Ainge Watch Ainge Watch Ainge Watch

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

This is your official "Ainge Watch" station...

- Ainge is a Tarheel this week as he's in Raleigh, NC scouting the
NCAA Tournament and the players on Duke (Deng, Williams, Randolph,
Duhon, Ewing, Horvath, Redick) Arizona (Iguodela, Chandler Frye, 
Mustapha Shakur)  Seton Hall ( Andre Barrett, Kelly Whitney),
Manhattan (Luis Flores), Florida (David Lee,  Anthony Roberson,
Matt Walsh), VCU (Domonic Jones), and Wake Forest (Chris Paul).

- A little birdy tells me one of Ainge's top priorities in the upcoming
draft is to find a Gasol/Bosh type of power forward, a tall lanky guy
who can score, shoot, run the court, decent rebounding, but definitely 
someone (unlike Hunter or McCarty) who is an offensive threat at the 4 spot.

So, who could it be?

Depends where they are drafting. 

Let's break down the possible players (not all will declare): 

Picks 1 - 7: Dwight Howard, Andris Biedrins

Picks 8 - 17: Peja Samardzki, Ivan Chiraev,  Chris Taft, LaMarcus Aldridge, 
Tiago Splitter,  Johan Petro, Andrew Bogut, Damir Omerhodzik

Picks 18 - 38: Randolph Morris, Dusan Sakota, Uros Slokar, Ronny Turiaf,  Anderson Varejao, Erazem Lorbek.

Picks 39 - 60:  Drago Pasalic, Vladimir Veremeenko,  Kresimir Loncar,
Blagota Sekulic

One player, Ainge won't be considering is Paul Davis.

- High School Draftable Players Info from the Chi Sun-Times

BY THE NUMBERS 
High school seniors that recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons projects could opt for the NBA draft in June, including nine players who will participate in the EA Sports Roundball Classic on Wednesday at the United Center -- Dwight Howard, Joshua Smith, Shaun Livingston, Sebastian Telfair, Randolph Morris, Marv Williams, Mike Williams, Robert Swift and Glen Davis. Another invitee, prep school product Dorell Wright, who is committed to DePaul, could join them. 


(I wasn't aware of Genn Davis being a possibility. He's an athletic 6-8, 
350-pounder. Not joking!)

- WEEI's Pete Shepherd said to look for the Danny Ainge led Boston Celtics to
be a 4 games-below-.500 to 4 games-above-.500 team for the next Five Years.


- Ainge Alienating Potential Free Agents by Baker Impasse

   NEWS @ HOOPSWORLD.com  
  NBA TAKE FIVE
By Darren "The Sniper" Andrade
for HOOPSWORLD.com

Good morning Vin Baker! So you're rolling with the new-look- New York Knicks, huh? In the city that never sleeps Baker is the latest tonic of "No-Doze" that is bound to keep management, teammates and the fans of Knicks basketball up at night. Baker is a great talent that is slowly slipping with off-court problems having interfered with a nice career. Still, an arbitrator ruled this week that his grievance against the Boston Celtics for withholding the $35M left on his contract couldn't stop him from re-signing with another team. That makes Baker a Knick and the NBA avoids the problem of him being under two contracts by encouraging him to stick to a deal that will hold him only for the remainder of the season. The hearing to hear his case against the Celtics will not yield a ruling until after the season.  This way if the Celtics are ordered to pay Baker there will be no conflict. Wouldn't Boston GM Danny Ainge been better off just offering a buyout? Ainge has already done enough to alienate his players and his coaches, now he is going to alienate potential free agents and trading partners by messing with Baker's money. Here's betting this is only he first of many season of ineptitude in Beantown  
 

-  Pavel Podkolzine could slide in the draft, but would Ainge take him?

Falling stock
At 7-foot-5, Russian center Pavel Podkolzine has been mentioned as a possible lottery pick in this year's NBA draft. The Orlando Sentinel last week reported this view from a scout: 
"The good news is that he's not Gheorghe Muresan. The bad news is that, with proper coaching, he could be a little better than Shawn Bradley."