maybe he owed Thabeet's agent a favour? ;-)

where will Miilsy & Rudy go? they are clearly the best 2 point guards in this whole process

Thanks Beantown. I didn't realise his contract was that bad!

Elgin Baylor has gone from the clippers front office after 14 or so years of absolute mediocrity. I see this as a good move, however I also agree that they should relocate somewhere. I noticed the clippers GM's suit jacket had #1 on the inside of his jacket and on the other side he had #23, does Camby wear 23? Therefore does this mean they're gonna get rid of Camby. What would OKC have to give up to get the number 1 pick if they want griffin?

Interesting thought Starvin Marv, but I don't see the Clippers being talked into handing over Griffin to OKC. Unless they are keen on multiple draft picks, the only other trade option is Durant. No way you give up Durant for Griffin.

I suppose you could make a pitch with Green and a couple of good draft picks. That *MIGHT* get it done if they were really lucky (would depend on what picks OKC can offer). But to quote 'Yes, Minister' that would be a COURAGEOUS decision by the Clippers GM.

Against that, Thabeet would seem the more logical fit for OKC anyway, giving them the defensive presence they need. More post-up offence from the PF position would be further down the list of what they need!

TR just on the cats how is Okafor going these days? You guys have a pretty good group of youngsters but has Wallace come on yet?

Okafor, very nice role player, decent BBIQ and defensive stopper but that's about all. He's get you a double-double with a few blocks, but on the low side (12pts/10 rebounds). He'd be an awesome 1st man of the bench for a contender.

Crash is Crash.. He's flat-out. I think he blossomed under Coach Brown. Initially Brown slowed him down and made him think about the game more, but after he came back from the cheapshot Bynum put on him, he played well.

The best move all season for the Cats was the trading for Bell and Diaw for J-Rich. I was dirty initially as J-Rich was the only borderline 'star' we had.

That was a good trade, gave the Bobcats someone to play defense on the wing, and Diaw is perfect for this team, will fill any role.

Good trade MJ, no one else will say it.

Who runs the point there, Felton?

TR, what do you think is keeping the Bobcats from taking a big step forward and making the playoffs? I mainly see them when they play the Celtics, and they always play well. In fact, several of the most exciting regular season games in the past couple of years have been between these two teams.

I really like Wallace, and have picked him in my fantasy lineups for the last 2 or 3 years. Okafor is one of the better defensive big guys going around, Felton and DJ Augustin are both solid starting material and Bell and Diaw are talented vets.

Is it just a case of getting that offensive low post player to run their offence through? The Bobcats ownership probably can't afford it, but wouldn't it be great if they could win the Boozer sweepstakes!

I'm thinking they'd have to offer a contract starting at about $14m at the least. That would put them in luxury tax land though. They'd basically have to find a way to dump the salaries of Mohammed and Diop I think.

The Cats went from Coach Bickerstaff (sh*t) to Coach Vincent (double sh*t) to Coach Brown (awesome). It took a while for Coach Brown to put his touch on the team which hurt in the beginning of the season.

The Cats were in with a great shot at the 8th seed until Raja Bell went down about 15 games before the playoffs. With Bell around I think the Cats make it.

I think a season under Coach Brown will make the difference. Okafor needs to grow a nut sack and be an enforcer, Crash and Bell make an awesome perimeter defensive tandem, Felton and DJ can hold the PG position, they just need to strengthen up at the PF position. I'm hoping they selected Clark with the 12th pick. The Cats are one of the better defensive units in the league, they just struggle to put the ball in the hoop at times.