Quick 2010 Draft Review....What Happened?

First of all, apologies for not being here on Draft Night. Being in South Africa rocks, but a downside is that you have to stay up late into the night to see NBA events. Regardless, here's a quick recap and take of what happened last night. Expect full profiles of the new players as we head forward.

Trade 1: The Oklahoma City Thunder Trade Pick #31 to the Miami Heat for Pick #18 and Daequan Cook.

Thunder Gain: A Higher Pick, A Potential Rotation Player

Heat Gain: Cap Room for the 2010 Free Agency Dash, a pick at a good value.

Analysis: It's a trade that works out for both sides, if it is a bit in the Thunder's favour. At this point, any team is going to have to pay a hefty price in order to get salary for next year's FA, and this is about as small of a price Miami was going to find. On the Thunder's side of things, it's basically little risk, big reward. They got more cards to play with concerning getting a higher pick, and they picked up Cook, who was a solid rotation player for some solid Heat teams. While being a bit of a defensive liability, he's the type of guy who can step off the bench and hit a few threes, which is exactly what fans have been pining for. Overall, the trade is an A for the Thunder, and a C+ for the Heat.

Community Takes:

BTW EP, you and I align completely on the Daniel Orton and Alabi thoughts. Please no…I’m not a big Sanders fan either, mainly because I think he’s too much like Serge. I do have a feeling that the 18th pick will end up being somebody who was supposed to go late lottery and dropped. Udoh perhaps? Yeah I could definitely see that if late-lottery/bad playoff teams went crazy on George, Hayward, Babbit, and Bradley.

The other pick is the seemingly inevitable Orton pick, which means 26 probably has to be a perimeter player of some sort…Crawford? I would KILL if we could get Ryan Richards at 52, or just buy him off whomever drafts him.

-GoHornsGo90

I'd like Sanders and James Anderson

I’ve seen mocks that have Anderson falling all the way to 30. SOme have him as high as 15. I’m not sure what the deal is with him rising and falling.

Ideally, I’d like to see us move up and get Monroe, but I’m not sure if it’ll happen.

-ElectricPencils

Below: More Trades! More Analysis! More Madness!

Trade 2: The Oklahoma City Thunder trade Pick #21 and Pick #26 to the New Orleans Hornets for Morris Peterson and Pick #11 (Cole Aldrich).

Thunder Gain: A better prospect, a potential rotation player.

Hornets Gain: About 6 Million in Cap Space, and 2 Shots in the Dark later in the draft.

Analysis: Everybody here was fearing the Aldrich trade. We all thought he was a bit overrated, and not someone to give up actual value for. And, somehow, it happened. But, it's not as bad as we thought it was. Instead of giving up Pick 18 and 21, as was originally thought, we ended up giving only 21 and 26. On paper, having the 18th pick versus having the 26th pick may not seem like a lot, but nobody wants the 26th pick. It's right at the end of the first round, and as such, it's one of the last picks where players will demand a certain amount of salary. Also, around the early to mid twenties, players stop drafting for sheer talent and position need and start drafting on potential and shots in the dark. Thus, by keeping the 18th pick, we keep our picks' appeal to other teams, even if it isn't a extreme player talent upgrade. In the end, we lose two shots in the dark and get a better prospect. Sure, Cole Aldrich might not be as good as Larry Sanders, but he's still better than B.J. Mullens. And he just might prove us all wrong and become the backup center that we need. So I'll give this trade a solid B for the Thunder, and a C- for the Hornets, because I don't think they're going to do much with the cap space they saved.

Community Takes:

Aldrich is a good fit

He can dominate the paint and he needs to work on his free throw shooting.

Peterson is an expiring contract which is either trade bait or he’ll add some depth at the 2. I see him as a three point situational guy.

I DO think the Thunder gave up too much if they had to take on Peterson’s contract, but holy moly you guys act like the world is ending.

The Thunder still have a solid team. Hasn’t Presti build a solid team so far? Don’t you trust him to make smart decisions.

lol chill people

everyone wants a flashy sexy pick

a guy who can do backflip dunks, etc. Look, the Thunder have plenty of stars and scorers. They needed a guy with a good basketball IQ who positions himself well around the basket and can rebound the ball. They just got that.

People fall in love with a pick and don’t trust the GM who’s built this team from a cellar dweller to a highly competitive team.

-dishingoutdimes

Kansas Players

always have reduced offensive numbers in college because the level of talent overall is much higher. that’s why aldrich’s numbers went down last year compared to the year before, because the rest of the team improved immensely. you’re talking about a guy who was playing with definitely two and possibly four other nba guys almost the entire game

-PhillyJayhawk

Aldrich will be a very good post defender. He can rebound at a high rate, he’s got good length, very high bball IQ. He plays within his strengths. He’s more than athletic enough, I believe he tested pretty similarly to Cousins and Monroe at the combine.

He can actually shoot a bit as well so he won’t completely clog up the lane.

He’s got good shot blocking instincts as well.

-ThunderHorn

Pick #18

With the 18th Pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder Select....Eric Bledsoe, from the University of Kentucky.

Analysis: This pick or Eric Maynor will obviously be traded. There's no way the Thunder will have 3 legitimate point guards competing for two spots in the rotation.

Community Takes:

whaaaaaaaaa?

were trading this for sure thn, right?

-rickpidero

bledsoe over bradley, anderson or pleiss is not good…maybe we are dealing him?

-mleech352

Trade #3: The Oklahoma City Thunder Trade Pick #18 (Eric Bledsoe) to the Los Angeles Clippers for a future first-round draft pick.

Thunder Gain: A potentially lucrative pick down the line, and lose a controversy at PG.

Clippers Gain: A potential answer to their current PG problem.

Analysis: The Thunder are basically rolling the dice with this one. The roster is getting crowded and the Thunder knew it, so they had to start figuring out what to do with some of the loose ends. Here, they give up the 18 pick for a future first round pick of a franchise that has never won their division. We won't see the fruits of this one right now, but it's absolutely genius from where I'm looking. The Clippers are desperately looking a solution to their PG problem. Baron Davis is often injured, Steve Blake is a 3 Point Specialist, and in the past they've had to give D-Leaguers regular minutes. But they've pretty much killed themselves by hoping the future will turn out brightly for what is a very old team that has never meshed well. Bottom Line: Presti Strikes again. Thunder: A, Clippers: D Update: It's Top 10 Protected, according to Doug Gottlieb. I'll downgrade it to a B+ for the Thunder, and a C- for the Clippers, but it's still a solid move.

Community Takes:

This is going

To screw us over when the Clippers finally get good :/

-GoHornsGo90

I'm totally, absolutely okay with this

-Spencer Pan

I'm fine with it too.

-ElectricPencils

Trade #4: The Atlanta Hawks Trade Pick #31 (Tibor Pleiss) to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Cash Considerations (Rumoured to be close to 3 Million).

Hawks Gain: Cap Room.

Thunder Gain: A prospect they have been targeting for a while.

Analysis: Since none of us are connected to the wallet of Mr. Clayton I Bennett, the discussion of this trade starts and ends with whether you like Pleiss. I do. This trade gets a B+ for the Thunder, a D+ for the Hawks.

Community Takes:

This is an awesome move

It’s like the ultimate zero-downside move

-Spencer Pan

well that makes draft night better, but at his size he should be here for 2 years cause he really needs to physically develop.

-mleech352

Trade #5: The Miami Heat Trade Pick #48 (Latavious Williams) to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a future second round draft pick.

Thunder Get: A prospect that they've had a chance to review in the D-League for a year.

Heat Get: More Cap Space, and a shot in the dark down the line.

Analysis: For those who don't know, Latavious Williams opted not to go to college. Instead of playing a year in Europe, ala Brandon Jennings, he signed with the 66ers, since the D-League has no age limit. Thus, he was eligible for the NBA draft this year, and the Thunder wanted him. They got him, for minimal cost. The Heat now have more cap room. All in all, not much will come out of this. Both teams get a C.

Community Take:

Bought Latavious Williams with the 48th pick. Which is interesting because Alabi, Ryan Richards, and Willie Warren were still available.

-DaddyDai

Trade #6: The Oklahoma City Thunder Trade Pick #51 (Magnum Rolle) to the Indiana Pacers for Pick #57 (Ryan Reid) and Cash.

Pacers Get: Bleh.

Thunder Get: Bleh. Plus Cash!

Analysis: If this trade matters somewhere down the line other than the fact that it helped pay for Pleiss, I'll smash a watermelon over my head and upload it to the front page of this website. That is all.

Community Take:

Drafted Magnum Rolle 51, then traded his rights for the 57th pick and cash. (likely to pay for Pleiss)

Drafted someone Ryan Reid guy with the 57th. I doubt he’ll ever join the team.

-DaddyDai

Overall:

The 21st Pick
The 26th Pick
The 32nd Pick
The 51st Pick

Turns Into:

Cole Aldrich
Clippers Future First Round Pick (Top 10 Protected)
Tibor Pleiss
Morris Peterson
Daequan Cook
Latavious Williams
Ryan Reid

How much you like this draft really depends on how much you like Aldrich. If you like Aldrich, your opinion might tend to be a bit on the sunny side, and vice versa. Everything else is a big maybe. We might not see Pleiss for a couple of years. The Clippers pick could be years down the line. Peterson and Cook could be gone at any time. And Williams and Reid are longshots at best.

But, overall, I'm feeling good. We got a lottery prospect, two solid rotation players, another pick to stash, and someone who could be the next Serge Ibaka surprise. So I'll have to rate this draft night a solid B+.

Overall Community Take:

I feel as though we def. addressed our major holes. Pleiss will either go overseas for a few years or he will come now and compete with Aldrich, Ibaka, Collison, etc for time at the 5. All that competition will improve our big men so much. However, i dont think that we will be hanging on to Collison much longer. He has been great for us but has a very valuable 2011 expiring deal and many of those who missed out on lebron his year will be waiting til 2011 to make a splash. Also: i see us keeping cook but either buying out mo pete or trading him elsewhere. Cook is a very underrated move we made. Cook can come in with no pressure to be a scorer. With our current team, we can put the ball in the basket for sure. Cook can come off the bench and make threes for our team which was our second biggest hole last season. Next, i love the move to acquire a future first rounder from the clippers. Sure, it may turn out to be an end of the round pick if the clippers end up snagging lebron or someone else and improving tremendously but history shows that holding a clippers pick in the first round is an excellent asset. But what i liked most is that we went out and got Aldrich. He honestly did not cost us that much and we were able to obtain a true 5 who can do what we need most despite the fact that he def wasnt the sexy pick we were all dying for. Aldrich can come in, rebound, plug up the lane a bit, block shots, and make a low post move. Next to Ibaka, i feel as though we have a good low post tandem that can compliment Durant, Harden, and Westbrook. Call me what you want but Jeff Green should now be our super sixth man. Just think: Bringing in Jeff Green with the second unit, where he can be the focal point of the offense, holding down the fort while giving KD and Russ a rest! He could be a more consistent, younger, OKC version of lamar odom. That could scare some but think of how great that would be! However, Presti is far from done making moves before the start of next season.

-kpugh

What are your thoughts on the draft? How did the Thunder do? Leave a comment, drop a vote!

Also, stay tuned for details on our new players.