Continuing our first-ever, reader-participating Mock Draft…

Round 5:

49. Joel: Mike Miller (Bryant, Iverson, Boozer, Odom)
50. DM: Ricky Davis (Garnett, Anthony, Billups, Artest)
51. Terrance: Tyson Chandler (L. James, Pierce, T-Mac, Okur)
52. Raymond: Manu Ginobili (Marion, Camby, Allen, J. Howard)
53. BV: Luol Deng (Nowitzki, Kidd, Hinrich, J-Rich)
54. Sean: Tony Parker (Arenas, R. Lewis, G. Wallace, Okafor)
55. PR: Raymond Felton (Wade, D. Howard, D. Williams, Roy)
56. Jeremy: Mo Williams (Nash, Josh Smith, J. O’Neal, Durant)
57. All: Andre Miller (A. Stoudemire, Carter, B. Davis, Jamison)
58. Alex: TJ Ford (Ming, Duncan, J. Johnson, Kev. Martin)
59. Frank: Jason Terry (Gasol, Igoudala, Al Jefferson, Barbosa)
60. Ruyun: Rasheed Wallace (Paul, Bosh, Butler, Redd)

Point guard run!  You knew it was coming, and here it is, as we go 6 PG’s in a row right in the middle of the round.  And here’s a preview: over the next 2 rounds, only 1 true PG will be taken.  So the lesson we can take here is, if you want 2 top PG’s on your team (and we at FBB endorse that kinda thing), you’re gonna need to get it done in 5 rounds.  No real reaches here again (makes us FBBers feel good about our readership), and size took a real backseat here - only two guys taken are PF or C’s.

Round 6:

61. Ruyun: David West (Paul, Bosh, Butler, Redd, R. Wallace)
62. Frank: Mike Bibby (Gasol, Igoudala, Al Jefferson, Barbosa, Terry)
63. Alex: Andrei Kirilenko (Ming, Duncan, J. Johnson, Kev. Martin, Ford)
64. All: Sam Dalembert (A. Stoudemire, Carter, B. Davis, Jamison, A. Miller)
65. Jeremy: LaMarcus Aldridge (Nash, Josh Smith, J. O’Neal, Durant, M. Williams)
66. PR: Andris Biedrins (Wade, D. Howard, D. Williams, Roy, Felton)
67. Sean: Rip Hamilton (Arenas, R. Lewis, G. Wallace, Okafor, Parker)
68. BV: Ben Gordon (Nowitzki, Kidd, Hinrich, J-Rich, Deng)
69. Raymond: Monta Ellis (Marion, Camby, Allen, J. Howard, Ginobili)
70. Terrance: Ben Wallace (L. James, Pierce, T-Mac, Okur, Chandler)
71. DM: Corey Maggette (Garnett, Anthony, Billups, Artest, R. Davis)
72. Joel: Stephen Jackson (Bryant, Iverson, Boozer, Odom, M. Miller)

Well the bigs took a backseat to point guards in the 5th, but here they all are, hanging around in the 6th.  Everyone went crazy (myself included) when Aldridge got picked, and yes, we were all jealous.  At least 4 or 5 people said they were going to take him with their next pick, so it’s safe to say that if you REALLY want him, you’re going to have to reach into the 5th.

So after six, who’s looking good?  Well, PR’s annual ‘all PG’s all the time’ strategy looks pretty good although he’s REALLY going to struggle in FT%.  Alex’s team looks great as he waited until the 6th to take his first big risk and AK-47 is a great risk to take that late.  As for the bad … well, I’m not thrilled with Raymond’s team - he’s only got one C so far and Camby hasn’t exactly been Mr. Reliable so far.

Tomorrow: The finale. Friday: The drafters speak.

–BV

Mock Draft Rounds 3 & 4

Continuing our first-ever, reader-participating Mock Draft…

25. Joel: Carlos Boozer (Bryant, Iverson)
26. DM: Chauncey Billups (Garnett, Anthony)
27. Terrance: Tracy McGrady (L. James, Pierce)
28. Raymond: Ray Allen (Marion, Camby)
29. BV: Kirk Hinrich (Nowitzki, Kidd)
30. Sean: Gerald Wallace (Arenas, R. Lewis)
31. PR: Deron Williams (Wade, D. Howard)
32. Jeremy: J. O’Neal (Nash, Josh Smith)
33. All: Baron Davis (A. Stoudemire, Carter)
34. Alex: Joe Johnson (Ming, Duncan)
35. Frank: Al Jefferson (Gasol, Igoudala)
36. Ruyun: Caron Butler (Paul, Bosh)

Well here in round three we see our second big tier drop, about two or three spots in.  Here the tiers are a little more blurry, though.  For example, I think that Billups, McGrady and Ray Allen are probably in a tier above Carlos Boozer, but with Bryant and Iverson already on his squad, Joel couldn’t exactly take another shooter.  Well, he could, but then he’d end up in a similar situation as Terrance, who went with the best overall player in each three rounds, and now is the only team with no PG or C - you know he’ll be drafting the scarcity positions over the next few rounds.

I got razzed for taking Kirk Hinrich as early as I did, but to me it follows my “conservative early, risky late” strategy - Kirk has been 34, 43, and 17 on the TPR over the past three years and I’ll take that from my third round pick.  We had a couple of high-risk, high-reward picks right after the tier dropped, as owners felt they weren’t leaving too much talent on the board going after Gerald Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal and Baron Davis when they did.  At this point you have to like Alex’s team, as he’s got great balance, two good bigs, and an early pick coming up here in the 4th.  Someone I’m not thrilled about?  How about Jeremy, who went two risks in a row with Smith and Jermaine O’Neal?

Round 4:

37. Ruyun: Michael Redd (Paul, Bosh, Butler)
38. Frank: Leandro Barbosa (Gasol, Igoudala, Al Jefferson)
39. Alex: Kevin Martin (Ming, Duncan, J. Johnson)
40. All: Antawn Jamison (A. Stoudemire, V. Carter, B. Davis)
41. Jeremy: Kevin Durant (Nash, Josh Smith, J. O’Neal)
42. PR: Brandon Roy (Wade, D. Howard, D. Williams)
43. Sean: Emeka Okafor (G. Arenas, R. Lewis, G. Wallace)
44. BV: Jason Richardson (Nowitzki, Kidd, Hinrich)
45. Raymond: Josh Howard (Marion, Camby, Allen)
46. Terrance: Mehmet Okur (L. James, Pierce, T-Mac)
47. DM: Ron Artest (KG, Anthony, Billups)
48. Joel: Lamar Odom (Bryant, Iverson, Boozer)

Oof.  I’m going to go ahead and guess that most people were not thrilled with this round.  Redd was an easy pick - he was the only guy who could have even been considered in the third round.  The rest of the round is filled with dares - as in, I dare you to think that Barbosa will repeat his value.  I dare you to think Durant will have top-50 value in his rookie year.  I dare you to think Okur will improve on his 72 on the APR last year.  The safety picks (Jamison, Odom, Martin) look pretty good here but if your team takes that big dare here and hits, well, you’re in for a nice season.

After four rounds, I think you can make a case for the bookends having the best teams.  Joel has gone with the solid, sure-thing each time and hasn’t really reached all that much on any pick.  I also like Ruyun just because Michael Redd is that much better than the rest of this round.  As for the team I like least, I gotta say Jeremy again, his team is filled with question marks.  I think that each of the risks he took were good risks where they were taken, but cumulatively, it’s a bit scary.

–BV

It’s time to start our preseason coverage on FBB. To kick things off we’ll take this week to look at the mock draft we held a week or so ago.
We went 8 rounds deep, and drafted as if it was a Roto league, with the standard 8 categories (i.e. no turnovers). I’ll give my thoughts over the next 4 days, going 2 rounds a day, and then on Friday you’ll get to see what our participants thought of their drafts. Let’s get it started:

Round 1
Joel: Kobe Bryant
DM: Kevin Garnett
Terrance: LeBron James
Raymond: Shawn Marion
BV: Dirk Nowitzki
Sean: Gilbert Arenas
PR: Dwyane Wade
Jeremy: Steve Nash
All: Amare Stoudamire
Alex: Yao Ming
Frank: Pau Gasol
Ruyun: Chris Paul

This year the first four picks could really go in any order, but I think that Kobe is a fair first pick. That’s who I woulda gone with. Marion drops a bit and probably rightfully so, as so much of his value comes from being on the Suns, and there are trade rumors which are scary to say the least. Wade is a classic balls-out, high-risk, high-reward pick here. I wonder if PR would make the same move in a real draft? Some folks questioned the Gasol pick, but after the top 10 it’s really a crapshoot. He might not be first-round value, but who is, really, at 11?

Round 2:
Ruyun: Chris Bosh (Chris Paul)
Frank: Andre Iguodala (Pau Gasol)
Alex: Tim Duncan (Yao Ming)
All: Vince Carter (Amare Stoudemire)
Jeremy: Josh Smith (Steve Nash)
PR: Dwight Howard (Dwyane Wade)
Sean: Rashard Lewis (Gilbert Arenas)
BV: Jason Kidd (Dirk Nowitzki)
Raymond: Marcus Camby (Shawn Marion)
Terrance: Paul Pierce (LeBron James)
DM: Carmelo Anthony (Kevin Garnett)
Joel: Allen Iverson (Kobe Bryant)

OK, first of all, the Vince Carter pick was my fault. One of our participants was a last-minute drop-out due to a broken hand, so I was trying to draft for him while doing my draft as well. BIG mistake. I got flustered and gave him Carter when he really shoulda gotten Jason Kidd. After this we went with consensus picks for that team. Anyhow - this round has two distinct categories, upside and aging stars. The only guy who could really be considered ‘in his prime’ here is probably Rashard Lewis. Everyone else is a rising star (Iggy, Smith, Howard) or an aging one (Iverson, Kidd, Carter). I’m a little more wary of the upside guys than most, but I don’t think anyone really went out on a limb here. I also don’t think there’s much difference between the start of this round and the end of it. Pierce could have gone 13 and Bosh 23 and I don’t think anyone would have questioned it. So with that said, I think the teams early in the draft are looking better as a whole here. Let’s see if that changes tomorrow.

–BV