Little Help?

1) Derrick Rose 6-3 195 PG Memphis

2) Derrick Rose 6-3 195 PG Memphis (if available) or
Michael Beasley 6-9 235 SF K.St. (Best available)

3) Danilo Gallinari 6-10 220 SF Italy 1988 with Rudy on-board we don’t need a combo-guard

13) or 14) Nicolas Batum 6-8 210 SG France 1988 (Best SF available)

Chad Ford writes:
"Great size, athleticism, energy. He’s the best pro prospect on UCLA. Scouts have been a little late getting to the party, but the house is crowded now. No way he slips past Portland on draft night if he declares … he’d be perfect for them."

He is perfect for us. He scores a ton of his points off transition baskets, but is still a great spot up shooter. He was the Pac-10 defensive player of the year. He is basically a more talented version of Rajon Rondo. We would have to trade up a bit to get him, but the Clippers are notoriously bad when it comes to the draft so maybe they will do us a favor.

He is so obviously the perfect choice for us I think people get confused.

Good attitude? Check
What about defense? Best guard in the draft.
Can he play well off Roy? Yes.
Can he get the ball to Aldridge and Oden down low? Yes.
Can he get to the hoop? For sure.
Is he athletic? He dunks on people like a smaller Clyde Drexler.
Is he fast? Yes.
Hmm… I don’t know, doesn’t seem like he would fit, let’s draft Batum instead.

BTW, if KP ends up drafting Batum I think my head might explode.

Yes, I probably should have included a name.

Westbrook is a better choice than Rudy for the 1 spot because he can guard quicker PGs. Paul and Parker are killing teams in the West and Westbrook might offset that somewhat. Devin Harris and Rajon Rondo could also help, but I hear they aren’t available.

People love to us the word “combo-guard” like it’s a bad thing. Magic Johnson was a combo guard. Gilbert Arenas went 31st in the draft, partially because of the combo-guard label. One could argue that Michael Jordan was the greatest PG ever. I mean really, all things being equal it would be hard to find a better player running your offense than MJ.

The fact that Russell Westbrook is a combo-guard isn’t really a bad thing, especially on this team. He can guard people Rudy can’t, the fact that he plays so well off the ball is a bonus.

Ok, I’m sorry I insulted Batum, it’s just one man’s opinion.

As for Westbrook guarding quicker PGs, I guess I will have to admit that I was wrong. Whenever Derrick Rose came near him, Westbrook ran away and hid behind Kevin Love. It was actually really embarrassing.

It doesn’t really look like Batumn is doing much in the French league. I don’t speak French though so it’s hard for me to tell.

Nom Minutes Points 2pts 3pts L.francs Rebonds Passes
Nicolas BATUM 26 4.5 33.3% 33.3% 50% 2 3

It’s Russell Westbrook. We’ve got size, length, and shooting at every other position on the floor. KP is going after a lock-down defender and an athletic freak to shut down opposing PGs like Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, etc. If we like Jack’s ability to get to the rim and miss layups, then surely we’ll like Westbrook’s ability to get to the rim and dunk over other PGs.

If we get the #1 it’s Rose. Anywhere else and the pick is Russell Westbrook. Book it.

Since this year’s draft has such a wide variety of talent spread across the board (unlike last year’s relatively well-defined talent pool), I think the best way to approach any "who will we draft" questions is with a sort of shotgun approach, if you will.

For instance, if we land in the Top 2, it’s pretty much a no brainer…
1.) Derrick Rose – PG – Memphis
2.) Michael Beasley – SF/PF – Kansas State

But what about number 3? There’s Jerryd Bayless, a 6’3" combo guard out of Arizona who could share PG duties with Roy… There’s OJ Mayo, who’s 6’5" and could potentially be a point forward a la Scottie Pippen (although Mayo’s head remains a question)… And there’s a few big men who could add the toughness we lacked last season (Brook Lopez would be my preference, but obviously, there is an attachment to Kevin Love)… Danilo Gallinari had a bunch of buzz early in the season as being the best European player in this year’s draft, but with all the energy surrounding the top 10 picks (including Mayo, Rose, Beasley, Love, Lopez, and Eric Gordon), doesn’t it feel that Gallinari has some Darko Milicic in him? Could he live up to the careers of these other NCAA-produced players?

3.) Jerryd Bayless – PG/SG – Arizona

I think Bayless, at pick 3, is a perfect compliment to Roy. He can play the PG and be passive, or play the SG (while Roy is at the point) and be aggressive, but the bottom line is this would give us two players who could create opportunities all over the floor. I don’t believe Bayless would have an impact right away (he’d be the second line’s Roy) but he would provide a ton of match up problems with his size and speed, especially if and when Rudy Fernandez pans out. This would give us 4 penetrators (Roy, Rudy, Outlaw, and Jerryd) to go with our post players (Aldridge and Oden) and our perimeter players (Webster, Jones, etc).

Now, a big hitch to this whole plan is the mastery of KP. We have 3 second-round picks, a huge expiring contract (Raef), and quite a bit of young talent if we wanted to move up (although, I don’t expect us to ‘show our hand’ so to speak in terms of making a big deal) but we could potentially move up to #9 (Chicago Bulls and Channing Frye?) or #10 (Nets – in a deal that includes Devin Harris?) somewhat realistically. If we make a trade and move up to 9 or 10, then…

9.) Russell Westbrook

His tangibles and intangibles have been discussed at length here, so I won’t outline them, but the point is, we’ll need to move up to get him… Is this worth Channing Frye and a second rounder? Is this the deal breaker in a move to get Devin Harris? What are we willing to give up to get a 19 year old combo guard?

If no deal is made, however, and the chips follow standard protocol, we’re left with the 13th pick in the NBA draft… This is where the net widens a bit, because our decision will be almost wholly based on what other teams do. Could Danilo Gallinari now be a steal at #13? Is Westbrook, by some miracle, available? Has OJ Mayo and his character questions taken the Brady Quinn plummet?

At 13, here are the players that interest me (and are expected to be available)…

13.a.) Chase Budinger – SG/SF – Arizona : The guy is an athlete, he can score, and he’s at his best when he’s not asked to carry a team. With Roy, Rudy, Oden, Aldridge, Outlaw, Webster, etc, we just need him to make baskets and attack the basket, which he is very good at doing.
13.b.) Nicolas Batum – SF – France (Le Mans Sarthe Basket) : At the beginning of the season, he was among the top players not in the NBA… He’s dropped a little bit, but if we’re following the Spurs mold, we need a French guy to go with our other European imports (Rudy/Sergio) and Franchise Post players (Aldridge and Oden).
13.c. Chris Douglas-Roberts – SG/SF – Memphis : Granted his free-throw shooting in the national championship was an epic struggle, but Chris Douglas-Roberts has the qualities that KP looks for (i.e. championship caliber college program, physical tools, explosiveness) and some the weaknesses he overlooks (I believe Brandon Roy had questions about his perimeter game and I know Sergio did). If D-R improved his perimeter game, he would be a lock for a Top 10 pick.

Like any draft, there will be surprises, trades, and "reeeeeeeach’s" aplenty, but here are some cats to watch out for (as in they could be late-round steals and/or second round treasurers)…

Roy Hibbert – C – Georgetown : He was a lock for Top 10 last year in a deeper draft. What happened? Teams started throwing everything at him, because Georgetown was 1 dimensional. Now, he’s projected around #23 (via DraftExpress) to Utah. We’ve seen KP pick up insurance policies and quality talent late in the first round and Roy Hibbert would be an excellent backup to Oden, Aldridge, and Przybilla.

Ty Lawson – PG – North Carolina : He made the NC offense that wasn’t Tyler Hansborough’s hideous turnaround, up and under put back, tick. He’s fast as lightning (maybe the quickest player in college basketball), a little undersized (5’11" 175 lbs) and probably, as much as this hurts to say, on par with Sergio in terms of development.

Mario Chalmers – PG/SG – Kansas : Super Mario could be a safe pick in the second round. He had a nice championship game against the #1 pick in the draft…

Kyle Weaver – SG/SF – WSU : He’s 6’6", 201 lbs, and probably among the best defenders in the Pac 10. When I watch him play (and I love WSU, so I watched him quite a bit), I see a little Josh Howard without the whole admitting to smoking marijuana issue. His offensive game is the only thing keeping him in the second round…

Maarty Leunen & Malik Hairston – SF/PF – Oregon : We’ve got 3 second round picks that for all intents and purposes may never put on a Trail Blazers uniform except on Draft Day. It would be a good picture to have both Maarty and Malik in a couple Blazers hats (even if we were making the selections for someone else)…

My Guess

Pick 1 – Rose
Pick2 – Rose or Trade the pick if Rose goes 1.
Pick 3 – Bayless
Pick 13 or 14- Westbrook if he slips or one of the Euro SFs. I could also see a player like Budinger if the Euro players and Westbrook are all gone.

1 or 2 you pick Rose first or Beasley. KP said in the last thingy that I heard him on, that there are only two franchise changing players in this draft, and that this is a deep draft. You can’t pass on those two guys.

After that you trade down to, or use the 13ish pick on Kevin Love. My personal feelings is that it is a wasted pick to use a lottery pick on a European player. I feel that it is silly to use a lottery pick on a project.

I mean, even if we drafted, if they never actually come to the NBA, what’s the point?

1- Rose
2- Rose/trade otherwise
3- Rose/trade otherwise
13- trade
14- trade

. . . if only because this thread so clearly invites exactly this advice:

With the 13th pick (not getting top 3 in the lottery), bank our 2008 draft picks:
trade all our picks for future draft considerations.

This involves the following picks: #13, #33 (from Memphis), #36 (from New York) and #55 (from Phoenix).
The trades I would suggest are two, of two picks each, to teams with similar qualities:
The need for young bodies now, the absence of a good draft slot now, and the possibility
of future underachievement, and therefore high first-round picks we’d receive.
Examples: San Antonio, Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit, Boston.

Trade #1: #13 and #55 for an unprotected first-round pick in 2010.
Maybe this could be top-three-protected if being unprotected is truly a dealbreaker,
but no more protection than that.

Trade #2: #33 and #36 for a lottery-protected first-round pick in 2011.

We’d add nobody now except Rudy and Oden, retain everybody from last year for at least next season
(when most of our roster is in their final contract year), do no trades before the 2009 offseason
(okay, we’ll take calls on Raef’s expiring contract at the trade deadline, but we’re playing hard-to-get),
and we’d have extra picks 3-4 year from now, with the 2010 in a position to be quite high.

to Miami of #2. Frye or Outlaw would be the discussion. Miami needs to get better sooner to keep Wade and they need front court help most. If Chicago takes Beasley then Rose is available to the highest bidder.