I really went back and forth on Baron and Amare a couple of times. Even already writing the pick Baron Davis in the thread. But did not press the post button. Still do not know if we made the right pick because Baron looks to be even better than before. In the end we decided on Amare, the thought of him having more upside potential and the rumour he has added a jumpshot to his impressive driving to the hoop was the last info we needed. We know it is an early pick but Amare did not disappoint us last year so he looks like a great addition to our squad.

5.01 Lamar Odom, F
Here I go again and break one of my basic rules and select a player who has had an attitude problem (as well as a history of drug problems). Life under Riley in Miami should be a little quieter than LA and Odom's pre-season results would indicate that to be true. Perhaps a third rule of my draft should be to pay little attention to pre-season stats. Clearly Odom has the talent...perhaps I should have first checked to see whether Odom is not living in the South Beach area!

Oh, and with respect to the knee surgery, by comparison I also noted that Finley has missed over 40 games the past two seasons (combined, not each). Malone is healthy but at his age in a new system I don't know that he'll be going "full-bore" all season... I particularly would expect some late season rest. In that light, the risk seemed minimal, since Caron is young and only had minor surgery... so I don't expect that it'll take him long to be in game shape, clearly making him the best choice available to me here.

With our rosters starting to take more shape by this time, I thought Artest combined with Iverson and Crawford could give me a solid chance to take over the steals category, and when you add in Walker and Van Exel, a good chance at the 3's as well.

I didn't vary much from my initial reaction that Murphy was my pick at this point. But, I don't have another pick until 7.7. At this point, I'm worried that a lot of talent is moving off the board, but what can I do?

We looked at Jamison and Richardson here also. Jamison does not have any upside compared to being in Golden State last year. And the newly created Antoine Walker factor also seems to indicate it was the right decision to leave him here at the point. Is this Richardson's year? We weren't willing to gamble 40% FG to find out, especially with JWill already on board.

7.01 Kurt Thomas, F/C, NY
Lacking a second Center, Thomas stood out for me. While his results are more typical of a PF than a C (specially in respect to blocks) they are nevertheless better all round than all but the top five centers. I feel that his availability in this 7th round reflects a reluctance by many people to draft Knicks.

Without an obvious choice standing above the others, this is actually where I decided to just get the best available player and figure out how to fit them together later. I've never been a great fan of Mike Miller, so this pick was made mostly on trust in Jerry West. West thought highly enough of Miller to trade his first round pick from last year for him, sign him to a huge extension, and talk about building this year's team around Miller. Without any better ideas myself, I thought I could at least take a chance on what Jerry is doing, if Miller really will be a center of the offense in Memphis. His numbers last year were depressed by an injury they now claim is 100%, and thought he would have gone higher if he had been healthy. I thought he could contribute solid FT% and 3's while throwing in 5+ rebounds and 3-4 assists, especially if he touches the ball every time down. With the contract and commitments West has made to him, I have to believe Memphis will give him every opportunity to have a breakout year. My other finalists were Keon Clark, Kwame, Desmond Mason, Darius Miles, and Nesterovic, each considered in case I wanted to make a jump in a specific category. In the end, I decided to go with who I believed was the most well-rounded instead.

8.01 Brian Grant, F/C, Mia
837 total rebounds, .509 fg%. Just couldn't pull my eyes away from those numbers. I see Grant as a PF on my team, but it's nice to have the C eligibility in case Zydrunas goes down (which is a very real possiblility). So it's nice to have that back up Center plan. I was really interested in Ginobili, and was sure he'd be gone in the next round of picks, but Grant supplied too many rebounds to pass on at this point. So I signed him up.

Swift has never quite measured up to his purported potential, but he began to show some flashes during the second half of last season. After the All Star break, he average 12 ppg, with 6.7 boards, 1.7 blocks, .9 steals, 50.6%FG shooting, and 73.7% FT shooting. Granted, he still has to battle Lorenzen Wright for minutes. But Swift is only 23, and on the final year of his contract. If ever there was a time for him to put together an entire season, this would be the one.

Here's hoping that this year, the race belongs to the Swift.

Other than researching various centers at this slot, I didn't give much consideration to any other small player. I should mention that I would have taken Kandi had he fallen a few slots.

9.01 Kenny Thomas, F, Phi
He completes my pair of K. Thomas'. A favorite of Larry Brown's who blossomed once he acclimatised to Philadelphia. Let's hope that Randy Ayers has the same faith. If he does then we should be looking at a nightly double double.

However, Miles is like Odom for me, and continues to be tempting despite past disappointments because of the great promise and talent. Like a lesser version of Odom or Antoine Walker, Miles can get everything from rebounds to assists to steals and blocks, but can't shoot at all. Yes, I have a weakness for this kind of player. What especially intrigued me was the experiment this preseason of Miles playing point guard for the Cavs. While I'm not sure I like this from a basketball perspective (just as I wouldn't put Antoine Walker at Point Forward), but despite what it does to the team's W/L record it certainly makes for great roto stats potential. I was also able to watch one of the Cavs preseason games on TV when they played in LA, and I was actually impressed with Miles playing a bit smarter and having a far more improved jumpshot than I ever thought he could get to. He still spent way too much time standing around and watching when he didn't have the ball, but maybe he can get assists passing to all of LeBron and Ricky Davis' shots, and then pick up extra rebounds from the many they will miss. Since I had considered drafting him as early as 7.11, I thought I would be best off just doing it now and not regretting a missed opportunity later.