Public Defender

hasoos - you make a strong case for drafting big, the only problem is that getting a talented big man ain't that easy. Why don't other teams have players who can compete with the Wallaces and O'Neals? Because there aren't that many. The "draft big" argument is why guys like Marcus Fizer get picked in the lottery, and Zach Randolph gets a contract worth $84 mil. You draft the big guys that are available.

But it's not as easy as SMiLE would have us believe, either. Of the players s/he listed as "top scorers" look at how many of them are guards for teams with mediocre records. Michael Redd, T-Mac, Larry Hughes...

I think the most effective way to victory at this point - now that the Blazers have a good coach - is to stockpile talent, similar to the way they did in the late '90s and early '00s, but do it with a better eye for how the players fit together (notice the way that the Mavericks re-tooled in the last two years to have a team that was solid at both ends?).

So what to do come draft night? Don't know. My message to John Nash is three words: "Don't Screw Up."

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