[Diable]

Usually I have a more solid position than I do this year.Instead I have decided that our best course might be to take a flyer and take Corey Brewer a few spots higher than he probably would go elsewise.I don't have any real strong feeling,but the two players who I really want will likely be gone when we draft.Obviously if we could get the second pick we'd want Durant and at 3 we'd want Brandan Wright.NBAdraft.net has us taking Yi Jianlan at five and other people having us taking Al Horford.What I know about the chinese player is nothing,but I've heard he's a seven footer who plays small and that doesn't appeal to me much.

I just don't think Horford is going to be an impact player at the NBA level and our frontline doesn't need near so much help as we need at the wings.A true shooting guard would obviously be best,but in lieu of that Brewer has the potential to matchup defensively with most NBA two guards.I figure that Brewer,Gerald(whom we obviously have to keep) and Okafor could give us a core with tremendous length of the defensive end.We might still have to play more small ball than we'd like,but hopefully we can pick up a quality two in free agency.If not a starting caliber shooting guard,then at least look for a veteran backup.

A huge variable in all this lies in two players,Sean May and Walter Hermann.If you assume that May is back healthy and Hermann can give us something similar to his recent production we have the possibility of a big crowd in the rotation at the three and four.If May had much value under the circumstances I'd talk about possibly packaging May and the Toronto pick for a quality 2 guard.If we could get a halfway decent backup point somehow then perhaps we throw in BK if get someone worthy of that deal.

I suppose we should be able to get Primoz back on the cheap and I don't see why we shouldn't if we get him at the right price.God he just can't be as bad next year as he was this year.If he could just get into good condition and put on a little bulk he could be a pretty fair backup at center.

[nutmeged3]

First thing we definitly have to do is atleast bring back Gerald and Carroll

I think Gerald played himself into Josh Howard/ Tayshaun Prince territoy and maybe more. I think they got like 4/40 and 5/48?

I don't really know what Carroll's worth but it probably won't be that much.

Also, what about DA? He's been good but if we draft a SG there won't be any room for him with Carroll, Morrison, Fabio, the rookie, and Gerald. Alan Anderson is pretty much gone as well

[Diable]

Eh Brewer isn't really a two,but he can at least defend the two.He's going to be good on defense and he's going to be good in transition,but I'm not sure if he'll be able to play the two.I just don't see anyone else that really fits our needs.First off I think the guy's going to be a good NBA player and I'm not that sure about some of the other guys.

I hate to even think about Morrison.Everyone knows I am not driving his bandwagon,but he has the potential to a disaster of historical proportions if he can't earn himself a role.I think he can be an excellent bench scorer,but he's got to become more consistent and overcome some of his many deficiencies.

[nutmeged3]

I'm just saying wings in general. All 6 of those players would be in front of DA except maybe Morrison. and Bernie always loves his BK-Felton lineups damn I forgot he wasn't going to be our coach anymore yay!.

I doubt DA would want to come back if he isn't going to get minutes. He doesn't seem like the kind of player that would want to sit on a team that doesn't have a chance to win a ring.

[Diable]

Anderson did a reasonable job for us at times,but he's a dead end.If you're a veteran team that's going to the playoffs he'd be a good reserve,but we need to find someone at the two who can produce like your average NBA 2 guard does.At the least we need a guy who can score 15 points a game,but the draft probably isn't the way to get that this year.In fact most of the best players in this draft are forwards.I suppose Jeff Green from Georgetown would be my second pick for us.I like his versatility which probably makes him closer to a 2 guard on offense than anyone else available.Most likely we take a two with the Raptors pick.Maybe RUdy Fernandez or Marcus Williams

[nutmeged3]

OR BRANDON RUSH

Nah jk his brother was too bad of an experience

[E-MO_416]

I think with your second pick you should try to take Derrick Byars if he is available. He is basically like Brandon Roy, but is a much better shooter. He has played pg/sg/sf in college. I also think you should keep Wallace and trade Morrison while he still has value.

[Diable]

I don't have anything against Brandon Rush so long as he's not mental like big brother.I'm not sure he's coming out,but I think he projects more like a late first round pick.I'd hope that Kareem is the stupid brother.Think about what an oppurtunity he threw away here.We had noone else worth spitting on as a two guard,all he had to do was show the least bit of effort and he'd have had the job by default.I guess he's still out of the league when we would have had to re-sign him if he'd bothered to give us anything.

One possibility is that PHX will just sell us one of their picks.They've got a huge sum tied up in Marion,Stoudemire and Nash plus they'll probably have a top five pick plus picks at 24 and 29.They will probably dump at least one of those picks to avoid paying two players that probably wouldn't help them too much.Since we don't have a second round pick I'm willing to part with however much of bobby boy's cash it would take for us to get one(or both of those picks).In fact if we could get Brandan Wright with their top pick(from ATL) perhaps we could work out a swap where we trade both our picks and cash for all three of theirs

[WhoDaBest23]

So the Bobcats have the Raptors pick? That's going to be around the late teens, early twenties then, which isn't too bad. Could possibly go big and take a guy like Gray or Splitter, depending who they take first. Some of you guys are taking a look at Brewer with the first pick, but can he really play the 2? If Gerald leaves (hope not), it would definitely make sense to take him. He'll definitely hold his own defensively, but it's his offense that needs work. I think taking Brewer would only work well if Morrison develops into that nice scorer off the bench so you can rotate them. Don't be fooled by Brewer's shooting in the tourney, he's really not that consistent. He does have all the tools though to develop into a real nice player. I hope the Bobcats do land a top 3 pick though. Getting a guy like Durant would surely catapult them into playoff contention.

[step]

If Gerald leaves (hope not), it would definitely make sense to take him.

The team really won't know until it happens, he'll most likely be opting out of his contract either way. No-one will know until free agency, which happens to be after the draft.

In fact if we could get Brandan Wright with their top pick(from ATL)

If Phoenix does indeed get Atlanta's pick, they won't be parting with it. They'll most likely sell the other picks, which Jordan should jump all over. People are focusing so much on the bigs in the draft that some extremely talented prospects will fall out of the lottery and be available with some late picks and possible high second rounders (Derrick Byars for instance is 36th on draftexpress).

I really hope the team has the next coach lined up and ready soon (and a decent one at that), they really ought to look long term now and try to find the pieces to fit the puzzle. And to do that the team needs to get a real scouting department (hello Michael), not just Bernie travelling in between games.

My list of guys who the team needs to take an extremely hard look at:
Brandan Wright
Yi Jianlian - His competition ain't the greatest, a tough workout against other talent (such as above, and even against say Okafor) would go a long way.
Al Thornton - He'd be quite a good pick for a high tempo team if we lean that way. My second choice to Wright, trade down and pick him.

Nicolas Batum (big athletic guard / wing player )
Rudy Fernandez
Rodney Stuckey
Marco Belinelli
Derrick Byars
Nick Young

What I'd do currently: *note: I am on the basis that we don't land a top 2 pick, the decision is easy if we do*
Select Brandan Wright, dangle our cap space (free debt consolidation) and Brevin Knight as bait. Shouldn't have to move up too far to do so. With luck we won't need to.
Trade Sean May for New Jersey's pick and select Derrick Byars (while draftexpress has him in the second round, leaning towards nbadraft.net's 16th pick as the likely outcome).
With our pick from Toronto, grab Rodney Stuckey.
Purchase the Suns' late picks
24th, take Rudy Fernandez and let him keep playing overseas.
29th, use this on a guy who has plummeted, or a skilled guy with "limited" potential - like Nick Fazekas.

In free agency, do whatever it takes to keep Wallace. Try and snap up Brezec to a low offer, otherwise let him walk. Sign Joe Smith to a decent offer (more than his worth), but short term (say 2 years). Basically we keep our cap space for another year, as there is nothing really worthwhile to spend it on.

Leaves us with something like:
Felton, Stuckey, Knight (possibly).
Byars, Stuckey, Carroll
Wallace, Hermann
Smith, Wright, Harrington
Okafor, Brezec (possibly), Voshkuhl

+ Fazekas or another. Fernandez stashed overseas.

Another move I wouldn't mind doing is Knight for the Pistons pick (Orlando), he'd be quite valuable to them backing up Billups. Then I'd use this pick on Thornton. Plus it sends Knight to a "contender" like the team is trying to do.

[step]

Just noticed I left out Morrison, I look to pawn him off (say to the Nets if we utilized May in getting Wright). All else, ship him off to the Knicks for a future pick. That always works! :P

[Ninerballin]

Originally Posted by E-MO_416

I think with your second pick you should try to take Derrick Byars if he is available. He is basically like Brandon Roy, but is a much better shooter. He has played pg/sg/sf in college. I also think you should keep Wallace and trade Morrison while he still has value.

Are you crazy, Byars wouldn't be there if we traded up 5 picks from our 2nd pick. Byars has a chance to go lottery, but he won't fall past 18. The only way we could get him is to move up, but I have no desire in trading up for a pick (unless its like 2-3 spots for Acie Law.)

I personally think we should get Brewer, If we have the 5th pick we could arrange a draft and trade deal with a team like Philly or Seattle who would love to get Horford (if he's still there).

[The Jopker]

I really wish we had tanked more at the end of the season. The only two prospects that interest me at the top of the draft are Durant and Oden. After those two it's just a line of forwards that either, we already have (Brewer is pretty similar to Wallace) or aren't the potential star (Horford, Noah, and Jianlian) we need.