Built Ford Tough

I don't mind the lottery, I just think it should be more like the NHL system where you can only move up so many spots (in the NHL it is 4 spots). That way the bottom teams will still likely get the top picks and it doesn't completely reward tanking with an automatic first overall pick. Having a team move up from 7th or 8th like Chicago did with Rose is just stupid as far as I am concerned, though. I have no problems with a team winning the lottery in that situation, but they shouldn't jump all the way to 1st. EDIT: My bad, it is actually 4 spots in the NHL lottery, not 3.

That last offensive possession by the Mavs was absolutely brutal. From Peja trying to take his man off the dribble to Terry's awkward pass to Kidd and then finally to Kidd taking poor care of the ball allowing Westbrook to get the reacharound steal.

Screw BPA, go BCPA. Best Canadian Player Available (in other words, Tristan Thompson). Then buy a late 1st or 2nd and draft Corey Joseph, pick up Myck Kabongo next season and hope that Andrew Wiggins continues to develop and turns into the beast that he can be. Oh yeah, pick up Khem Birch somewhere in this as well. Throw out a lineup of: Khem Birch Tristan Thompson Andrew Wiggins Corey Joseph Myck Kabongo They will suck, but every game would be sold out and would make MLSE a lot of money, which is all they really care about anyways.

Honestly, I want them to just say [expletive] it and draft Tristan Thompson even though he is not worth a top 5 pick nor does he fit on this team. I have literally no interest in Kemba Walker or Brandon Knight considering how Bayless played at the end of the season. Might as well just draft the Canadian kid for some cheap publicity.

[expletive] the draft now, for all I care. I can't believe the light at the end of the tunnel that was this miserable season is going to be Kemba Walker or Brandon Knight. All I asked was that the Raptors don't fall out of the top 3 and of course the worst case scenario unfolds and they go down to 5 (there literally is no difference between 5 and 6 as far as I am concerned).

Irving at 1 is a no brainer. Kanter at 4 if he is still there, which is a possibility considering Minny and Utah may pass on him for guys like Williams, Walker or Knight. If Kanter and Williams are both gone, they will probably go international and draft somebody like Valanciunas or maybe Vesely.

Lol. So Cleveland gets the first overall pick with a 2.8% chance the year after losing LeBron and people don't think this is rigged? I wouldn't have any problems with this should it have been Cleveland's own pick, but of course it is the Clipper pick that moves up which also leaves them with a top 4 pick as well.

The only thing missing was Sacramento moving up. Cleveland with two picks in the top 4 after losing LeBron. Utah with a top 3 pick after losing Williams and Sloan. Sacramento with a top 3 pick after nearly losing their team.

Called it. I knew the Raptors would go down to 5 or 6.

What a shocker, Cleveland is in the top 3.

If it is, I felt the same way when I heard he was representing the team.

Gotta love how they show a hype video for the top prospects and they go from Walker to Williams to Irving to Knight to.... Fredette? EDIT: Is KJ even part of the Kings organization?

It is kind of ridiculous how long they drag this process out. The lottery was done at 4PM (7EST), takes less than 5 minutes to run and they don't announce the results until nearly 2 hours later.

The reffing so far in this game is absolutely atrocious. Luckily for Tampa, Boston's powerplay is equally atrocious.

Tampa scores 13 seconds into the 1st period.

There will definitely be a lockout unless there is a substantial breakthrough in negotiations. The NHL and NHLPA were closer in negotiations than the NBA and NBAPA are and that lockout lasted for the entire year. I don't think it is a question of if there will be a lockout, but how long one will be. I'd be shocked if there isn't at least some sort of lockout next year. Also, in regards to your previous post, I don't think that the Raptors would pick Williams over Irving. Colangelo loves his point guards and basically his entire career he has had very good point guards on his roster. From Kidd to Marbury to Nash to Ford to Calderon (obvioulsy the last two weren't on the same level as the previous three, but still) all of his teams have been very point guard dominant. I'd be very surprised if he didn't draft Irving should he have the 1st overall pick.

http://twitter.com/#!/SmithRaps/status/70608988689010688 Kind of unfortunate that this will severely limit the amount of work he can do on his game, especially considering how much improvements we saw from him last season after spending a lot of time working with Alex English.

Deal is done. Two years, team option for the 3rd.

At least according to Feschuck. http://twitter.com/#!/dfeschuk/status/70508128483016705 I think this time it is true, though, unlike the other 20 times this has come up. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they announced the deal as official after the lottery tonight (or perhaps before), especially if the Raptors get the 1st overall pick. Either way, I just hope this is true so that I can stop hearing about Colangelo's future. I used to want him gone but now I'm at the point that I just want a deal to get done one way or another. I don't even care if he is retained or let go. UPDATE: Deal is done. The contract is for two years with a team option for the 3rd.

As much as I hate to say it, I would imagine that his death was either concussion related or drug related (wasn't he part of the NHL's Wellness Policy or whatever and battled drug addiction?). I certainly hope it is not related to either one of these things, but considering the kind of player that he was it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was some sort of concussion related. Either way, sucks to hear about his death, especially considering his age. For those of you who don't know, his family is donating his brain to that research group that is studying the effects of concussions on the brain. Bob Probert had his brain sent there as well, and I'm pretty sure that Keith Primeau will donate his brain to the same group when he passes away. Hopefully these contributions will lead to some sort of breakthrough.

Same more Kanter stuff, as he is my latest flavour of the week prospect: Interview with Chad Ford: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6540086 Talk about Washington drafting Kanter over Williams should they win the lottery tomorrow: http://dc.sbnation.com/washington-wizards/2011/5/16/2174145/enes-kanter-wizards-nba-draft-lottery Also, Colangelo pretty much calls this draft a two prospect draft, but who knows if that is what he is really thinking or if he is just blowing smoke up everybodies asses like he usually does. http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AprOMfCVjUjNUqEBoF3BUG5ShgM6?slug=mc-spears_weak_2011_nba_draft_awaits_lottery_051611

I'll be happy so long as the Raptors stay at 3 which basically guarantees them either Williams or Kanter, depending on who is picking ahead of them. Obviously I want them to win the lottery so that they can land Irving but I doubt that will happen. Kanter is my 2nd favourite prospect in this draft and I think it is safe to say that he will be around at 3rd unless he absolutely dominates in pre draft workouts. Maybe the Wizards would take him first or second overall, but other than them I don't see anybody going hard after him, assuming he doesn't dominate in workouts, like mentioned above. I'm not particularly thrilled with the prospect of drafting Derrick Williams, but if Irving and Kanter are picked 1 and 2, I would definitely be ok with taking Williams 3rd, even if I have my doubts about his ability to actually play the three in the NBA. Knowing the Raptors luck, though, they will fall to 6th and come away from this miserable season with Donatas Motiejunas, because what is better than one Bargnani? Two Bargnanis.

Honestly, I don't really like it. I'd rather keep DeRozan at the 2 considering he would be giving up a lot of strength at the 3. He has the height to play the three, but he would get bullied around way too easily. Also, I'd rather just keep James Johnson in the starting lineup than go and invest around $10M or so in Webster over the next two years. I've never really been that impressed with Webster, but I also admit to not having seen much of him either. As far as the Flynn rumors go, I'd be all for it if it meant trading Calderon for him (which makes sense as the Wolves want a veteran mentor for Rubio and Calderon would be ideal for that role given the Spanish ties that they have), but if the Wolves want any sort of solid asset I'd pass. I like Bayless more as a prospect than I do Flynn so if they want too much for hm I'd just tell them no thanks. He had a decent rookie season but was just awful last season.

Video of Kanter working out with Tim Grover. He is my 3rd choice without a doubt now behind Irving and Williams (who I am still hesitant on until he proves he can without a doubt play the 3). He just looks like he is too skilled to pass up in a draft that is lacking in skilled players. If he measures out to be a legit 6'11 like he looks, I would definitely have no problem with the Raptors drafting him at 3, or even 2 assuming Irving is off the board. Some stuff from Ford as well. Here's his new top 10:

I actually think that the Bulls won't be too much of a challenge simply because I can't see Derrick Rose beating the Heat by himself, and that is pretty much what it would take considering Boozer is playing like a scrub, Deng will get locked down by LeBron (while also playing exceptional defense on LeBron, but he will likely be a non factor offensively), they have no offense from the 2 guard spot and, as good as Noah is, you won't win a series with him likely to be the 2nd most productive player for you offensively. They can win the series, I'm not going to say that it will be easy and the Heat will win in 4 or anything like that, but I do think that the two teams who had what it takes to beat the Heat are already out of the playoffs. Of course, I'm talking about the Celtics and the Lakers. As for the CBA comment, I did take that into consideration, but I'm going under the assumption that the league will eventually cave and will settle for more of the players' demands. I don't forsee a hard cap coming into play nor do I see the abolishing of MLE's and LLE's. Even if a hard cap does come into play, I would imagine that it will be high enough that the Heat will have no troubles filling the rest of their roster with solid role players and end of the bench guys, especially considering you will still have those guys who are going to go ring chasing and Miami will be the number one destination for ring chasers. Even if the Heat are forced to fill out their roster with nothing but minimum players, is that really much different than what they have on their current roster, a roster that looks likely to win it all this season? Their best bench players are Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Joel Anthony and all three of them make a miniscule amount of money (Chalmers because of him being on his rookie deal, but still). Its not like their best players outside of the big three are guys like Mike Miller, who has been a huge disappointment or Udonis Haslem, who of course has been injured. I'm sure they will still manage to get the capable shooters and solid defenders like Jones and Anthony are even if there is a hard cap that is lower than what I expect. I will admit that this could definitely put a halt to a potential dynasty. The two biggest factors I see in the Heat not becoming a dynasty are a severe injury to LeBron, Wade or Bosh and the potential rammifications that a new CBA will have. The difference is that LeBron is an elite scorer, elite defender, elite playmaker, etc... while Iguodala, as well rounded as he is, is only elite defensively and you could argue that he is even below average when it comes to actually scoring the ball. I just don't see how Durant is going to take his scoring game to such a high level that it is going to make up for the fact that LeBron is so much more well rounded, while being more than capable of averaging of 30 points on 50% shooting. Give me the elite all around player in almost every facet of the game over a guy who is an elite scorer and elite defender while being average in other aspects of the game (such as playmaking) like the Durant projection you seem to be illustrating.