I just read on the Chicago Tribune today that they figure Redick might drop to the Bulls 16th pick.  That’s wishful thinking for the Bulls fans at the Tribune.

He won’t drop any.  He’ll be picked up exactly where a team was planning on picking him up.

Do no NBA players drink?  Do they never drink and drive?  My guess is that they just don’t get caught.

He was probably out celebrating that some team told him they would pick him up for sure.  That team will probably STILL pick him up for sure.

Keep Dreaming, Chicago!  (Unless you want to pick him up with the 2nd pick in the draft)

It could mean that the Orlando Magic, who pick 11th, and the Utah Jazz, who pick 14th, are going to have to move up to get a chance at him.  If they really want him that much.
There are several teams in the top 10 who have a glaring need for a shooting guard.  There are some fairly good ones predicted to be picked in the lottery.

If this signifies that he has a guarantee from a team that he will be picked by a certain point higher than number 11, than obviously a lot of the mock drafts out there are wrong (as they usually are).  I don’t know if I have seen a draft with him picked above Orlando, and I have seen him dropping in some mock drafts as far as the early 20s.

As a side note, pulling out of the same workout was his Duke teammate, Shelden Williams.  So either they are both tired of Disneyworld (after having the camp there just last week), or they both know something that we don’t know.

If Redick and Williams are both being picked in the top 10, a lot of Mock Drafters better hurry and rethink where they have people placed, and Orlando and Utah had better do some quick homework on all of the guys that never had a chance of dropping down that far.

It’s tough being a lottery pick, apparently.

After the recent trade of Toronto Raptor’s Rafael Araujo for Utah Jazz’s Kris Humphries and the ensuing articles naming them both “busts” or “flops”, the most creative of which was entitled “Flipping Flops”, you start to wonder if we can really make accurate predictions after only a couple of years.
We saw the same labels being applied to Darko Milicic and Marvin Williams just recently.

And before that Kwame Brown.

Not too long ago Jermaine O’Neal was labeled as a flop, coming out of Portland.  Most would not label him as a flop now having played in All-Star Games and many post-season contests.

I’m not saying that, given the chance, all of these guys that haven’t yet made it are going to suddenly become All-Stars, but I think we throw judgments around too quickly without letting these players, who have never been at this level at competition and especially not for 82+ games, develop into real players.

Let’s give these guys a chance.

We can always label these guys busts later on, when we know for sure.

I have heard the rumors that Indiana is planning on blowing up its team and starting from scratch.

Should they?

I don’t necessarily think so because chemistry wins you games.

Everybody is always blowing up their team when you just need a little more chemistry and development.  Tweaking is always better than major changes.

I’m a little boggled about rumors sending O’Neal to Toronto for the #1 pick, however.

I’m not boggled that Toronto would want an All-Star for the #1 pick, especially when the #1 pick is never a sure thing.  Many #1 picks may never become an All-Star.  Heck, it’s a little weirder that anybody would give Toronto an All-Star (at least one in his prime) for the #1 pick.

No, the part that boggles me the most is that Toronto would want ANOTHER power forward, even if he is an All-Star, for their #1 pick.  Chris Bosh is pretty good, unless people have suddenly forgotten.  In a few years, with Bosh improving and O’Neal declining, Bosh will be the better of the two.  Unless Toronto is planning on playing with a small line-up night after night with Jermaine O’Neal and Chris Bosh playing side by side at the 4 and 5,  they shouldn’t even consider the offer.

And that doesn’t even mention the fact that they still have a bunch of other power forwards, including Kris Humphries, who they just picked up, and Charlie Villanueva, who turned out last year to be pretty good.  They might play either of those at the 3, though I don’t think either of them are fast enough to guard most of the threes in this league.

I see Jermaine O’Neal heading to Chicago for the #2 pick much more than I would see him heading to Toronto.  The Bulls could use a veteran still in his prime, and O’Neal would be quite an upgrade at power forward.  Indiana would get just as much with the #2 pick as the #1.  (Most analysts have the top 4 picks in the Draft being about equal as far as potential.)

Toronto just doesn’t make much sense.  Chicago, on the other hand, does.

He has made one move, though most people thought it was quite the yawner, sending Araujo to Utah for Humphries.

They may have more plans for Humphries than we thought, though, because new rumors have him sending Mo Peterson and Charlie Villanueva to Milwaukee for Mo Williams and Jamal Magloire.

Assuming the rumor is right, you might have a front line of Humphries, Bosh, and Magloire, rather than Araujo, Bosh, and Villanueva.  I’m not so sure Humphries is fast enough or has enough range to play small forward, but that seems like an improvement.

In Mo Williams they would also get a capable point guard (albeit not a great one) in case their current one bolts for Houston, as is rumored.

Trading Mo Pete away probably isn’t a big deal, even if his points are missed, because the 1st pick in the draft should be able to net them a good shooter either by way of trading the pick or by picking one up in the draft, i.e. Adam Morrison.

Rumors have had Toronto picking up another tall player, which didn’t really make much sense considering their current lineup, but if these dealings seem to lean the way they appear to be leaning, it will make even less sense.  If these current moves continue, it will probably either lead to drafting Morrison or trading the pick away (either down to include a veteran and a lower pick or away altogether for a very good player).