[Jonular]

What's the deal with Marion and the Suns? Does the owner just not like Marion (or vice versa)? It seems like he's a great fit on the court, but off the court, things are a bit dicey. It's too bad...I love seeing him play along side Nash, Amare, Bell, etc.

~Jon

[Oh!Gravity]

T-Wolves are gonna have some fun this season with Corey Brewer.

[wjarmusch]

Originally Posted by SystemOfAJon

What's the deal with Marion and the Suns? Does the owner just not like Marion (or vice versa)? It seems like he's a great fit on the court, but off the court, things are a bit dicey. It's too bad...I love seeing him play along side Nash, Amare, Bell, etc.

~Jon

It was also rumored that Amare was going to Atlanta...but neither of them are going anywhere it appears now. The Suns added Orlando Tucker to an already stacked team.

My analyasis:
No surprise Oden #1 & Durant #2.
Atlanta did VERY well drafting Al Horford #3 and Acie Law #11. They should improve.
Memphis takes Mike Conley #4, he'll help, but they need more.
Boston takes Jeff Green and is trading him to the Seattle for Ray Allen.
Milwaukee takes Yi Jianlian from China. He should help a lot.
Minnesota (as Oh Gravity pointed out) grabbed Corey Brewer. Will it be enough help for KG? I don't think so...but it'll help.
Charlotte grabs Brandan Wright...an absolute steal @ #8
Chicago takes Joakim Noah. Personally I would have maybe gone elsewhere with this, but you've gotta love Noah's tenacity & energy. They need a post scorer though.
Sacramento takes 7 footer Spencer Hawes. He's a project, and they're going to still be in the basement.
skipping to New Orleans...Julian Wright at #13. I love this pick, lots of experience.
Detroit grabbed Rodney Stuckey at #15 and Aaron Afflalo at #27. I just LOVE Joe Dumars. These are awesome picks...go PISTONS.
Rudy Fernandez goes to Pheonix along with Tucker, those will be scorers in the near future.

Best draft so far? Easily Atlanta and Seattle. Definitely this will help them drastically improve. Of course Portland did well with Odom.
I really like Detroit & Pheonix...this is how good teams stay good.
Chicago has a lot of trade options now. It will be interesting to see what they do.

Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Knicks traded Channing Frye and Steve Francis to Portland for Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau and Jerome James. Can I be the first to say...WHY?
Why would Portland want to dump Randolph for Francis & Frye. They're not improving with Frye over Randolph. I understand they could use another PG, but they should have been able to get more out of Randolph.

*EDIT* I just noticed that the Suns appear to have "sold" their 1st pick Fernandez to Portland.
It appears that Portland & New York are both getting better tonight....I like that deal a bit more now.

Sorry this isn't organized, it's slowly melting into a bunch of random thoughts. It should be interesting to see how these trades all work out.


Beginning of Round 2:
Dallas takes Nick Fazekas from Nevada...I like this pick.
Seattle takes Glen Davis from LSU...I thought he was going to go 1st round. Seattle is really going to town tonight.
Portland takes Josh McRoberts...another possible 1st round pick. Portland is having a stellar night as well. According to Yahoo...Portland has 3 more picks left in the 2nd round...can that be right?
Chicago has 2 more as well.

[Fandrew]

Charlotte wins, just traded Wright for Jason Richardson. Bobcats are now officially headed to the playoffs.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/draft20...ory?id=2920330

[Third_Day_Rocks]

Originally Posted by wjarmusch

Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Knicks traded Channing Frye and Steve Francis to Portland for Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau and Jerome James. Can I be the first to say...WHY?
Why would Portland want to dump Randolph for Francis & Frye. They're not improving with Frye over Randolph. I understand they could use another PG, but they should have been able to get more out of Randolph.

I really don't like the Randolph trade. He is a solid 24 & 10 player. The Blazers should have looked for better offers. They got hardly anything for him. Basically it was Randolph for Francis, and Randolph is the better of the two. We should have kept Randolph and gone with a BIG starting 5 of Randolph at the 3, Oden at the 4, and Aldridge at the 5. Or they should have held-out for a better offer. Our biggest need was small forward.

Besides the trade, I'm very happy with how the Blazers are looking. We're young but talented.

[Fandrew]

Originally Posted by Third_Day_Rocks

I really don't like the Randolph trade. He is a solid 24 & 10 player. The Blazers should have looked for better offers. They got hardly anything for him. Basically it was Randolph for Francis, and Randolph is the better of the two. We should have kept Randolph and gone with a BIG starting 5 of Randolph at the 3, Oden at the 4, and Aldridge at the 5. Or they should have held-out for a better offer. Our biggest need was small forward.

Besides the trade, I'm very happy with how the Blazers are looking. We're young but talented.

Oden should never play the 4. And Channing Frye looked better than Francis, last I saw.

[Matt4JC]

Originally Posted by Third_Day_Rocks

I really don't like the Randolph trade. He is a solid 24 & 10 player. The Blazers should have looked for better offers. They got hardly anything for him. Basically it was Randolph for Francis, and Randolph is the better of the two. We should have kept Randolph and gone with a BIG starting 5 of Randolph at the 3, Oden at the 4, and Aldridge at the 5. Or they should have held-out for a better offer. Our biggest need was small forward.

Besides the trade, I'm very happy with how the Blazers are looking. We're young but talented.

I don't understand why Portland fans are upset with the Z-Bo trade. It is definitely not Randolph-for-Francis. It's really Randolph-for-Frye. I'd have done that deal in a heartbeat. Randolph needed a fresh start somewhere else and did not fit into their plans. To get Frye was excellent IMO. They now have a 3-headed monster at PF/C with Oden, Frye, and Aldridge. Throw in Roy, Jack, and Rodriguez and you have a great core. Then, add in all the extra draft picks they got, and you've got an amazing young core. Look at this roster: (obviously this will be trimmed down)

C: Oden, Przybilla, LaFrentz, Schenscher
PF: Aldridge, Frye, Josh McRoberts
SF: Outlaw, Miles?, Udoka?
SG: Roy, Webster, Rudy Fernandez
PG: Jack, Rodriguez, Francis, Petteri Koponen, Taureen Green

And I would not give Seattle a win for draft night. Talk about a trade that they could have gotten a LOT more from... Obviously Durant is a huge win no matter what, but with him and Allen they could have competed right away. Now they're looking at being near the bottom of the West for a couple more years. Only getting West, Wally, and Jeff Green for Allen? C'mon! And if the #5 pick was the centerpiece of the deal, why didn't they get someone who would've helped at SG or PF or C, not SF--where Durant plays?

On another note, neither the Lakers' or TWolves' drafts will be enough to satisfy Kobe or KG.

[Tmurrin]

why didnt the sixers take Thorton

[sportsman123]

my take on the 1st pick is that that Durant has WAY more potential to be a legend. He will be way better than oden in the NBA and portland made a mistake taking Oden

[Tmurrin]

i agree oden might be a another shawn bradley haha he just has only had 1 year to prove himself

[Matt4JC]

You can't pass up on a center #1 who reminds people of a Bill Russell/David Robinson/Hakeem Olajuwon clone. Between those 3, you have like 15 titles. When was the last time a SF (or a forward, period, besides Duncan's PF/C mix) led his team to winning the finals? I think you'd have to go back to Larry Bird in 1986, and he had a lot of help... You could make an argument for Pippen, but there's no way the Bulls win anything in the 90s without Jordan.

80s Lakers: PG Johnson, C Abdul-Jabbar
80s,90s Pistons: PG Thomas, SG Dumars
90s Bulls: SG Jordan
90s Rockets: C Olajuwon
90s Lakers: C O'Neal, SG Bryant
Recent Spurs: C Robinson, C/PF Duncan, PG Parker
Recent Pistons: PG Billups & SG Hamilton
Recent Heat: SG Wade, C O'Neal

Even getting TO the finals hasn't been easy on SFs. In fact, LeBron is, I believe, the first exception in years... (among those who didn't win titles)
80s Celtics: SF Bird
90s Blazers: SG Drexler
90s Suns: PF Barkley, PG K.Johnson
90s Knicks: C Ewing, SG Houston
90s Magic: C O'Neal
90s Sonics: PF Kemp, PG Payton
90s Jazz: PF Malone, PG Stockton
Recent Pacers: SG Miller
Recent 76ers: SG Iverson
Recent Nets: PG Kidd
Recent Mavs: PF Nowitzki
Cavs: SF LeBron

Here are the numbers
Since 1987 (the last 20 years), among teams making the finals, the main leader(s) have been:
PG: 8
SG: 7
SF: 2
PF: 5
C: 8

Among the WINNERS of the finals in the past 20 years, the leader(s) have been:
PG: 4
SG: 5
SF: 0
PF: 1
C: 5

[wjarmusch]

Originally Posted by Matt4JC

You can't pass up on a center #1 who reminds people of a Bill Russell/David Robinson/Hakeem Olajuwon clone. Between those 3, you have like 15 titles. When was the last time a SF (or a forward, period, besides Duncan's PF/C mix) led his team to winning the finals? I think you'd have to go back to Larry Bird in 1986, and he had a lot of help... You could make an argument for Pippen, but there's no way the Bulls win anything in the 90s without Jordan.

80s Lakers: PG Johnson, C Abdul-Jabbar
80s,90s Pistons: PG Thomas, SG Dumars
90s Bulls: SG Jordan
90s Rockets: C Olajuwon
90s Lakers: C O'Neal, SG Bryant
Recent Spurs: C Robinson, C/PF Duncan, PG Parker
Recent Pistons: PG Billups & SG Hamilton
Recent Heat: SG Wade, C O'Neal

Even getting TO the finals hasn't been easy on SFs. In fact, LeBron is, I believe, the first exception in years... (among those who didn't win titles)
80s Celtics: SF Bird
90s Blazers: SG Drexler
90s Suns: PF Barkley, PG K.Johnson
90s Knicks: C Ewing, SG Houston
90s Magic: C O'Neal
90s Sonics: PF Kemp, PG Payton
90s Jazz: PF Malone, PG Stockton
Recent Pacers: SG Miller
Recent 76ers: SG Iverson
Recent Nets: PG Kidd
Recent Mavs: PF Nowitzki
Cavs: SF LeBron

Here are the numbers
Since 1987 (the last 20 years), among teams making the finals, the main leader(s) have been:
PG: 8
SG: 7
SF: 2
PF: 5
C: 8

Among the WINNERS of the finals in the past 20 years, the leader(s) have been:
PG: 4
SG: 5
SF: 0
PF: 1
C: 5

I agree...Portland couldn't take the risk of not taking Oden. I believe that Durant can be a star, and may even be better than Oden eventually. However, I believe Portland made the right choice, and they'll win a championship before Seattle does.

Now, as far as the Portland trade for Randolph...I think it worked well. They needed to dump Randolph, I just thought maybe they could have gotten a little more. However, the got a great draft class with Oden, Rudy Fernandez & Taurean Green. I don't think they could have played Aldridge, Randolph & Oden together. They would get run off the court. This way Aldridge & Oden get a lot more playing time, and they still have an experienced player in Frye to come in & help out. They're the western version of Chicago, with a real post presense. They should do well.

I personally think Seattle made the right choice too. I don't think they could have gotten much more out of Allen after his injury & surgery. Wally is a decent player, West has good potential, and Jeff Green will be a great Compliment to Durant. I'm assuming they'll either re-sign Lewis or Sign & trade. Their roster:
G's Watson, Ridour, Wilkins, West, Szczerbiak
F's Lewis, Durant, Green, Wilcox, Fortson, Landry
C's Collison, Petro

I can't figure out who'll play what position. They still need some tweaking....maybe a sign & trade with Lewis for a good PF would do the trick.

Unfortunately, Both Seattle & Portland are in the west and will have more competition. If they were in the east they'd be almost automatic playoffs.

I still expect a big trade from someone in the NBA. Obviously (as Matt said) the Lakers draft did nothing to satisfy Kobe whatsoever, and Garnett might be on the move too.

[rockinfarmerboy]

Originally Posted by Oh!Gravity

T-Wolves are gonna have some fun this season with Corey Brewer.

Yes!!! I was so happy when the picked him. I hope he can perform well to begin with, so we can see the T-wolves back in the playoffs where they belong.

[Fandrew]

Originally Posted by rockinfarmerboy

Yes!!! I was so happy when the picked him. I hope he can perform well to begin with, so we can see the T-wolves back in the playoffs where they belong.

This depends on where Garnett plays for 2007-2008.

And I think we need a reality TV show that follows Zach Randolph around NYC just to see how much trouble he gets in there.

And for the Allen trade. Well, Boston can win the Atlantic with Jefferson, Pierce, Allen, and 9 guys off the street.

[wjarmusch]

well, Rashard Lewis is going to Orlando. Aparently it was a sign & trade...Seattle gets a future 2nd round draft pick
The Magic get a lot better out of this...doesn't help Seattle.

Reports are that both Durant & Oden have struggled in summer league play. Durant scored 18 points in a game but only shot something like 4 for 16.

Oden has infected tonsils and is having surgery to get them removed. That should knock him out of the rest of summer league.