Peter Visco currently works as a consultant in the Washington, DC / Baltimore area and specializes in Finance / Accounting and Investment Management Consulting. His real passion, however, has always been sports. His day starts and ends with North Carolina basketball, but he also is an avid follower of many other sports, from football to basketball to tennis to horse racing. With the NBA Draft less than a week away now, you would think there would be at least some clarity regarding where and when the top prospects would be going. However, that is very far from the truth. Even the number one pick is up in the air, with no clear cut player or players standing out.
The NBA season is over and the future is now at hand. The first step in the chase for the 2000 title begins now with the 2006 NBA Draft.
Currently, this draft is known more for the fact that there is an age limitation than for any of the players, but come Wednesday that will change.
There is much uncertainty with this draft, including who will be the No. 1 pick and who will fall into place once that pick is finally decided.
There seems to be no superstars in this draft, but there is also a lot of depth. There may be more players that come in this year and help their new teams immediately as role players and a few that will surprise and contribute greatly.
We will see next season for sure, but first these kids need to find their teams.
Regardless of the uncertainty, here are my thoughts on how this draft may shake out (this draft does not take into consideration any trades, even though there are a slew of trade possibilities being talked about):
Round 1
1. Toronto: Adam Morrison (Gonzaga)
2. Chicago (from New York): LaMarcus Aldridge (Texas)
3. Charlotte: Rudy Gay (Connecticut)
4. Portland: Andrea Bargnani (Italy)
5. Atlanta: Brandon Roy (Houston)
6. Minnesota: Tyrus Thomas (LSU)
7. Boston: Rajon Rondo (Kentucky)
8. Houston: Shelden Williams (Duke)
9. Golden State: Patrick O’Bryant (Bradley)
10. Seattle: Randy Foye (Villanova)
11. Orlando: Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas)
12. New Orleans: Cedric Simmons (NC St)
13. Philadelphia: Shawne Williams (Memphis)
14. Utah: Mouhamed Saer-Sene (Senegal)
15. New Orleans (from Milwaukee): Rodney Carney (Memphis)
16. Chicago: Thabo Sefolosha (Switzerland)
17. Indiana: Marcus Williams (Connecticut)
18. Washington: Hilton Armstrong (Connecticut)
19. Sacramento: Jordan Farmar (UCLA)
20. New York (from Denver): Marcus Vinicius (Brazil)
21. Phoenix (from L.A. Lakers): Sergio Rodriguez (Spain)
22. New Jersey (from L.A. Clippers): Alexander Johnson (Florida St.)
23. New Jersey: J.J. Redick (Duke)
24. Memphis: Shannon Brown (Michigan St)
25. Cleveland: Daniel Gibson (Texas)
26. L.A. Lakers (from Miami): Guillermo Diaz (Miami Fl)
27. Phoenix: Olexsiv Pecherov (Ukraine)
28. Dallas: Maurice Ager (Michigan St.)
29. New York (from San Antonio): Josh Boone (Connecticut)
30. Portland (from Detroit): Joel Freeland (England)
Round 2
31. Portland: Leon Powe (California)
32. Houston (from New York): Paul Davis (Michigan St.)
33. Atlanta: Kyle Lowry (Villanova)
34. L.A. Clippers (from Charlotte): Quincy Douby (Rutgers)
35. Toronto: Denham Brown (Connecticut)
36. Boston: Damir Markota (Croatia)
37. Minnesota: P.J. Tucker (Texas)
38. Golden State: Mardy Collins (Temple)
39. Milwaukee (from Houston): James White (Cincinnati)
40. Seattle: Bobby Jones (Washington)
41. Orlando: Will Blalock (Iowa St.)
42. Cleveland (from Philadelphia): Mike Gansey (West Virginia)
43. New Orleans: James Augustine (Illinois)
44. Orlando (from Milwaukee): Louis Amundson (UNLV)
45. Indiana: Hassan Adams (Arizona)
46. Utah (from Chicago): Vladimir Veremeenko (Russia)
47. Utah: Renaldo Balkman (South Carolina)
48. Washington: Paul Millsap (Louisiana Tech)
49. Denver: Justin Williams (Wyoming)
50. Charlotte (from Sacramento): Rashad Anderson (Connecticut)
51. L.A. Lakers: Steve Novak (Marquette)
52. L.A. Clippers: Ryan Hollins (UCLA)
53. Seattle (from Memphis): Kevin Pittsnogle (West Virginia)
54. New Jersey: Jose Juan Barrera (Northeastern)
55. Cleveland: Taj Gray (Oklahoma)
56. Toronto (from Miami): Darius Washington (Memphis)
57. Minnesota: Solomon Jones (South Florida)
58. Dallas: Yotam Halperin (Israel)
59. San Antonio: Thomas Gardner (Missouri)
60. Detroit: Dee Brown (Illinois)
Also considered: Marcus Slaughter (San Diego St.), Carl Krauser (Pittsburgh), Allan Ray (Villanova), Lior Eliyahu (Israel), JP Batista (Gonzaga), Kosta Perovic (Serbia), Gerry McNamara (Syracuse), Marco Killingsworth (Indiana), Eric Hicks (Cincinnati), Marcus Sommerville (Bradley), Daniel Horton (Michigan), Chris Quinn (Notre Dame), Taquan Dean (Louisville), Craig Smith (Boston College), JR Pinnock (George Washington), Terrell Everett (Oklahoma),), Matt Haryasz (Stanford), Dan Grunfeld (Stanford), Dwayne Mitchell (La Lafayette), Nik Caner-Medley (Maryland), Victor Keryu (Russia), Kenny Adeleke (Hartford), Sean Dockery (Duke), Brad Buckman (Texas), Christian Maraker (Pacific), Paulius Jankunas (Lithuania), Panagiotis Vasilopolous (Greece), Michael Southall (La Lafayette), Torin Francis (Notre Dame), Keydren Clark (St. Peter’s), Tarance Kinsey (South Carolina), Terrence Dials (Ohio St.), Frans Steyn (Southwest Baptist), Tedric Hill (Gulf Coast CC), Paul Miller (Wichita St.), CJ Watson (Tennessee), Curtis Withers (UNC-Charlotte), Yemi Nicholson (Denver), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (George Washington), Eric Williams (Wake Forest), Steven Smith (LaSalle), David Noel (North Carolina)