I took McDyess at this point because there was really nobody else on the board that interested me at all. Instead, everybody available seemed like a lot of average players who I could mix and match without much regret for missing out on anybody. In contrast, I thought McDyess was the one guy out there who could have make an impact if he gets back to playing again. I don't know if he'll ever be healthy again, but in round 10 even if he is only a shadow of his former self, he might still be able to get enough rebounds and blocks to be at least equal to the rest of the big men who were available, like Antonio Davis, Brendan Haywood, and Battier, and potential to be much, much better. Everybody in New York has kept very quiet about his status, but I did see that he was on the court again, running and cutting, far ahead of the swimming-pool workouts that I thought he was limited to. They are starting to talk about having him scrimmage in the next week even. I don't believe David Aldridge's All-Star break return date, but believe somewhere around late November is possible and mid-December reasonable. When he came back initially last preseason, he put up big rebounding numbers, and he used to be a top-15 or 20 player as recently as 2-3 years ago. I know he won't return to that, but it's rare to be able to get someone with such talent so low. In round 10, with nobody else exciting, I didn't mind the possibility of wasting the pick if he never plays, if it could also pay off decently if he comes back with even just a part of his old game.

Ironically, Raef LaFrentz and Derrick Coleman were my other consideration at this slot. DC always is an injury concern (see pattern in my team) and I didn't think Raef was going to see enough PT in a crowded Dallas front court - this would have been my spot to look like a genius, huh?

11.01 Carlos Arroyo, G, Utah
What was I thinking in taking somebody whom I had never heard of prior to this pre-season? I promised to avoid rookies and hear I am falling into the trap of picking a rookie whose only real credentials are good pre-season stats. His present competition for starting PG is Lopez whom either has not fully recovered from injuries or lacks the ability to make it in the NBA. Providing that Utah does not lay out the money to find a real replacement to Stockton than Arroyo will show some good numbers.

If Anderson can continue to play 34-36 minutes a night, he's always been very consistent not only in scoring but 3-4 rebounds, 4-5 assists, and one of the best FT% in the league. He gets to the line enough that I'm hoping he can start to help me dig my way out of that basement. And if he doesn't fit on my team, I figured he'd be a decent bargaining chip in any potential trades. He's well-rounded enough that he can help most teams, and maybe could help me land a rebounder at some point down the line. Prior to the round, I had been pretty confident that Quentin Richardson would have fallen to me at this pick, and I had gotten ahead of myself getting excited about adding him to my roster a little early.

12.01 T.J. Ford, G, Mil
I had thought so hard about taking Troy Hudson that it felt like my head would explode, or grow Jerry Curls. Opted for TJ Ford as a last chance grab at pumping up my assist and steal totals. I think I regret this choice because the last thing my team needed was another rookie sucking the life out of my FG%. The guy I probably would have taken at this point was Derek Anderson, but that darn lionprideguy stole him away from me. Actually, there were many guys that I seriously considered. Foyle for the blocks, Reggie Miller, Mutombo, even Lafrentz and Vlad Divac. I guess I eventually decided to take Ford over Hudson because he would probably get more minutes, but now I'm not so sure. Might just start off with TJ on the bench and see exactly how bad his shooting is, and whether his other Cat Stats are strong enough to override this deficiency.

Because I was focused on doing something to help my numbers in the big man categories, I didn't let myself consider any guards at this pick. I came extremely close to taking Mehmet Okur here and had to talk myself out of it many times. However, most of his better games in the preseason seem to have come when Ben Wallace hasn't played much. Also, his best games last year were when he played 30+ minutes, which only happened when Wallace was injured. In the end, I decided that there just weren't enough points or rebounds to go around on Detroit since Wallace would be eating them all up, and Okur would still have to share minutes with Elden Campbell and Rebraca. Also considered: Nazr Mohammad, but he's not guaranteed to start and would hurt both my FG% and FT% categories. Vlade, but once Webber comes back his minutes will be reduced. Mutombo, but I have to believe he's older than the 36 or so he claims and is getting ineffective quickly, hasn't even gotten many blocks recently (although I could regret this judgement soon), and Marc Jackson. It was toughest to pass on Okur, but I already had enough risks at this point and thought it would be healthier for me to go with the safest pick for once.

But while Foyle certainly has his shortcomings, he should be a servicable player who can fill an important role on my squad. In fact, I took him last season as a late round pick, and he surprisingly made important contributions to my team during the final few months. There aren't many players who can get 2+ blocks per game, which gives him some scarcity value as well.

In the meantime, I think my relative strength/depth at F and C makes up for my somewhat shaky guard situation. I also have 3 more picks to find a backup guard, though admittedly I'll be scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel...

13.01 Scot Pollard, F/C, Ind
Pollard acts as some insurance if Al Harrington doesn't come through, and I did need a back-up center. I can see myself dropping Pollard early in the season if Harrington shows good scores and somebody available unexpectedly blossoms with 3pt shooting.

I also seriously considered Kendrick Brown at this point, for reasons I’ll discuss in my 14.02 rationale. Since I was searching for help in rebounding, I would have loved to have been able to get Danny Fortson since it sounds like he’ll get more minutes in Dallas as the designated rebounder in their trigger-happy offense. I was pretty set on taking advantage of the opportunities created by the trade, so I didn’t look too far beyond these players as I felt their value had suddenly risen above the others remaining on my list. Baker also having F/C flexibility was just a bonus.

14.01 Lamond Murray, F, Tor
I live close to Toronto, and I'm a huge Raptors fan, and the word around here is that Murray is gonna play a big role on this team. But instead of projecting the future, in this case I like to look at the recent past. In 71 games with Cleveland in 2001-02, Lamond put up these numbers: 43.6 FG%, 81.8 FT%, 101 3-pointers made, 372 rebounds,1176 points, for a 16ppg avg. That wasn't that long ago, and after a long lay-off, I'm betting that Murray is aching to prove that he is still a major player. Definitely worth a 14th round pick at any rate.

Wanting to make sure I wasn’t ignoring other options, I considered Anfernee Hardaway and might have considered Pat Garrity as well. As for the rest of the Celtics, I like Jumaine Jones but he sounds like his injury is going to linger for a bit into the season and keep him from playing, and Kedrick is making the most of his chance to prove he needs to play over Jumaine instead. Eric Williams seems to be the odd man out now and has been rumored to be trade bait in another deal, which tells me even more that he’s not in Boston’s plans in their new lineup. Hopefully one of either Baker or Brown will work out, and if the other doesn’t I can drop him and replace him through the free agent pool.

15.01 Reece Gaines, G, Orl
Very slim pickings at this stage so why not go with a long shot. Gaines has the potential to become Orlando's starting PG. Nobody else is presently ahead of him so perhaps he is not such a long shot.

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