[ESPN NBA Today Podcast] Ryen Russillo & Chad Ford

Ryen Russillo is one of my favorite guys who covers basketball; he's grounded, does a ton of background research, and calls out everybody on their BS. While I don't think he's the most connected guy in terms of sources. Chad Ford has always been hit or miss on the rumors, but if you understand that almost everything he gets has been put out there with a purpose by agents or front office guys, he is a valuable source of info.

Lot of good info on potential trades/picks, with an explanation why it's unlikely we won't see trade-ups until after players start coming off the board with regards to the Rockets. Lots of this is reflected in Ford's latest mock, but I thought there was enough new things to post it here.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=3634017

My quick notes for those who can't listen; some old, some interesting other things, and apologies for putting spin on some of the points, I'm not a good transcriber at all:

Davis at #1 (Obviously)

Charlotte wants to move down and dump a contract, actual player may still be up in the air. Thomas Robinson's camp wants him to be the #2 pick, seems like the rest of the top picks don't really care; MKG's team seems like they don't want their client in a situation where he's asked to be a scorer; they want him on a team where he can develop as himself.

Washington at #3 is locked into Beal; perhaps so desperate for shooting they might actually pass up Kidd-Gilchrist for Barnes if Beal goes off the board at #2.
Cleveland might be wavering on Barnes and has shifted to Kidd-Gilchrist; potential that if it both Beal and MKG are off the board, they'd go Dion Waiters over Barnes. Likely only to happen if Washington and Charlotte trade down/out.

Pretty much every source Ford has believes that there will eventually be a trade between the Rockets and the Kings for Andre Drummond. The trade might not get consummated until July or after Free Agency, but Sacramento believes Drummond has the highest trade value. Otherwise, if the board goes Davis/Robinson/Beal/Barnes, and Kidd-Gilchrist is still on the board, Golden State will trade up to get MKG, who's the top guy on their board after 1Brow. Seems very unlikely that Sacramento will pick up MKG, both Ford and Russillo think he's a no-brainer pick. The Kings also like Henson, and might pick him up over Harrison Barnes if the top 4 are Davis/Robinson/Beal/MKG. Would be an overdraft, but compare it to Tristan Thompson last year; could probably trade down, but there's a chance they just take their guy.

If Barnes slides down past Sacramento, it doesn't seem like he's in the mix with Portland at all. He's an option at #7 with GS, but Jerry West really likes Dion Waiters, and he's likely to get his way. The ownership might go for Drummond. Consistent with Ford's 10.0 mock, and Waiters might fit better with all their jump shooters who can't really get to the basket. Monta Ellis replacement for cheap.

If Barnes is available, Toronto will snap him up. If you are looking for a landing spot for Lowry in the top 10, this is the most likely. Toronto is concerned that if they absorb Lowry's contract, they won't be players in FA, and would hurt their push for Steve Nash. Ownership realizes that their chances are almost nil, but they have to try if only for the national returning hero angle. If Houston was willing to absorb Calderon in the deal, it would probably be done already. If Waiters and Barnes are off the board, they will be much more receptive to a trade.

Pistons just flew out to a 10pm agent-controlled workout for Drummond yesterday; Dumars doesn't want to make a Darko-like mistake. Ford says that Drummond has the body of a 28 year old giant and a 15 year old's maturity; very immature and naieve; Ford recalls a talk where Drummond compared himself to Kevin Durant (not a typo). Brought up Hassan Whiteside in terms of being delusional/naive about themselves as players. To be fair, guys with mental questions such as Drummond/PJIII/Rivers pertain only to their on court personas; by all accounts they are awesome human beings and people.

New Orleans: Austin Rivers is absolutely locked in here, both hosts agreed.

After 10, draft will blow up; lots of teams/agents have no idea what's going on in the later areas of the draft.

Portland at 11 would take Rivers but there's almost no chance he'll be available; Ford says it's Zeller; he's been working out against Leonard and has been looking much better (as expected), since they have the same agents. They like Jeremy Lamb, bad workouts have hurt him.

Obivously the Rockets will trade the pick; top 2 realistic targets for them are Drummond and Lilliard.

The Phoenix promise to Waiters backfired spectacularly, because he's a bad workout guy. Doesn't like to practice, isn't a great shooter, will look great 5-on-5, is a competitor. Compared to Jeremy Lamb and how if his agent had just shut him down instead of disclosing the injury, they'd probably be swapping draft positions. Terrence Ross might also be a possibility; the Suns have been unable to get him in for a workout, so there's a forbidden fruit aspect to picking him here.

Milwaukee: Jeremy Lamb, Meyers Leonard, Terrence Jones. Who knows?

With all this being said, I can't mock a scenario where the Rockets can get both Toronto and Sacramento's picks.

 

Oof, sorry about that. So many threads are blowing up right now, tried to search for it but only got so far.

My apologizes.