Re: draft picks

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

"Berry, Mark S" wrote:

> In case you missed it, there was a pretty important game with Celtic
> implications over the weekend. The Suns beat Houston to move three games
> ahead of the Rockets in the Western playoff picture. The Suns are seventh,
> Minnesota eighth and Houston ninth. It's significant to the Celts because,
> as I understand it, Boston will receive the better of the Utah or Phoenix
> picks in the upcoming draft as a result of the Fortson trade. The only
> restriction is the Phoenix pick can't be in the top 15. If that happens, the
> Celts get the Utah pick. The only way Phoenix gets in the top 15 is to miss
> the playoffs in the West, which still is possible. If they do, they'd pick
> no worse than 13th. If they make the playoffs, they figure to pick in the
> 16-20 range because their record will be better than several East playoff
> teams. The difference is significant, because Utah figures to pick in the
> 25-29 range.
>
> If things continue the way they appear, the Celts could pick 10, 11 and in
> that 16-20 range. The hope would be that one of those picks turns into a
> starting-quality player.
>
> Of course, they could get lucky and move into the top three with their own
> pick, they could get really unlucky and see Denver jump into the top 3 (the
> pick we receive from them is top-five protected), or they could take
> advantage of Isiah Thomas' incompetence and catch the Pacers for the eighth
> playoff spot and pick 14th with their own selection.
>
> Just a few things to chew on. By the way, thanks John for posting the links
> to the two mock drafts. Some interesting tidbits in there on players I
> hadn't heard much about.
>
> Mark

Thanks for that info. I personally hope the Celtics pass on the Denver pick this
year, but obviously we don't want the McNuggets to get a top-three pick that
helps them improve dramatically next year. If it stays at #11 pick or whatever,
I really think Wallace should consider passing until the top-5 protection
disappears. It seems likely that the wealth of freshmen, sophomore and prep
players out there could end up getting spread over the next few NBA drafts,
rather than in some mother of all drafts. It wouldn't surprise me if a number of
top underclassmen not to mention top prep players will sit out this draft, given
how poorly this year's rookie class has fared in declaring earlier than most of
these kids were ready. There are few undergrads at this stage who are anything
like a sure thing to declare. Not Jason Williams, Joe Forte, Casey Jacobson,
Troy Murphy or other high profile collegians. I know that making money is a huge
consideration, but now that "March Madness" is here I also wonder if guys like
Moiso and DerMarr Johnson don't sometimes wish they were still big men on campus
still pursuing their education/girls etc., as opposed to living the NBA
lifestyle of benchwarming, red eye flights, room service food, leach hangers-on,
cruel fans, and harsh beat writers. Stay in school.   ;-)

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