BV:  OK, here we are, doing our annual (apparently) live blogging of the NBA Draft.  We’ll be looking at the draft from a fantasy perspective and making claims that we have no business making.  Let’s start with the Blazers, who are on the clock.  Greg Oden is the obvious pick and the right pick (sorry, Sports Guy!).  I wonder the following things from a fantasy perspective:  What is his FT% like with a good right wrist?  And what can we expect from an offensive standpoint?  Who gets the majority of the shots in Portland?  I guess that all depends on if they trade Zack Randolph – which they should.

DM: Oden’s the right pick, but I’m still going to let someone else draft him this year, for sure. Remember how when Emeka Okafor came out of school and everyone knew to keep their expectations in check in terms of his offense, but assumed that his monster block numbers would be there? Well, they weren’t, he averaged less than 2 per game when people were probably expecting closer to 2.5. Now, Oden’s much bigger and is clearly more gifted, but if you draft a player who you hope helps most in a specialty category and he doesn’t deliver, that’s a problem.

BV:  I think the blocks will big there.  At least 2 per game.  TRADE ALERT!!!  A complete steal for the Celtics.  Getting rid of Wally’s contract, getting a legit stud from the Sonics … meanwhile, this makes absolutely no sense for the Sonics unless there’s something else going on.  Wally World, Rashard Lewis, and Kevin Durant are ALL most comfortable at the three.  So is the proposed #5 pick Jeff Green.  So does this mean they’re going to baby Durant his rookie year?  Fantasy value is all about PT.  Is he gonna get it?

DM: His PT will be there, no doubt. Lewis is no sure thing to come back, Szczerbiak can play the 2 and Green isn’t a surefire starter. Durant’s PT will be fine. Does the arrival of Delonte West in Seattle signal the end of the Luke Ridnour Era? Clearly not a very exciting or fulfilling era. The fantasy value on Seattle will be pretty tough to gauge until the Rashard Lewis situation is sorted out. As for the Celtics, Pierce/Allen/Jefferson becomes a pretty dynamite Big 3. OK, now the fun starts, the Hawks on the clock…

BV: Yeah it’s a dynamite big three but both Pierce and Allen need the ball in their hands.  Who gets the assists?  And what does this mean for Rondo, who is gonna be handed the PG position but may not handle the ball at all, and certainly isn’t a spot-up shooter?  It’ll be interesting.  Meanwhile, for Al Horford, it’s all going to be about center eligibility.  If he gets it – and if he plays 25+ mpg – he’s a good late round pick.  If he’s just a F, and gets thrown in a mix with Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, and Josh Childress, well, I won’t be drafting him.

DM: Horford will be a fine player, but that situation is just too messy for me. Conley goes to the Grizz and the two “wildcards” both make the predictable picks. The whole young point guard thing holds true for the most part. It’s hard to see Conley have a good FG% or too many 3s, so that limits his upside as it is. He’s one of those players that could have a whole lot more value in the second half of the season than he does in the first.

BV: Not only that but it’s tough to judge his talent correctly when his entire life he’s had a completely dominant center on his team.  What happens when he doesn’t have Oden as a crutch?  Still, he’s a PG, and it’s his spot to win.  I don’t see Kyle Lowry taking much time away.  Meanwhile, let me get back to this Sonics deal – I hate it for them.  Hate it.  Allen is the perfect guy to have as a mentor for Durant.  Meanwhile, what happens with Yi now?  Is there going to be a showdown in Milwaukee?

DM: Don’t dismiss Kyle Lowry so quickly. I’m not saying he’s going to hold down Conley for too long, but I think he’s the perfect type of player to make sure that Conley won’t have anything resembling consistent fantasy value from the onset. The Sonics are taking Green to be Durant’s sidekick, the Pippen to Durant’s Jordan. This is pretty obvious. It’s a nice pairing, I must say. Maybe they didn’t get full value for Allen, but I think from a long-term perspective it was a pretty savvy move.

BV: Jeff Green is the first guy to get drafted who almost certainly won’t have fantasy value this year. He’s best without the ball in his hands, and he’s buried in the roster.  Meanwhile, the big question for Yi Jianlian is – will he be interviewed by Stu Scott?  Oh yeah, and, I guess, if he’ll even go to Milwaukee.

DM: So Yi stays in Milwaukee. Or so they say. No matter where he ends up, you’ll certainly have to endure much taunting if you take him in your draft in the fall. Based on the coverage of Yi it seems his main strength is that he’s Americanized. They talk about that much more than his game. Aren’t he and Charlie Villanueva pretty similar players? The Wolves are up now and you have to think they’ll do the most boring thing possible. Maybe time for a Spencer Hawes pick? Seeing ESPN’s college and NBA guys mingling is kind of funny to me.

BV: The thing with Corey Brewer is, he’s supposedly a great defender but needs to develop an offensive game.  That’s not fantasy success.  I also don’t always trust guys who play with 3 other REALLY good players.  It lets him hide his deficiencies.  But I guess the same could be said about Noah or Horford.  I dunno – it sounds like he maxes out as a Bruce Bowen type, who, at his peak, didn’t really score.  That’s a number 7 pick?

DM: Yeah, I trust John Hollinger and his Crazy Number Machines (try to find a copy of their first album on eBay, great stuff) so I’m down on Brewer. A little too Joey Graham for my tastes. Every other team that’s picked so far can be pretty damn excited about what’s happened. (If Jeff Green was picked on his own, that’d be different.) But do you think the Wolves are that pumped right now? Not nearly as much. The Bobcats are up now, Jordan making the pick, so get ready for something crappy. He even knows to try and deal it at this point.

BV: Let me channel my inner Hube Brown:  We know that the Bobcats are interested in moving Sean May.  We also know that Michael Jordan likes Tar Heels.  We also know that the Bobcats in general like Tar Heels (May, Raymond Felton).  So this isn’t a surprise, really, but we also know that Wright is a few years away.  See you in 2009, Brandan Wright.

DM: I like Wright in a year or two. He shot near 65% last year for the Tar Heels. That shows us at the very least that he can get high percentage shots as an 18 year old in the ACC. LaMarcus Aldridge came out after two years, but barely played his freshman year.  He got his share of DNPs early on but when he was given the chance later on, he rose to the occasion.

BV: Jo Noah will be drafted in your fantasy draft.  Don’t be the one to do it.  His name is bigger than his talent – or at least, it’s bigger than the stats he’ll put up.  My question is, what does this mean for Ben Wallace and Tyrus Thomas, who was looking like he was ready to break out this year?

DM: Yeah, I feel like Noah is just a slightly more enthusiastic, less talented version of Tyrus Thomas. That Ben Wallace signing sure is looking goofier by the day, since the team now has two very young and cheap hustling, defensive-minded big men. Think they’ll be able to find someone who will take the four years and 40 some million left on his contract? On a side note, I like seeing Gilbert in these ads, but I feel like he’s already second banana to Kevin Durant.

BV: We’re officially at the point in this draft where a guy needs to be matched with the right team where he’ll be able to see a lot of minutes and get the ball a lot.  This didn’t happen for Hawes.  He’s stuck behind Brad Miller, and so he looks like a project.  Still, I like the pick.  Meanwhile, I hope the Hawks take Julian Wright and start Joe Johnson and four 6-10 forwards next year.

DM: Hawes will do nothing. Let’s face it. He couldn’t rebound — admittedly, as a freshman — against people in the Pac 10. He wishes he could be Chris Kaman. He also wishes very hard that Ron Artest gets traded before training camp starts. The Hawks continue to be shockingly predictable and take Acie Law. Well, it’s better than trading for Jarrett Jack, but I feel like it’s a decent comparison. He’ll fight with Tyronn Lue for minutes and probably lose. Philly’s up next, “Grandpa” Al Thornton is the likely pick.

BV: Whereas Hawes was a bad fantasy fit for the Kings, Law is a GREAT fantasy fit for the Hawks, he’ll qualify at PG, and he’ll be good for 1.5 3’s per game.  I like it.  He’s a fine late pick in your draft this year, I think.  As for Thaddeus Young, he elicited high-pitched “hmmmm”s from both DM and me.  I’m going on the record here saying that I don’t want Julian Wright on my Wizards.  Just saying.

DM: Right now the Wiz are looking at one of Nick Young, Grandpa Al, Rodney Stuckey or Wright. If they want any of them, of course. I was secretly hoping for Thaddeus to drop to the Wizards even though he’s a project. He reminds me a bit of Marvin Williams, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, but if you can get him at #16 it is. I’m rooting FOR Wright, so if he gets picked by the Wizards, BV’s dog won’t be the only one howling.

BV: THAT’S MY BOY NEW ORLEANS!!!!  Good job.  You’ve saved the Wizards from themselves.  Now Nick Young is trying to figure out how to sue John Hollinger for making the stats say that he’s gonna be a bust.  Quickly, Thaddeus Young will struggle to get on the court behind Iggy and the Carney Code in Philly, and Thornton will also struggle to get on the court unless the Clips finally find a place for Corey Maggette to go.  You know, for a point guard.  Which is what they really needed.

DM: The Clips had to take Grandpa Al, it was a no-brainer. Get it? So the Wizards are on deck and this is very exciting. For a month we were hoping that Nick Young would fall to the Wizards and now that it looks like he might we’re all nervous because of John Hollinger and his Crazy Number Machine. The Pistons better take Rodney Stuckey or else everyone will be mad at Chad Ford. And Chad Ford gives a Tiger Woods fist pump as he’s correct. I won’t pretend to know that much about Stuckey. He could form part of a nice bench unit with Jason Maxiell. OK, Wizards, here we go! Who do we want if it’s not Nick Young? The answer is a trade down. That’s what we want. We think.

BV: We hate Hollinger.  A week ago, we woulda loved this pick for the Wizards, but now we’re just nervous.  Also, he seems dumb in his interview.  Now we’re nervous.  Big time.  We’ve got our fingers crossed.  On to more juicy matters, I think the consensus is that we like the Zach Randolph trade for both sides.  DM?

DM: I love Zach Randolph in New York. Love it. Him and David Lee will get all the rebounds that Eddy Curry doesn’t care about. Curry and Randolph are perhaps the most unique frontcourt duo in the league. Mismatch problems all around. If only they had a sure-thing sharpshooter for all those open 3s the double-teams will produce. The Blazers get rid of the bad apple, but that’s about it. Steve Francis is over the hill and could prove to be as big a headache as Randolph was. Channing Frye sure regressed last year, he now seems like a poor man’s version of the guy he’ll be backing up, LaMarcus Aldridge. But Portland was obviously intent on shipping Randolph out, so they at least deserve credit for sticking with their plan. So the two teams with new cornerstone players are the ones who ship out superstars on draft night and they both go to Atlantic Division teams.

BV:  Sean Williams = Eddie Griffin?  Except he doesn’t shoot 3’s all the time, right?  I don’t trust him to get minutes or produce in New Jersey, especially if they re-sign Mikki Moore.  Belinelli could definitely get some run if Pietrus goes, or if Barnes goes.  You can count on him to get plenty of 3-point attempts, but I’m not sure he’s got any other skills.  He’s jsut a wait-and-see guy.

DM: Now we’re getting to the guys whose names we’ve been kinda misreading for a while. I thought it was Belinni. I thought it was Jarvis. Man, Dick Vitale is obsessed with Eva Longoria. It’s creepy. As for Crittenton on the Lakers, Phil Jackson likes his big PGs, but will he be around when Crittenton’s worth playing? I thought Jordan Farmar showed enough last year to be a solid regular, we’ll see if Crittenton can steal enough minutes to hurt his value. Of course, the Lakers are a complete unknown at this point. I’m still not sure how to feel about Nick Young. Chad Ford’s couple of nice sentences don’t really outweight Hollinger and that machine of his.

BV: Jason Smith has nothing to do with Alonzo Morning and everything to do with Udonis Haslem, who just hasn’t been able to be all that effective in Shaq’s shadow and can’t stretch the defense enough as a 4.  Smith can do that for sure, so that’s going to to work in his favor.  Still, there’s no doubt he’s going to struggle to see minutes.  DM, is there anyone else left on the board right now that’s going to have a fantasy impact next year?

DM: Highly doubtful, at least at the beginning of the year. Jason Smith … c’mon, do guys who look like that ever succeed in the NBA? No, they don’t. The picks have gone pretty much as expected, and at this point there are no more real surprises. So we got two major trades, if not any real blockbusters, and no real draft shockers. The 76ers take Daequan Cook, but he’s just going to be flipped to Miami for Smith. Nobody will care about this trade in three years.

BV: I don’t like this move for Miami.  DM says Joe Forte and I can’t tell him he’s wrong.  I don’t necessarily like it for the Sixers, either, but yeah, it doesn’t really matter all that much, other than Willie Green getting a sigh of relief knowing he’ll still see 15 mpg for no reason whatsoever.  The Dudley pick also makes it really look like the Bobcats are done with Sean May.

DM: Back to the Knicks/Blazers trade … Dan Dickau has a great chance to be one of those great fan-favorites at the Garden. Y’know, one of those fan favorites like the walk-on for a college team. The Knicks are up now and Spike Lee says it’s gonna be “that brotha at DePaul” and that’s what most other people think. I don’t really know much about “that brotha at DePaul” but I doubt he’ll have too much fantasy value. Isiah couldn’t get rid of Jared Jeffries. Only four more years and 25 million or so left on that one.

BV:  I have nothing to say about Wilson Chandler, so let’s chat Z-Bo a little more.  Between him and Eddy Curry, this team might set a record for fewest blocked shots in a season.  I also wonder about having 2 guys in the post who need the ball in their hands to be effective.  Are they going to get their shots?  I think this probably hurts the value of each player.

DM: Ru-dy! Ru-dy! Ru-dy! The Suns make this pick for the Blazers. The Suns just don’t like draft picks, I guess. He’ll probably stay in Europe for another year, but everyone seems to like him. Him and Sergio Rodriguez could make a pretty nice Spanish 1-2 punch. Or, puncho, as it were.

BV: So the Rockets add Aaron Brooks to the backcourt, and they’ve already put Mike James back there.  So what does this mean for Rafer Alston?  This looks like a pretty crowded backcourt to me.

DM: Luther Head should be on the move somewhere. He’s not a bad guy to have around and will be picked way too high by someone on auto draft because of all those 3s that he makes. The Pistons go with Arron Afflalo, sure, whatever. These guys will be lucky to ever be relevant in the NBA. It doesn’t look like David Stern will get to say those magic words of “We have a trade to announce,” which is kind of a shame. Big Baby is slipping down. We’re hoping he slips 20 more spots, but that doesn’t seem possible.

BV: Well, now we’re in the part of the draft where these guys have absolutely no shot at value next year.  Afflalo will be the 8th shooting guard in Detroit, while Splitter will be doing damage for my Euroleague fantasy team.  So let’s wrap it up here.  My favorite guys left have gotta be Big Baby Davis and Jared Jordan from Marist, and I guess Byars, from Vanderbilt.  But it’s going to take injuries – and big ones – for anyone else in this draft to have fantasy value this year.

DM: My favorite guys left are D.J. Strawberry and Ekene Ibekwe!!! Strawberry actually has a decent shot to get picked in the second round, good for him. Herbert Hill can be a Paul Millsap type player, apparently, so look to see where he winds up. Josh McRoberts has some upside since he might be able to be unique with some assists and blocks. So no real super blockbusters and overall a pretty average draft. The Suns take Alando Tucker, as the good, solid college guys are getting rewarded with some guaranteed contracts. Good for them.

BV: OK, last pick, Petteri Koponen.  Go Finland!  Well, we’ll have a wrapup early next week with some ultime winners and losers.  Still, a very exciting draft – 2 big trades, so we’ll give it an … oh … A-.  So there.