Who had the best draft?

[Ready2Fly]

A ton of teams got some great cheap labor for the next 3 years.  And Isaiah Thomas actually made some good moves!  (On paper, anyway).  It also seems unfair that the teams who got the concensus best two players (Portland and Seattle) lined their pockets with even more young studs. 

What team's GM did the best job yesterday?  And why? 

Defend your pick below.  It's splitting hairs between a lot of teams, so it should be an interesting debate...

[Ready2Fly]

I say Seattle.  Durant AND Green?  Are you kidding me?  The only downside to that trade is they had to take on Sczerbiak's ridiculous contract. 

I know Portland made out like bandits with all the pieces they brought in, but aside from Oden, Jeff Green is the absolute perfect complement to Durant.  He plays completely within the flow of the game, never forcing anything.  This could be the next Jordan/Pippen.  Seattle got two outsdaning athletes with high HIGH basketball IQ's.  The West is more stacked than ever.

[MilTown]

There were only 2 impact players in last night draft. Outside of Seattle and Portland, I don't think any team really improved. Free agent activity will make more of an impact. East is wide open right now, especially if Chauncy moves.

[Ready2Fly]

So you don't think Atlanta improved much by picking up the concensus 3rd best player in the draft along with a seasoned, proven point guard which filled a gaping hole in their roster?

[spartan3186]

I think the  Bulls have a very underrated draft. I admit I am a little partial to the Bulls but look at it this way. Noah would have been a consensus #1 pick last year if he had decided to come out and the Bulls got him at #9, he fits perfectly into Scott Skiles playing style with his massive intensity. On top of that the Bulls get Aaron Gray who we have all seen has the ability to dominate in the post. It remains to be seen if it will translate to the NBA but he has more of a scoring touch than Ben Wallace. They may not have had the best draft but with the draft picks they had I think they had a damn good draft.

[MilTown]

Atlanta picked up some nice pieces. Horford was picked third, but I don't think he was the third best player in the draft. I think Law will have more of an impact than Horford. No matter what, Atlanta is still bad. They have no depth at any position other than forward.

[MilTown]

I hate the Bulls draft. Noah may turn out ok, but we need offense in the post, not another Tyson Chandler. I think we should have traded the #9. We got stuck with Gray only becuase the lakers took Gasol. The only thing Gray dominates is whining, being slow, and picking up fouls. He will be the slowest player in the NBA since Greg Ostertag. If you look at the big picture, the bulls traded Elton Brand for Tyrus Thomas and Noah. Bad, bad, bad. I just hope Pax has something up his sleeve to bring in something for the post. KG is still out there.

[Ready2Fly]

MilTown - point taken on Atlanta as a whole.  I still think they made some very nice upgrades.

As far as Chicago, I think you're on the money with the KG angle.  They probably took Noah to package either him or Ty Thomas with Big Ben and another piece to land KG.  Then that front line has scoring, defense, and incredible athleticism to go with their guard play.  If that deal plays out, they'll be a scary, scary team.

[Mayor McCheese]

Seattle had best.  Durant will be the best player from this draft, and Green will be a guy that will be looked at as one of the better team players in the game.  Portland improved with Oden, but then dropped Randolph.  Will Oden be much better than the 25-10 player Randolph was, I don't think so.

[jutaw22mu]

as if i needed any more reason to hate the bulls (kirk hinrich) now i have french boy joakim noah.  i think the bulls are competing with the pistons for the ugliest team in the nba.  blech.

[muarmy81]

On top of that the Bulls get Aaron Gray who we have all seen has the ability to dominate in the post. It remains to be seen if it will translate to the NBA but he has more of a scoring touch than Ben Wallace.

I don't think it'll translate into the NBA game.  Gray is just waaaaay too slow. Sure he dominated against teams with inexperienced or weaker front line players like Marquette, UConn, Depaul, and Oakland but against teams with decent big men he really didn't shine:
Georgetown:(Hibbert)  3 Games,  averaged:  8 pts/gm and 5 reb/gm
Louisville: (Padgett, Palacio) 2 games:  averaged 10 pts/gm and 5 reb/gm
Washington: (Spencer Hawes) 5 pts, 10 rebounds
UCLA: (Mata) 10 pts, 4 rebounds

He'll probably be viewed as 6 fouls for an NBA team. 

[MilTown]

Looks like the 3 headed monster is back with Noah, Gray, and maybe PJ Brown for next year. 18 fouls to give!

[The Lens]

If you look at the big picture, the bulls traded Elton Brand for Tyrus Thomas and Noah. Bad, bad, bad. 

Technically the Bulls traded Eddie Curry for Noah & Ty Thomas.

In the bigger picture they traded Elton for:

PJ Brown
Noah
Ty Thomas

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Just to be clear, the Bulls did not want to trade Eddy Curry. In fact, I believe John Paxson was borderline heartbroken over the situation. They were worried about Curry's health and wanted to him to have a specific test to determine if he had a genetic heart defect. He refused and forced the Bulls to trade him to a team that wouldn't require the test. So, although the Bulls got a couple of nice draft picks, I don't think it's what they wanted to do.

There are rumors, by the way, that Curry could be headed back to Chicago since the Knicks now have Zach Randolph.

[MilTown]

Curry and Big Ben would be a nice frontline. Curry brings it on O, and Big Ben does the dirty work on D. I don't blame Paxon for trading Curry. You can't make an investment in a player only to find out a year later that he can't play due to a heart ailment. Thankfully, Curry is ok, and to my knowledge is fully cleared to play with no lingering issues. Ty Thomas and Noah are nice players, but neither of them have the post up skill set that Curry brings everynight. His D and rebounding is shaky, but with Big Ben, that wouldn't be exposed as much. It actually might improve his rebounding in some ways.

[herboturbo]

If you look at the big picture, the bulls traded Elton Brand for Tyrus Thomas and Noah. Bad, bad, bad. 

Technically the Bulls traded Eddie Curry for Noah & Ty Thomas.

In the bigger picture they traded Elton for:

PJ Brown
Noah
Ty Thomas

Actually it worked like this:  Elton for Tyson Chandler and Brian Skinner(or someone like Skinner who was immediately released).  Chandler for PJ and JR Smith.  Smith for two 2nd rounders.  Two second rounders become Aaron Gray and Jameson Curry.