Just a thought...

[Wretch]

Do we know that Dwight Howard is that good...as we conjure up various combinations of draft picks, players, and gold for the rights to select 1 or 2? Seriously. I'm not saying that he'll be the next Kwame or the next KG. I'm only asking at this point in time do we know that he's worth it? Or could it be that we are just more dissapointed that we didn't "win" the lottery?

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If anything, I believe that our choices would have been limited if we had won a top selection. We would have likely been bitten by the consensus bug and popular opinion - like Chad Ford telling us that Howard was the guy we wanted; yeah, I'm sure that Tight Lips Billy Knight would let anyone know THIS far ahead of the game who he's targeting. If at all...

I may not have complete confidence in Billy Knight's game plan (whatever that is because nobody knows), but I do believe in his ability to yank talent right out of the draft. If he goes ahead and pulls all these strings to land Howard, then I'll have no complaints - as long as it's BK making the moves and not our committe ownership forcing an issue.

However...

I have a strong feeling about this year's draft class. I know that the word on the street is that after Howard and Okafor the talent level drops off and yada, yada, etc...but this is the same crapage hurled by the same media monkeys seemingly every year (they said the same thing last year about Bron, Melo, and Darko for example). If drafting and evaluating talent were an exact science, then nobody would ever kick themself over passing up a KG, Jordan, or Malone. The truth is nobody knows, not even the guys who get paid to follow these prospects around and scrutinize every motion in their physicality.

So what makes my opinion any different? Sitting behind a computer screen, scouring scouting reports and catching every prep showcase that I can... The difference is the number of prep-to-pros and Euros mixed in this draft and no one is paying attention to it. I think that there are so many "unknowns" this year that they will scatter the real talent - to be sorted out in the years to come saddled with sleeper labels.

Perhaps we should take a strong look at trying to come out of this thing with two (or more) first round picks? We've got nothing but open roster spots to fill and playing time for them. I think that sitting tight might not be such a bad idea...

I also think that we are saddled with the burden of Jason Terry; the net result of dealing him may cost us more in the long run - either in talent forced to be bundled with him in a trade or through JT realizing his potential. I'm not suggesting that we entrust the future of the point to him, or that we continue to try building a team that suits him...but he can be a deadly second option, perhaps he could develop into a serviceable point guard?

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If not, there is nothing stopping us from drafting like we need a PG. If our new PG prospect works out better so be it. If we must trade JT then, so be it...but I don't think we should just p#ss more talent away, simply to select a high school kid who may have no more value to our franchise than either of the multiple players (or potential) that we give up.

Just a thought.