but they showed an NBA Draft special last night on ESPN2 that was really good information. Or maybe it was mostly lies.

Seriously though, it was an hour of following around various draft picks in four groups. They were following Rose, his brothers, and his agency clique in Cali and in Chicago. They were following the Lopez twins, their older brothers, and their agency clique also in Cali. Then they were following the array of prospects working out at ATTACK Athletics here in Chicago working with Tim Grover. This group was OJ Mayo, Bill Walker, Shaun Pruitt, Jeremy Pargo, and a few other players I didn’t recognize. Finally they tracked Jason Thompson from Rider.

The Rose and Lopez parts were more about stories and dreams. The ATTACK portion was dynamite. They showed Bill Walker on camera discussing the training Grover is putting him through to prepare him for the next level. Walker said they have him lifting more which he said he hasn’t done a lot of in High School and College. Really? I don’t know if that is believable, but he is just 20 years old so it might be true.

ESPN also showed NBA players like Wade and Quentin Richardson discussing what Grover does for them in the offseason.

What ESPN was doing was giving you four unique perspectives on getting into the NBA. There’s the 1 and done phenom in Rose with his family supporting him. The 2 years and done Lopez twins trying to challenge themselves early. The one and done Mayo/Walker group that played together in high school, had all sorts of hype around them, but turned out good college seasons, but nothing great. Then Jason Thompson as the 4 year product that stayed at Rider despite offers to transfer to an elite college.

Check the ESPN schedule. They might show this again early morning at 2AM so if you have DVR you can record it. I hope they put it online on ESPN360.

I can never keep the three Rush brothers straight.

Jaron is the oldest. Kareem is second(signed with Pacers). And Brandon is the youngest.

there’s the luxury tax. And they could get under the cap in a couple seasons if they play their cards right.

And they won’t draft Rose thinking he’s not better than Hinrich.

He’s a backup. So’s Rush. Ditto Courtney Lee. They may eventually become starters, but they wouldn’t be starting for the Bulls anytime soon.

Presume we acquire the 13th pick and take Rush, CDR, or Lee. The Roster would like this.

PG: Rose, Blake
SG: Gordon, Thabo, Rush/CDR/LEE
SF: Deng, Noc
PF: Thomas, Gooden
C: Noah, Gray, Lafraentz

I’d still look to move Noc to get a taller forward with better ball handling skills, but whatever we do have they’d they have to be willing to work through a season of growth to bring players like Rose, Thabo, Thomas, Noah, and the #13 into the system.

but it’s nearly impossible to expect a draft pick to be ‘held’ for them while working out a sign/trade deal with someone else.

Rose is obviously going to have some problems defensively in his first year while he “learns the ropes”. Steve Blake is a great outside shooter and solid backup PG, but wouldn’t Hinrich’s defense be particularly useful next year? I don’t know, maybe I’m being optimistic but I think a Rose/Hinrich backcourt can actually work out pretty well. I’m not sold on Thabo getting a ton of minutes unless he shows marked improvement early on, so Kirk is a fine backup PG/SG at this point. Hell, they could even start him over Gordon.

for next season. He’s really inexpensive too. I’d love to have him, but I think the Blazers try to pawn their higher paid known players on us instead of their less expensive ones with unknown yet projected promise.

but I still view LMA’s primary weapon (and this is something I don’t expect to change) being his midrange jumpshot. On a team littered with jumpshooting, I’ll pass. Plus, Tyrus is just more exciting, and when he gets consistent PT I think he’s already better than Aldridge, but maybe I’m in the minority there (very likely).

The team would have still been in the lottery, just probably in a different spot

Aldrige wouldn’t be the same player he is in Portland if we drafted him…Skiles would somehow find a way to screw him over ..Play the vets over the young guys crap

I expect better numbers than what KC gave you, yeah.

...it doesn’t mean I care too much. Thanks for twisting around a common grammatical or syntactical mistake for no apparent reason. I simply missed where you stated ‘not for his choice’, I didn’t try to poke fun at any apparent slips of the keyboard.

If you’d like me to point out any spelling, grammar, or syntax errors that you make, please let me know. It seems a tad bit trite, though, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, I’ve got waaay too much stuff to do in my life that actually makes the world a better place, than to get into those types of games. I wish you did, too.

My comment still stands – it doesn’t matter what they think, because they likely won’t vote.