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The biggest shock of last night's NBA Draft Lottery was the fact that the Sacramento Kings thought it was a good idea to send Chris Webber as their representative. Seriously, do you think "good luck" when you think of C-Webb? OK, he made $175 million in his NBA career and got to slam Tyra Banks in her prime — point taken. But it's not like he was ever known for coming through in the clutch. Even if the Kings did win the lottery, I expected him to panic and pass the pick to Larry Bird and the Pacers.
Of course, what actually happened is that the Kings got boned by the ping-pong balls and ended up with the fourth pick in this year's draft. They probably needed a top-two pick more than any other team — not just because they suck but because they could have used a potential superstar to re-energize their moribund fan base. Instead, I hope Sacramento is hyped for the beginning of the Jordan Hill Era!
Barring a trade, the Raptors will have the ninth overall pick for the June 27th draft, so let's take this time to examine their likely options. We can divide the draft prospects into three groups: "As Good As Gone", "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" and "The Best of the Rest".
Group 1: As Good as Gone — Feel free to debate the exact order, but Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Jordan Hill are most likely your top five picks in the draft. I have a crazy hunch that the Clippers may have already made up their mind about who they're picking, so that means that Rubio and Thabeet will probably go in the next two picks, followed by Harden and Hill at four and five.
Chad Ford thinks that the Grizzlies might use the second pick on Thabeet, but that just seems like crazy-talk to me. Rubio has All-Star potential while I predict Thabeet won't even be a top-five NBA center in his prime. I'm just not that impressed by his shot-blocking prowess considering how few legitimate big men he had to face in college. Maybe he'll give you eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game in the NBA. Would you use a second overall pick on that kind of potential?
Group 2: Don't Get Your Hopes Up — This group will most likely consist of Brandon Jennings, Demar DeRozan and Stephen Curry. To be honest, I'm more than fine if the six-through-eight picks play out like this because I'm not overly enamored with any of these guys. Jennings is a great athlete but his size, shooting and attitude all raise red flags for me. DeRozan is another athletic freak, but he lacks polish on both ends of the floor and seems like too much of a project to make much of an impact over his first couple of seasons.
As for Curry, I think he's getting a bit of a bad rap in this draft crop. If the Raptors weren't already set at point guard, I wouldn't be devastated if he ended up in a Raptors uniform. He can flat-out fill it up, he has a great attitude and he just seems like a guy who is going to work hard on his game throughout his career and do whatever he can to get the most out of his abilities. Regardless, everyone seems to think he's a lock to land with the Knicks with the eighth pick, and I see no reason to doubt that.
Group 3: The Best of the Rest — Feel free to add your own personal favorite to this group, but out of the remaining prospects, I like Tyreke Evans, Earl Clark, Gerald Henderson and DeJuan Blair.
Let's start with Evans. I've been on his bandwagon for a month-and-a-half now. He's got great size (6-6, 220), he's aggressive, he can play both guard positions, he's a ballhawk (2.1 steals per game over 29 minutes) and he's only 19. What's not to like? Well, he's not a great shooter, but I don't see why he can't improve in that area. Most importantly, he's that aggressive slasher on the wing that Raptors fans have been dying for.
Earl Clark is another enticing wing prospect with great athleticism, but he's a couple of years older than Evans and yet he still seems less NBA-ready. He's too skinny (6-9, 200) and he hasn't improved his shooting over three years in college, but he wouldn't be a bad pick at nine — especially if Shawn Marion doesn't factor into the Raptors' plans next season.
The best word to describe Gerald Henderson would be "solid". He's never going to be a 20-points-per-game scorer, but he's probably the best defender among the SGs I've listed so far and will give you a little bit of everything on the court — including playmaking, rebounding and a decent post-up game. There's no way I'd pick him over Evans, but if that ship has sailed by the ninth pick, Henderson could slide right in as Anthony Parker's replacement at two-guard.
Finally, we have DeJuan Blair, who was my second-favorite college player to watch this year after Blake Griffin. Many of you will say that an undersized power forward doesn't do anything to address the Raptors' needs, but if you think the Raptors don't need a major infusion of toughness and rebounding then you clearly haven't been paying attention. This is one of those situations where he could prove to be the steal of the draft if he shows up for the combines exhibiting a new dedication to conditioning. He's going to be a monster on the boards if he can stay on the court. Here's a video reminder of how he dominated Thabeet and UConn in February.
All in all, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Raptors' options with the ninth overall pick in the draft. Out of the players who are likely to be available, Evans is the only one who I consider to have "star potential", but I can see a lot of upside with each of the four guys in Group 3. Of course, I was an advocate for the Raptors to trade down and take Mike Sweetney in the 2003 Draft, so maybe I'm not your go-to expert in these matters. 
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