<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tonight's National Basketball Association draft is the last official function of the 2006-07 season. Around the NBA, men whose livelihoods depend on their ability to judge what a 20-year-old will do at 25 will gather in their "draft operation centres" - the NBA league office has nixed the use of the term war room - to try to chart the future of their franchises. It's always a welcome day for hoops heads. Like spring training in baseball, draft day is full of possibilities before the inevitable truth that the guy your team just picked doesn't have a jump shot and, with his pocket now full of money, isn't really interested in developing one. But this year's draft promises to bring out even the casual basketball fan. At the top there is the Greg Oden-Kevin Durant conundrum. The pair of can't-miss prospects will surely occupy the top two picks, but are so different in style that debating which of the college freshmen should be picked first has become a kind of basketball Rorschach test. Traditionalists argue a team can never go wrong with a smart, athletic big man such as Oden to protect the basket. The flip side is that in a league increasingly favouring smaller, skill-based players, having a slashing, 6-foot-10 wing player (Durant) is the way of the future. Elsewhere in the draft there is enough drama and intrigue to make your head spin, with many of the top-10 picks possibly affected by rumoured trades involving some of the NBA's biggest stars, including Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce and Jermaine O'Neal. As of now, Canada's NBA team will be sitting it all out, watching with interest just like everyone at home. The Toronto Raptors' first-round pick (No. 22) belongs to the Charlotte Bobcats (via the Cleveland Cavaliers) to complete a 2002 deal. Toronto's second-round pick (No. 52) is in the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers because of previous deals. Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo said yesterday he has been invited into the top 10 of the draft - an NBA source said Charlotte was shopping its No. 8 pick pretty actively. The appeal for the Raptors would be a chance to pick the likes of Corey Brewer or Jeff Green, potentially answering the team's problems at small forward for a decade or so. But in the next breath, Colangelo suggested the price to get into the top third of the draft was too steep, which likely meant the deal would cost the Raptors point guard Jose Calderon and change. "We're going to take the prudent approach," Colangelo said. "We're not going to do something just because we get caught up in the frenzy around the draft."</div> <div align="center">Source: The Globe and Mail</div>
Damn, no pick, I say give up Ford draft a SF at 8. I just really don't want Jose to leave because he is good and will continure to get better as time goes on.
See if you can buy a late first rounder or a second rounder, but otherwise I think the Raptors should just stand pat and wait for free agency. Teams are lowballing them right now, so there's no point in moving Ford or Calderon. There's always the trade deadline, when you'll have a better handle of who'll be a better fit in the future.
Big moves, but I don't see how either really fits. Randolph makes the frontcourt a headache to guard, but that's terrible defense, more turnovers, and attitude issues. And Allen is older and not what Boston needed. It'll definitely be tougher for us next season, but it could've been much worse.
I think BC now gotta make some moves after seeing Boston and Newyork getting much stronger teams. I hope we can get mcroberts for graham or somebody.
I think with Free Agency, we can improve. With the likes of Wallace and other vets, we can improve our SF spot.
