After our draft we asked each participant to offer his thoughts on his team, along with some of the best players still on the board. Here’s what everyone had to say.

1. Joel: I opted for Kobe over Garnett, Marion, and Lebron this year because I ultimately felt Kobe’s performance in this league (no TOs) would overcome the replaceability of the SG position.  By the time the picks came back to me all the elite centers were gone - I was hoping for Camby - and I panicked a bit; Boozer’s not an especial favorite of mine, but I ended up opting for him above players like Ray Allen and Chauncey Billups. Having invested a lot in a center who doesn’t block shots, I decided to look into punting the category, and I think it worked out pretty well, actually. I racked up mostly low-upside, high-consistency guys, so I can’t really feel too upset about my picks (although I can certainly feel bored by them). I don’t think I reached too far on any of my picks, although I can’t say I think either Mike Miller or Zach Randolph will repeat last year’s performances. If I hadn’t overlooked him (you stop scanning that high up last year’s cheat sheets when you get deep into a draft), Elton Brand would have been my last pick instead of Parker, tanking blocks or no. He may be out till the all-star break or even later, but in roto even a half-season of an elite player adds up awfully quickly. I think Luke Walton would fit on this team quite nicely, too. For my second center, I was eyeballing the blockaphobe Zaza Pachulia in round 10 or 11. Other undrafted players I like - for the right price - include Al “what Shelden Williams was SUPPOSED to be” Horford, Mo Peterson, Walter Hermann, Nick Collison, and (especially) Jose Calderon.

2. DM: the main thing i learned from this mock draft is that #2 is not a spot that i want when it’s time to do the real thing. for pretty much every pick after the first one i found myself picking from the remainders of a tier, a bunch of guys i didn’t want or players i’d be reaching for too much. instead of worrying about finding players that fit together well i just went for what i thought was the best talent available. early in the draft — and that’s pretty much the first half — you have to just grab the best players. don’t worry about categories so much early on, just get guys who play big minutes and are the focal point of the offense. KG, carmelo and billups qualify there. it was certainly easier to pick artest knowing this was a mock, but as long as he plays and keeps that FG% around 42-43 he’ll be worth it. i love ricky davis as things stand right now and figured he wouldn’t be there at #71, so i grabbed him at #50. he finished #29 last year, shouldn’t see his numbers go down this year as the main guy in minnesota. i’m more worried about maggette staying healthy than being productive. he always puts up the same numbers, it’s just the minutes vary. with no brand around he’ll be shouldering a big load. marbury, well, y’know. i grabbed krstic with my last pick here and was going to choose from darko, curry and bynum for my next pick to take care of the centers. i wasn’t going out of my way to avoid centers, if i found myself in the position to take one i certainly would have, but i’d rather take my chances with one of the young guys than the likes of big ben and big Z earlier in the draft.  as for guys still on the board that i like, i think some of the former stars can offer decent value this late — brad miller, larry hughes, peja stojakovic. if chucky atkins can hold onto the starting PG spot in denver he is going to hit just boatloads of 3s. ryan gomes and drew gooden make solid filler, and don’t forget about how good luke walton was before he got injured last year.

3. Terrance: To be honest, I’m not in love with my team. I don’t see it competing for a championship in this league. I drafted three small forwards with my first three picks. Something I’m not happy doing as I couldve got high scoring SF’s later, notablely ricky davis who is good for 17-5-5. I regretted the Paul Pierce pick as soon as I made it. I Shouldve drafted Carlos Boozer. It was the time to go big. One of the positives of my three forwards are they do a little of everything.  I got some good bigs, one with an unusual C game in Okur. And two with a similar game in Tyson Chandler and Ben Wallace. I reached with Jameer Nelson, but needed a PG, Im hoping i was a year early with Nelson. Raja Bell was my easiest pick, a solid contributor and you know what you’re going to get. I need PG’s bad, im hurting, i have high assists SF/SG. But in the next few rounds Id be looking at: Jamaal Tinsley, Brevin Knight, Sam Cassell, Ill also look for a backup PF, something like chris wilcox. I also may look towards someone like pryzbilla for some stop gap blocks. Someone to draft and see what happens early in the season and drop if he doesnt pan out. No oden, No randolph. The blazers only have three big men to play 2 positions.

4. Raymond: I’m usually the upside drafter in my leagues, but I think I ended up making all my picks based on who dropped.  Marion at 4; Ray Allen at 28; Josh Howard at 45; Ginobili at 52.  It just kind of felt like I had to pick those guys up there despite my needs or who I really wanted to get.  This is definitely going to be an interesting year as the talent around rounds 4-6 is still very deep with solid guys.  One thing I have to note with this team is injury risk.  Marion is pretty solid, but with Camby, Ray Allen, Howard, Ginobili, as my core I could take some pretty big hits during the season.  It looks like my strongest categories will be pt/3pt/stl/ft%.  I’m pretty thin at pg/assists and will probably be coming the waiver wire for guys like tyronn lue etc.  My fg%/reb/blk are pretty middle of the road and that’s probably what I’m going to try to improve on with the later picks.  With my last pick I chose a high upside guy in Tyrus Thomas that could possibly do well in all 3 of those cats.  If my team was built differently I’d jump at the chance to pick up Shaq/Curry/Darko this late in the draft.  Some guys that weren’t picked up who I have on my radar are Jamal Crawford, Delonte West, Charlie Villanueva, Jamaal Tinsley,  Nocioni, Korver, Collison, and Luke Walton.  My sleeper picks are going to be Brad Miller (seems totally rehabilitated and his ast #’s would help me out) and Channing Frye.

5. BV: I gave my thoughts on my team yesterday, plus I got to talk through this whole week, so don’t mind me here.

6. Sean: I was really happy with drafting Gilbert Arenas 6th, I think he has potential to produce in the top 3 or 4, plus he’s a PG.  Rashard Lewis was a Best Player Available pick.  I knew I was lacking in the big men stats, so that’s why I picked Gerald Wallace with my 3rd rounder.  Gerald gives me good hustle stats, rebounds and fg%.  I’m happy with Emeka Okafor in the 4th though I was hoping for Al Jefferson.  5th round is where I start to take picks I didn’t really like.  I’m not a big fan of Tony Parker, but I needed assists and I picked one that would also help me in fg%.  Rip Hamilton in the sixth is just a solid guard.  Good percentages, helps me stay competitive with scoring.  I was really happy to get Danny Granger with my 7th pick, he’s my only true “upside” guy.  He is still young and will improve.  Chris Kaman should rebound to at least his double-double 05-06 averages with Brand out, and I also heard he has been really trying to improve his game this summer.  Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with my team.  I don’t have really any “sexy” picks, which I tend to stay away from.  My team has most of the bases covered, with at least three players helping out in each category.  G-wall and Oak are a bit of an injury risk and Kaman might not revert, but I don’t think those are major concerns.   Matt Barnes is a promising player who showed potential in the playoffs and will have more playing time with Jason Richardson gone.  Wally should also come back from an injury year and put up solid numbers, as there aren’t many people to carry the scoring load in Seattle except for Durant.  Also I was considering taking Bynum with one of my last picks.  I think an 11th or 12th rounder is a great time to pick up someone like Bynum, when there is a chance he makes an Al-Jefferson-like jump this year. You can also read some more of my basketball and other insights here: http://freakinawesome.wordpress.com/

7. PR: It appears the theme to my draft strategy this year is a ‘youth movement.’  I did not draft a single player over 25 years old… if you can believe that.  Take a look.  Dwayne Wade was best available and surest bet.  I didn’t want to take any kind of risk with my first pick, so I went with the versatile 25-year-old stud.  He could be drafted #1 overall in 2008.  Sure, he’s battled some injuries the last couple years, but that’s not enough to scare me away.  Dwight Howard’s only 21 years old and is looking more and more like a young Shaq Diesel.  He could be the league’s most dominant center averaging 20/12/2/1/2 while shooting nearly 60% from the field.  I think he’ll be a perennial first rounder for years to come.  Deron Williams is not someone I was targeting but I love me some point guards.  He finished second only to Steve Nash with 9.4 assists/game.  At 23 years old, he should continue to improve on his numbers and he’s a more durable/safer pick than someone like Jason Kidd.  Brandon Roy, last year’s R.O.Y. could be this year’s S.O.D. – steal of the draft.  Felton should reach new heights in his third season.  His assists and dreadful 38% shooting should both improve with the arrival of bona fide scorer Jason Richardson.  Biedrins is 21-years old, 60% shooter, double-double machine…enough said.  Foye is yet another youngster with huge upside.  I pegged Nene as a nice sleeper back in April and I stand by that.

8. Jeremy: Overall, my team definitely has some risk from experience (Durant, Aldridge) and injuries (O’Neal, Jefferson), but it could pay off. On Josh Smith, Some people accused me of taking him too high, and I can understand that. But, I was looking for a big man at this pick and after Duncan went there was no one I felt I could justify picking here. Despite not wanting to take a SF this early, Smith produces big-man numbers in blocks and rebounds, and gives good assists too. He has consistently improved every year and is now only 21. Barring injury, he shouldn’t disappoint much at this spot.  With the last pick (Diaw), I wanted to highlight a player that will be coming back this year a bit, IMO. He is still a very versatile player. I am worried about Grant Hill and his SF playing time, but the Suns only have Marion, Diaw, Amare and Sean Marks to play the PF and C position, and Marion can only play SF quite well.  I don’t know if my team is the favorite one I would choose out of all of the mock teams drafted, but it should do alright in most categories. At the very least, I already have 3 centers on my roster and do not need to worry about positional scarcity due to that.

9. All:  I talked about this one yesterday, too.

10. Alex: As I was drafting along I was sure I was doing great.  Grabbing 2 premier centers who are also high scores in the first 2 rounds in a 2 center league I thought I had at least 4-5 categories taken care of (blocks, rebounds, fg%, steals and points) and I decided to concentrate on the other 3 (assists, 3pts, ft%) picking joe johnson, kevin martin and tj ford with the next 3 picks.  my next pick was ak47 which i think is my best pick in the draft.  I think it is a steal that late in the draft.  It is still unclear where he will land (hopefully out of utah) but it was apparent he wasn’t putting up the numbers because he wasn’t happy.  After seeing him dominate in eurobasket tournament I have no doubt he will have a great season in the NBA.  My next 2 rounds were pretty bad. Rudy Gay and Conley.  I am pretty sure I could have gotten them way later if I wanted to.  Looking at my team now I see my strength are blocks and FG% and weaknesses are rebounds 3pt and steals.  Rebounds should be relatively easy to find in the later rounds (T Murphy?) and maybe a 3pt specialist (L. Head?), but steals would be hard to make up.  The best team i see is Joel’s, with rebounds, points and 3pt locked in and the only weakness blocks.  And the weakest is PR with big gaps in rebounds, points, 3pt and ft%, though pretty good in assists and fg%.

11. Frank: I like my picks. At 11 and 14, Gasol and Iguodala were as solid as anybody available. Jefferson could have a Top 20 year; I love pairing him with Gasol. Round 4, I felt like I needed a PG/SG, and Barbosa was best available, though I was hoping Redd would still be on the board (he went right before Barbosa). I did okay with that pick, but arguably left better players on the board (Jason Richardson, Ron Artest). Jason Terry and Mike Bibby were good value picks. I don’t see how Lee gets fewer minutes this year than last, even with Randolph and Curry; he’s a rebounding machine, with solid percentages. Ilguaskas gives me depth at center in a 2C league, and is fair value in the 8th round. This is a good core, with top-tier potential in FG and FT, steals, and rebounds. Points, blocks, and 3s are solid. Assists are a weak link, but if I add an assist-first PG could become a strength. The team is positioned to compete across all eight categories, and I’m filling utility spots for the rest of the draft. I can’t ask for more. Next round, I’m looking at an assist machine: Jamaal Tinsley is top of the list. If Tinsley’s gone, Brevin Knight and Delonte West will get consideration, and I’m also watching Brad Miller, who’s risk/reward (not to mention I’m a Kings fan). Andrew Bynum and Kyle Korver might also get my attention. So will Elton Brand. With 10 picks until I choose, it’s wait and see.

12. Ruyun: I was very happy with my first three picks. Picking 12th meant I missed out on any of the first round ’studs’, but the tandem of Paul and Bosh gives a great base to expand from. My favorite pick was Bulter. He was pushing top 20 last year before breaking his hand and getting him with the 36th pick was a steal. By now I have pretty strong in every category, except 3’s and blocks. I don’t like Redd because he is so one dimensional but considering no-one on my team shoots 3’s I had to pick him up. Likewise the rationale behind the Wallace pick, he is definitely on his way down the fantasy ladder but he should still produce a 1 blk 1 trey 1 steal season. West was a bit of a nothing pick for me, he is a poor man’s Randolph. I was very happy to get Rondo, it may have been a bit of a reach but he wouldn’t have lasted til the 9th. Being a starter and with the Big 3 he should get 7 ass per game. He will take less shots but that’s a good thing. He also rebounds very well for a PG. A few guys I will be keeping my eyes on: Milicic, Childress, Mo Pete, Jamal Crawford, Atkins. The last few rounds I will target Scola and Maxiell. Houston badly needs a PF – Chuck Hayes is just too small – and Scola comes ready made to slot right in. I think he should put up numbers similar to Nene. And Maxiell just has huge up-side if he can get PT.

–BV