Daily Links 4/2

Conley, Jr. is going to be a special player. I think he can have a CP3-like impact right away. It would be a dream come true to find a way to get both he and Oden on a Celtic uniform, however unlikely it is.

Yes, Conley is a blue chipper. I wonder if he’ll come out. If he plays well in the championship game, he might, because he’ll be a top ten pick.

Another guy I like is Corey Brewer. He did not play well early in the tournament, but he did against UCLA. He could be the long defender the Celtics desperately need, although he needs to add 25-30 pounds of muscle. Brandon Rush is also an outstanding defender.

Frankly I’d rather have two or three picks in the 5-25 range than the #1 or #2 pick. I’m not sold on Oden or Durant. Both have been overhyped. The potential is there, so you couldn’t pass if you had an opportunity to draft either one of them, but it would not suprise me if the best NBA player in this draft turned out to be someone else.

That CBS Sportsline story is the most idiotic thing I have read in a long time. The Gators would lose by 40 points to the Cs on their best night.

I agree TripleOT. I hope they lose big to Ohio State and my boys Oden and Conley. :D

Sadly I agree there is real danger in Oden and Durant. From what I have seen, Durant is the more likely of the two to become a superstar. Its ok if I am wrong but Oden might really get exposed tonight or better yet since we might get him, prove he is worthy.Ohio state has been nearly as good without him as with him so I am not feeling too great about him being a sure thing.

Noah has really shown how pathetic his offensive moves are. So I think he slips badly. He is playing well but the guy is pretty awful on the o.

I would seriously think about trading down. If we could cough up the first pick for someone like aldridge, or Roy and drop to 4th of 5th, this would be a similar manuever we used to trade carroll and get mchale and parrish. I am not saying I know who we should go after, I am saying I agree that these guys are PROBABLY overhyped and the environment seems ripe to snag a future star and trade down a pick or two and get someone who is as good

Are you comparing Roy and Aldridge to Parish and whomever the Cs pick at 4 or 5 to McHale? Trading the rights to either Durant or Oden would be the most foolish move this franchise could make. The only way I would consider trading Durant is if Minny would take Wally and salary filler for KG and Foye. It would have to be a real sweet deal to give up Durant. I wouldn’t trade Oden for anyone but Duncan or Yao.

I am not comparing anyone to anyone else at all. If you are looking for a fight today go somehwre else. What I said was the environment is ripe for us to do what Red did: grab a young prospect already in the nba and trade down a couple for a guy who might end up better than much hyped Durant and Oden

Lets say we have the first pick. Would you trade it in a package to Memphis at number two? Say we trade GG, and the pick for Gasol and their pick at two….that is what I am talking about. That way we get Gasol and Durant for Oden. Sure it won’t happen, but something like it might be a good idea.

Are you feeling great about Oden if he gets 2 quick fouls, again, and ends up with a line of 10-10-2? I am not a yound guy…I saw Russell and Walton and Kareem. I recall guys like Artis Gilmore. Oden has had very few games that compared to dozens of games those great guys played. We could step into an awful trap on this….it won’t be pretty if he is never any better than Joe Barry Carroll was.

I think you have to evaluate Oden after a year of learning under Clifford Ray. He could become a really special player. But he is AT LEAST a year away. He is not a polished, finished product like Duncan was in 1996.

As for trading down, the team to target is Phoenix. If the season ended today, Phoenix would have #5 (from the Hawks), #24 (from the Cavs) and #29 (Suns own pick). Meanwhile, the Suns have a payroll for 2007-08 of 76,527,777 (assuming Kurt Thomas exercises his player option, which he will). That is way, way over the luxury tax threshhold. The three draft picks will cost the Suns another 4 million plus the associated luxury tax, so they have to be looking into trading one or more of their picks and dumping salary, especially since they are projedted to be at 71 million plus for 2008-09, which is lower but still in luxury tax land.

Theo Ratliff, Ryan Gomes and #1 or #2 could fetch Shawn Marion or a Boris Diaw/Barbosa package.

I forgot to add that in the scenario where the Celtics traded pick #1 or #2 to Phoenix, , pick #5 would also be coming back to the Celtics.

This team doesn’t need another pretty good player/solid NBA player type pick. We need a superstar for 2 reasons. #1 is that is what it will take to put this team in contention. #2 In about 4-5 years we will need someone to step up and fill Pierce’s role. A championship team needs 3 stars. (Or two superstars) Big Al will be one of those. (Maybe star or superstar) Pierce is one. (Borderline superstar) and the third is what separates us. I agree on Oden. He may turn out to be an average center. Durant could be that other star. Someone else in the first round in hindsight will be a star as well that we will be sorry we passed on. If we could trade that first pick and dump a contract like Wally’s for KG or Gasol you do that in a heartbeat.

Sadly this is why I am worried if they fire Doc. They have to be smart enough to retain Clifford Ray. There is no guarantees on brain power with this bunch, and Ray is a key to Oden getting closer to his potential.

Id trade down. But this is much like a corporate buyer who has to stick with the incumbent company: DA won’t trade down unless it looks like he really nailed it. If we could get Marion and Georgetwons center for a first pick, Id do that in a second

right so in my scenorio we get Marion and the 5th pick for our first pick and what do whatever else we need to do that has no real effect to make it happen(Gomes, contracts, etc) Now THAT is very similar to the move Red made, althout Marion is a star and Parrish wasn’t yet

If we could get Marion and Hibbert for our hopefully top 2 pick then it might be worth doing. I’d rather have Gasol or KG in tht deal though. Hibbert did look like he had rocks in his shoes though and didn’t have the athleticism that Oden has. He may be an Eric Montross type who is too slow to do it at the higher level. He did seem to hang with Oden but as a senior maybe he is as good as he will get. Not a ton of upside likely. Wahz is right on about keeping Cliffor Ray. He’s likely the best coach we have! At least the most productive…

Well, EJPLAYA, if you thought that Durant or Oden would become a superstary, you would keep the pick. The only player who would be worth trading it (without getting a top 5-6 pick back) is Garnett. And that’s a pipe dream. Garnett is headed to the Bulls or the Lakers. He would opt out of his deal rather than come to Boston.

Gasol and O’Neal are marshmallows who add nothing. I think wahz has the right idea, although I would not use #5 on Hibbert.

I would also like to get a pick in the low 20’s this June. Someone always slips.

I think that Durant likely will be a star and maybe a superstar but not likely. You can always get wing players who can score. He is better than most at this age though. Oden is a big chance though. I have seen enough of him in games to think he is a long way off right now. He has the tools to be a star or superstar, but Durant is a lot closer at this point. I don’t think he could beat out Perkins this year. Probably the following year though. The Clippers thought Olowakandi was going to be amazing then too and look where he is sitting! I was saying that we take either one if we have top 2 pick and possibly take KG (agree he is the best of the group) if available, or if it is 3 or lower we trade out. No one after those two looks likely to be a superstar. We have enough players that can be stars now. (Green, Rondo, Tony) Lets not add more “potential”. Let’s trade our good pick for a good veteran, not just an old player…

Durant is only better than Oden if you consider the offense end of the floor to be more important than the defensive end. It isn’t.