Eastern Conference- Draft Thoughts

Atlantic Division
Boston- With pick #19 may get point guard insurance with Bledsoe (KY)
Toronto- At the #13 spot look for Patterson (KY) with Bosh and Turk out.
NY- No pick-- watch Iverson, Childress (Europe), sign and trade with Lee.
76ers- need to solidify backcourt for next 10 years. Take Turner (OH ST) with the second selection.
NJ- Wes Johnson ('cuse) at the #3 pick is a no brainer.

Central Division
Cleveland- no pick-- need LeBron to start recruiting. Watch Pierce move from Beantown with LeBron.
Milwaukee- Need a guard to go with Jennings at the #15 spot- Anderson (OK St) is the guy.
Chicago- Add Sanders with the #17 pick from VCU. Adds athleticism to a young spry front court.
Indiana- With the #10 pick-- need a pg but will go with Hayward (Butler) due to power forward need (Murphy will be moved to get the pg)
Detroit- A mess right now. Need Cousins at the center spot-- not likely to fall this low- watch them trade up with NJ at #3 and use Tayshaun Prince to sweeten the deal.

Southeastern Conference
Orlando- With the #29 pick look for athletic freak Poindexter (Wash) to come off the board.
Atlanta- I like Dominique Jones from USF to get the nod at #24-- will go nicely with Teague in the backcourt (also have Bibby and Crawford)
Miami- At #18 Big 12 all-time leading rebounder James (Texas) is taken to go with QRich and Beasley.
Charlotte- No Pick-- need to bring back Felton.
Washington- #1 is Wall (KY)-- what do they do with Arenas

Off to the NBA Draft at MSG tomorrow. I will try to refrain from hitting the free agent thoughts until the weekend after we see draft day trades.
DD

JUNE 2010 Draft

With all of the attention going to the free agent boom, it seems like the draft has become the undercard in a heavyweight fight. Outside of the top 5- Wall, Turner, Favors, Cousins, Johnson- very few bold predictions have been attached to this years class. As many draft experts will point out, it takes three to five years to judge a class. Here are the next four players to watch at each positions--- guys that will make this draft a success when we look back.

Point Guard- Wall
Eric Bledsoe KY 6-1 195 (6-6 wingspan)
Greivis Vasquez UM 6-6 200
Armon Johnson Nev 6-3 195
Dominque Jones USF 6-4 215
Mikhail Torrance Alabama 6-4 215-- ambidextrous-- WATCH THIS GUY AT THE END OF ROUND 1.

2 Guard- Turner
James Anderson OK St 6-6 210
Xavier Henry KU 6-6 220
Willie Warren OK 6-5 200
Terrico White Miss 6-5 215

Small Forward- Johnson
Al-Farouq Aminu Wake- 6-9 215
Gordon Hayward Butler 6-9 207
Paul George FSU 6-8 210
Damion James Texas 6-7 225

Power Forward- Favors
Ed Davis UNC 6-10 225
Ekpe Udoh Baylor 6-10 240
Patrick Patterson UK 6-9 235
Luke Babbit Nev 6-9 225

Center- Cousins
Greg Monroe G'Town 6-11 247
Cole Aldrich Kansas 6-11 245
Daniel Orton UK 6-10 255
Hassan Whitehead MU 7-0 235

Keep an eye on this list as they get plucked by NBA teams thursday night. Tomorrow I'll go through each conference and get you a target draft lift for each team. My apologies for the vacation. We have a busy summer ... so keep up day to day as we go from draft to free agency to summer leagues.
DD