What it boils down to...

[falc82]

With Hibbert pulling out of the draft this clears up a few things for the Hawks. First, it will be very tough to get an above average center in this draft, and second and more important, it will be impossible for Conley to slip to #11.

I propose three solutions to what we should do in the draft given this latest news.

Option A) Draft Conley at #3 and Noah at #11.

Conley fills the PG spot that we desperately need to fill, and I really believe he is the better POINT GUARD option over Law by a wide margin. We really don't need a scoring PG on this team. Most of the posters yelling for Law over Conley are young enough to be excited by Jason Terry, but too young to appreciate a PG like Mookie Blaylock. We need a Blaylock type of PG and I think Conley is close to that type of player. Noah at #11 simply gives us an athletic big to team with ZaZa and Shelden.

Option B) Trade the #3 pick for Rondo and the #5 and take Noah at #11. Also take Brandan Wright at #5.

If Boston is as obsessed over Yi as rumored then they may be willing to give up Rondo in this trade given that West has shown to be a very good player at the same position. We would have to convince them we were interested in taking Yi at the #3 spot ourselves. I believe the Grizzlies would then take Conley at #4 leaving the best player available as Brandan Wright. Wright has superstar potential and adds a Amare/Jefferson type player at the 4. Noah at #11 would complete our team.

Rondo/Speedy

JJ/Salim

Marvin/Chillz

Smoove/Wright

ZaZa/Shelden

That seems very solid with a lot of potential. A lot of things would have to fall right for this to happen, but I believe it is feasible.

Option 3) Trade the #3 straight up for Aldridge. I don't think the Blazers would do this and that they are more interested in moving Randolph. I would not be interested in acquiring Zach Randolph. They would only do this if they deemed Aldridge expendable following the drafting of Oden, and if they wished to keep Oden paired with Conley. I believe this to be the least likely scenario.

The point of this post is to illustrate that we have plenty of options if we are willing to be creative with our capital. These options do not require us to give up major pieces like Josh Smith or Marvin, and I think we should hold onto them if at all possible. Of all the options I like B the best. Thoughts?

[BusBoyIsBack]

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With Hibbert pulling out of the draft this clears up a few things for the Hawks. First, it will be very tough to get an above average center in this draft, and second and more important, it will be impossible for Conley to slip to #11.

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Problem is so many of you are missing a bigger issue with Hibbert going back in school.

It's guaranteed to be no big men there whatsoever at #11.

Odds were slim Noah dropped out of the top 10. Now the odds are better of he and Hawes going in the top 10 than they are of Noah falling.

Zero chance Noah falls now.

That's why we have to take him or any other post player we like with our fist pick.

Yes Conley is the best PG and we will miss out on him.

But again:

An A to A+ player (Conley) and a D- player (#11 big) don't make a good average

But a B to A player (Noah) and B to A player (Law) make a pretty nice average.

[falc82]

Unfortunately the NBA doesn't work like that. You can't simply average players together to determine a likely success rate. The NBA has 5 players on the court at one time, and therefore one star player or above average player can make a huge difference. Also if Noah is a B+ type player then I don't think the case can be made that Hawes is a D type player. He isn't the ideal solution at center, but he is vastly underrated by this board all the same.

I like Noah more than most, but picking him at #3 is the same type of reach that picking Shelden at #5 was last year, and it is debatable that it is more of a reach.

I see little evidence that points towards Noah being a top 10 pick this year, and in fact I can see a scenario where Law isn't even available at #11 but Noah is. The Kings/T-wolves are now looking as if they will focus more on PG than C, and if we or Memphis pick Conley at #3/4 then I can see Law going to one of those two teams. Noah was never going to be the #1 overall pick last year, but he would have more than likely gone top 3, but him coming back this year hurt his stock as questions were raised about his offensive ability, also this is a much deeper draft than last years. Noah at #3 is a huge reach, much more than Conley would be, and I do believe that at this point Noah is a #11 pick, not top 10.

[Yeti]

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Also if Noah is a B+ type player then I don't think the case can be made that Hawes is a D type player. He isn't the ideal solution at center, but he is vastly underrated by this board all the same.

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You are right. I've watched Hawes all year and kept saying I didn't think he was the right choice for the Hawks but now he is the best big man left. (I consider Noah a tall forward, Hawes is a real center.) It will take him some time to develop - he is still a tall skinny kid one year out of high school (but so is Oden).

There are several reasons why he is not highly regarded on this board - first is the "big white stiff"/Koncak syndrome. It's real and we've been burned before - but a few of the BWS's have been solid contributors. - Another reason is that he was sick and injured for much of the year, the people who know that may be scared of his health and those who didn't know it look at the stats for that part of the year and think he's a slug.

He's young, he's too skinny, he needs more muscle, needs more experience - but he's quick, he's 7-ft, has excellent fundamentals, works hard, shoots well with either hand, and is a very good ball handler. He can rebound and play D, but needs someone to push him more in that area. He did manage to shutdown Aaron Gray and Big Baby. We could do worse at 11. But I won't cry about it either way - - unless we pick a $%^&@ forward again.