THE DRAFT
A number of teams have two first-round picks this summer.
The Bulls have the best two (their own and the Knicks').
Other teams with multiple first-round picks: The Blazers (their own and the Pistons'), the Knicks (the Nuggets' and the Spurs'), the Hornets (their own and the Bucks'), the Nets (their own and the Clippers') and the Suns (their own and possibly the Lakers').
It looks as though five teams -- the Bobcats, Bulls (via the Knicks), Hawks, Blazers, and Magic -- will battle it out for the best chance at the top pick in the draft. This year's draft lacks star power at the top. Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge, UConn's Rudy Gay and Gonzaga's Adam Morrison are the only three prospects that scouts agree are indisputably worthy of a top-five pick in the draft.
So who's No. 1? It really may depend on the team. The early indications I've received are that the Bulls and Hawks would lean toward Aldridge based on need. The Blazers and Magic are high on Morrison. The Bobcats, I'm told, like Gay.
With high school players now banned from the draft and a thin crop of international players (only Andrea Bargnani, Tiago Splitter and Rudy Fernandez are considered locks for the first round), college players will be in the spotlight this year.
The good news for NBA teams drafting later in the first round is that while there isn't much star power at the top, scouts feel the draft has excellent depth.
"This is going to be one of those drafts where the difference between the eighth player in the draft and 31st player in the draft isn't going to be very wide at all," one veteran NBA scout told Insider. "There will be some dramatic mistakes at the top and some great steals at the bottom."
The most interesting subplot of the draft may center on Duke's J.J. Redick.
Typically, undersized shooting guards without great athleticism don't find homes in the first round. But Redick may be different. He's been so outstanding this season that scouts are now beginning to waffle just a bit on their low projections of Redick.
While most GMs and scouts Insider has spoken with have him in the mid teens or early 20s on their draft boards, one NBA GM told me he thought Redick would be a top-10 pick, maybe even a top-5 pick, on draft night. The thinking goes that teams need what Redick delivers -- great shooting, toughness and a winning attitude. Whether he has the physical tools to become a star in the NBA may not be as important in this case.