If *shudder* we get the 4th pick in the draft...

[Nicholasp27]

why not take splitter?

he's an athletic big man with no real holes in his game...he may not have the ceiling of a martynas, but he's much more ready and has MUCH less bust potential...

he's long, quick, can jump high, plays great defense, both team and individual...sounds like a bk/woody guy...

he's 6'11 and will prolly be a pf, so once he contributes, it may be bye-bye to al...but a pg/chill/smoove/al/splitter lineup may end up working out...

from draftcity.com

"Tiago shows most of the physical gifts you should ask for in a big man, as he has an excellent long frame, that's ready to put some weight on, a nice vertical leap, good quickness and great mobility that allow him to excel at running up and down the court. He’s pretty athletic for a guy his size.

The Brazilian is a very dangerous weapon in the paint. He enjoys a very effective post-up game that's really hard to stop; which is completely logical considering we’re talking about a guy with good footwork, nice footspeed, 6-11 size, long arms, the ability to finish with both hands, a soft touch and no fear of contact, sometimes even looking for it to perform his movements.

Another of his favourite situations on the offensive end is the pick and roll. He sets good picks and perfectly rolls towards the basket, trying then to take advantage of his size and soft touch, or dishing to a teammate whenever he sees a better option than his. Indeed, he sees the floor quite well, especially facing the basket, and makes good decisions, never panicking when double-teamed, although he could improve his passing execution. While not a superb handler, he can reliably put the ball on the floor if needed, and even penetrate, usually against centers, beating them with his quickness, being able to drive both left or right.

Defensively, Tiago is very solid, and quite intense. He’s rarely banged in the low post despite usually being lighter than his rivals, and he enjoys accurate lateral quickness to stop his matchups and even to contain (to a certain degree) smaller rivals after defensive changes. He never forgets team defense, and generally shows very good positioning. He's a decent shot blocker, but he rarely risks his defensive position to get the block, so in the end he’s not very prolific.

By now you’ll have realized that Splitter has quite a high basketball IQ. He’s a smart kid, and knows what the game is about. He’s also a hard worker and a kid who shows good attitude on the court. Everything seems in place in his head. "

the only negative they said was he needs to work on mid-range jumper, but even then they said his mechanics are good and he used to be really good even out to the 3pt line...so that's not a big deal

[Packfill]

My only reservations on hims are (a) when will he be ready to play, (b) he appears to be a good 20-30 pounds away from handling NBA quality interior play and (3) he is not a true center, more power forward. If the team's brain trust deems him sufficiently talented, then definite maybe.

[CBAreject]

[tmac13]

The team with the worst record could do no worse than draft 3rd..I am pretty sure that is how it works.

[CBAreject]

I'm sorry, but we can end up picking 4th even if we have the worst record. I posted the probabilities from last year recently. There was about a 36% chance that the Magic would pick 4th.

It's more likely that we'll pick 4th than 1st, but it's more likely that we'll pick top 3 than 4th.

The lottery is a random draw of lotto balls for all the teams. Each team has a chance at the 1, 2, and 3. If we don't get one of those, we drop to 4th by default.