Thunder Actively Trying to Move Into Lottery

has said he wants this team to be long, athletic, versatile…that rules out Aldrich IMO and I think he has to be targeting Monroe. He can handle the ball relatviely well, he can face-up, he can post-up, he’s got length and athleticism to defend, he’s a very polished passer not only from the high post/perimeter but from the block as well. He would appear to be a perfect fit at the center position. He’s also got Batman-talent with a Robin-mindset.

has us taking Orton @ 21 and Brackins @ 26.

I hope thats not the case. I’m really starting to sour completely on Orton. At first I didn’t want us trading up for him, then I said @26 thats a decent pick. Now I’m against him in the first round altogether. Apparently his stock is slipping now during the workouts:

Daniel Orton C – 6’10"- 260
Scouts want to like Daniel Orton, but after a small handful of workouts the early returns on Orton are not good. Size matters in the NBA, but teams seem to be underwhelmed by Orton’s athletic game and apparently he has not faired well against his peers in workouts. A lot has been made about Orton’s knee injuries in high school – which did not get red-flagged in Chicago at the Pre-Draft Combine medical review – but observers feel he is a step too slow and lacks power. It is still very likely that Orton goes in the first round, but its beginning to look like he’ll be a teens to mid-twenties pick, where several weeks ago he was viewed as a borderline lottery pick.

So he didn’t test all that well athletically. There are work ethic/attitude questions. There are production questions. There are health questions. There are off-court questions(dad being involved heavily in his recruitment as well as reportedly complaining to Calipari about playing time), and now he’s struggling during workouts.

I just don’t understand how or why Presti would be so high on him. He doesn’t seem to fit the mold at all of what Presti looks for in a player.

I think you guys are looking for a pick somewhere around 10 and your targets will be Monroe, Udoh and Aldrich in that order and you’ll get the best available of those 3.

theres just no way! personally, i feel as though we have the picks to move into the lottery..picking up someone like monroe would be incredible! especially if we could package the 26th pick with a second round pick to do so…imagine snagging monroe in the lottery then patterson at 21? with the last pick, we could look to make another trade or we could look at getting someone like lawal for added depth up front or we could look to add another scorer. i honestly think moving green to sixth man would be beautiful if he can be sold on it. imagine a starting lineup of this:

pg westbrook
sg harden
sf durant
pf ibaka
c monroe
bench: green, maynor, sef, patterson, etc…

thoughts?

if we stand pat with our picks, i say we would def take anderson at 21. only reason we would do that is if whiteside, patterson, or a lottery big slipped and presti felt that they were too good to pass up. otherwise, we would def pick up anderson and then look to fill in the need for bigs later in the draft by grabbing guys like lawal, richards, alabi, or sanders IMO

Breakdown of Sanders/Alabi from the NBA combine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHq5RVunz74

personally There are good proven Power forwards on the free agent market now. Why not add one of them then we have a for sure team that can Beat them Stinkin lakers, and the jazz and nuggets and portland on a more consistant basis. I say sign Nowitsky.
You still will have money when it comes time re-sign Durant.