| 2nd Round Possibilities Authored by Patrick J. Austin - June 20, 2005 - 10:21 am
I’ve spent a majority of my time speculating on whom the Hawks should take with their high lottery pick. Should we select Marvin Williams, Andrew Bogut, or Chris Paul? Should we trade down with Charlotte or Toronto? These are important questions that will be answered soon, but I’d like to take this opportunity to speculate on who we should select with our two second round picks—the 31st and 59th.
The second round can produce some diamonds in the rough. Just last year Chris Duhon, Anderson Varejao, and Trevor Ariza were selected with low second round picks. Carlos Boozer, Gilbert Arenas, Dan Gadzuric, and Manu Ginoboli are some of the most notable second round picks in recent memory.
The new trend seems to be experienced college players falling out of the first round in favor of high school and foreign prospects. This means the Hawks have a good chance at finding someone who can step in and produce right away with these low picks.
With the 31st selection, the players projected to be available include Julius Hodge, Francisco Garcia, Ronny Turiaf, and Ryan Gomes. From this group, my personal favorite is Julius Hodge. He reminds me of Josh Howard; very long, athletic, and loaded with an array of skills. Though, if the Hawks take Chris Paul or Marvin Williams with their lotto pick, it’d make sense to go big so Ronny Turiaf could be our guy.
With the 59th selection, I say go foreign. A young prospect who can spend a couple of years overseas. Some players to consider include Eduardo Hernandez-Sonseca, Milan Majstrovic, Sun Ming-Ming, and Bojan Popovic. Out of this bunch, I like Sun Ming-Ming. The guy is 7’8!
Another option to consider would be trading our two selections and moving into the mid-to-late first round. The Denver Nuggets will be looking to conserve their cap space to make a run at Larry Hughes or Joe Johnson. I could see them dealing one, or both, of their first round selections (the 20th and 22nd picks). Swapping the 31st and 59th picks for the 22nd pick makes sense for both clubs. On the Hawks side, we would be able to select a promising point guard like Roko Leni-Ukic or Jarett Jack. On the Nuggets end, they’ll get out of having to pay a guaranteed contract but still be able to land a some quality talent with those two second round selections.
Of course, things will change during the draft. There always seems to be one or two highly touted players who drop on draft day. Rashard Lewis, Loren Woods, and Maceij Lampe are the most memorable. In this draft, I could see a guy like Chris Taft falling into the Hawks laps at the 31st spot.
The draft is less than two weeks away and with a potential lockout on the horizon, this promises to be one of the more memorable drafts in recent history. |
