Drew Gooden, Quintel Woods, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Wilcox, Marcus Haislip, Jared Jeffries.....

second round: Smush Parker, Dan Dickau, Tayshaun Prince, Uche Okafor, raw talent at whatever position.

Tall, raw, talented forwards is what we should be concentrating on in the first round. Our frontcourt could use an entire new retooling with keeping only Camby or KT. One of them should be able to land us another draft pick come draft day, we'll be stuck with Spoon because of his long contract. We might trade either Spree or Houston come draft day as well but after the Caney resigning I'm not to sure that Jimmy D. will fire Scottie LayanEgg.

If they did get Woods and decided to tank it next season and wind up with LeBron James, that'd be a very appealing swingman combo with LeBron James, 6 ft. 7 @ 2, and Qyntel Woods, 6 ft. 9 @ 3.

I think Woods will be good, but we don't need him. I like Chris Wilcox and i think he is comparable to Ben Wallace with his athletism and intensity, but has a developing offensive game which compares him to the Antonio McDyess-type. Read his resume at nbadraft.net and see why he would probably be a better choice than Amare Stoudemire or Chris Marcus. I think Stoudemire will be more like this year's Kwame Brown because he will probably be good, but it will take him awhile to develop. He needs to get some skills outside of the post and become a consistent scorer before he wins me over. Wilcox has a developing post game and an excellent touch around the basket to go with a nice turnaround hook-shot. He's also the type of guy that will come out of nowhere and dunk in misses and clean up other's messes, similar to Wallace. In the second round, if we go for a point guard i would like Dan Dickau because i think he will be one of this year's sleepers. He's a great shooting point guard and thats something we don't have. At power forward or center i like DeAngello Collins, Dan Gadzuric, Udonis Haslem, or maybe even Chris Christofferson from Oregon because of his size at 7-2, 300lbs. I also like Uche Okafor. Also remember that i think we have two second rounders this year, one being from Boston in the Chris Mills trade a few years back.

Posted by BigSm00th:

Yeah, I totally agree. If Williams, Ming, Woods, Stoudemire are gone, I think Chris Wilcox should be the man. 6 foot 10 power forward with lots of skills, I watched the two games Maryland played against Duke on ESPN and he played real well. And Caseloads, anything I say you seem to disagree with, whats your deal?

Ok, you forgot Gooden on the list to take before Wilcox. Wilcox is a good player, but I'm not sure if he's that much better than Marcus, but Marcus might not be our answer either. Never draft a player by position if you have a lotto pick - always take the best talent and let the chips fall where they may. I have a feeling that Spree or Camby are going to be dealt on draft day in a mega deal. Maybe we deal with the Grizzlies or someone else. Spree/and or Camby to the Grizz for their first rounder and fodder could be worth it.

Posted by john44:

if Wilcox comes out early i would take him in a heart beat. That looks like hes goin to be great. Hes big quick and good post moves. If not him then i would go after marcus he's 7'1 and we need size badly.

Big Men Draft for us, in order:

Ming, Gooden, Wilcox, Marcus, Haislip.

Posted by Knixkik:

Big Men Draft for us, in order:

bMing, Gooden, Wilcox, Marcus, Haislip.

I agree with this list except i like Haislip before Marcus. Also, i'm hearing Brochardt is better than Marcus, but he's also injure prone so i don't know who i'd prefer. Either way i'm hoping it doesn't get to that point because we should get either Ming(very unlikely), Gooden(still unlikely) or Wilcox(most realistic choice for 7th or 8th pick). Stoudemire is also a possibility, but i just don't think he is as developed, nor has the potential, of Wilcox.

No way do you take Haislip over Marcus.

Here's a breakdown of the ballers:

Ming - you take this guy - he can shoot the trey and play in the post. negatives, injury prone b/c of size and lack of bulk, issues regarding coming over from china, questionable opposition.

Gooden - proven player, but a twig, and definitely not the 6-10 he's listed at. questionable handles and shot. Snappy interior play and good dexterity. Can he pound inside in the NBA? The Shane Battier of this year in terms of skill and development.

Wilcox - raw, thin, but has good game, and nice toughness. Solid in the deep post, but needs more practice hitting outside 6 feet. Project.

Marcus - EXTREMELY SOLID - but poor conditioning due to return from injury this year, slow on the floor. AMAZING sweet baby hook. Nice FT shooting. Knock - he's somewhat clean cut and soft, teammates don't think he dominates as much as he should, could for a 7'2" player. He's a money player, needs more confidence, still learning the game, wants to take the big shot for his team. Delivers in the clutch. Big Wide Body. Blocks shots. Plays smaller than he really is, doesn't establish good post positioning, especially for a player of his size. Knack for rebounding. Watch this guy in the NCAA tourney. With a #7 Pick or later, we should grab this guy. We're not going to grab a FRANCHISE talent with the #7 pick, so we need to grab a solid post presence, and this guy is it. He's ready to start on an NBA team. Needs to hit the weights, despite being HUGE already.

If Gooden is drafted in the NBA and is forced to play 3, it won't work out. I watched his last game on CBS and he just looked incredibly out of position and uncomfortable on the perimeter when he tried to put the ball on the ground and go one on one. I think Wilcox has more range then 6 feet, one of his arms has to be at least a few feet so I think thats a little short. If Haislip can put up 400 big ones on the bench, then I don't see how he can be compared to Camby because Camby is such a twig. And, I like the theory of drafting the best talent/most potential, so if it comes to our pick and there is Drew Gooden and Qyntel Woods, who do you select? According to most reports, Woods could be the next T-Mack and absolutely dominate and Gooden has positional issues. The last undersized power forward I can remember picked in the lottery was Marcus Fizer and he hasn't really done a whole lot on Chicago. And also, every year there are a few players that after having a good NCAA tourny they leave, or maybe they just want to go pro. I believe Jason Richardson declaring shocked some people last year, anyone know who might come out that isn't being talked about?

I think when it comes to the second round we definitely need to look at tall, athletic, raw big men because they generally have the best potential and are most likely to be the sleepers in the draft. For second rounders i like Dan Gadzuric, because he's big and is a fairly well rounded center, similar to that of an Erick Dampier or a player like him. Uche Okafor, Solomon Hughes, and Moustapha Diagne are others to look at who may be available in the late second round when we get our third pick, the one received from Boston.

Posted by BigSm00th:

Does anyone think we could package our two 2nd-rounders to a team that doesn't necessarily need a 1st rounder and would want depth like the Lakers or Kings? Two first rounders would really be nice instead of a first rounder and two second rounders.

Wait, does NY have 2 second rounders? I was checking www.nbadraft.net and it didn't look like it. Correct me if I'm wrong.