das Monkey

Yeah. I may have taken him a little high at 20, but 37 is an absolute steal.

das

bigsoos

I can't believe Houston passed up on him, let alone any other PF, for they first round pick. For some reason we have like 10 PG/SG on the team now. I don't think it was a good draft for Houston this year.

Deftones

So, did Amare get traded? Oh wait, of course not. So much for those "credible" league sources.

foofighters7

Also got Taurean Green from FL.

I think The Blazers cleaned up. And although they plan on buying out Francis and making him a free agent, I think if hes happy he would be a good player with what they have there.

Seattle did pretty well too. but the Blazers with what they had already with what they now have are a playoff contender next year, and a strong Western conference contender the next.

Setzer

Ditto that.

fumanstan

Yes, because if a trade doesn't happen it means all the rumors about it were wrong

Brian Gentz

IMRICKJAMES

the suprise of the draft for me has to be Aaron Brooks going in the first round to the Rockets. As an Oregon alum I was paying attention to his draft prospects and the was some positive speculation as the Ducks got deep in March Madness, but then his stock had been falling ever since to the point a lot of people thought he may not be drafted. Then he ends up in the first round! So much for all that stock up, stock down media talk

The draft as a whole...Im definitely not buying into the ESPN hype of this being a real deep draft. I think its like 10-15 players deep and thats being generous. For me to consider a draft deep there shouldn't be guys like Noah and Hawes going so high when they have clear deficiences. Maybe I'm being too strict on my interpretation but I just dont see it as a deep draft.

HistoryProf

i despise him with an intensity that is really unsurpassed by any other basketball player ever. i hope he fails and fails embarrassingly.

TGM

Sanjaya?

IMRICKJAMES

I love how Joakim Noah has yet to realize why people don't like him.

That just makes me dislike him more

tofu

As a Warriors fan, I'm very excited about the pick of Stephen Lasme. If he's able to make the team, he could be the post defense that they really needed against the Jazz.

Jericho

Of course that's most drafts. I'm not so sure the draft was so "deep" as it was top heavy. Even after Oden and Durent, you have some pretty interesting young guys like Thornton, Conley, Thaddeus Young, Brandon Wright and so forth. So if you were picking 7th or so, you'd probably get a better player than in a normal year. But if you're picking 20th? It's still probably the same crap as every year.

As a Wizards fan, I thought the real talent ran out at #15 when Stuckey went. Sucks because the Wizards picked #16 I'm having flashbacks of 2002, when with three picks to go Chris Wilcox, Amare Stoudamire, and Caron Butler were still on the board. And they went in the next three picks, leaving the Wiz to take Jared Jefferies. And you look at the next 10 picks after Jeffereies, it's basically crap: 12 Melvin Ely, 13 Marcus Haislip, 14 Fred Jones, 15 Boštjan Nachbar, 16 Jiri Welsch, 17 Juan Dixon, 18 Curtis Borchardt, 19 Ryan Humphrey, 20 Kareem Rush, 21 Qyntel Woods, 22 Casey Jacobsen. So taking Jefferies seemed like the right move, it's just the talent fell off right there at #10. That's not say no one else good was drafted in 2002. Tayshaun Prince went #23, Nenad Krstić went #24, and Carlos Boozer went #33. But everyone passed those guys up for another dozen picks, so I can forgive the Wizards for not seeing what no one else saw either.

El Scorcho

Once again, Portland dominates draft day.

Trading Randolph + scrubs for Frye & Francis is a good move. Save a ton of cash, buy Francis out, suddenly have a ton of cap room to go for a high profile free agent (Rashard Lewis, anyone?). Meanwhile we get a star in Oden, a rising european star and McRoberts.

Portland's going to be tough for years to come.

grrrah

I like! The next Milsap.

I also liked the Richardson trade. As much as he shined as the team leader during the regular season the last five years. Once playoff time came he showed that he was barely capable of being the 3rd option. I'm gonna miss him, but the cap relief and gamble on wright being the steal of the draft was worth it.

Great day to be a trailblazer fan.

fujishig

Well, the draft is deeper, mainly because of the new high school rules, right? I mean, how many freshmen were taken in the first round?

tofu

I'll say. Plus, having knee surgery on a guy that jumps off of two legs can't be good since he needs both knees for leaping and for stability.

I hope that Wright fills out. I just hope that the combination of Wright and Lasme can fill the rebounding problems of the Warriors.

U6C84

After being pissed off yesterday about the Warriors trading J. Rich, I'm actually quite satisfied with the trade now.

J. Rich is in fact coming off an injury plagued season, and I remember him saying right after they did the trade with Indiana that it's nice to know he's not the primary option anymore. All of the stress is taken off his shoulders, but now he is put right back into that situation. Plus, Nellie and J. Rich weren't really seeing eye to eye all year.

Brandon Wright, I'm not too high on him as some other people are. Hopefully he'll fill out better than I expect.

So with the trade the Warriors pick up a 10 million trade exception. With that they may be able to pick up someone like Gerald Wallace away from the Bobcats, and if they do, it's basically Richardson and Davidson for Wright and Wallace. If that happens, then it would be highway robbery.

DVD Josh

I think it's pretty obvious that the Bobcats think Wallace will walk or they wouldn't have made the Richardson trade.

Jordan cannot run a team at all. The Wizards are just now recovering from him.

jmanlakerfan

I'll believe it when I see it.

Jeremy517

- He'd count less against the cap. The cap hit per year would be the buyout amount / 2 (two years left on the deal).
- Even if he doesn't get bought out, Francis' deal expires in two years, while Randolph's expires in four years.

El Scorcho

Exactly.

Plus, even if Francis does stay around, his expiring deal in 2 years frees up a lot of room for the resigning of Aldridge and Roy and later, Oden.

El Scorcho

Um, Francis is owed $34M over the next 2 years. If the Blazers buy him out for 50% ($17M), thats $8.5M saved against the salary cap the next two seasons. $8.5M that could go towards someone like Rashard.

Jeremy517

Depends what the cap is set at. Payroll is roughly 58 million, after Oden's contract. I haven't seen an exact number, but I'm guessing the cap will be around 55.5 or so. I think Lewis will want more than the Blazers could offer. Orlando is roughly 15 million below the cap, and will probably offer a lot to Lewis.

Of course, if Miles retires due to medical reasons, since he obviously is never going to play again, the Blazers would still have to pay him but it wouldn't count against the cap.

Jeremy517

Here's a good salary reference: http://www.storytellerscontracts.inf...08salaries.htm

It hasn't been updated with yesterday's trades yet, and still shows the numbers for last season, but it is still a good resource.