Can Danny?

As I was watching this draft, I thought it was one of the dumber drafts I'd ever seen. One strange pick after another, talented players falling, some odd trades, it was just an strange strange evening.

After a couple of days though, I just don't know what to make of it. With so many freshman in the draft and the upperclassmen also being question marks, it was one of the hardest drafts to peg. Who knows how it will pan out? This being so, I'm going to go through some of the best and worst case scenarios for the teams and then put out my guess of how draft night will pan out for the teams. So here's the Best/Worst/My Best Guess for the Central Division.

Milwaukee Bucks
The Good: Richard Jefferson gives the team the punch they lacked and Joe Alexander fits in as a small, athletic power forward for an up-tempo offense. Luc Mbah a Moute gives them a defensive specialist off of the bench.
The Bad: The Bucks soon realize that they have a team full of small forwards, Andrew Bogut, and below-average point guards. Ramon Sessions and Mo Williams can't handle running the show and Jefferson and Redd prove themselves to be overrated and overpaid. Luc is out of the league in a couple of years.
My Guess: Jefferson should help change the culture of the team, especially on the defensive end but he and Redd are both overpaid. While I like Ramon Sessions, I'm not sure if he is a starting point guard (which Mo Williams has spent the last couple years showing he isn't). The Bucks had a lot of options at their pick and Joe Alexander was one of the worst. DJ Augustin would have helped at the point. They could have taken Jerryd Bayless and moved him for Jarrett Jack and the #13 (where they could have grabbed a big man). Or they could have just held onto Bayless and looked to move Redd. New Bucks GM John Hammond didn't distinguish himself on draft night and now needs to work some magic to get this roster into shape. Right now, they'd have to overachieve to even make the playoffs.

Indiana Pacers
The Good: TJ Ford shows that he is one of the top young PG's in the game while Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert provide immediate help for the Pacers who make the playoffs. In a year, they use their expiring contracts and Mike Dunleavy Jr. to land a good big man in a trade (or sign-and-trade) and end up with a lineup like Ford, Rush, Danny Granger, Shawn Marion, and Roy Hibbert. Jarrett Jack becomes one of the better sixth men in the league and Josh McRoberts listens to Larry Bird and begins to live up to his potential.
The Bad: Jerryd Bayless becomes an All-Star and nobody ever forgets this draft as the day that Larry Bird dealt Bayless for an injury-prone underachiever. Hibbert is nothing more than a spot starter/bench big and can't hold a candle to the players who went after him. Jermaine O'Neal turns back the clock while the Pacers deal with injury issues with Ford, Rush, Tinsley, and Dunleavy Jr.
My Guess: I think Rush and Hibbert will be solid players with long NBA careers but neither of them will amount to Jerryd Bayless. Jermaine O'Neal will have a great season as Chris Bosh's #2. TJ Ford will have a comeback player of the year type season but it won't be enough to lead the Pacers to the playoffs.  Wanting to win now, the Pacers use their young talent and draft pick next season to land a veteran player who might help them get to the second round, at best. The Pacers fans settle for more years of mediocrity.

Detroit Pistons
The Good: Walter Sharpe proves to be a bigger steal than Jason Maxiell and the Pistons don't miss Rasheed Wallace who they trade for more young talent. Trent Plaisted becomes a solid backup big man and the Pistons take a little step back but are poised to make another run at the title in the near future.
The Bad: None of the draft picks pan out, DJ White proves to be a solid NBA player, and this goes down as Joe's worst non-Darko moment as a GM.
My Guess: Honestly, I have no idea since I didn't know who Walter Sharpe was. Right now my guess is that Sharpe becomes another Amir Johnson who gets a lot of hype for improving but never really seems to amount to much on the floor.

Cleveland Cavaliers
The Good: J.J. Hickson shows great promise and improves faster than expected while Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun become important role players for the Cavs, convincing LeBron James that he shouldn't leave when his contract is due.
The Bad: J.J. Hickson, Darnell Jackson, and Sasha Kaun are all busts. LeBron starts looking at real estate in New York.
My Guess: Hickson sounds like a role player at best and even if he does pan out, it won't be in the next two years. Jackson and Kaun aren't going to bring anything special to the table and none of the trio are going to help the Cavs get anyone in a trade. Not only did the Cavs not get the best possible talent at #17 but the pick itself probably had more value in a trade than Hickson does now. Donte Greene, Darrell Arthur, and even Nicholas Batum made more sense both in talent and trade potential. The Cavs are now in a worse than they were before Draft Day 2008 and if things don't change this offseason, LeBron will be getting antsy. Danny Ferry is going to have to work some magic this off-season if he wants to save his job and prevent LeBron from leaving in the near future.

Chicago Bulls
The Good: The Bulls return to their winning ways as Derrick Rose helps bring them back to the playoffs. Ty Thomas blossoms playing alongside the true PG and Kirk Hinrich settle into the 2-guard spot and bounces back from a bad year. Rose helps Luol Deng blossom into the max player Deng's agent thinks he is.
The Bad: Michael Beasley and OJ Mayo shine, Ben Gordon signs elsewhere and lives up to being the #3 pick in the draft, and Rose struggles to pick up the NBA game. New coach Vinny Del Negro can't unite the team and the Bulls underperform with Hinrich's decline continuing and Ty Thomas becoming lazier and more of a bust. The Knicks are the worst team in the league and the second round pick that the Bulls owned and traded for Omer Asik turns out to be a good player.
My Guess: Rose fits in well but isn't the be-all, end-all that Bulls fans hoped. Still, with his play helping Hinrich, Deng, and Thomas blossom, the Bulls make the playoffs. Ben Gordon, however, leaves and signs with a team that utilizes him correctly while Michael Beasley garners Rookie of the Year honors so the critics begin to wonder if Gordon and Beasley should have been the way the Bulls went this offseason.