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Pac-10 Hoops Weekly Wrap: Washington is the new No. 1

Nuss — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:28:12 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Jerome Randle is left wondering just how his team got blitzed by both Syracuse and Ohio State.

Welcome to the first edition of the 2009-2010 Pac-10 Weekly Wrap, which looks at the state of the conference's hoops featuring my personal power rankings and analysis of the state of each team. I suppose the season's been going on for about two weeks now, but everyone's got enough games under their belt now that we can actually have some semi-meaningful analysis.

We came into the season suspecting the Pac-10 to be way down this year, and while I'm going to be one of the few to say that has yet to be proven, I think one thing has most certainly confirmed another suspicion: This is going to be the most wide-open conference race in years. There is no 300-pound gorilla this year, as every team in this race has not just little flaws, but big-time flaws that could be exploited on any given night.

In other words, prepare for a wild ride where the conference champ has at least five losses. While I initially dismissed it, all that talk about this being a three-bid conference just might be spot on.

On to the rankings and recaps. (When I say preseason rank, that was my own personal preseason rankings ...)

1. Washington

Preseason rank: 2
Record: 4-0

The Huskies have done what they were supposed to do, win all of their games, but they move up to the No. 1 spot more out of default than anything else. Playing all four games at home, they've posted two dominant wins (Belmont, Portland State) and two wins where they were firmly in control (Wright State, San Jose State). They do get credit for not stubbing their toe, but there's just not a lot here to go off of yet.

Bright spot: Count me among those who were/are skeptical they can replace Jon Brockman's interior presence. However, all signs are good so far. They're still an offensive rebounding machine -- currently an absurd 47.6 percent, good for fifth in the country -- and they're doing a competent job on the defensive glass. Of course, that's against overmatched competition, but that's what they're supposed to do ...

Question mark: The shooting. Their effective field goal percentage (what's that?) is a pedestrian 51.7, inflated by one superbly hot shooting night against Portland State. Otherwise, they've been under 50 percent in their other three contests. Not good. As a team they're shooting just 32.8 percent from 3-point range -- somebody has to fill Justin Dentmon's void.

An honorable mention for the question mark would be the defense: It's been merely average.

2. California

Preseason rank: 1
Record: 2-2

Nothing like getting slapped around by a couple of Top 25 teams early in the year to bring an excited fanbase back to reality. Seriously, I feel sorry for Cal fans. Their football team was considered a worthy challenger to the USC throne (we all know how that's turned out, although beating Stanford certainly takes out some of that sting), and now their basketball team is off to a rocky start. Theo Robertson is out indefinitely, and Harper Kamp is touch and go as he recovers from a knee injury. To not even be in those two games is not the kind of start you'd expect from a team returning so many players, even without those two guys.

Bright spot: Jerome Randle can still shoot -- 50 percent on 26 3-point attempts this year. He's well on his way to following up last year's breakout campaign.

Question mark: The defense. It was atrocious against both Syracuse and Ohio State, which ought to be pretty disconcerting, since that was a target for improvement this year. Here's what Basketball Prospectus 2009-2010 had to say about the Bears' efforts to improve there:

We’ve seen this script play out before. You know, the team that can score at will but can’t get stops. But they return everyone from the previous season…and this time they mean business! They’ve been thinking about defense all summer, blah, blah, blah. Last year at this time, these words were being spoken about Baylor, and to a lesser extent Notre Dame. Two years ago it was NC State. Each of those teams failed to improve their defense and fell short of lofty preseason expectations.

Cal is a good team that is going to win a lot of games this season….But they’re also a team with a significant weakness. One that history says is very difficult to overcome, even with hard work.

Four games in, this is looking downright prophetic. It might not cause a huge issue in the Pac-10 this year -- assuming Robertson comes back healthy to complete the three-headed monster on offense -- but they better shore it up if they don't want a repeat of their first round exit against Maryland.

3. Arizona State

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 4-0

Who wants to be No. 3 in the Pac-10? Step right up, Sun Devils! When you start to look at the remaining eight teams and figure out who the third-best team in the conference is right now, your options are somewhere between OK and really bad. So, congratulations on being OK, Arizona State, after more or less destroying your annual parade of cupcakes at home (a close, 52-49 game with TCU notwithstanding). They've done it with a balanced attack (four different guys are averaging double figures, despite only averaging 62.9 possessions as a team) and pretty good defense.

Bright spot: The Sun Devils can still shoot -- their 62.3 effective field goal percentage is third nationally. I don't care who the opponent is, that's impressive. They're shooting 49.4 percent from 3-point range, and when you're shooting 3s on nearly 40 percent of your possessions (79th nationally right now), that's a recipe for some blowouts. Rihards Kuksiks, Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott and Jamelle McMillan are all shooting better than 45 percent from long range.

Question mark: There was one game, however, where the Sun Devils did shoot poorly; care to guess which one? If ASU's offensive effectiveness is going to be that closely tied to their shooting, their fans are in for one roller coaster ride of a year.

4. Arizona

Preseason rank: 4
Record: 2-0

The Wildcats have only played two games, but they handled both Rice and Northern Arizona effectively. Nothing here yet to really suggest moving them up or down. We'll know more pretty quick -- they take on Wisconsin in Maui tonight, then face either Colorado or Gonzaga tomorrow.

Bright spot: By the time Sean Miller left Xavier, he had molded the Musketeers into an excellent defensive squad. It appears the Wildcats are buying in early, holding NAU to 91.0 efficiency (what's that?) and Rice to 67.8.

Question mark: The Wildcats were a pretty good offensive rebounding team last year, thanks mostly to some guy named Jordan Hill. With Hill gone, Arizona is currently 246th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (what's that?) -- despite playing vastly inferior competition. And it's not a style thing, since Miller's Xavier teams were routinely one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country.

5. Washington State

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 3-0

Congrats, Cougs for not puking up a game against an inferior opponent! Given what's going on around them in the conference, winning three games is no small accomplishment, especially when you note that two were blowouts and one was a blowout until a late run by a veteran squad brought the margin uncomfortably close. This team is young and is going to be inconsistent, but as you look around at the rest of the conference, you realize just how valuable of a commodity Klay Thompson is. There are a number of other teams that would absolutely kill for a scorer like him.

Bright spot: Thompson looks to be every bit the big-time scorer and leader we hoped he would be. Also, did we mention that a young squad with a new coach has played well enough to dominate the better part of three games?

Question mark: This one's easy -- the rebounding brought about by a thin frontcourt. The defensive rebounding has been merely average, and that's against some inferior competition. Not necessarily a good omen. Problem is, there's really no ready solution, since they're not likely to get taller or bigger.

6. UCLA

Preseason rank: 3
Record: 1-1

A lot of people thought the Bruins could survive their early defections on the coaching wizardry of Ben Howland. The early returns aren't great -- UCLA opened the season with a double OT loss to Cal State-Fullerton, then trailed Cal State-Bakersfield through much of the first half before pulling away late. Injuries to guys like Tyler Honeycutt have slowed the team down, and it hasn't helped that Nikola Dragovic went and got himself arrested for felony assault and subsequently suspended.

But if you're really looking for a reason why UCLA has slipped the last year-plus, look no further than highly touted recruiting classes where guys that were supposed to come in and make an immediate impact just haven't. If I were ranking purely on accomplishment, the Bruins would be down near the bottom of the conference right now. But I've got to balance performance with potential, and the smart money is still on Howland figuring out a way to squeeze a Tournament berth out of these guys.

Bright spot: The Bruins are getting only 2.1 percent of their shots blocked, eighth nationally. They've got that going for them. Which is nice.

Question mark: Can the Bruins survive the beginning of the season until they get healthy without tanking their NCAA Tournament chances? They're going to face some teams in the 76 Classic that will likely be on the bubble come March; losses there could be costly.

7. Oregon

Preseason rank: 8
Record: 3-1

The Ducks cruised through their first three games, even flashing some decent defense along the way. Then came a loss on the road to Portland in which the Ducks allowed 88 points on 66 possessions(!). Now, the Pilots are looking as if they might really be a threat to knock off the Zags in the WCC -- they have yet to shoot less than 58.3 eFG% in three games -- but if the Ducks want to get up into the top half of the conference with all that purported talent they have, they're going to have to do better than that. Granted, it was without Michael Dunigan ... but still.

Bright spot: Tajuan Porter is scoring efficiently, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever used the words "Porter" and "efficiently" in the same sentence. He's got a 129.1 offensive rating through four games. That's enough of a sample to suggest that he's doing some things right.

Question mark: Can Dunigan ever stay on the floor long enough to be the impact player his McDonalds All-American status suggested he should be? Last year it was fouls, this year injury. The Ducks need him to be a force.

8. Stanford

Preseason rank: 10
Record: 2-2

I actually looked at numbers for about five minutes trying to figure out how to rank OSU, Stanford and USC 8, 9 and 10. Then I realized I was spending actual time trying to figure out how to rank OSU, Stanford and USC 8, 9 and 10. They all stink right now. Badly. So they're in a relatively arbitrary order. I'll give Stanford some credit for having two wins and almost winning a third. But holy crap is the bottom of this conference awful. That alone should give the Cougs (and other middling teams) hope that they can get up into the NCAA Tournament conversation, because there are wins to be had.

Bright spot: The Cardinal are 14th nationally in turnover percentage and 22nd nationally in defensive rebounding percentage!

Question mark: With the lack of size up front, the Cardinal are already showing they're going to have a heck of a time defending the paint -- teams are shooting 51.8 percent from inside the arc against them. That's 241st nationally. Against teams like San Diego, Oral Roberts, Cal Poly and Florida A&M ... well, the only word that comes to mind is "ouchie."

9. USC

Preseason rank: 9
Record: 1-1

USC fans knew that offense was going to be hard to come by with this squad, so it's fortunate that defense is Kevin O'Neill's calling card. Unfortunately for the Trojans, their defense has been awful, and when you combine that with a subpar offensive night, you get a bad loss to Loyola Marymount at home. Ugh.

Bright spot: Nikola Vucevic is giving them some quality offense -- he's playing 97 percent of the minutes so far, using 23 percent of USC's possessions, and posting 123.0 offensive rating. Not bad at all.

Question mark: So many directions we could go with this one, ranging from Dwight Lewis failing to show up in the loss to the Trojans allowing their opponents to get to the line at an absurd rate. But, we'll go ahead with this one: Opponents are shooting 50 percent against USC from 3-point range. Obviously, that number is going to come down, but when your two opponents have shot 3s on 26 percent of their possessions -- 46th nationally -- and are hitting at that kind of a clip, that says something about your ability to close out on shooters. Ouch.

10. Oregon State

Preseason rank: 5
Record: 1-3

Are the Beavers really the worst team in the conference? Probably not, as two of their three losses were fairly close. But they get a penalty for failing to live up to preseason hype -- especially when Craig Robinson did little to downplay Oregon State as a contender for an NCAA Tournament bid. Usually teams wait until conference play to crumble under the weight of expectations; OSU did it in the first two weeks.

To say the Beavers have been atrocious on offense just isn't strong enough. Pick your synonym -- abysmal, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable -- and it probably doesn't do them justice, either. You would think they would be more efficient in their second year in Robinson's Princeton offense. Guess not. Only one player is averaging double figures, and I don't care what pace you play at, that's just brutal. Or awful. Or dreadful. Or whatever.

Bright spot: They didn't lose to South Dakota.

Question mark: How does Robinson get this offense rolling? The Beavers have been abysmal in ever facet of the offensive game -- they're even shooting under 60 percent from the free throw line. One has to believe there's some regression coming, but four games is more than 10 percent of the season, and to be that bad suggests something more than mere small sample size. OSU better get its crap together, right quick.

'Zona Hoops - NBA Summer League Post Mortem

jruss — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:52:47 -0000

Fifty five games are now in the books at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League. We did a middle-of-the-way-done check-in so let's see how ex-Wildcats fared at the completion of play. Players are ranked below from highest scoring average down.

1. Jerryd Bayless (4 games) - 18 pts, 47% FG, 3.8 Reb, 4.3 Ast

2. Chase Budinger (5 games) - 17.8 pts, 68% FG, 2 Reb, 1 Steal

3. Jordan Hill (5 games) - 14.4 pts, 43% FG, 8.2 Reb, 1 Block

4. Mustafa Shakur (5 games) - 5.6 pts, 39% FG, 1.8 Reb, 1.6 Ast, 2 Steals

5. Salim Stoudamire (2 games) - 4 pts, 37.5% FG, 1 Ast, 1 Steal

6. Chris Rodgers (1 game) - 0 pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast

Here are my reactions based on the numbers...

Reaction #1 - Bayless is solid and I believe he's in for a significant bump in playing time and a good year

Reaction #2 - Did Chase really have 68% FG??? That's better than the top 50 scorers in Summer League. Insane!!

Reaction #3 - I think Jordan Hill is eventually going to be a beast but it's going to take some time

Reaction #4 - Based on the individual box scores, it seemed like Shakur played better than the numbers indicated. I hope he makes an NBA squad

Reaction #5 - What happened to Salim Stoudamire?

Reaction #6 - Chris who?

Can't wait for pre-season to start!!!

How Former AZ Wildcats are Faring at the NBA Summer League

jruss — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:38:49 -0000

With the Las Vegas Summer League now officially half-way over, here's a quick look at how the former Arizona Wildcats are faring. I have ranked them in order by scoring average top to bottom:

1. Jerryd Bayless (POR - 1 game), 22 pts, 41% shooting, 4 Reb, 7 Ast

2. Chase Budinger (HOU - 3 games), 15.7 pts, 63% shooting, 2.7 Reb, 1 Ast

3. Jordan Hill (NYK - 1 game), 13 pts, 42% shooting, 8 Reb, 2 Steals

4. Mustafa Shakur (LAL - 4 games), 6.5 pts, 42% shooting, 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 2.5 Steals

5. Salim Stoudamire (MIL - 2 games), 4 pts, 37% shooting, 1 Ast, 1 Steal

6. Chris Rodgers (PHX - 1 game) 4 Mins, 0 pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast

7. Hassan Adams (HOU - 0 games) DNP

Here's what we already knew that these stats are confirming:

- We all knew Bayless had skills he just needed some time to develop

- We knew that Budinger is a first-round talent that pretty much got hosed and drafted in the second round

- We knew Hill is solid and will put up solid (not spectacular) numbers

- We knew Shakur was always a bit over-hyped

- We knew Stoudamire peaked in college

- We knew Rodgers was never going to crack an NBA roster

- We knew Hassan would be a journeyman at best

We'll see what plays out over the send half of Summer League...

Final Hoops Commitment: Derrick Williams, PF

jruss — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:51:00 -0000

To round out Arizona's 2009 basketball recruiting class, La Mirada High School power forward, Derrick Williams, a 3-star rated recruit by Rivals.com, will join Sean Miller in his first season as head coach of the Wildcats along with four other top rated recruits. A former USC recruit, who was let out of his letter of intent, Williams chose Arizona over Memphis so he could stay West - increasing the total number of USC defections to Arizona at three (Solomon Hill and Lamont Jones as the other two).

Although he was not among the top 150 players rated in this 2009 class according to Rivals but a top 100 recruit by Scout.com, Derrick Williams, a 6-8", 215-pound Power Forward, is a welcome addition to Arizona's team. With Jordan Hill having left for the NBA, power forward was a position that was most depleted entering the off-season. With Jamelle Horne as the only player penciled in to play the four, Williams will provide some much needed depth along with some scoring and rebounding. As a senior at La Mirada High School, Williams averaged 25 points to go with over 10 rebounds a game and led his team in steals and blocks.

From wildaboutazcats.com, here's a look at how the 2009 roster is shaping up:

Former Arizona Hoopsters Participating in NBA Vegas Summer League

jruss — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:53:44 -0000

July 10-19 marks the annual NBA Vegas Summer League where NBA teams get a first look at their newly drafted rookies and give their second year players a chance to step it up and show they deserve more playing time (see: Portland G Jerryd Bayless). The other fun part about the Summer League is that it gives an opportunity for a whole host of other players (former collage players, European, D-Leaguers, etc) a chance to try and sneak their way onto an NBA roster. Here's a look at all of the Arizona basketball alumni taking part in this year's Vegas Summer League, 8 in all with five rosters still to be announced:

Houston Rockets: Hassan Adams and Chase Budinger

LA Lakers: Mustafa Shakur

Milwaukee Bucks: Salim Stoudamire and Mohammed Tangara

New York Knicks: Jordan Hill

Phoenix Suns: Chris Rogers

Portland Trailblazers: Jerryd Bayless

I'll keep y'all updated on the missing rosters and to see how our former Wildcats fare in Las Vegas...

2009 NBA Draft Open Discussion

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:01:42 -0000

The 2009 NBA Draft is here, and might be the least exciting news of the day around the NBA. First it was Shaq to Cleveland, then Vinsanity to Orlando. Can anything that happens tonight even come close to that?

Get comfy, because the Cavaliers won't pick until #30, unless of course they make a move to acquire(buy) a pick from a less financially fortunate team. Talk about the draft here!

The picks, as they happen, after the jump --

1. Los Angeles Clippers -- Blake Griffin, PF -- Oklahoma
2. Memphis Grizzlies -- Hasheem Thabeet, C -- UCONN
3. OK City Thunder -- James Harden, SG -- Arizona State
4. Sacramento Kings -- Tyreke Evans, SG -- Memphis
5. Minnesota T-Wolves -- Ricky Rubio, PG -- Spain
6. Minnesota T-Wolves -- Jonny Flynn, PG -- Syracuse
7. Golden State Warriors -- Stephen Curry, PG -- Davidson
8. New York Knicks -- Jordan Hill, F -- Arizona
9. Toronto Raptors -- DeMar DeRozan, G -- USC
10. Milwaukee Bucks -- Brandon Jennings, PG -- Compton, CA/Italy
11. New Jersey Nets -- Terrence Williams, F -- Louisville
12. Charlotte Bobcats -- Gerald Henderson, G -- Duke
13. Indiana Pacers -- Tyler Hansbrough, F -- North Carolina
14. Phoenix Suns -- Earl Clark, F -- Louisville
15. Detroit Pistons -- Austin Daye, F -- Gonzaga
16. Chicago Bulls -- James Johnson, F -- Wake Forest
17. Philadelphia 76'ers -- Jrue Holiday, PG -- UCLA
18. Minnesota T-Wolves -- Ty Lawson, PG -- UNC (HEADED TO DENVER)
19. Atlanta Hawks -- Jeff Teague, PG -- Wake Forest
20. Utah Jazz -- Eric Maynor, PG -- VCU
21. New Orleans Hornets -- Darren Collison, PG -- UCLA
22. Portland Trailblazers -- Victor Claver, F -- Spain
23. Sacramento Kings -- Omri Casspi, F -- Isreal
24. Dallas Mavericks -- BJ Mullens, C -- Ohio State (HEADED TO OK CITY)
25. OK City Thunder -- Rodrigue Beaubois, PG -- Guadeloupe (HEADED TO DALLAS)
26. Chicago Bulls -- Taj Gibson, PF -- USC
27. Memphis Grizzlies -- DeMarre Carroll, F -- Missouri
28. Minnesota T-Wolves -- Wayne Ellington, G -- UNC
29. LA Lakers -- Tony Douglas, G -- Florida State (HEADED TO NEW YORK)
30. Cleveland Cavaliers -- Christian Eyenga, G/F - Congo

RUMOR: Warriors like Wake Forrest's James Johnson if Jordan Hill is gone

Atma Brother ONE — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:22:35 -0000

How under the GSoM radar has JJ flown? Well he's not even on either of our draft polls:

Polling GSOM: Who do you think the Warriors will draft in the 2009 NBA Draft?

Polling GSOM: Who do you WANT the Warriors to draft in the 2009 NBA Draft?

Maybe he can play for the San Jose Earthquakes too! [via www.nancarrow-webdesk.com]

If you're feeling Johnson for either poll, please drop a comment in those respective threads. Jump for the details!

ESPN.com's Chad Ford spreads the word:

With a proposed Hawks-Warriors deal inching toward completion, it's time to take a second to analyze how this affects the draft.

The Warriors have the seventh pick in the draft and have been strongly considering both Curry and Jordan Hill. This deal gives them a young point guard in Acie Law, which makes one think the Warriors will go big at No. 7. If Hill is off the board, they also like Wake Forest's James Johnson.

James Johnson is a 22 year old 6'7-6'8 257 pound forward. Riley has said he wants some more "beef" on the Dubs and JJ would definitely advance them towards that goal. I'd definitely be shocked if they took him though. We will find out within 24 hours...

Would you be shocked if the Warriors drafted Wake Forrest's James Johnson with the #7 pick?

YES: Who?

502 votes

NO

141 votes

643 votes | Poll has closed

Polling GSOM: Who do you WANT the Warriors to draft in the 2009 NBA Draft?

Fantasy Junkie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:00:23 -0000

Originally posted Jun 24, 2009 12:00 PM PDT

Spread the word and tell everyone to vote!

There are two NBA draft polls on GSOM, make sure to vote in each. In this second one, who do you want the Warriors to draft? The first poll, who do you think the Warriors will draft, asked you to be pretend you're Don Nelson and make the 7th pick. This poll has the identical poll selections, but we want you to choose the draft pick who you want the Warriors to draft. Your reasons for wanting a player are your own, but I'd like to think you'll want the guy who will benefit the Warriors the most, not who will cause Rowell the biggest heartache or will most likely sit behind Marco and give him more playing time because you have a secret man crush on Marco. Again, choose the guy who you WANT the Warriors to draft.

Spread the word and tell all your friends to vote in the poll. Choose the guy who you WANT the Warriors to draft.

In 2005 and 2006, the GSOM community voted and Chris Mullin decided to pick that guy. In 2005 it was Ike Diogu (ooops) and in 2006 it was Patrick O'Bryant (ooops again). The GSOM community's draft record has not been so stellar. For the record, I voted for Danny Granger (2005) and Rodney Carney (2006). In 2007, the community voted for Yi (oops) and he turned out to not be available so we went with Brandan Wright instead. Then last year, Anthony Randolph wasn't even a possible selection since he wasn't expected to fall so far. Looks like picking by committee isn't such a good thing but that's not going to stop us.

Just like the previous poll, I've tried to limit the selections to who might be available (no Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, or James Harden) and also left out guys that probably won't be the pick (DeJuan Blair, Tyler Hansborough, Gerald Henderson, Earl Clark). That said, there are still a lot of guys to choose from because this draft seems pretty wide open. It's not clear who will be available. For instance, ESPN has Tyreke Evans going 4th, Draft Express has him going 6th, and NBA Draft.net has him going 8th. He could be available to the Warriors. Additionally, all that hype around Brandon Jennings seems to be gone now. He's 19th on ESPN, 17th on Draft Express, and, drum roll please, 7th on NBA Draft.net.

Also, be sure to check out Bill Simmons' podcast with Chad Ford (see the top right of the page) covering a lot of the draft picks. Tyreke Evans? It's a joke to think he could be an NBA point guard. Ricky Rubio? Special player and it's unfathomable as to why he would drop. Lots of good entertaining stuff in there.

Poll

Who do you want the Warriors to draft?

Terrence Williams

43 votes

Brandon Jennings

397 votes

Jrue Holiday

58 votes

Jordan Hill

266 votes

Jonny Flynn

127 votes

Tyreke Evans

234 votes

DeMar DeRozan

64 votes

Stephen Curry

394 votes

1583 votes | Poll has closed

Polling GSOM: Who do you think the Warriors will draft in the 2009 NBA Draft?

Fantasy Junkie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:00:22 -0000

Originally posted Jun 24, 2009 12:00 PM PDT

Which draft pick will be wearing this tomorrow?

There are two NBA draft polls on GSOM, make sure to vote in each. In this first one, who do you think the Warriors will draft? The second will be who you want the Warriors to draft. Using your best ~~Robert Rowell~~ ~~Larry Riley~~ Don Nelson impression, pick the player who you think we'll end up with in the 7th pick.

I've tried to limit the selections to who might be available (no Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, or James Harden) and also left out guys that probably won't be the pick (DeJuan Blair, Tyler Hansborough, Gerald Henderson, Earl Clark). That said, there are still a lot of guys to choose from because this draft seems pretty wide open. It's not clear who will be available. For instance, ESPN has Tyreke Evans going 4th, Draft Express has him going 6th, and NBA Draft.net has him going 8th. He could be available to the Warriors. Additionally, all that hype around Brandon Jennings seems to be gone now. He's 19th on ESPN, 17th on Draft Express, and, drum roll please, 7th on NBA Draft.net.

Choose the guy who you think the Warriors will draft. Release your inner Nostradamus.

Poll

Who do you think the Warriors will draft?

Stephen Curry

154 votes

DeMar DeRozan

33 votes

Jonny Flynn

40 votes

Tyreke Evans

49 votes

Jordan Hill

420 votes

Jrue Holiday

27 votes

Brandon Jennings

173 votes

Terrence Williams

19 votes

915 votes | Poll has closed

Mavs Draft Preview Part I: The Highly Unlikely

Wes Cox — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:39:17 -0000

I couldn't really decide how I wanted to do the predraft stuff, so I thought I would focus on the players I'd like seeing in a Mavs uniform next season. Of course, that includes people who won't be there at 22 so I'm breaking this into three parts. Guys Dallas would have to trade for, that they could maybe get lucky and have fall to them, and then the realistic list of guys with a very good chance of sitting there at 22.

I'll start at the top with three guys who I'd be happy to see Dallas trade up for. To get the obvious out of the way first, there's probably only like a 1% chance one of these three end up here. And before you come up with crazy trade ideas, any deal will involve Josh Howard and have a bad contract coming back to Dallas.

James Harden SG 19yo , ARI So.

The perfect pick for Dallas in this draft is someone who can contribute immediately while Dirk is still in his prime and someone whose ceiling is high enough that they can be leaned on to carry the team more and more with each year. To me, James Harden fits the bill perfectly. A prototypical scorer who can shoot and get to the basket, I think Harden will be able to offensively take over the occasional game as a rookie and only get better.

Won't last past the sixth pick.

Current NBA Comp: Brandon Roy in Baron Davis body.

Ricky Rubio PG 18yo, Spain

You might have heard of him. This is the sexy pick. Mark Cuban admitted that part of the Kidd trade was to get people talking about the Mavericks again, and bringing in Rubio would do that and then some.

He's almost already a superstar, but he'll require a lot of patience. I'm not sure Dallas has that. Trading up for Rubio would send the signal that Dallas was all but giving up on 2009, wasting another year of Dirk, and getting ready for 2010 and onwards. It would be a new era and a huge gamble -- exciting though.

Won't last past the sixth -- probably top 4.

Current NBA Comp: I don't know, some sort of Kevin Martin / Steve Nash love child.

Jordan Hill PF 21yo, ARI Jr.

Dallas has been rumored to be interested in Hill so this is most realistic of the three. I don't think he has quite the potential of someone like Kenyon Martin, but Hill is pretty close to the athletic, tough big man that they have seemingly never had and always admired,

Capable of playing center or PF, he could be a perfect change of pace backup to Dampier and a great floormate with Dirk. With Hill, Dallas could even go big for once playing a Dirk/Hill/Dampier trio. If Kidd hangs around, we'd probably be treated to more of those Kidd/Hollins style connections we all loved so much.

Won't fall past 10.

Current NBA Comp: Poor mans Amare Stoudemire.

Poll

Baseless unrealistic hypothetical: Josh Howard (2yr/20mil - team option on 2nd year), Jerry Stackhouse(1yr, 2mil), the 22nd pick, and the 2012 1st rounder to Memphis for Marko Jaric (2yr/14mil), Darko Milicic (1yr/7mil), and Harden or Rubio?

Yes if it's Rubio

79 votes

Yes if it's Harden

65 votes

Yes either way

46 votes

No thanks

130 votes

320 votes | Poll has closed