High flying Derrick Rose holds the keys to the draft mania, but where is the basketball?

Image details: UCLA v Memphis served by picapp.com

This is going to be one crazy draft.

First let’s set the table. The Western Conference finished as tight in the standings as a conference could. There were barely any games separating first place from 9th place. What does that mean? Wheeling and dealing will take place, because each team that finished behind the Lakers and Kobe Bryant thinks it will just take one solid deal to move them up to first.

In the Eastern Conference, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, and especially Detroit are also ready to deal.

Just to add to the mess, this draft is loaded with point guards and other than Rose and Beasley; it just seems to have a lot of equal appearing players.

How about we just pick out a few scenarios from the mock draft by Chad Ford at ESPN.com.

Miami Heat #2

Go no farther than the Miami Heat at the number 2 pick.

We continue to hear that the Heat will probably trade the No. 2 pick if Rose is off the board. The latest talk has the Sonics and Heat discussing a swap that would send the No. 2 pick and Mark Blount to Seattle for Chris Wilcox and the No. 4 pick. The move would give the Heat a huge amount of cap space in the summer of 2009. (Wilcox is in the last year of his contract, while Blount has two years and $16 million remaining.)

source

Seattle seems to be in everyone’s plans. With the number 4 pick and so many needs, they could pull off all kinds of deals.

Memphis Grizzlies go cheap

The Memphis Grizzlies at the number 5 pick are also looking to wheel and deal, but for a different reason.

Even stronger are rumors that the Grizzlies are talking to a number of teams, including the Knicks, Blazers and Suns, about deals that would send the No. 5 pick to whomever is willing to take Brian Cardinal’s awful contract (two years, $13 million left). The latest buzz has the Knicks talking to Memphis about a deal that would send David Lee and the expiring contract of Malik Rose to Memphis for No. 5 and Cardinal.

In other words, it sounds like GM Chris Wallace is, once again, being pushed by ownership to cut payroll.

Milwaukee Bucks get tough

It is going to be real fun following the Bucks up in Milwaukee. Think about the combination of tough former Michigan State University All American point guard, current NBA assist record holding, and former Chicago tough guy coach Scott Skiles with former Detroit advisor to Joe Dumars, now turnaround expert John Hammond. These are two guys that believe in toughness and have shown that before.

Alexander is a high-energy forward who impressed GM John Hammond and new coach Scott Skiles with his toughness and grit. That’s exactly what the Bucks are going for right now. Hammond wants to change the culture in Milwaukee, and Alexander has that capability. He also fits a need. The Bucks will be shopping Bobby Simmons (along with just about everyone else) hard this summer.

If Joe Alexander is what they say he is then he is going to love being a Buck.

Cleveland LeBron’s seek age insurance

At number 19 the Cavaliers are talking about Georgetown 7′2″ Center Roy Hibbert. LeBron James desperately needs players around him and Coach Mike Brown would love the big guy for his defense and shot blocking. Cleveland has to be concerned with an aging Ilgauskas and an aging Ben Wallace. It would be a great pick, but LeBron still needs points from other players inside.

Detroit Pistons look to surprise

Finally, how about my Pistons. Chad has them taking 6′6″ Bill Walker and they might, but most of us expect some kind of deal from Joe Dumars. There are just too many teams looking to move up or down for Joe D to miss this opportunity. Even though Boston showed you can win with old guys, it is time for the pot to be stirred on the Pistons, they need to get younger. Bill Walker would not provide a whole lot to the team and most likely would be included in any trade.

Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince are two likely candidates. Rip Hamilton could go if they replace him with a scorer.

This draft is all mixed up.

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

The Pistons did not trade for Pau Gasol, although that would have been nice.
The Pistons did not trade for Jason Kidd. No knock on Kidd, but Chauncey is here and much younger.
The Pistons did not trade for Shaq, although for 1 year that would have been fun.
The Pistons did not trade for Chris Weber. He did talk to Joe Dumars, but there was no roster spot for him.
The Pistons did not trade for Kyle Korver and Kyle fits better with Utah than Detroit.
The Pistons did not trade for … well you get the picture.

Later though, the Pistons signed Theo Ratliff.

The biggest weakness for the Pistons was low post defense. You did not want to waste Rasheed fouling out under the basket all alone. Amir Johnson is not quite ready for prime time minutes and Jason Maxiell does not match up with centers. This is where Theo comes in.

Theo Ratliff, early in his career, does a Vulcan Mind Meld with Doug Collins

But the beauty of that signing shined through the Pistons’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

The Pistons used Ratliff to guard Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored 20 points when the teams played earlier this month. Not this time — with Ratliff fronting him and pushing him out of his spots, Ilgauskas shot 5-for-16 from the floor and scored 11 points.

source

It is not a perfect deal, because Theo is recovering from a knee injury, is getting up in years, and does not always contribute a lot of offense.

The Piston Way

The important thing for the Pistons is defense. The Pistons thrive on being tough and playing tough defense. They are modeled in many ways like general manger Joe Dumars.

Playing tough defense is hard to do when the opposing team’s center has free reign. Ben Wallace used to stop that sort of thing, but he left for the green, maybe not the pastures.

Theo will be even more important in the playoffs.

“We’re not trying to wear him out too much,” coach Flip Saunders said. “We’re trying to keep him for games where we think we need some big people. And of course, everyone knows how professional he is. He’s always ready when called upon.”

In the playoffs, he could be called upon to check guys like Boston’s Kevin Garnett, Orlando’s Dwight Howard or Ilgauskas, and that’s when the payoff for acquiring him will really come. He represents the Pistons’ most physical, veteran big-man option off the bench — an important cog on most championship-caliber teams.

Yeah, Theo will become the giant slayer, just making the Pistons that little bit better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Did you even notice this deal?

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.

Post from: NBA Obsessed

LeBron has lately been Mr. 4th quarter

LeBron.

Maybe we should just end this right there.

It could be one of those existential things.

LeBron.

You would nod your head and repeat, “LeBron”.

Somehow we would all know what was meant.

Right now it means “Look out in the fourth quarter, because LeBron is taking over!”

LeBron just got done beating the Lakers and Kobe in the fourth on Sunday.

Now he has done it to the Trailblazers.

Frustrated by a couple of blocked shots, James took over against the Portland Trail Blazers and made a reverse layup with less than a second left to give the Cleveland Cavaliers an 84-83 victory Wednesday night.

James scored 17 points in the fourth quarter — two more than the entire Portland team. Teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas said James became frustrated when he was blocked twice by Blazers center Joel Przybilla.

“LeBron came down the court and he was really angry at himself. And then he took over,” Ilgauskas said. “I don’t think he missed the rest of the game.” source

Since watching LeBron dispatch the Pistons from last year’s playoffs, one gets the sense there are starting to be more and more nights that LeBron can have spurts where he can totally control a game.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Have you hopped on the LeBron bandwagon yet?

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

More blogs about basketball.

Post from: NBA Obsessed