Terry Shilton

The offer the Goldenstate Warriors, have made to Elton Brand has an interesting ripple effect on the rest of NBA’s free agents.

Monta Ellis is in a nice position to hold the team hostage should Elton Brand decide to resign elsewhere rumors are he’d be looking for upwards of 10 million per season and the Goldenstate Warriors having just lost out on Baron Davis and Brand, would be face a very tough decision with their young star.

Then turn to Corey Magette he wants to play in Orlando but they have only a mid level exception to offer and are looking to add both a PG and a wing, right now both their targets: Corey Magette, Chris Duhon are holding out for the whole thing.

Then the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers are quietly poised to cause “Offer Sheet” mayhem as they like both the Josh’s from the Atlanta Hawks and will offer Josh Smith a 5 year deal over the 42 million that the Hawks have offered him and could go as high as 5 years worth as much as 67 million. This would put alot of pressure on the Hawks as they already have the large contracts of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, but supposing they match. The Sixers will just turn their attention to Josh Childress their second target and begin the process again albeit with reduced figures, my guess is one of these Josh’s will be a Philadelphia 76er next season.

The Knicks are not so quietly looking for a PG, having already offered Chris Duhon slightly more than half their 5.5 mid level veteran exception, and should Duhon sign elsewhere they woulld immediatly turn their attention to others like: Sebatian Telfair, Tyronn Lue, Jannero Pargo and Keyon Dooling all the while embattled former star Stephon Marbury waits in the wings having not benn bought out and currently not part of the teams plans. Stephon Marbury has something to prove and when he is bought out, it will be very interestng to see where he ends up.

Last if this drama isn’t enough Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng’s situation haven’t played out yet at all Chicago is in tough as they just have too many guards and players like Kirk Hinrich and Shawn Marion are already being shopped by their teams. 

Terry Shilton

1. Chicago Bulls ~ Derrick Rose, scouts love the PG, he’s local, character guy, proven winner, needs to improve outside shot, immediate impact

2. Miami Heat ~ Micheal Beasley, crazy scorer, future ROY, potential 25 pt plus 10-15 rebound per game guy

3. Minnesota Timberwolves ~ OJ Mayo, best player available, immmediate impact, eventual star

4. Seattle Supersonics ~ Brooks Lopez, can score from post and board clears the way for them to deal Chris Wilcox

5. Memphis Grizzlies ~ Kevin Love, athletic, fundamentally sound big man to replace the one they lost.

6. New York Knicks ~ Jerryd Bayless, stock rising as he has been great in workouts, D’antoni loves the scoring PG

7. La Clippers ~ Eric Gordon, Clipps need backcourt help bad, Westbrook will be tempting but that good at everything great at nothing PG will lose out to Air Gordon’s scoring ability, maybe a steal here

8. Milwaukee Bucks ~ Joe Alexander, New Gm drafts best athlete in draft, crazy upside, super athlete, possible star, almost certain to create most rookie highlights, dude can fly

9. Charlotte Bobcats ~ Russell Westbrook, currently no backup PG to Felton, worth the risk as Westbrook was once thought to be top 5 pick, does everything well

10. New Jersey Nets ~ Danilo Gallinari, versatile scorer, can really shoot has Toni Kukoc like game, lacks athleticism

11. Indiana Pacers ~ DJ Augustine, undersized, great shooter, good leader if they make that trade for TJ Ford, look for them to pick a centre here.

12. Sacramento Kings ~ Anthony Randolph, upside and risk here Anthony is either the next Chris Bosh or the next Bust, looks great and lost at times, Mario Chalmers also strong possibility here

13.  Portland Trailblazers ~ Mario Chalmers, suprise here Mario has been great in work outs, good defender looks Nba ready, would allow the Trailblazers to move Roy back to SG more often, also maybe pick most likely to get dealt; Portland has great young team need to add a Veteran or two

14. Golden State Warriors ~ Kosta Koufous, doesn’t Gstate always pick around here in the draft, nice pickup good upside, solid Nba centre, a year or so away developmentally, projected top 5 pick in 2009 came out 2008

15. Phoenix Suns ~ Brandon Rush, smart, athletic outside shooter, champion, good defender, Barbosa’s replacement?

16. Philadelphia 76ers ~ Deandre Jordan, quick big man, needs time to develop, low post scorer at one time thought to maybe be top 10 pick

17. Toronto Raptors ~  Alexis Ajinca, big euro center, meaning he can pass and understands basketball but needs to get stronger

18. Washington Wizards ~ Darrell Arthur, He can move, and score, handle the ball, but probaby destined to be a somewhat decent contributor off a bench; think Antwan Jamieson type game

19. Cleveland Cavaliers ~ Marreese Spreights, Cleveland want a big who can score, they have many who can defend either Spreights or Hibbert here; personally I think Spreights has more upside

20. Denver Nuggets ~ Javale Mcgee, struggled in camps, bit of suprising drop to here, has size and alot of upside potential contributor in a year or two, good quickness, and transition for a real big at 7′0

21. New Jersey (from Dallas) ~ JJ Hickson, nice combo of strength, wingspan, quickness, and a lot of offensive moves

22. Orlando Magic ~ Robin Lopez, an energetic, hustling big guy who can take up space and make some noise; think Anderson Varejo his hustle makes up for natural ability

23. Utah Jazz ~ Roy Hibbert, the Jazz have fingers crossed he’ll fall in their laps especially during the Cav’s pick, Roy is skilled but can’t run the floor, very effective in methodical half court offense, wonderful fit

24. Seattle (from Phoenix) ~ Serge Ibaka, former Spurs exec and current Gm goes international here, Serge is potentially Lottery pick next year came out a year early, likely to stay in Spain and hopefully develop into player

25. Houston Rockets ~ Courtney Lee, tough choice for Houston between Lee and Douglas-Roberts, but Lee is a shooter and Douglas-Roberts more of a slasher, The Rockets will take Lee and hope he can contribute at the SG position right away

26. San Antonio Spurs ~ Ryan Anderson, PF that can shoot the lights out, Robert Horry’s replacement

27. Portland Trailblazers (from New Orleans, traded for cash today) ~ Nicolas Batum, a quick, leaping scorer with nice potential and very good defensive ability

28. Memphis Grizzlies (from La) ~ Jason Thompson, close here with DJ White, Grizzlies need front court help Jason can rebound and defend at an Nba level any scoring would be a bonus

29. Detroit Pistons ~ Chris Douglas-Roberts, suprising fall here, Gets to the rim, scores, shoots and can defend. Some wonder if his upside is limited

30. Boston Celtics ~ Richard Hendrix, A smart power forward with low post game who can help an NBA team’s bench. Understands basketball

UPPER SECOND ROUND / FIRST ROUND BUBBLE:
DJ White (PF 6-9 250 Indiana)
Bill Walker (SF 6-6 220 Kansas State)
Gary Forbes (G/F 6-7 220 Massachusetts)
Mike Taylor (G 6-2 190 Iowa State/D-League)
Ante Tomic (C 7-2 245 Croatia)
Omer Asik (F/C 6-11 230 Turkey)
DeVon Hardin (C 6-11 250 U of Cal)

MID/LOWER SECOND ROUND:
Joe Crawford
Trent Plaisted
James Gist
Davon Jefferson (SF 6-8 215 USC)
Shawn James (PF 6-10 225 Duquesne)
Drew Neitzel
JR Giddens
James Mays
Josh Duncan
Malik Hairston
Sasha Kaun
George Hill
Josh Duncan
Richard Roby
Pat Calathes
Joey Dorsey
Sean Singletary
Vladimir Gulubovic

This post’s Comments will be updated throughout the day with Draft Rumours so please check back often
 

Terry Shilton

Here is the breakdown of the 2008 picks who will go where and why, I’ll continue to re-post Mock’s as things change leading up to draft.

1. Chicago Bulls~ Derrick Rose, PG, Memphis; I posted yesterday that Beasley was the pick here as the Bulls needed low post scoring but things change scouts love Rose ” a combo of Chris Paul and Deron Williams” one scout told me “a better combo of decision making and scoring than Deron”. He’s en vogue right now because teams, like fans have fallen for CP3 and Deron, who have had instant success very early in their careers.

2. Miami Heat~ Michael Beasley, PF, Kansas State; explosive scorer, immediate impact, Gives the Heat a nice trio of Wade, Marion, Beasley but probably makes Haslem expendable. My early favorite for “ROY”

3. Minnesota T-Wolves ~ Brooks Lopez, C, Stanford; Minnesota need front court help for Jefferson, this pick fills the need plus this team has a ton of young guards.

4. Seattle Supersonics~ Jerryd Bayless, PG, Arizona; again fills the need gives them a nice young trio of Bayless, Durant, Green plus allows them to deal one of their current pg’s Watson, Ridnour who still have value to teams looking for an experienced backup.

5. Memphis Grizzlies~ Eric “Air” Gordon G, Indiana; this pick is problematic for Memphis as they need a big man they have drafted the ‘best player available’ almost to a fault, but their are too many potential superstar guards left to pass one up, the pick here is Gordon or Mayo I flipped a coin but I like Gordon here as the youth & size of Conley, Gordon, Gay makes a nice back-court to build on.

6.New York Knicks~ Danilo Galliarni SF, Italy; Is a point forward, think Toni Kukoc at 6-9 can handle and shoot the ball, a perfect fit for what Dantoni wants to do; that being said with Mayo left on the board I might expect boos here.

7. La Clippers~ Oj Mayo G, Usc; perfect marriage OJ stays in Cali, team has a need at PG will fit in nicely with this teams Run ‘n’ gun style.

8. Milwaukee Bucks~ Deandre Jordan C, Texas; Prediciting the first shocker here the Bucks have a lot of questions, Redd, Villanueva may both be available for trade, so this pick could really be at any position but they locked up Mo Williams PG  last year and Bogut has been a nice suprise and Deandre has the best risk reward here; he reminds scouts of Dwight Howard but has a questionable work ethic, 7′0 255 a front court of him and Bogut would be something.

9. Charlotte Bobcats~ Kevin Love PF, Ucla; this team needs a PG as they don’t have anyone signed behind Felton but Love will be to good to pass up here, Sean May is coming off a scary surgery and Okeafor isn’t yet signed but assuming all three are healthy great young rotation for Larry Brown to start with.

10. New Jersey Nets~ Anthony Randolph F, Lsu; Athletic, can score inside, outside but has a Chris Bosh like body and skill set, will need to bulk up to compete at the Nba level certainly fills need.

11. Indiana Pacers~ Russell Westbrook PG, Ucla; people will be surprised Russell fell this far the thinking has been the 7th or 8th but I’m prediciting he’ll fall, that being said Indiana will finally get a permanent replacement for Jamal Tinsley and this is a perfect fit Russell like Tinsley is a natural scorer, but does so more with his jumper than the drive.

12. Sacramento Kings~ DJ Augustine PG, Texas; The Kings will be holding their breath to get DJ or Russell and DJ will be available with the exodus of Mike Bibby they have a need at PG, and DJ is the best PG left nice pickup.

13. Portland Trailblazers~ Joe Alexander F, West Virginia; Scary pickup here Joe is a 6′8 Peja Stojakovic type shooter, with athleticism and finishing ability maybe the steal of the draft.

14. Golden State~ Darrell Arthur PF, Kansas; Mullin may look to trade this pick as Gstate needs maybe one more piece to make some kind of run and are not getting any younger, otherwise Darrell’s the pick as he can score from the low post but will need some time to develop.

15. Phoenix Suns (Atlanta) ~ Roy Hibbert C, Georgetown; shot in the dark here predicting a shocker Roy cannot really run the floor, PS neither can Shaq, but if you are going to slow the game down and play possession type BBall having a young & HUGE front court under Shaq’s tutelage is a good way to go. If Duncan and Robinson were the “Twin Towers” Shaq, Amare and Roy are the “Three Powers”

Post is getting a little big so I’ll post the rest up later in the week…

Quick note among the Surprises I posted people should note their are none bigger than: Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, Tyler Hansbrough who may have gone in the top 15 had they chosen to enter the draft, their decision to stay is a breath of fresh air in today’s collegiate Basketball culture as far to many players leave for the promised land before they are mentally or physically ready, one can only hope that these players are rewarded for their loyalty to their schools with career years and lottery name callings next year.