Pre-Draft Thoughts and Observations

• By: Justin Phan
• On: 6/25/2009 3:12:00 AM

Related: Justin Phan Golden State Warriors Los Angeles Clippers Memphis Grizzlies Milwaukee Bucks Minnesota Timberwolves New York Knicks Oklahoma City Thunder Phoenix Suns Sacramento Kings San Antonio Spurs Washington Wizards NBA 



• View Comments : 7

• For all the talk about how the Clippers can't screw this one up with Blake Griffin sitting there for them at #1, the reality of the situation is that they certainly can (and will probably find a way to). The Clippers have been nearly as bad when it comes to player development as they have been with evaluating/drafting prospects. Even if they do end up drafting Griffin first overall, Clipper nation shouldn't be breathing a sigh of relief just yet.
  

• I am less surprised by the number of trades that went down on Tuesday than I am about the motivations behind them. While salary dumps by the Warriors and Suns on Wednesday were expected to be the norm, we had two teams (Spurs and Wizards) basically shoot for the moon on Tuesday by taking on sizable contracts that basically committed them to pay luxury tax. It's also assumed that the Bucks freed up cap to re-sign Villanueva to an extension, leaving Minnesota as the only team of the four whose primary motivation was to save money.
  

• There's been a lot of talk of teams trading up to get the 2nd or 3rd pick since Thabeet isn't a great fit in Memphis and Rubio doesn't fit in all that well in Oklahoma City either. I think the Grizzlies will end up playing their hand with Thabeet while Oklahoma City will deal their pick away. A deal with the T'Wolves makes a lot of sense for the Thunder where they would give up their 3rd pick for the 5th and 18th picks. The Wolves move up to grab Rubio (Telfair can't be relied upon as the solution for them) while the Thunder take James Harden, who is a much better fit for them than Rubio (and a better prospect in my eyes).

• The Crawford for Law/Claxton trade puts the Warriors in an interesting quandary. Unloading Crawford was largely financial, but part of it had to do with Nellie not wanting any guards who could get in the way of his starting backcourt of Monta/SJax. Management will be pretty happy if they are able to come away with Jordan Hill at 7, but what if he is gone by then? At 7th overall there would be nothing else to choose from but guards, so do the Warriors take a guard anyway? Do they try to trade away the pick?

• The Knicks need to come away with Steph Curry in this draft or it would be considered a dissapointment. Over the past year, the whole culture of the team has been built around luring LeBron to the Big Apple in 2010. There really isn't a bigger prospect in this class that will pique LeBron's interest than Curry.

• If the Bucks can land Jonny Flynn at 10th overall, then John Hammond deserves some sort of award for the way he managed to creatively manuever his way out of a terrible financial situation while improving his current roster. Not only will the Bucks have enough money to fend competitors away from nabbing Villanueva in free agency, but they will have also added two solid complimentary players at the PG and PF spots in Flynn and Amir Johnson. Jefferson's departure also allows ample opportunity for their first-round pick last year, Joe Alexander, to develop and show off what he can do.