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May 20, 2008 5:09 PM

No lottery luck for Sonics

Posted by Percy Allen

The Sonics failed to capitalize on their great position in the lottery and rather than picking first or second in the June 26 draft, they fell two spots to fourth place.

Seattle had a 38.9 percent chance of landing one of the top two picks, but the team also had a 31.9 percent chance of falling to fourth.

Obviously that means the Sonics will not have a chance to select Memphis guard Derrick Rose or Kansas State Michael Beasley barring a trade.

It appears unlikely that either Chicago, which has the No. 1 pick, or Miami, which has the second pick, will be willing trade partners. Rose, a Chicago native, makes sense for the Bulls and while Beasley would compliment Heat guard Dwyane Wade.

Still the Sonics have the No. 24th pick and four second-round picks in this year's draft. They also have four combined first-round picks in the 2009 and '10 drafts. That's a lot of ammunition of the team wants to pull off a trade.

League sources said the Sonics are very high on Rose and early forecasts say next year's draft hopefuls won't produce a do-everything point guard like the Memphis freshman.

***UPDATE 6:03 P.M.***

Barring a trade, the so-called draft experts say the next tier of players after Rose and Beasley include USC's guard O.J. Mayo, Stanford center Brook Lopez, Arizona point guard Jerryd Bayless and Indiana guard Eric Gordon.

Expect Italian League forward Danilo Gallinari to rise in the draft because European players traditionally are excellent workout players and some GM will be enamored with the 6-9 swingman. The Sonics already have 6-9 Durant and 6-9 Jeff Green on the wing so Gallinari isn't a good choice for them.

Seattle will likely select Bayless, but don't be surprised if the Sonics slide out of that spot and trade with a team that willing to overlook Mayo's off-court allegations and baggage. Many scouts believe that outside of Rose and Beasley, he's the most talented player in the field.

The character issue will likely cause him to fall to New York at No. 5, however, the Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey and Indiana may want move up. The Sonics could still fill their point guard needs later in the lottery and select D.J. Augustin, who was Durant's teammate at Texas.

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Submit a comment

Posted by SadFan

5:51 PM, May 20, 2008

Sonics can still get an excellent player - all the better if our pick feels he should have gone higher and has a chip on his shoulder to work hard!

Posted by Susan Birdie

10:34 PM, May 20, 2008

WHO CARES ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA CITY BARONS!?!?!?!?

Did anyone see that Storm game toinght? HUGE WIN!

Posted by Yawn

1:15 AM, May 21, 2008

Screw the Okies. Hope they take Mayo and have to live with his baggage. Would serve them right when he bailed at the first chance he got for a city where he could get more marketing opportunities. Okies have now surpassed Toronto as the city NBA players would most like to leave

Posted by mattysimone

7:21 AM, May 21, 2008

4th in that draft is a great pick!!!! they will get a solid PG! i mean cmon they have Kevin Love goin at 8th and hes a top 3 pick in any other draft

Posted by B_A_

8:53 AM, May 21, 2008

Ha Ha!

I love KARMA!

Posted by B_A_

8:59 AM, May 21, 2008

It's really sad there are only 4 comments on this...then again--it's really flippin sad the Sonics are going to OKLAHOMA!!

I'm trying hard not to get excited about the draft...because a big part of me wants the team to be terrible for a long time and have no one show up in OK and have Bennett go broke--but I would love to see Mayo join the team, and picking up Augustin later in the draft is a great idea.

Posted by C. Bennett

9:24 AM, May 21, 2008

Dang Stern! Where's the frozen envelope this year? I thought you promised us 2 in a row!!??

Posted by shane/olympia

12:37 AM, May 22, 2008

i have finally figured out what i want to see the sonics do

the league is a small guy league now a days. name the biggest names in the game

nash
kobe
lebron
chris paul
wade

so there are no franchise big men in this draft so lets set the backcourt up

4th pick - bayless/mayo - would allow durant to go to sf and would add another scoring threat

24th pick - ty lawson extreme speed and a pass point guard

and with the picks left over long lengthy athletes
like
bill walker
demarcus nelson
kyle weaver
jr giddens
james gist
joey dorsey

Posted by jeffd928

6:34 AM, May 22, 2008

This should be a no-brainer.....something well suited for Clay. Draft Bayless. If he is taken by Minnesota, draft Mayo. Augustin does not compare to either of them.

Posted by SeattleFan91

10:57 AM, May 22, 2008

I hope we get Mayo / Bayless and trade up so we can draft DJ. I really don't know, theres so many possibilities.

Posted by shane/olympia

12:24 PM, May 22, 2008

i am thinking the lighting fast ty lawson will be easier to get and he is a pass 1st point guard which will be nice with mayo and durant

Posted by townbizznes

8:44 PM, May 22, 2008

Percy, what do you think about the Sonics trading the 4th pick for a established PG i.e. B-Diddy in GS, since there seems to be a riff between he and Nellie. Mullin obviously would probably do it since last year he traded J-Rich for Brandon Wright.

I think if we keep the 4th pick we should take OJ Mayo, the alleged actions at USC don't really effect the way the guy plays obviously. I don't think Bayless is a good leader, yes the coaching situation at Zona was horrible, but when Nick Wise got hurt that's when Zona went down the toilet..I compare Bayless to Agent Zero, which we don't need since we have KD, and I see Mayo as more of a Darren Williams type but not as good a 3 point shooter. D-will played more of the 2 in college because they had Dee Brown and Luther Head as well.

Posted by shane/olympia

8:56 PM, May 22, 2008

i think barron davis would be awesome if he was 5 years younger or so but he is getting older and more energy prone

i am tellin all of you the best situation would be the sonics go mayo to run the 2 and lawson to run the point. durant take his 6"10'' frame to small forward

unless they think highly of brook lopez they should go mayo and lawson the only hitch being that they want bayless over mayo.

Posted by old man river

9:37 PM, May 22, 2008

I know everyone is high on Bayless, but is he a 1 or a 2. He made his fame as a 2 not a 1. Davis is a no no. He has problems with coaches where ever he goes. NY is the place for him. Unless Oklahoma has changed a lot I doubt that any non white drafted players will stay there. Backward was the way it was put to me when I was about to move there a couple of decades ago by a black man from there. I stayed there 1 year. Never looked back.

Posted by port

12:53 AM, May 24, 2008

As a longtime Seattleites I am thoroughly offending by the Tim Ceis' disgusting behavior and his assertion that 70% of Seattle is not smart enough to figure out what is best for them.

When millions are spend in the the pointless endeavour to return the sonics Ceis should be personally stuck with the bill. I think he would get a real sense of what people in his constituency feel.

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