FanPost

10 Days To Go: Rumors Here & There

The draft continues to inch closer. And while the sports world (as a whole) seems to be focused on South Africa, where players are running around kicking a ball (and flopping at a spectacular rate) and the NBA world focuses in on the NBA Finals, draft news continues to flow. And while the rumors aren't as confusing as the crap flowing out of the NCAA right now (at least, they're not yet), there is plenty of news out there.

So a look at some of the stuff out there...

A small tidbit on Yahoo!

Sources say the Kings are also still open to trade possibilities, and Detroit and Utah are two teams eager to move up in the draft. The Pistons’ Tayshaun Prince could be intriguing to the Kings, who are eager to add a veteran small forward to the roster.

That's interesting. The Jazz moving up makes sense... they could have their shot at either Greg Monroe or DeMarcus Cousins. I don't see trading AK doing it though. What else could the Jazz offer? They don't need Boozer or Millsap, Okur's hurt... would AK be enough? And would it be worth it?

From DraftExpress' twitter...

Detroit at 7 is probably the furthest Cousins would fall. They would take him in a heartbeat. Golden State needs to do some soul-searching.

As shocking as it might be, that's the way things are looking right now. Big mistake... RT @UtesFan89 So does Monroe go before Cousins then?

This is based on Wes Johnson going #4, Monroe #5 and Cousins #6 or 7. Of course, Cousins did impress in Sacramento, so he could still go #5. And there's an outside chance that Cousins goes #3, blowing all that up. How does this impact the Jazz? Well, not much really. The chance that either Monroe or Cousins is available at #9 is very, very low. If the Jazz want to trade up though, this could be important.

Small tidbit on True Hoop

Financial logic would also dictate that the Knicks might have a shot at buying the No. 55 pick from the Utah Jazz, who must pay a luxury tax bill of nearly $2 million for the 2009-10 season.

Its an interesting consideration, and could depend on the Jazz foresee their offseason playing out. If they need players, they could use the 2nd rounder. If not, some extra cash can't hurt since they have to pay the luxury tax.

For now, it's looking like

  1. Wall
  2. Turner
  3. Favors
  4. Johnson
  5. Monroe
  6. Cousins
  7. Aminu
  8. ???

Who the Clippers are targeting... I have no idea. Hayward? George? Babbitt? Henry? Udoh? Chances are that even if Golden State throws in a curve-ball (Davis, Henry, Udoh, etc.), letting Monroe or Cousins fall to Detroit, Aminu would go to the Clippers and not be their for the Jazz.

Its starting to look like there's a top 5 (Wall, Turner, Cousins, Favors, Johnson), a next 3 (Monroe, Aminu, Henry) and then you go from there. The Jazz will therefore, barring someone falling, miss out on the top 8 guys. So that leaves them searching for #9... with quite a few different options. Or do they trade up (or down if no one falls)? The team doesn't exactly have a lot of assets, but if they really are desperate, they could dangle AK or Millsap or CJ and see what comes to them.

Who's #9?

Centers: Cole Aldrich, Hasan Whiteside

Power forwards: Ekpe Udoh, Ed Davis, Patrick Patterson

Small forwards: Luke Babbitt, Gordon Hayward, Paul George

Shooting guards: Xavier Henry, Avery Bradley

That leaves you with 10 options. Of these 10, the Jazz have worked out Aldrich, Whiteside, Udoh, Patterson, Babbitt, Hayward, Henry & Bradley. That leaves David & George as being the only guys that the Jazz haven't worked out. That might be useless information, but it could also be worth keeping an eye on.

I still have Xavier Henry atop my list should no one fall (I'd even put him over Aminu).

My (Currently up-to-date) Rankings for #9

  1. Xavier Henry
  2. Patrick Patterson
  3. Luke Babbitt
  4. Cole Aldrich
  5. Gordon Hayward
  6. Paul George
  7. Ekpe Udoh
  8. Ed Davis
  9. Avery Bradley (I'd have him higher, but he's just 6'3 and that will hurt him)
  10. Hassan Whiteside

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.