Man this court case is important.
I'll be committed to Basektball today, spending all day at court and then heading over to Fox Sports for the draft. Hope to see a few of you there.
I don't have many inside sources today but the media folks I talk to continue to feel that Brook Lopez is the most likely draft candidate at this time. He's a legitimate center who had good stats and I could live with the pick, but damn it won't be sexy.
I believe our draft board looks something like Beasley, Lopez, Bayless, Gordon, Love. Eric Gordon is the dark horse to be drafted, Lopez probably the most likely by a hair over Bayless. I tend to think that the sudden "falling out of love" with Bayless could be misdirect. They should still have some interest in him.
My prediction for "I hope it goes like this" draft outcome goes like this:
1) Rose - Obvious
2) Beasley - You can't not select him here. His value is too high and even if the Heat aren't enamored with him as a player they can select him and look for the best return in trade.
3) Lopez - Call me crazy but when I look at the T-Wolves roster they really need a center to play alongside Jefferson. I don't see Mayo as a great fit when they have Foye,and Brewer on this roster. Neither of those guys are great but they are both young prospects and high picks and the Wolves have a serious lack of talent on their roster. They can't afford much duplication. Lopez makes sense next to Jefferson for years to come.
4) Sonics - OJ Mayo - I've come to the realization that we probably don't want Mayo, despite the fact that he's my pick if available. Like the Beasley pick we take him and then leverage, looking to trade him either to Miami for Beasley or down, maybe to NY for the #6 where we could take one of the other guys on the list.
5) Memphis - Kevin Love
6) NY Knicks - Jeryd Bayless - We know that Mike D'Antoni loves the fast break. Bayless can bring the ball up the court.
My "Most likely" Projection
1) Rose
2) Beasley
3) Mayo
4) Lopez
My pool of players at #24 includes Serge Ibeka, DeAndre Jordan, or Nicolas Batum. Frankly I don't expect to use that pick. We either trade up or trade down with it. If we do use it we will go for a guy who either slipped and is a steal(Jordan) or will stay overseas (Ibeka or Batum).
David Locke is reporting that we will draft Lopez and trade for a pick in the 10-15 range. As was said in an earlier thread I really miss Locke on draft day. Great for fun speculation. If this happened I could only assume that we would be targeting Russell Westbrook with a second pick. If we hypothetically moved to up from 24 and wound up with Westbook does the Lopez pick suddenly look better? Draftexpress has Westbrook going at #9 to Charlotte. I think Charlotte at #9 or Indy at #11 may be the most likely available picks for us that he would be available at.
Most likely Ridnour gets traded today. It should be a fun one full of lots of unexpected twists.