The Downbeat #1k48 - Draft Lottery Tidbits

The Cavs. Talk about lucky. After making a huge leap from 8th to 1st in 2011, they do it again, jumping from 3rd to 1st. Unbelievable. Some scrubs have all the luck. The Cavs' contingency in the small studio was large. I understand their excitement, but I also see how it may have rubbed some people the wrong way.

Zach Lowe wrote a great article about what he saw from inside the studio. You can find it here, on Grantland. Its mostly centered around said Cavs contingency, but there is some interesting stuff about the Wizards being interested in shopping their #3 pick.

Shopping a #3 pick? There's a lot of rumblings about teams willing to move down or out of this year's draft. Mike Wise, of the Washington Post, backs up Lowe's sentiments, saying that the Wizards should move the pick. The Bobcats (Hornets) may also be looking to move back in the draft.

This means that the Jazz may have teams with incentives to do a sign and trade wherein the Jazz send one or both of their picks and take on a high dollar expiring. Think Emeka Okafor, for the Wizards.

The Bobcats have a bevy of them. They would probably be more than willing to send Ben Gordon or Tyrus Thomas packing for a good offer on their #4 pick. Just some thoughts.

Mock Drafts are being feverishly churned out:

Chad Ford (ESPN Insider): Has the Jazz taking Shabazz Muhammad (So intrigued by this) and Shane Larkin

Draft Express (doing the Mock for Yahoo! Sports): Has the Jazz taking Dennis Schroeder and Tony Mitchell

NBADraft.net: Another PG in Michael Carter-Williams and then Shane Larkin with the Dubs' pick. (They also have the Jazz taking Kabongo in the second round. That would definitely fill their PG quota)

SI's Chris Mannix: A little off the radar with the Jazz taking Jamaal Franklin and then Shane Larkin.

CBS Sports: Two writers doing picks here, so go check it out.

SBNation: Big daddy has the Jazz grabbing... you guessed it, a PG in CJ McCollum and then the dark horse pick: Giannis Antetokoumpo as the stash pick

NBA.com (Scott Howard-Cooper): Dennis Schroeder and Steven Adams

That's a pretty good roundup. I didn't mention the 2nd round picks on all of them because many weren't included.

It would also appear that the pre-combine/pre-lottery mock's that all had the Jazz on a collision course with Kelly Olynyk (as I mentioned two weeks ago) have fizzled. There has been much talk about Shabazz free-falling on the big boards, but Olynyk is the one that seems like he is all over it.

Last week I through out a list of movies and books to keep you busy, yet still immersed in hoops, over the summer. Invariably, there was a mention of Celtic Pride in the comments. I'm just throwing this out there: I didn't include it because that movie is TERRIBLE. Other than Damon Wayans in a Jazz uniform, I don't find that movie entertaining at all. There, I said it. I feel better. You don't care.