Live Blogging: 2007 Draft

Here we go, the 2007 NBA Draft live blogging. Each of us will have a smart ass comment about every draft pick except for the Blazers, who will be free from most angry heckling, what a difference a year makes. Apparently there's a trade that's going down already, Ray Allen to the Celtics for the #5, Wally, and West. I'll say this for the Sonics, if they can move Ridnour for that #11 pick and end up with something like Durant, Conley, and Noah that would be one hell of a remake job. Anyway, our Portland Trailblazers are on the clock.

A few other notes: Mike Tirico is hosting this shindig with STEPHEN A SMITH, Mark Jackson and Jay Bilas on the desk with him. Just an abomidable broadcasting team. Oh, and Joakim Noah is sporting a seersucker suit with a gigantic bowtie and his hair down. Just when you thought he couldn't look any more like a tranny.

And Jim Gray just reported that Golden State is getting into the KG sweepstakes. Anyhow, on to the picks:

#1: Portland Trailblazers: Greg Oden

Moderator: Just as we all hoped, Oden is the man. He might be the 50-year old man, but he's the man none the less. We've all kind of thought this would be the case for the last month since Portland won the lottery, but I don't think any of us were 100% sure. I'm glad to see it is. I feel better now. Portland now has its franchise center of the future - he's going to change the team as much as B-Roy did last year. Roy, Oden, and Aldridge: our fantastic threesome from this day forward.

And we won't talk about how Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr look and act like a gay couple in their ESPN ad together. Just move along. Not that there'd be anything wrong with that.

Lochi: I'll have more about this tomorrow, but honestly, I've never cheered for a team that's had a dominant center. I've always just been pissed off that other teams have them and my team doesn't. Well that all just changed. Greg Oden is our man. Start measuring for banners in the Garden, flags fly forever.

#2 Seattle Supersonics: Kevin Durant

Lochi: Hey that's great. I would have missed the Sonics and I think Durant just saved basketball in Seattle. They might as well just title this draft "A Rivalry Reborn" and I can't wait. Durant will probably be more impressive, but Seattle is going to have no answer for Oden for the next 15 years.

Moderator: Durant will be fun to watch for the next several years. He may put up better rookie numbers than Oden ... but I'd be shocked if Seattle won more games. Congrats to the Sonics and their fans; they got almost as luck as Portland did in this lottery and draft. I don't think this saves Basketball in Seattle though; it's probably too late unfortunately.

#3 Atlanta Hawks: Al Horford

Moderator: The Hawks were faced with a choice between drafting for need (Conley) or drafting for best available, commonly thought to have been Al Horford. Well, the Hawks have drafted a forward in the first round for the fifth consecutive year (to go with Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, and Shelden Williams). I don't really have much to say about this pick except I feel sorry for Big Al because he's goign to an awful franchise. I can't really fault them for taking Horford here, but if it were me I would have either taken Conley or traded the pick.

Lochi: I don't mind this pick just because I'm not that crazy about the other 4 forwards they took and I like Horford. Basically that's the reason Chris Paul doesn't play in Portland, but we wouldn't have Oden so that doesn't piss me off as much as it used to. They should trade Marvin or Childress for another piece and draft Law with the #11.

#4 Memphis Grizzlies: Mike Conley The Deuce

Lochi: Yeah, let's see how good he is without Greg Oden taking up all the defenders on the floor.

Moderator: Conley is a solid point guard. Quick, athletic, good passer, and he'll fit in great in the NBA in that he can't shoot. And most importantly, this displaces Damon Stoudamire for them. The Grizz now get to pair Conley with Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, and Pau Gasol -- plenty of scoring on this team while Conley develops his jumper. Solid squad they're putting together. Too bad they play in the West.

#5 Seattle Supersonics: Jeff Green

EDITOR'S NOTE: Boston has traded this pick to Seattle along with Wally Szerbiak and Delonte West in exchange for Ray Allen.

Moderator: Bizarre trade and bizarre pick. Seattle trades Ray Allen to acquire a bad contract, a third point guard (West is no better than Ridnour or Watson), and another 6-9 player to go with the 6-10 player they just drafted. This almost certainly means one of Ridnour or Watson are gone, if not tonight then later this summer. As for Boston, I've said all along that they should keep the pick, trade Pierce, and build around Jefferson, Rondo, Gerald Green, the #5 pick, and whatever they got for Pierce. But hey, instead they get to pair Ray Allen with Paul Pierce and get the fifth seed in the East for the next two seasons. Congratulations.

Lochi: The Sonics just drafted their starting SF and then drafted his backup with the #5 pick. Awesome. On second thought, maybe the Sonics should move.

#6 Milwaukee Bucks: Asian Darko

Lochi: Um...the Bucks just started an international incident. This is not good. Someone get me Jack Bauer...quick...I'm OUT OF TIME!!!!

Lochi's Alcohol check: 2 mojitos down, a glass of bubbly for the Oden pick, now on Corona #2.

Moderator: Awesome, I love it when pro basketball franchises tell the most populous country in the world to "fuck off". Yi had a list of cities he would and would not go to, dictated by the Chinese Government (which is a load of bullshit if I may add), and needless to say , Milwaukee was not on that list. But hey, it's not like they've got a lot of leverage here. What's he going to do, go back to China? (laughing)

#7 Minnesota Timberwolves: Corey Brewer

Moderator: Awesome. I had an entire scathing post all ready for the T-Wolves for when the picked Spencer Hawes; and they didn't do it -- they did the right thing and took a very talented, athletic young SF. Now hang out for the rest of the summer and watch then sell KG for 60 cents on the dollar. Brewer, Foye, McCants, and whatever they get for KG: it's not a horrible place to be. They are destined for mediocrity for the next 5 years; but it could be worse. Oh, and another thing: Corey Brewer speaks English about as well as KG does so it's a shame they won't be able to have conversations together.

Lochi: Obviously the T-wolves are trading this pick to whoever takes Spencer Hawes and Josh McRoberts. Nothing else is possible. It's a great pick, which makes no sense. By the way, Crying Mom count is at 2 with Mrs. Durant and Mrs. Green.

#8 Charlotte Bobcats: Brandon Wright

Lochi: Michael Jordan takes the "best available Tarheel." I love MJ the executive.

Moderator: I love MJ. He is definitely in the discussion for "best player ever", he was incredible, yadda yadda yadda. I don't have a big problem with this pick; but let's be honest here: would you want Jordan running your team?

Also, I'd like to point out that best players remaining according to John Hollinger are: 3. Thaddeus Young, Georgia Tech. 7. Nick Fazekas, Nevada. 8. Josh McRoberts, Duke. 9. Rodney Stuckey, Eastern Washington. 10. Jared Dudely, Boston College.

#9 Chicago Bulls: Joakin Noah

Moderator: God dammt; my Spencer Hawes fury continues to sit idle like a pathetic youngster at a junior high dance. What does Chicago need? Low post scoring. So they went and drafted a player who'll be a defensive and rebounding specialist with a limited offensive game. Noah would be a great value if you selected him in the late teens or early 20's; I don't see any way that Noah will ever become a significant offensive force. You might even go so far as to say that he'll be an offensive liability for his first few years in the league which is great because by the time he's ready to contribute, all of Chicago's youngsters will need contract extensions and their window will be closing.

Lochi: Here's one for everyone, I like Noah as a player. He looks like a tranny and that suit might be in the top 5 outfits ever worn to the Draft, but I think he's the new version of Dennis Rodman. The problem is the Bulls don't need that. I bet there's a trade in the works. I've liked all the Bulls moves (except for Ben Wallace), and they need a low post scorer. I'd be lying if I wasn't thinking Noah, Nocioni, and PJ Brown for Z-bo. Not sure if I like it, but that would be the best defensive front court in the league by a mile.

#10 Sacramento Kings: Spencer Hawes, Husky Shithead.

Lochi: With the first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings select...

Moderator: And we have a winner! Congratulations, Sacramento Kings: you've taken a top-10 pick in the most loaded draft in years and wasted it on a player who's absolute ceiling is Joel Pryzbilla and more likely scenario is Shawn Bradley, only without the blocked shots. (which leaves nothing). I was wondering which team would be the one to fall for the same trick that a team or two falls for every year and Sacramento is it. They could have made a smart pick, dealt Bibby and Artest, and rebuiltt around the pick, Kevin Martin, and whatever they got for Bibby and Artest -- but hey, what do I know. Why do all that when you can draft this year's Big White Stiff. Good to know that Sacramento won't be a problem in the coming seasons.

#11 Atlanta Hawks: Acie Law the Quattro

Moderator: I can't argue with the strategy -- take one of the fantastic young wings with the early pick and get a point guard with the second pick. I am not a huge Acie Law fan but I see what Atlanta is trying to do. I just wish they'd trade a few of their young guys for a veteran because this is getting a little ridiculous. Josh Childress, Josh Smith, Salim Stoudemire, Marvin Williams, Shelden Williams, Al Horford, Acie Law ... how many babies can one team have? Greg Oden is older than all of those guys put together.

Lochi: So besides the first two obvious picks, the three picks I like the most belong to the T-wolves and both picks by the Hawks. Either the world is about to stop spinning on its axis or I've been drinking too much. Oh, and the new Hawks unis look cool too, but they should go back to that old school pac-man looking bad boy somewhere on it.

#12 Philadelphia 76ers: Thaddeus Young

Lochi: Interesting. Bilas says he "needs to tighten up his ball skills" so I'm fresh out of jokes for this pick. He looks like he's kind of doubling up on some positions for them, I think they could use a bigger guy. I would probably have shot high with Julian Wright.

Moderator: I like this pick in that I do think they went for the best available player which for a shitty team like Philly I would always advocate; I do have a feeling we'll consider him a nice pick in a few years. Seems like he might be a little bit of duplication with Andre Igoudala but that doesn't really matter for Philly right now. Interesting point by Lochi; Julian Wright wouldn't have been a bad pick here.

Also, I'm flat out disappointed by the lack of deals tonight. No major veteran has been moved, no top-10 picks moved, all in all a fairly straight forward night and none of us wanted that.

#13 New Orleans Hornets: Julian Wright

Moderator: Solid enough pick by New Orleans. Put him next to Tyson Chandler and they compliment each other quite nicely. I imagine New Orleans was hoping that Wright would slip to them and lo and behold he did. They swung for the fences and you can't blame them. It may take 2 or 3 seasons but another pick that I like.

Lochi: Let me get this straight, they add arguably the third highest upside pick with the #13 to go with Chandler and Chris Paul? Outside of the Griz, is there a bad team in the West? I really like this pick for the Hornets.

#14 Los Angeles Clippers: Al Thornton

Lochi: Best available player. Other than the fact that he's old enough to discuss the impact of Run DMC on the hip hop scene with Sam Cassell, he's a solid pick for The Clip.

Moderator: Jay Bilas just said that he's got to "tighten up those ball skills". Aside from that, this is another pick that I really like. Thornton won't be a star, but if you ask me he might be one of the safest picks in this draft. He's basically Jerome Kersey and I think he'll carve out a nice career for himself.

#15 Detroit Pistons: Rodney Stuckey

Moderator: I don't know much about Stuckey other than the fact that he tore it up for a small college. My question about him is that he seems kind of like a tweener; more of a volume shooter, and those guys are always hit and miss. Detroit has this pick because of the Darko trade. And the ironic thing is I bet Stuckey contributes a lot more to this team over the next two years than Darko did -- but he'll get a lot more PT as well.

Lochi: From the team that drafted the immortal Fennis Dembo, they bring you Rodney Stuckey. I'd say a mad gunner that shot 27% from the college 3 point line is a risky pick but that's just me.

#16 Washington Bullets: Nick Young

Lochi: Trade warning I think. He's Agent Zero insurance, but I wonder if they're drafting him for someone else or if they're working on some other deal involving Arenas. He's a free agent after next season.

BLAZERS' NOTE: ESPN.com is reporting that the Blazers and Knicks are talking about a Zach Randolph deal. The trade would be Channing Frye and Steve Francis for Randolph and Dan Dickau. I'm not sure why Portland would want either one of those guys so I'm not putting much stock into this. The article also mentions that Malik Rose instead of Francis could be a possiblity. Back to the draft analysis.

Moderator: Will one of these teams please do something stupid? Another nice pick. Washington needs to get some frontcourt support; they already get plenty of wing/guard scoring from Arenas and Jamison.

Well, now the guys here on the draft broadcast are saying it's almost a done deal.

What the hell? Portland already has a better version of Channing Frye in Lamarcus Aldridge. Steve Francis is a selfish, shoot-first point guard who goes against everything they are trying do. I hope this isn't true because I don't understand it.

Sorry folks, but we're going to have to suspend the live blogging of the draft until we figure out what's going on with this Blazer trade. I can only hope that the media is jumping the gun and that this trade doesn't actually exist.