NBA Playoffs: It's Balltastic!

In case you missed it, our pal Henry Abbott over at True Hoop talks about the latest nut-grabbing incident in the NBA. It's also features perhaps the greatest headline in the history of the world . . .

"Josh Howard Gets an Avery in the Johnson"

Youch!

Drafty

From now until draft day, the only thing worth talking about in Sonicland will be who Seattle will take with the 10th pick - or if they'll trade the pick for something else. With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to keep track of what the experts think the Sonics will do. Today will be the first edition of What Should the Sonics Do?

si.com - JJ Redick, Duke, SG
espn.com - Marcus Williams, UConn, PG
nbadraft.net - Cedric Simmons, NC State, PF/C
foxsports.com - Shelden Williams, Duke, PF/C
about.com - Shelden Williams
hoopshype.com - Ronnie Brewer, Arkansas, SG
insidehoops.com - Patrick O'Bryant, Bradley, C
msnbc.com - Shelden Williams
collegehoops.net - Marcus Williams
hoopsvibe.com - Ronnie Brewer

Those are just 10 of 14,367 sites compiling mock drafts at this moment. Just imagine if all of the energy spent researching draft choices for the NBA by people who don't even get paid by an NBA team were spent researching, oh, I don't know, cancer? And imagine if 3 losers from Seattle spent as much time working on their careers as much as, oh, I don't know, a blog?

I love this game!

Lottery

Thankfully, not making the playoffs does give teams something to get excited about in the offseason - The Lottery.

It seems as if every day draft prognosticators have different guys wearing Sonic jerseys - assuming Seattle lands the #10 pick as expected. Among the people I've seen attributed to Seattle are Mardy Collins, Ronnie Brewer, and 100 other players.

A couple of tips:

1. Everybody is "long"
2. Everybody has "exceptional quickness"
3. Everybody "needs to work on defensive positioning"
4. Everybody "reminds scouts of (insert player of same race and height here)"

With that in mind, I'm not adverse at all to Seattle dealing the pick + Danny Fortson to pickup something useful: a veteran center, perhaps?

The lottery will be starting at 4:30 pm tonight, West Coast time.

UPDATE: The lottery has ended. Bad News: The Sonics got the 10th pick. Good News: Portland dropped to fourth!