Griz still have chance to score at number 4
Especially when they saw draft picks No. 1 and No. 2 in Tuesday's draft lottery go to Western Conference teams Portland (better order the size 20 sneaks for Greg Oden) and Seattle (buy an umbrella for Kevin Durant). And to make it even worse, even Atlanta jumped over the Griz in the lottery to get the No. 3 pick. Indications are the Hawks are leaning toward Ohio State point guard Mike Conley Jr, though as Griz fans know, you never know what Hawks general manager and one-time Griz president Billy Knight will do. He's the master of the "we're going to take the best available athlete" response. So the Griz have the No. 4 pick. What type of player can they get with such a draft choice? Dating to 1985, the year the NBA established the lottery, here are some facts about the 22 draft choices at No. 4: Eight of them have averaged at least 20 points in a season. Three of them have had at least one season averaging a double-double, the most recent being this season with Toronto's Chris Bosh. Eight of them made at least one All-Star team, including 1997 All-Star game MVP Glen Rice. Sixteen have played in at least one playoff series. Three have played on NBA championship teams -- Rice, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio Daniels. The average number of teams each of the 22 No. 4 draft choices have played for is 4.5, led by Dallas' 1992 pick Jimmy Jackson, who ended up playing for 11 teams in his 14-season career. Two of the players were rookies of the year -- Chuck Person (Indiana, 1986-87) and Chris Paul (New Orleans/Oklahoma City, 2005-06). Four were named to at least one second or third All-NBA team -- Rice with Charlotte, Dikembe Mutombo with Atlanta and Philadelphia, Jamal Mashburn with New Orleans and Stephon Marbury with Phoenix. The point of all these facts and figures is this: Before Griz fans throw themselves off a bridge, the No. 4 pick isn't exactly chopped liver. True, Oden is a franchise-maker and Kevin Durant will be Mr. Highlight Reel. So assuming the Grizzlies keep and don't trade the No. 4 pick, there will still be other attractive options remaining on the draft board such as: Florida junior center Al Horford (13.2 points, 9.2 rebounds in 2006-07: In a program that has produced back-to-back national championships the last two years, the 6-10, 245-pound Horford has improved more than other players. While it's true he isn't in Oden's ballpark physically, Horford has the ability to run the floor, finishes in a crowd and has a faceup jumper from 17 feet in. In that sense, he fits the mold of an Amare Stoudamire mobile-type pivot player, built for fitting into a running offense. "There were times this season when Al wasn't getting a chance to get a lot of scoring moves at the basket," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "But I never worried that he wasn't going to rebound or stop guarding. He always did those things." North Carolina freshman forward Brandan Wright (14.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg): The former Nashville Brentwood Academy star was the fifth freshman in Atlantic Coast Conference history to win MVP honors at the league tournament. His slim physique (6-9, 205), though, is a problem. He got erased in the East Regional finals by Georgetown junior center Roy Hibbert, a 7-2, 278-pound banger who decided Wednesday to pull his name from the NBA draft and return to college his senior year. "Brandan did a lot for this team," Carolina center Tyler Hansbrough said about Wright during the NCAA East Regionals. "He brought a lot to the table because we had a lack of big men. His length and his skill level enables him to do a lot of different things." Guangdong Tigers forward Yi Jianlian (24.9 ppg, 11.9 rpg in the Chinese Basketball Association): The next great import from China, the scouting report on him sounds exactly like the one the Griz had on Pau Gasol when they drafted him in 2001. Yi runs the floor well, has nice range up to 20 feet, but doesn't have a lot of post moves, isn't physical enough to hold post position and doesn't maintain defensive intensity. He is what he is -- a 7-foot, 230-pound power forward who can score. Sound familiar? Ohio State freshman point guard Mike Conley Jr. (11.3 ppg, 6.1 assists): If the Hawks decide to go big and take Horford, the Griz may be tempted to go with a point guard. And as the college season progressed, no one ran a team and broke defenders down off the dribble more than the 6-1, 180-pound Conley, who also had the goods to finish in traffic. He needs to improve his outside shooting, though he gets a lot of his offense from his defense. "Michael is one of the toughest kids I've ever met," Ohio State coach Thad Motta said. "He's ultra competitive and he's got tremendous athleticism coupled with intelligence."
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