If not Blake, who should the Thunder take?

[Seymore Cox]

I guess you all did not see Rubio in the Olympics. A team may take Rubio over Blake in a rare situation (maybe Sacramento since they have Hawes and Thompson). Rubio is incredible.

That's where I'm judging my opinion from. Don't get me wrong, he's a sound basketball player and good floor general, but not a #1 pick candidate.

 

[Smash Williams]

Totally agree. Flynn is proven.

It's funny how when US kids went straight from HS to the NBA many people here in the USA ran them down and said it was stupid. Then they hype all these foreigners. Flynn will be the best PG in this draft.

Ricky Rubio is only 18 years old, but he's also a three-year starter in ACB, the top league in Europe. Rubio is playing much tougher competition than a US kid in high school.

 

[DSMok1]

Ricky Rubio is only 18 years old, but he's also a three-year starter in ACB, the top league in Europe. Rubio is playing much tougher competition than a US kid in high school.

Tougher than college, too. Better even than the Big East where Flynn played.

 

[CanRiv12]

Like Rubio, but I think you can actually get some good value at PG later in the round with that second pick. The PG class looks pretty decent depth wise.

Probably go big if available (Thabeet/Hill) depending on where the Thunder pick, then get Mills or Flynn later in the first round.

 

[Dr Sleep]

Thabeet will be a stiff, i'd rather not waste the #2 pick if we get it. Does the thunder have another 1st round pick this year or was it traded for Sefolosia? I would really like to pick up Curry in this draft. I imagine him as a Nate Robinson type without the attitude.

 

[Malcolm X]

Yeah, I forgot about that stiff. Drafted ahead of Carmelo, Wade, and Bosh, David West, Josh Howard, Mo Williams, Boris Diaw, and Michael Pietrius.

Andrea Bargnani too

 

[Seymore Cox]

Andrea Bargnani too

Yeah, but he was more of a weak draft product. In Darko's case, some very good players were passed on. This move and the Iverson move may be the worst moves in Dumars career.

 

[Smash Williams]

Yeah, but he was more of a weak draft product. In Darko's case, some very good players were passed on. This move and the Iverson move may be the worst moves in Dumars career.

The Iverson move isn't as bad as people make it out to be. That move was motivated by money more than anything else. Dumars knew the Pistons weren't a legitimate title contender this year, with or without Billups. Iverson comes off the books this summer (as does Sheed), while Billups has another two years and $25 million left. With most NBA teams not having any cap room to add free agents and also trying to pawn off big contracts just to avoid the luxury tax, that trade gave the Pistons a lot more financial flexibility and a ton of cap room in what will be a buyer's market the next couple of years. It allows the Pistons to rebuild, so to speak, without completely falling off.

The bottom line is that Dumars knew the Pistons couldn't win it all now, and in the grand scheme, there isn't much of a difference between exiting in the first round and exiting in the second or third round with a veteran team. The Billups for Iverson trade allowed him to blow the team up, on a small scale, but Iverson is such a big name that it wasn't a transparent financial maneuver.