2012 NBA Pre-Draft Discussion Thread

WE'RE NOW IN THE SECOND CHAT THREAD, GO HERE.

LATEST NEWS/RUMORS AT THE TOP:

-- Amick: Are the Blazers trading up to three to grab Waiters? I'm having a hard time with this one.
-- Spears: Jamal Crawford officially submits his opt-out to the Blazers. This means he's gone from draft-day trade conversations.
-- ESPN: Bobcats already have 5 trade offers for the second pick.
-- Ford: Perry Jones III is red-flagged due to meniscus issue in his knee.

Good day, and welcome to NBA Draft day, 2012 edition! Yep, the wait is nearly over, after months of non-stop discussion and anticipation. The actual draft starts at 4:30pm PDT on ESPN. But stick around, because Blazersedge will be hopping all day, here's some of what we have in store:

- The fearless Dave is standing by, with analysis of today's events and transactions.

- The tireless Ben is in New Jersey, providing updates and rumors live from the draft.

- The beerless Tim (that's me!) will be hosting the festivities, and keeping the conversation moving all day. I'll make sure you have a place to discuss your expectations for the draft, then your opinions, their next moves, etc.

But if you are just arriving, and want to brush up on the players in tonight's draft, we have all the resources you need. Here are Dave's previews for all our possible draft options:

Robinson and Kidd-Gilchrist || Beal || Drummond || Barnes || Lamb and Waiters || Lillard || Rivers || Marshall || Zeller, Leonard, and Sullinger || Henson and Jones || Also, check out Dave's Draft Videocast and his draft recommendations.

Memorize everything, there will be a test at 4:30.

Below the break is a reminder of the site rules for today's draft, and how to best use the fanposts and fanshots. Please take a minute to read them! Afterward, comment and rumor-monger all you want!

-- Tim

Now, please bear with me a quick moment as I play The Heavy. [Moderator-mode: On]

Everyone has been so excited about the draft that we've relaxed the rules about fanposts and commenting a little bit, when has led to some interesting insanity. As of the draft, we're going to get back into our normal rhythm. So a few reminders...

- Don't be "that guy" in comments. We're all here to either laugh and enjoy how well the day went, or laugh and commiserate about how badly it went. Someone will always be unhappy, because everybody likes different players. But we're all in this together. Please don't be rude or aggressive in your opinions, or focus on the person instead of the topic, or make snide responses when you disagree.

- If you have a link to a news story, or a generally interesting link (like a video that's useful), please use Fanshots for that. Please make sure nobody has posted it before you. For example, we've deleted 5 duplicates of the Clyde/Magic "Dream Team" story in the last two days. (Thanks to those who already always check first!)

- If you have extended analysis, that's what the fanposts are for. If your fanpost is one paragraph long, or needs extra characters to meet the minimum requirement, consider if it should just be a comment in an existing post instead. Keep in mind everyone will want to give their opinion about tonight's draft; if everyone gave their opinion in a separate fanpost, we'd be flooded. So please use the comments instead. We promise we'll have lots of places to give your opinion of the draft, so you won't need to create new fanposts for that.

- Don't swear please. We want everyone comfortable visiting. Even if you think the Blazers messed up the draft. Masking letters (like Blazers***e) or using abbreviations to get around the no-swear rule also isn't allowed.

- Not a rule, just a general tip: Telling everyone "I told you so," or making yet another KD/Oden joke may sound cool when you think of it, but will usually just be seen as snarky by most people. Just chuckle privately to yourself, keep it classy and move on. :)

In general, just hang out, be cool, chat away, relax and enjoy the craziness that is NBA Draft day. If someone's breaking the rules, don't respond, just flag it and keep moving. We won't always dump the offending item (it's often a judgment call), but we'll try to take a look.