Powerball: Everyone's a Winner

The NBA Lottery selection occured Tuesday night in Seacaucus, NJ. Unlike Baseball and Football, which have the team with the worst record in the league automatically get the first pick, the NBA does a lottery involving the non-playoff teams. Each team in theory has a chance at the #1 pick, but in reality, the bottom 5 or 6 teams in the league have a much higher % chance.

Tuesday night, the Chicago Bulls cashed in and won the 1st pick, despite only a 1.5% chance of winning the 1st overall pick. They finished with the 9th worst record in the league. That my friends, is bullsh*t. Horsesh*t. Opinions and sarcasm are the Pope's blog tools, so there is an opinion that you can put in your pipe and smoke it.

Moving on. After last year's lottery debacle, the Tigers last second championship loss last month, and this lottery result, the city of Memphis has had it tough. Beasley and Rose are gone, so lets focus on what we do now, with the Grizz sitting on the #5 pick in next month's NBA draft. After the top 2 guys, it is many's opinion that there are no perennial all-stars in the draft. However, most think the draft is deep with role players and solid starters, just not stars except for Beasley and Rose. Here are some options that the Grizz can consider at #5:

Draft Brook Lopez - The 7 Foot, 260 pound center from Stanford is a bit "stiff" in that he plays like a center and lacks the coordination of smaller forwards or guards. However, he is 19 years old, intelligent, and has shown a good ability to rebound and score. I think this guy would be a "cant bust" guy just because he could, at worst, give you quality minutes on the interior off the bench. I think there is some upside too, so this is not all chalk. Yes there are bad 7 footers out there, but I think he has shown some big time skills in a big time basketball conference.

Draft OJ Mayo - This is a much more high risk/high reward guy. He is big, can play decent perimeter defense, and can score. Character issues abound, as this prima donna has had huge expectations since he was in 7th grade. He played at USC just to get some west coast exposure, so what will he think about little ole Memphis? Could be a nice addition to the wing with Rudy Gay, but I think there is considerable risk here. No Mayo, please.


Trade the pick for two lower picks or next year - A solid move considering a few things. First, this draft is 2 players and then everyone else. Second, this is a deep draft after those two players, meaning that the guy you get at #5 could be like the one you could get at #15. Joe Alexander (West Virginia) is a guy that could slip down out of the top 10 and might be as good as anyone at #5. He is a leader, he can shoot, and he has a bit of "moxy" as they say, as shown by his play in the NCAAs. Trade down, get another pick in the 20s in this very deep draft.

Trade the pick for a player - Trade the pick for a player that can come in, start at forward or on the wing, and play defense. I cannot suggest any names out there, as that would require a much more in depth research of salary cap space, etc. This is less likely than other options. There has been some speculation (as noted by Grizzlies blog, 3 Shades of Blue) that we could package the pick with Mike Miller to the Nuggets for Carmelo Anthony. That would be awesome, but incredibly unlikely. To get a scorer of his caliber would certainly help the team, even though Rudy plays SF like Carmelo. We would adjust.

Draft someone else - The Pope likes Anthony Rudolph of this bunch. There is risk in drafting anyone this year, and certainly Rudolph or Kevin Love have risk just like the two guys profiled above. I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Wallace (we're boys) recently. He said that oftentimes after the top players are gone, you have to draft more conservatively, because you must at least help your team with a player that has shown something, as opposed to a player heavy on potential. To me, that means he would draft a Brook Lopez or a Kevin Love over an Anthony Rudolph, who is largely raw potential at this point.

One interesting player popping up on draft boards is Italian Danilo Gallinari (compared to a Toni Kukoc). Do we really want another white European on our team? Im not a racist, as I dont care about the color or creed of anyone. I do question how smart it is to have multiple European "style" players, used to a different game than the NBA.

The Pope's recommendation of the above, in order:

1. Draft Brook Lopez
2. Trade down, draft someone like Alexander
3. Draft OJ Mayo
4. Trade the pick for a player
5. Draft someone else

Good luck Chris. We need you to work your magic on this one.