Lets say the Blazers got the 1st pick, and we got the second....LaMarcus Arlridge has been picked. Blazers are thinking they will get rid of Randolph and they need some size for the future. So they will start making a team around Alridge... And they dont want to trade him.(this could happen)

Soo.... Who should Pax go after?... Tyrus Thomas or Andrea Bargnani?

Im leaning towards the Bargnani Bandwagon.I know a lot of people dont know about him.... And heck, me personally have just heard some things about him. Ive also watched a lot of highlights from this guy... but then again, they are just "highights"...

From what ive read, scouts do think this guy is the real deal... I know maybe some people are saying he could be the next Nikoloz Tskitishvili... but that guy was just based all on potential... The guy didnt play much before coming here to the NBA... As far as bargnani goes... the guy is playing in probably the best league in Europe, and a good team.And he's posting up some pretty desent numbers.

Anyways, i think Bargs would fit pretty good in our Offense. I can see the Bulls running some pick and rolls, and the guards dishing it back to bargs for some 3's, or long range jumpers... What i also like about him is that he drives a lot, and he's not afraid to take contact... so thats a good sign....

Sometimes i think to myself how it might be better if we draft him over LA... but then again.... Alridge looks pretty good right now...

And Yeah Bargs would be a project, but so is Tyrus...

So Who's with meeeee?!!!

I'm with you. I have made it clear that I would only take Thomas as a last resort.

Absolutley not! A European is considered a risk, and ive talked about why I dont like drafting them enough on this board and im not stating it again. I dont know why you guys cant see it. HES A EURO WICH MEANS THEY TAKE FOREVER TO DEVELOP! And most of the time never do. This team isnt in position to be taking any sort of risks. We dont want the next darko and thats exactly what Barg is IMO. We must take Thomas if Aldridge is gone, its that simple. I dont know why people cant understand it.

i am going to say that we take Roy if aldridge is gone then we will just have to go deeper in to the FA then we wanted to and get nene and gooden possibilty nazr. then with the 16th pick go with O'
bryant or Armstrong

what do you think?

I like Roy but number 2 is way too high for him.

Oh my goodness. you have got to stop your Tyrus Thomas love-fest. It's getting out of hand. All Europeans take time to develop, GMAB.

Ever heard of Toni Kukoc, Drazen Petrovic, Arvydas Sabonis, Predrag Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Vladimir Radmanovic, Marko Jaric, Radoslav Nesterovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Manu Ginobili (although Argentinian, drafted out of Italy), Hidayet Turkoglu, Pau Gasol, Mehmet Okur, Nenad Krstic, Darko Milicic (who has been nothing short of phenomenal since joining Orlando), Mickael Pietrus, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Boris Diaw, and Tony Parker?

not really he has people saying that in one or two years he could be the next wade i know that it is potential but down the road and he does we will not regret it.

also nocioni he was also an agrentian but it took him olny two years and will be an all star some day.

Ever heard of Dalibor Bagaric,Darko Millicic (Who sucks even on orlando, I believe hes avg like 6 ppg and 3 rbpg), Nicholi Schitishvili, Martynas Andriuskevicius,Zalgiris Kaunas , Shawn Lampe, Slavko Vranes ,Lionel Simmons ,Bo Kimble ,Yinka Dare ,Ed O’Bannon ,Trajan Langdon , o the list goes on and on.. its not even close. Europeans are RISKS and we arent in a place to take one unless it was mid draft but we have the number 2 pick, we need Aldridge or Thomas. I wouldnt mind taking one with the 16th but defenatley not 2.

wow.. excelent post there bud...

the thing i like about barnani:

-proven himself in Europe as opposed to Darko..
-can spread the floor big time
-makes the 3 ball look easy (well i cant really say that becuase i havent watched him play.. but ive seen highlights of games where he makes like 4 threes in a game
-can put the ball in the floor and dunk
-the guy can create monster matchups
-has good lateral movement to play in Skiles system


at first i wasnt a fan of this guy.. I was just like gladiator when i first heard about this guy.. (i didnt know much) .. but know i do know something about him...
and can play the game like Nowitski can... (shoot 3s, dribble, dunk)

and also at first i didnt think he would fit in our system...

but wow.... can u imagine this...

lets take this scenerio:

Ben playing the point.... dribbling across mid court... Barnani sets a pick ... perfect timing... the opposing C....(most likely Pf though) comes out to challenge the pick... Ben goes to his right.... and the C has to guard Ben now... Ben skools him past the dribble help out D comes in... but what does Ben do... he can either shoot it or look at this... he passes it back for barnani... for a wide open 3....

oh no... its a pump fake... the defender goes by flying... Barnani puts the ball on the floor and goes to his left..... help out D comes on to help and then Bargnani finds an open Hinrich on the corner for a three.....

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Swwwiisshhhh
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bulls win...

Barnani would be a monster with the pick and roll... We would kill Shaq and the Heat...



if the guy has heart.. and shows and tells Paxson he wants to be one of the best out there.... both on offense and defense... if he has the passion for the game and is a gym rat.. im all up for taking this guy....

i think its time to start making a bargnani bandwagon....

Lionel Simmons? You mean the Lionel Simmons drafted frin Lasalle University and averaged 18 ppg in his rookie season with Sacramento? Bo Kimble? You mean the Bo Kimble from Loyola Marymount who would have averaged over 20 ppg if he had gotten the playing time. Ed O'Bannon? You mean the Ed O'Bannon drafted out of UCLA? Trajan Langdon? You mean the Trajan Langdon drafted fresh out of Duke? And no, I have not heard of Shawn Lampe.

All the ACTUAL European players you listed were drafted in an era where over-seas scouting was not too extensive. Oh, and Milicic is good.

Yes Euros are risks... but so are a lot of players...
But anyways, If u notice, most of those players werent drafted very high.

On the other hand, Bargnani is gonna be a player drafted high. And why is that? Because of what he can do right now, and what he has proven... I would not be surprised one bit if he went first pick overall. The guy is sooo explosive..The guy has a monster first step for being that tall. He looks for like a small foward. And the guy has raaaange....shoot 3s all day long. I would just hate for us to lose an oportunity to get a guy like Dirk for our team. And what i also like about this guy is that he doesnt really need to dominate the ball... It looks like he can shoot a wide open shot from anywhere, or drive in and finish strong, or dish it out.... Im afraid if we get a low post guy, that would slow down our ball movement at times... But thats all good too tho.

Also, the guy is from Italy... those guys are tuff. Just like Argentinans

And Tyrus scares me at times too. He hasnt really proven that he might be an elite Offensive player for the future. He might be able to do it, but he will need to work hard. And the last thing i want is another shorter version of a Chandler. And Tyrus's stats arent all that either... he just had a couple of good games in the tourney.

He was a Free Agent. He wasn't drafted.

So how many of those are actually euros?

I'm pretty sure the alaskan assassin isn't along with a couple others...

And the thought of tyrus thomas on the same team as tyson terrifies me.

We'd be here debating which number 2 pick is more worthless.

To add....Yinka Dare was Nigerian. Nigeria = Africa.

Well no guarantees the blazers get the first pick, they base it all on odds, first is 250/1 you get first pick 2nd is 200/1 and so on, the lowest pick the blazers can have is 4th, and the lowest pick the Knicks or Bulls depending on if we use this pick, lowest pick wed have is 5th but lets not hope for that.

Im sure portland takes lamarcus and we take tyrus because pax likes him.

What makes Thomas more of a sure thing than Bargani or whatevr. Ill say the Aldridge is more of a sure thing and a lot of players out of college are. But Thomas is just as much of a project if not more so than Bargani.

If aldridge is off the board...I say we try to package our draft picks.

Thomas is too much like chandler...I can't handle 2 chandlers on this team. I think thomas is better than chandler and could eventually evolve into a serious offensive threat, but this team is on the brink of challenging and I have to ask...how many young projects can 1 team have?

There are just as many risks from American college players as from Europeans. And Thomas and Aldridge could take as much time to develop as Bargani could. [Not that I say the bulls should or shouldn't take any of the three mentioned]. IMO, who the bulls pick will be dictated for them, based on who drafts ahead of them.

There are few players in this draft who will be [or project to be] immediate, significant contributors [say 30 minute players, who could score or rebound in double digits] in 07.

Milicic freaking sucks

Just stop. Please.

Milicic freaking sucks

I wish we had milicic... a 3 man rotation of Alridge, Chandler, and Milicic= Wow

We should have gone after him... I think Orlando got him for pretty cheap... Having a guy that can hit a long jump shot, and block shots is pretty nice... right Gladiator?

all i can say is wow i do not care where he is from i can see him being the next dirk easly. i just watched some clips on him and i was amazed i would not care if we did pick him. he is from italy but i do not care where you are from if you have talent like he does shooting, driving, and under the basket, he will be good in the NBA. he needs to gain some weight and i think he will be able becase he has a good frame that can add 10- 15 pounds.

if we get him and package out 16th pick and one of our players for the hawks pick and we get roy with that pick. we would be outstanding next year

Team # Combos 1st pick 2nd pick 3rd pick Any top 3 pick
Portland 250 25.00% 21.48% 17.72% 64.20%
New York 199 19.90% 18.78% 17.07% 55.75%
Charlotte 138 13.80% 14.25% 14.54% 42.59%
Atlanta 137 13.70% 14.16% 14.48% 42.34%
Toronto 88 8.80% 9.64% 10.65% 29.09%
Minnesota 53 5.30% 6.02% 6.96% 18.28%
Boston 53 5.30% 6.02% 6.96% 18.28%
Houston 23 2.30% 2.69% 3.21% 8.20%
Golden St. 22 2.20% 2.57% 3.08% 7.85%
Seattle 11 1.10% 1.30% 1.57% 3.97%
Orlando 8 0.80% 0.95% 1.15% 2.90%
N.O./O.K.C. 7 0.70% 0.83% 1.01% 2.54%
Philadelphia 6 0.60% 0.71% 0.87% 2.18%
Utah 5 0.50% 0.59% 0.72% 1.82%

if we get the number 3 pick and both aldridge and thomas are gone, then I would trade both picks to get Jermaine Oneal or someone of that nature.

Im going with Andrea Bargnani if we get the 2nd pick. Hes a big guy that can shoot. Almost sounds like a mixture of Dirk Nowitzki and Lamar Odom.He's a PF but i wonder if he can also play the SF.

why would you wonder that we are stacked at that position for a while for now. we need a PF- C not a SF

wrong he is a sf, listed as a pf

for one thing he is a sf that can shoot and is like 7-1 i believe

Im not sure if they're trading Jermaine anymore.... From what i read recently, Pacers are gonna make changes, but make a team around O'neal... so i dunno if he's available anymore...

that is smart for them not good for us

I think he could play small foward... and thats not bad at all. Thats a plus.... Its always good if we have players that can create mismatches... But anyways, i defenetly see him playing more as a PF in the future... especially when he gains more muscle.... A PF that can shoot 3s is awesome... especially playing along side a guy like Chandler...

Can u guys imagine this... "Bargnani w/ the rebound, quickly starts dribbleling for a fast brake... every1 running for the bulls! Bargnani gets past the mid-court, and passes to Luol, and he goes for the lay up! No!!! He misses, but wait! Chandler's right there and slams it right back in!! Bulls win! Bulls Win!!" YYEESSS !!!

Both have their drawbacks. Bargnani is really a tweener right now and probably is at a similar stage as Milcic when he came out (although also probably less talented). Thomas is a heck of an athlete, but also might be a little undersized and is very raw. Neither is a real solution, so trading the pick is an idea. I actually think Roy would be the best option for us though.

If I had to chose, I'm starting to lean towards Bargnani because he might be able to score. We'd still get abused by bigger, more agressive teams in the post either way. I'd guess the Bulls would lean towards Thomas because he seems to fit the team philosophy better.

I'm going with Bargnani. Everything I've seen and heard about him is great.