Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Draft Needs For The Top Lottery Teams

Draft needs for top lottery teams. Feel free to add as much as you can.

Seattle Supersonics: Seattle needs a shooting guard, without a doubt. They have no one on the team besides Durant that can score, and Durant is far from a starting shooting guard. They have a ton of versatile 1st round pick power forwards/centers that are young and developing, which tells me that they won't be wasting another pick on their front court (Saer Sene, Robert Swift, Johan Petro, Nick Collison). Also due to the signing of Chris Wilcox, it doesn't make sense for them to go after Michael Beasley, a PF/SF who is exactly what Durant and Jeff Green resemble. My likely picks for Seattle would be Eric Gordon, Chase Budinger, Nicolas Batum, or a scoring combo guard in OJ Mayo. In all likelihood, I can see Seattle trading down this year in the draft. They have their pieces in Durant and Green, they desparately need veterens in there. Thoughts?

Minnesota Timberwolves: The Twolves have a very deep, young squad. They picked Randy Foye, their point guard of the future. They picked Corey Brewer, their small guard of the future. They already have their franchise power forward in Al Jefferson. And they also already have a potential starter in Gerald Green at small forward. This leaves one position left for the Twolves and it's obvious. Roy Hibbert. They have no depth at the center position whatsoever. I think it's a no brainer. The combo of Hibbert and Jefferson is SCARY. Why? Both are physical players and they both have back to the basket games. When is the last time a team has had two HUGE front court players with excellent back to the basket games? Duncan and Robinson? Thoughts?

Indiana Pacers: This is the wild card in the draft imo. The ONLY position I feel that they wouldn't go would be shooting guard. They appear to be very high on Danny Granger as a part of their future, which scratches out Gordon. Jermaine O'Neal is a free agent, but they also have a solid young piece in Ike Diogu who they may want to give a shot at starting next season. Besides that, they could go for a point guard, either Derrick Rose or OJ Mayo. They could go small forward, either Donte Green or Nicolas Batum. Or they could go center, which could be Hibbert or DeAndre Jordon. They could go anywhere. I feel the Pacers desparately need to rebuild their front court. I think they will pull for Hibbert if they have the chance, or draft Rose or Mayo they have one of the top 3 picks. Thoughts?

I feel the Bulls, Wizards, Warriors, and Heat (once Wade comes back) will turn it on very soon and won't be in the high lottery like the Sixers. Memphis and Atlanta appear to be very improved. Portland, with the continuing progression of Brandon Roye and Lamarcus Aldridge, are a threat for the 8th seed in the west. Charlotte looks much improved so far with the addition of Jason Richardson and the health of Okafor.

That leaves the Sixers, Pacers, Sonics and Twolves left to battle it out for the top pick.
On a very positive note, the Sonics, Twolves, Hawks, Griz and Blazers DO NOT need a power forward like the Sixers do. They've thrown way too much money in the position to draft a power forward due to Wilcox, Gasol, Horford, Aldridge and Jefferson. This is huge because it will allow the Sixers to draft either Michael Beasley or Kevin Love. I like it.

Thoughts?