Rocketman, I think you're right: I am conformist. I put a lot of stock in the opinions of professionals, meaning in this case the GMs. In the popular press, Brand had taken a pretty hard knocking, as has the management ability of Krause. These things I do not pay attention to. I think Krause is a pretty shrewd basketball operator and I trust him to pick solid players in the draft (I don't want to argue about passing on Francis and Odom or Krause's ability in general though). Also, being in Chicago and having Brand on my fantasy team, I've been following him all season. He started out a little slow, but he has been playing a very consistent game ever since. He always gets his points and his rebounds, regardless of the opponent. As it turns out, perhaps Brand wasn't the best pick, but he is proving to be a good solid pick. Thomas is looking real good lately, but it has only been lately. And given his draft position, he'll have to maintain this level probably even longer than Brand has before I'll say he's the starting PF I want. These GMs invest a lot of time, money, effort and talent on the draft, so I can't ignore the draft order -- even when players prove it wrong on occassion. I'll have to wait until Thomas proves it wrong first. As for Dickerson and Mobley, you may have noticed my pro-Dickerson stance as well. This is probably due to his higher draft choice. It seems everyone expects more potential from this guy and, in the meanwhile, Mobley has not conclusively proven himself more able. It is a position for Dickerson to lose and Mobley to win, not the other way around.
