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Old 06-27-2008, 09:20 PM   #85
Izulde
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
"I certainly hope you know what you're doing, or you'll be gone at the end of the year the same as you were in New York."

Crenshaw's voice is cold, like if voices could kill I'd be dead cold. He's pissed because I traded away the team's most marketable player of course and he's furious thinking about the impact that could have on merchandising and season ticket sales.

"I'm doing the right thing, Mr. Crenshaw. We'll still make the playoffs, we've made ourselves stronger for the future and, most importantly, we'll save a ton of money next year in salary."

"You had better be right. That's all I can say." *click*

I expected this kind of backlash from our owner and from the fans and media, who've spent the past several weeks ripping me. It'll be fine by season's end I'm sure.

After the workouts, I'm having to readjust my thinking a bit, but we'll see what happens.

2010 NBA Draft
1. SF Jeremy Lemons - Orlando Magic
2. C Jonte Jones - Dallas Mavericks
3. C Kyle Jordan - Minnesota Timberwolves

A 6'9" C as the #3 pick... Yeah, uh huh. Nice one T-Wolves.

4. SG Mateen Yeaton - Indiana Pacers

This kid can flat out score, averaging 28.1 points a game last year for the Hoosiers. Great local pickup and huge marketing boost for the rebuilding Pacers.

5. SG Nigel Abel - New Orleans Hornets

Surprisingly, J.P. the Draft Guru says we're going to take PG Brian Metcalfe, the Oklahoma State kid that intrigued me earlier. He argued that the Nuggets need youth to replace Chauncey Billups at some point, that Metcalfe's the best player available and that there's no frontcourt players worth a look here.

It's a very difficult choice to make. Metcalfe is the much more polished player and although Paulinho Buboltz didn't look fantastic in workouts, he's three years younger than Metcalfe and could benefit from a two-year apprenticeship to Billups. There's also the fact that Buboltz could be the Brazilian that replaces Nene in terms of marketing.

I meant to work out PG Derrick Sterett out of Cincinnati, but forgot to, or he'd be in the running. PF Mike Vines looks great too, good skills and great work ethic, except he's a notorious attitude problem.

Finally, I call up Memphis and offer to trade down to the #8 spot, taking the Grizzlies' 2012 2nd round pick as compensation. They accept and pull a boneheaded move.

6. SG Steve Neal - Memphis Grizzlies
7. C Dan Jacobson - Washington Wizards

J.P. makes me laugh by suggesting I told him we were looking at Ben Richeon in addition to Brian Metcalfe. What a liar! So, neither Buboltz or Metcalfe were taken obviously and while I'm leaning towards Buboltz, I still can't decide.

Finally, I make my choice, after weighing more trading down options and deciding none of them are palatable.

8. PG Paulinho Buboltz - Denver Nuggets

Surprisingly, the analysts all applaud the pick, even J.P., who remarks, "Buboltz could have even gone a little earlier. He's got that kind of glitzy potential to be a superstar. The selection also does a lot to ease the suffering of Nuggets fans in Brazil who were disappointed with the Nene trade. Excellent move by the Lottery GM here."

That's nice to hear and it appears it might confirm my gut instinct that Buboltz was the player to go with.

9. C Adrian McKay - Atlanta Hawks

Wow. I was not impressed with this guy at all and sure the mocks had us taking him, but he looked like a real dud. The talking heads rip the pick as well. Stupid sportswriters.

10. PG Brian Metcalfe - Los Angeles Clippers

And Metcalfe finally goes. The Clippers have to be absolutely ecstatic that he fell to them.

11. C Ben Richeson - Golden State Warriors
12. PF Mike Vines - Sacramento Kings

Honestly, if it wasn't for questions about his attitude, I'd have taken him back at #6, so the Kings got a potential steal here if his character issues don't become a problem.

13. SG Rupert Jones - Miami Heat
14. PG Derrick Sterett - New Jersey Nets

Looks like it's a good thing I passed on Sterett. The talking heads mentioned an incident he had with the police last year in Cincinnati, something involving an ex-girlfriend. Sure, it could've been all her, but it's a red flag nonetheless.

15. PG Kelvin Brown - Los Angeles Lakers
16. SG Walter Killion - Philadelphia 76ers
17. PG Terrance Cobb - New York Knicks

I laugh. The Knicks drafted a shoot-first ballhog.

18. SG Jamar Jefferson - Charlotte Bobcats
19. SF Jarrod Owens - Portland Trailblazers
20. SF Kyle Acani - Cleveland Cavaliers

So much for our taking him. He's a lights-out shooter though, which should help provide some offense for the Cavs besides King James.

21. C Marc Ward - Utah Jazz
22. PG Dan Wessel - Seattle Supersonics
23. SG Andrew Clay - San Antonio Spurs
24. SF Willie Larson - Milwaukee Bucks
25. SG Joe Malone - Detroit Pistons
26. PG Leigh Nash - Boston Celtics
27. PF Marlon Orvis - Toronto Raptors

What the hell?! Why are the Raptors drafting a forward when they need backcourt help?! The mind boggles at their sheer stupidity. Unbelievable. And this was a franchise that was actually going places.

28. PG Patrick Cooper - Houston Rockets

J.P. has us taking C Jimmy Morris with this next pick, noting that George Karl wants a big man. Snort. Yeah, like I'm going to listen to what fat and baldy says, though in this case, he happens to be right about our needing a big man in a big way.

Luckily at this point in the draft, there's players worth taking a gamble on, including the one that I was first attracted to for this spot.

29. PF Leroy Wright - Denver Nuggets

Great physical tools and a damned fine consistent player. Opinion among the experts is split, with some saying he's a steal, others saying he's overrated. My opinion is that he's going to be a solid player for us and if he doesn't pan out, so what? He's two steps away from being a 2nd rounder.

30. PF Kevin Thomas - Phoenix Suns

A lot of people had him rated as the 2nd best PF behind Vines, but I didn't see it and apparently neither did a lot of other teams. Injury history, character concerns, and in my private belief, simply overrated.

In the second round, nobody knows who we'll take and the consensus is it should pretty much be best player available. I agree and I take a flyer on SF Andre Egans, a 23 year old senior out of North Carolina, because my coaching staff is convinced the Tarheel's a sleeper.

The selection draws another split among the experts, but I don't care. It's always been my philosophy that second round picks are just trade fodder and roster filler.

Initial scouting reports after the draft suggest that Paulinho Buboltz, while extremely raw, has the potential to develop into a short version of Ben Gordon with not quite as good a defense and a possibility of turning into one of our most popular players. If he can turn into that, that would be awesome.

Leroy Wright looks like a disappointment, honestly not that much better than Andre Egans, whose sterling work ethic earns him an immediate two-year contract and the possibility of either making the team outright, or, more likely, getting some major minutes down in the D-League. Still, Wright could see quite a bit of time given his versatility and ability to play 3 positions.

Contract Renouncements

I renounce everyone that I can, saying goodbye to rights on Marcus Camby ($11 million) and Marcus Williams ($5.1 million) in particular. Even with those waivers, we're still over the cap by roughly $11 million and Crenshaw's going to bitch. Honestly, how he expected us to be even more under the cap than that and still field a full, competitive roster, I'll never know.

But we've got 9 players on the team now, so all we need is 3 more bodies to make a minimum roster, though I'll probably shoot for 14 players. We're not going to get any more guards, as we have plenty enough in Billups, Gordon, and Buboltz and I frankly don't want to risk Paulinho's missing out on development time.

Our big focus is going to be SF/PF/C, because right now, the decrepit K-Mart is our starting SF and Jared Jeffries is tenatively our starting C. That's a scary situation, one that has to be immediately rectified. Can you say exemption shopping? I knew you could.

But that will come when free agency does.
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