Very good read by Chad Ford.

[KB21]

Chad Ford's Blog -- The Top Three Picks -- ESPN Insider

Here are some highlights of the blog spot:

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Here at the lottery, I spoke on Tuesday night with the three main players in the draft to get their take. Toronto Raptors president Bryan Colangelo and Chicago Bulls GM John Paxson talked to me before and after the draft lottery about their plans. Charlotte Bobcats GM Bernie Bickerstaff, who wasn't here, spoke with me on the phone after the lottery to give me his thoughts.

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predicted the Raptors would take Andrea Bargnani No. 1. For those of you writing in and saying there's no way Colangelo would do that, here was his response.

"He's clearly a candidate for the No. 1 pick," Colangelo said after finding out he won the lottery. "He was before the Raptors got the No. 1 pick and he continues to be."

The circumstantial evidence that Colangelo might select Bargnani is strong: He has (a) heavily scouted Bargnani the past two years, (b) been one of his Bargnani's biggest fans for a while, © shown when at Phoenix that he is very open to international players and (d) been in the process of wooing Bargnani's boss, Benetton GM Maurizio Gherardini, to the Raptors.

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"We have some real holes at point guard and center," Colangelo said. "But I'm not sure the way to fill them is in the draft. I don't think there's an impact player at those positions, so we might not address our weaknesses in the draft. We're not good enough to draft around the young players we have.

What you have to do is draft the best player in the draft and worry about things like positions later.

We've got to keep the focus on both the short and the long term and the draft is really about the long term."

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The funny thing is, Byran Colangelo says this and it's a good thing. Billy Knight says the same thing, and he's perceived as if he doesn't know what he's doing. The media and certain fans have a serious double standard here.

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Several times Colangelo mentioned six players -- Bargnani, Tyrus Thomas, LaMarcus Aldridge, Adam Morrison, Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay -- when asked by media members who were the top players under consideration.

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While the word around the league is that Paxson prefers Tyrus Thomas, he, too, said before and after the draft that he hadn't made up his mind yet and "had a lot of work to do."

Why Thomas? Wouldn't Aldridge do more to fill the need for an interior scorer?

Paxson wouldn't say, but I think that one issue with Aldridge is heart. Aldridge is very talented, but has the rep of being a little on the soft side. He's a great kid who might lack the killer instinct. Thomas, on the other hand, is rawer, but with the heart of a lion. That fits perfectly into the type of team Paxson and Chicago coach Scott Skiles are trying to build.

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"We have to ask and answer the question, are we too young?" Paxson said. "We're ready as an organization to take this team to the next level. We've been in the playoffs two straight years and have to think about how to start winning in the playoffs. I'm not sure there's anyone in this draft that significantly improves us."

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Really, John Paxon gave no indication of what he will do. I still believe he will take Tyrus Thomas due to his upside.

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The Bobcats had rotten luck last year when they slipped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the draft lottery -- pushing them out of position to draft either of their two top-rated players, Marvin Williams and Chris Paul.

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Bickerstaff said that the team is still too young to really be drafting for needs.

Bickerstaff was vague about which way he was leaning. When asked about Aldridge and Thomas, he said, "If the guys with size are there, you always have to look at it. We've gone that way the past couple of drafts, but you can never have enough."

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"I'm looking to add talent," Bickerstaff said, "preferably versatile players who can play multiple positions on the floor."

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Amazing! Someone else stating the same drafting principles as Billy Knight, yet he doesn't get criticized for it.

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The Bobcats need someone who can put the ball in the hole, and Morrison might be a quick fix -- he's older and more advanced offensively than some of the other top prospects. But Bickerstaff might not be convinced that Morrison has an advantage.

"I'm not sure he's going to be a great scorer coming out of the gate," Bickerstaff said. "He's got a chance. But it's a different game in the NBA. He's going to have to make a lot of adjustments."

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That could be a smoke screen, but I don't believe NBA scouts have as high of an opinion of Adam Morrison as the media has.

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Maybe Andrea Bargnani?

"I think he's in the mix for the No. 1 pick," Bickerstaff said. "I just got back from Italy watching him. He can really shoot it and he's got a great first step."

Brandon Roy?

"He'd be a good fit, too," Bickerstaff said. "He's more ready to play then some of them and he's a guy who probably won't hurt you down the road."

Or maybe it's Rudy Gay?

"I think people have been a little hard on Rudy," Bickerstaff said. "I still think he's in the mix. He's got the right size, athleticism and work ethic."

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Hmmm. Interesting. Perhaps Rudy Gay will indeed be the Bobcats target, seeing as how they missed out on the guy they really wanted last year in Marvin Williams.

All in all, this is a good read. He doesn't go into the Hawks, which is probably good because it would be easy to pick out his bias against Billy Knight.

[Packfill]

Someone else already posted this.

[KB21]

[Plainview1981]

Billy Knight is not a proven winner as GM. Atlanta has been terrible his two years here. Doubling your win total sounds great until you realize it only lead to 26 wins. It doesn't look impressive then.

Oh, and the east got weaker and that was a big factor in the team doubling it's win total.

[VDiLetto]

The difference is that those GMs would see build around the talent they had and not have 16 frickin SFs!!

[Guest Walter]

We're now to the point of worrying about things later. Whom do we trade that can actually fill a hole without digging one?

W

[KB21]

First, we Joe Johnson, we don't need a so called true point guard, and both Dallas and Phoenix are proving that we also don't need a seven footer in the paint. Phoenix just keeps on winning with the three small forward line up that you swear cannot be successful.

[Plainview1981]

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First, we Joe Johnson, we don't need a so called true point guard, and both Dallas and Phoenix are proving that we also don't need a seven footer in the paint. Phoenix just keeps on winning with the three small forward line up that you swear cannot be successful.

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Joe Johnson is barely in the top 50 of A/T. He's not a replacement for a PG. PERIOD. He;s not a PG, and he's not a player you want handling the ball most of the game.

Dirk is a 7 footer that averages 9RPG. You noticed that Dallas has had a better playoff run with Dirk attempting alot less 3's?

You sound stupid.

Yeah, we saw an uncontested game last night. Neither team made any effort on defense at all. Second of all, the Suns haven't played a really good team in the playoffs yet. To alot people the Suns should have won the opening round easier than they did.

[Packfill]

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First, we Joe Johnson, we don't need a so called true point guard, and both Dallas and Phoenix are proving that we also don't need a seven footer in the paint. Phoenix just keeps on winning with the three small forward line up that you swear cannot be successful.

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I don't see how anyone can compare the Hawks to the Suns or the Mavs - both those teams have one of the top 5 players (Suns = Nash; Mavs = Dirk) currently in the NBA.

Even if JJ, Marvin or Smoove improve to allstar level being one of the top 5 in the game is an entirely different level.