The Phoenix Suns and Bulls91 are on the clock.

With the 15th pick in the NBA Draft. The Phenix suns select...

Marreese Speights from the University of Florida

Speights will help as a back up until shaq retires from the league. His stock is improving by the day from good workouts. He is very athletic which the Suns rely on, and has a decent shot.

Thread updated.

The Philadelphia 76ers and DotheDuhon21 are on the clock!

with the 16th pick the philadelphia 76ers select darrell arthur from Kansas.

thread updated... the Toronto Raptors and Balta are on the clock.

Here's how the rest of the 1st winds down.

17 Toronto Raptors - Balta
18 Washington Wizards - cowch
19 Cleveland Cavaliers - dasox24
20 Denver Nuggets - ZoomSlowik
21 New Jersey Nets - Eddog2
22 Orlando Magic - steve9347
23 Utah Jazz - cowch
24 Seattle SuperSonics- Soxfan1
25 Houston Rockets - ZoomSlowik
26 San Antonio Spurs - Steve9347
27 New Orleans Hornets - Balta
28 Memphis Grizzlies - dasox24
29 Detroit Pistons - cowch
30 Boston Celtics - DotheDuhon21

With the 17th pick in the 2008 NBA draft, the Toronto Raptors select Alexis Ajinca, Hyeres-Toulon, France.

I should have married a really really really tall chick so my kid could be a late first rounder. I swear, if you're 7-feet, people love you.

The Washington Wizards and Cowch are on the clock!

With the 18th pick in the 2008 NBA draft, the Washington Wizards select D.J. Augustin, Texas

With the 19th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG, Memphis

The Denver Nuggets select Robin Lopez, C, Stanford.

Kenyon Martin and Nene both get hurt a ton, so having another big man is probably a good idea. He's not much of a scorer, but he's big and is more athletic than his brother. Plus with their lineup it wouldn't hurt to have another defensive minded player.

I have no idea why I am picking for the Nets when I didn't have them on their 1st pick but oh well. The Nets selected Anthony Randolph with their first pick and with the 21st pick in the draft the Nets select a real PF in Jason Thompson out of Rider.

Those are 2 of my favorite players in the draft and the New Jersey Nets are thrilled to welcome both of them to the organization.

Randolph and Thompson will add to the Nets young nucleus of Devin Harris, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, & Nenad Kristic. ESPN's Chad Ford suggests that the additions of promising youngsters has led the Nets to choose rebuilding over attempting to simply make the playoffs. Ford rumored that the Nets have been fielding offers for Richard Jefferson & Vince Carter and are looking to obtain a large expiring contract and a promising young SG in return. Ford also reports that the Nets will make a push to sign Corey Maggette if they are able to trade Vince Carter. Vince Carter is scheduled to make $15.2 million next season while Richard Jefferson is scheduled to make $13.2. The Nets have not ruled out the possibility of trading both players as part of a mega package that includes a young SG, cap relief, and future picks.

Elton Brand is a better shooter and a better back to the basket scorer and his complete game is a ways ahead of Aldridge's. It was the same way at the college level when you compare their effectiveness at the same age and through his first 2 years in the league Brand was also more dominant than Aldridge. The only area I think Aldridge would be better is his quickness but even Aldridge isn't all that nimble for his position. Yes Oden and Brand do have similar games but that doesn't mean that Brand can't adjust his game and hit the open J. Plus he'll use his body to get a lot of offensive rebounds when Oden misses. And it never hurts to have a dominant player like Brand stay in the game when Oden in getting a breather or when he is in foul trouble. Then you never have to worry about not having a post scorer.

As for the 3 point shooter, Webster was an excellent option. Most players his age couldn't dream of shooting close to the 40% clip wtih the # of 3's he jacks up. Anyway, as I stated before I think Rudy Fernandez is going to be just as good if not a better 3 point shooter than Webster and that's why they could afford to get rid of Webster. If never hurts to have other great shooters and that's why I think the Blazers will pursue 1 or 2 more good shooters in free agency.

Brand is an decent shooter, not a particularly strong one. Yes, he can hit them and does well on the line, but he's far more effective down on the blocks. Aldridge is a very good shooter for a guy his size though. He hit 41.7% of his 2-point jumpers even though they made up 60% of his shots last year, only his second in the league. That's very good for a big man and was a better percentage than guys like Luol Deng, Carmelo Anthony, David West and Chris Bosh that are known for their mid-range shooting. Plus with his awesome length it's a very difficult shot to block/challenge. I'm in no way arguing that Aldridge is a better player, he needs to add bulk and get more aggressive, but he's more capable of doing his damage away from the basket and that opens things up more for Oden. Just look at how much better Kaman was as a scorer once Brand got hurt and how many more attempts he got, or how Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph had some trouble sharing attempts this year (purely as post scorers they're both quite good). Duncan and Robinson was the exception more than the norm. Aldridge is not exactly bad in the post either, he hit 61.2% on shots in the basket area, though obviously on fewer attempts. He can play inside or outside pretty well on offense, which is a great complement to a guy that's strictly a low-post option. Add in the sizeable age and contract differences and keeping him around makes an awful lot of sense.

As for Webster, I'm not arguing that he can't shoot, but he's not quite what I was talking about. At roughly 39% and 1.6 makes he can certainly contribute to it, but he's not the complete answer to the problem just yet, you need at least one other comparable option or someone that's going to hit a ton of them like Rashard Lewis or Peja (obviously those guys are harder to get). In terms of 3-point impact he was roughly equal to Andres Nocioni (yes, I know that 38.8>36.4, I said roughly, and they hit about the same number), you still need another guy that can hit open shots regularly that's also going to be on the floor with your first unit quite a bit. They're going to get a lot of open shot opportunities with people paying attention to Oden and/or Aldridge inside and Roy on the drive, so you need to surround them with guys that can hit them with regularity, not just one guy.

I'm back to take over my SEA/SAC duties.

With the 22nd pick the Orland Magic select Courtney Lee, SG, Western Kentucky.