and have bricks for hands that fail to catch anything other than an easy pass,

and am a terrible passer when I do happen to catch the rock,

and frequently zone out of games, not catching rebounds I should easily grab with my height,

and have no real offensive game to think of because I have no balance and terrible footwork and have scored most of my points on easy catch and shoots and offensive putbacks using my extreme height advantage, an advantage that woud be greatly reduced in the NBA,

and if you do think my offensive game only needs time to improve, I invite you to join the ranks of those that thought the same of Kwame Brown, Rafael Araujo, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Darko Milicic, et al.

So in conclusion, please, draft me because it is clear that I am a sure thing and much more useful to you than what you could get by trading down.

[BTW, the Sonics drafted Sene 10th overall in 2006]

People are scared of Thabeet bust potential. If Presti deems Thabeet fit to be drafted, I’ll support him 100%. As Clay Bennett once said about Presti, “He is thoughtful. He is methodical. He is measured.” Presti did not draft Swift, Sene, or Petro, so I’m not afraid of our past failures.

He’ll add a much needed defensive presence in the middle and at the same time not take away anything offensively from what the Thunder does. Guys like KD, RW0, and Uncle Jeff can continue to flourish offensively. The downside is teams wouldn’t have to change much in terms of how they defend the middle if he doesn’t become a scoring threat. But honestly if he can figure out a way to score 10-14 points per game, I’d be happy, especially if that comes with 10+ rebounds, 4+ blocks.

I’d expect it to be Thabeet, if he’s available. Of course, Presti may have his eye on someone else come June 25th, and like he said in the post lotto interview, if he wants to trade down, he won’t have a problem finding any takers.

It doesn’t matter which one is available at #3 Rubio or Thabeet, either one will be too hard for us to pass up…I think.

I’ve “been” trying…

Is there any way to edit?

but with me hanging around in the middle, there won’t be as great a need for another big body down low. Essentially you won’t have to move anybody around, and will be able to keep the team intact as it was this season by drafting me.

I think too many teams are stuck with old roles where there are two defined ‘big men’, two swing men, and a point.
With Thabeet down low, and Durant and Green as big/swingmen, and Thabo/Gelly/Weaver and Westbrook as perimeter defenders, It seems like there’s more flexibility. Both Green and Durant can defend SFs rather well. I don’t think they can defend 4’s that well though, so leaving Thabeet to be the big force down low with either of Durant/Green picking up the backside pass is a better idea I think. If Thabeet is a Duncan-like presence on defense, than as the Spurs have shown, there doesn’t really need to be a defensive force at the 4-spot to help out.

Is the consensus that Thabeet would start over Kristc? I’m not so sure he would until at least halfway through the season. Coming off the bench and slowly raising his minutes would better help him prepare for the battles against the likes of Yao, Tim Duncan, Shaq, and Nowitzki. He’s definitely no quick term solution.

I think he can get much stronger/add muscle, his current personal trainer said he thinks he never did a real weight lifting regimen before. His conditioning reportedly got already better, so his stamina that was weak in college should come around after a year or so. His current moves are mechanical, but that can improve (or not). He also will continue to understand and see the game better, he just plays for like six years.

But that brings up a big question mark: Has basketball found him because he was so unusually tall, or did he really choose to play basketball and wants to become the best he can be. I think the former, because in interviews he said his first love growing up was soccer. There were basketball courts around, but he only wanted to play soccer. His mental approach to the game will be highly important to determine how he will develop. As Sam Presti, I would talk a lot with his college coaches and with him about that.

On an “intangibles”/business note: A team won’t sell nearly as many tickets with him as with Rubio. He is too shy and soft-spoken. Good character guy probably in the mold of a Emeka Okafor who also does a lot for his home country, but not the guy you build big marketing campaigns around as a company or team. Hard core fans could love him, the casual fan won’t really care.

they were all hangin out in a Deli, and I thought, “I don’t see Rubio doing that if he comes here”. Those guys were having a blast, and you can tell that Russell, Kevin and Jeff had become really good friends. That’s a great thing to have – you can’t just plug in another guy and expect the friendship and chemistry to be the same.

Therefore, I disagree with the trade Westbrook or Green to the Clips for Griffin talk. I don’t think that would be productive.

But it did cause me to think, man I think Thabeet would fit in really well with those guys. Thabeet is kind of a goofy funny kid and I think he would actually fit in really well with what those guys have got started. He’s also apparently a really hard worker. I don’t know, I think I might have had Thabeet pegged wrong. Even if I don’t and Thabeet is just a career shot blocker / rebounder and kind of a role player, I think he would add good chemistry to the team.

Either way now, I think I’ll wind up happy with Rubio or Thabeet.

This is who I would pick.