I was all prepared to write a post about whether or not the Phillies got snubbed with the all-star selections this season until I sat down, turned on my television and was reminded that Adam Eaton still exists (2.2 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO in an important game) and didn’t feel like writing a full Phillies post anymore, so I thought I’d just do a ramblings.

- On the All-Star game. I can’t remember a year with more undeserving all-stars NOT on the team due to the one-player-per-team rule. Jason Varitek (2nd to last among AL catchers in OPS), Brian Wilson (4.37 ERA as a closer), Ryan Dempster (over Hamels, Santana and Billingsley), Aramis Ramirez (over David Wright), Matt Holliday (10th among NL outfielders in RBI, 38th among NL outfielders in RBI on the road) not to mention the terrible fan vote-ins of Fukudome and Soriano. Just realized that most of those players are in the NL, no wonder they lose every year.

- Another all-star thought - I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here before or not, but I would like 2 events to be added to HR Derby night. The first would be a “fastest man” competition which would be a timed run from first to third after a ball is pitched to the batter. Fastest time wins. Put Jose Reyes, Carlos Gomez, Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Michael Bourn and Jacoby Ellsbury out there and you’ve got yourself an entertaining competition. The second competition would be for “best arm.” You would determine this by setting up a pitching machine to shoot a line drive to the outfield, the players would charge, grab it on one hop, and then throw at a target at home plate, points would be awarded for accuracy and speed. Josh Hamilton, Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Guillen, Vladimir Guerrero, Shane Victorino? Tell me you wouldn’t want to see that.

- There is a lot of buzz about the Phillies making a charge at Eric Bedard. Phillies scouts have been checking him out and Seattle scouts have been checking out our prospects. I think the rumor I saw had us sending Bastardo, Cardenas andanother prospect. I would do that move in a second, even though Bedard is hurting a bit right now. This team WILL NOT go past the first round of the playoffs without a better rotation, and Bedard would certainly be a big upgrade for this year and next. People forget how dominant he was last year, and you can get him now while his stock is down and hope he benefits from a change of scenery the way Lidge did.

- Speaking of Lidge, I was ecstatic when I saw the news of his extension. Great move to not let him reach the open market, and even though his yearly salary is on the high side, getting a 3 year, not a 4 year deal, was another plus.

- I don’t know what happens to the Sixers if they don’t land Josh Smith. They are clearly waiting until the cap number comes out so they can offer him every penny they possibly can. If they miss, what happens? My vote for a back-up plan would be Ben Gordon, Nenad Krstic and Chris Quinn and save some money for next year.

- One thing that would be great about getting Smith (besides the idea of the constant highlight reel that would be Iggy, Smith, Williams, Thad and Sammy)? You don’t have to worry about the age factor. In baseball, every time you are in a situation where you are offering someone a long-term deal, you have to worry about paying him $15 million when he’s 36 or 37 and you have no idea what his production will be. Josh Smith is 22. You sign him to a 6-year deal and he’ll still be in his prime when it expires.

- If (and it really seems like a matter of when at this point) we sign J-Smoove to an offer sheet, I really, really hope that the Hawks make their decision one way or the other immediately. I won’t be able to sit around refreshing my computer for 7 days waiting for them to decide. That wasn’t meant to be a joke. I will be in physical pain until they decide.

- Eagles training camp starts in a couple weeks, which is just amazing. For those who are new here - Dannie and I both love the Birds and cover them here and there, but don’t go as in depth as we do for basketball and baseball because we aren’t as confident in our opinions. Mostly because football is a game where you can only see certain parts of the play happening and can only see certain players. Without watching game film, I can’t tell you for certain that, for instance, Sheldon Brown is a better cover-corner that Lito Sheppard. Why? Because they are off-screen the whole time and are only mentioned when they make a great or terrible play. So most people get their info on that type of debate by listening to what commentators or talk shows hosts say and taking it for fact without investigating themselves. We really try not to do that here. I mean, can anyone here say that they know that Todd Herremens or Max Jean-Giles is a better run-blocker? Without having someone else who doesn’t really know tell you? Football is a completely different animal in terms of analysis and analytics.

- My gut feeling on the Eagles? I don’t think we are a Super Bowl team, but I think we are a playoff team. I’m excited about the defense. The line should be solid, I think my fellow Domers Victor Abiamiri and Trevor Laws will make an impact. The secondary, if healthy and not being whiny, should also be good. The young linebackers, who I feel like everyone assumes will get better, have to show me they can perform for another year before I’ll have confidence in them. On offense, I’m scared about injuries. If one of our OT’s or Brian Westbrook goes down, it could kill the season. We really, really needed to get one those WR’s though. I really hope we don’t look back at the McNabb/Reid era and wonder what might have been if they only had the guts to make the bold move everyone knows they need to make to go from playoff team to Super Bowl Contender. Right now, I’m going with 10-6 for the Birds, barring training camp developments.

- Villanova basketball landed another huge recruit last week in Isaiah Armwood, a 5-star, 6′7” forward from Maryland. He joins 5-star PG Maalik Wayns, and McDonalds All-American Taylor King (Duke transfer) in Nova’s 2009 class. Jay Wright is also in on several other big-time recruits including 5-star SG Dominic Cheek and 4-star SF Terrell Vinison. This class could very well rival the Fraser, Foye, Ray, Sumpter class of a couple years ago. Once this class is wrapped up, I will write a long post on what Jay Wright has done for the program and why Nova will be a contender for at least the next 4-5 years. During College BBall season, we tend to focus on Nova, St. Joes, Temple, the Big East and I’m sure the occasional UNC post from Dannie.

- One last question for our loyal readers: Do you have a college football team you follow? How closely? With me being a Notre Dame grad, I can’t help but write a post or two about the Irish and I’d like to know what I’m getting into.

Since the news of Curt Schilling’s likely career-ending injury, many have speculated as to whether he has the credentials to make it to Cooperstown. Since he is one of the top pitchers in our team’s history, it would make sense for us to make some discussion about it here.

Schilling is the definition of a borderline candidate. A couple dominant years, a couple so-so years. Great post-season success, many big starts, but not quite at the regular season marks that make you a shoo-in.

Here is the bottom line data for his career:

The biggest number against him are his 216 wins, the biggest for him are his 3,116 strikeouts.

I personally think he should be in, but probably in a Goose Gossage situation where it takes awhile for him to actually get there. Here are a couple basic points to consider:

- Schilling had 6-7 HOF caliber, top-5 pitchers in baseball, years. 1996-98 with the Phils, 2001-03 with D-Backs and 2004 with the Red Sox
- He finished 2nd in the Cy young 3 times, and 4th once and had 6 all-star appearances
- Only 16 players have had 3,000+ strikeouts in their career, Bert Blyleven is the only one that isn’t in (or is a shoo-in) for the hall of fame
- Among the 16, Schilling had the 4th highest K/9 ratio behind Ryan, Unit and Pedro
- Wins are important, but in my opinion, wildly overrated. If he had been playing for a half-decent team during his years at the Phillies, he would have 230-240 wins
- His post-season success helps put him over the edge

If he gets in - this is where the real question comes into play - what hat does he wear? Jayson Stark suggested he might wear a Red Sox hat, which would be an atrocity. ESPN can have it’s love affair with the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets, but if the HOF falls victim to the new, over-bearing, 24-hour sports media and ignores actual history, i’ll be really upset. I personally think he should be the first player to go in with a Diamondbacks hat, because each of his years there was HOF caliber and he got a World Series co-MVP with them. Below you will find his stats by team, in the regular season and post-season.

Regular Season

Post-Season

So what do you guys think? Should he definitely be in? Maybe be in? Not be in? And if he’s in, what hat should he wear?

OK, Phillies, that was nice, you got your slump out of your system (5-12 in the last 17) and now it’s time to go back to playing real baseball like adults. There’s no elaborate fix, or obvious plan to break out. The team just needs to hit, period. The hitters need to stop swinging at bad pitches, come up with some clutch hits, and pull us out of this. You can whine and moan about Brett Myers all day, but the starting pitching hasn’t been HORRIBLE during this stretch. If we want to win a World Series, the pitching needs to be addressed, but right now (as in starting tonight) we need to be focused on not playing as though the baseball is the size of a golf ball.

Why now?

- Interleague play is over - that might allow some of our players to reset mentally
- There are 13 games left before the all-star break
- 10 of those games are at home
- 7 of those games are against the Mets and the Chipper-Less Braves
- If we continue playing this way into the all-star break, who knows if the slump will stop, or if we will just continue to play .500 ball the rest of the year on our way to another incredibly unrewarding 85-win season.
- The Marlins are a 1/2 game back. We’ve been lucky that the other teams in our division are not playing well, but it won’t stay that way. The Mets will make a run, I guarantee it.

We need to go at least 8-5 in these last 13. 52-44 going into the all-star break, then make a move for a starting pitcher and get hot in August.

You showed us how good you can be, and I don’t think I can handle another promising Phillies team underachieving. Let’s get serious starting tonight, enough is enough.

I’m not one to start giving out draft grades, so I’m going use a basic formula for each team’s performance: How would I feel as a fan, today, if this was my favorite team (note: I have omitted the 2 teams without a pick, ATL and NO, and the 3 that only had a 2nd round pick, LAL, DEN and DAL). I’m going to put each team into 1 of 4 categories: Pumped, Ticked, Bored and Confused. I will also have the teams ordered from top to bottom ranging from how strong the emotion would be. Wow that last sentence sounds stupid. Oh well, I’m hungover, the Phillies are sucking, what do you want from me. Let’s do this:

Pumped

Portland Trail Blazers - All they needed was a PG, but at the 13th pick, it didn’t seem likely that one of the top prospects at that position would fall to them. Enter evil-genius Kevin Pritchard who managed to use the 13th pick to get the 4th best player on his draft board (Jerryd Bayless) without giving up anybody in particular. Now their opening night line-up will be Bayless, Webster, Roy, Aldridge and Oden with Frye, Outlaw, Przybilla, Blake and Rudy Fernandez (first year over from Spain) coming off the bench. What a collection of young talent. It may not be this year, but the sky is limit for that crew.

Miami Heat - You have Michael Beasley and he’s not going anywhere. Mayo and Bayless have both already been traded and won’t be traded again. I have my doubts about Beasley, but if he’s on my team right now, I’m thinking about the people who say he’s a HOF caliber talent, not those saying he’ll party too much in South Beach. The topper was getting Mario Chalmers, who could have gone as high as #12 without people being surprised, in the second round. They needed a PG, and Chalmers will be a perfect fit on a team like this with 2 big-time scorers carrying the load.

Minnesota Timberwolves - Looking at their roster, the Wolves really aren’t THAT far behind the Blazers in the up-and-coming team category. Next year they will send out a line-up of Foye, McCants, Miller, Love and Jefferson with a bench including Telfair, Brewer, Gomes and Craig Smith. Probably won’t make the playoffs next year, but could REALLY do some damage in a couple years. Impressive turnaround by the much-maligned Kevin McHale (Kevin Love could not be in better situation with constant access to McHale, by the way).

Toronto Raptors - If I’m a Raptors fan right now, I am absolutely drinking the kool-aid and and telling myself that Jermaine O’Neal is going to be motivated to return to all-star form (he’s only 29) and that Jose Calderon at the point the whole year will make us the 3rd best team in the East.

Chicago Bulls - Whenever you have the first pick in the NBA draft and you don’t totally screw it up, you can’t not be excited as a fan. It’s been said a kajillion times at this point, but his leadership and drive is exactly what this team needs. That, and to do some kind of 3 for 1 trade to upgrade their roster, they currently have 12 rotation guys on their team. That’s too many.

Los Angeles Clippers- They needed a 2-guard and they got a great one with a very high ceiling in Eric Gordon. Add him to a line-up with Maggette, Brand, Thornton and Kaman, and the Clips could re-create some of that ‘06 magic. They also stole DeAndre Jordan, who I wanted no part of, but is much better than a mid-second round talent.

Houston Rockets - Donte Green and Joey Dorsey are both guys that can come in and contribute next year to their already solid bench.

Boston Celtics - They just won the championship, all their fans could just sit back and enjoy watching the other teams try to catch up. That must be nice.

Orlando Magic - Courtney Lee HAS to be better than J.J. Redick. Right?

Utah Jazz - Kosta Koufos, Ante Tomic and Tadija Dragicevic. They are going to have to give out sunglasses every game due to the blinding white-ness radiating from the court at Jazz games.

Ticked

Seattle Supersonics - It was bad enough that they took Russell Westbrook when they DESPERATELY need another scorer to compliment Kevin Durant, NOT a PG version of the guy they drafted last year, Jeff Green. But then, after the news of the O.J. Mayo trade broke, every Sonics fan must have been thinking “you mean, if we had drafted Love, we could have traded him for Mayo?” Then, with several decent prospects on the board (Donte Green? Mario Chalmers?) they take their 4th project (read: crappy) big man in 5 years. So instead of a DREAM pairing of O.J. Mayo and Kevin Durant, they get Kevin Durant and 4 guys who can’t score so he’s going to get qua-triple-teamed every play. As a basketball fan, not a Sonics fan, this ticked me off. Mayo and Durant would have been phenomenal to watch together for years to come. I feel cheated. Also, extra points to Sonics fans for the fact that their pathetic-excuses-for-human-being owners are moving to team because they feel like it.

Charlotte Bobcats - Michael Jordan and Larry Brown had the 9th and 20th picks in this draft and managed to not improve their team one bit for next year. I didn’t think that was possible. They drafted Augustin, who at best, will be slightly better than Raymond Felton and they drafted Ajinca, who at best, will be a back-up center with energy. D.J. Augustin and Alexis Ajinca or Mario Chalmers and Brook Lopez. Hmmmmm….

Cleveland Cavaliers - Well, they picked up my man J.J. Hickson at 19, so I should love their draft if I am Cavs fan right? No - and there are 2 reasons why. One, the only thing on Cavs fans’ minds should be getting another big-time talent to play with LeBron - any move short of that will result in more of the same next year. Two, the moves the Nets made (more on this later) essentially started the countdown for the day LeBron leaves town before winning a title. That day will absolutely crush the spirits of every Cleveland fan. I mean CRUSH. I mean CRUSH. Every time he does something amazing for the next 2 years, all they will think about is that he will be gone soon, probably be remembered for the team he plays for next, and that you will never, EVER, get an opportunity to get a player like him again. I fully expect that Cleveland’s Alcoholics Anonymous meetings will have to be held at Jacob’s Field starting in 2012 to support the amount of people attending.

New York Knicks - If I’m a Knicks fan, I’m ticked for 2 reasons. One, because I would have preferred Eric Gordon or Jerryd Bayless instead of a high-risk, high-reward player (I don’t hate the Gallinari pick, but I don’t see him making any kind of immediate impact). And two, I’d be embarrassed to be a Knicks fan a be associated with those that booed their new draft pick, because they think it’s funny and they are expected to, not because they have any knowledge of the game. Frankly, I hope Gallinari tears it up and then signs with another team the second he can followed by “Gallinari getting booed” replacing “McNabb getting booed” as the most overplayed sports clip ever. (Note: I’m aware I’m from Philly - but I don’t boo draft picks. I wait till they suck to boo them).

Washington Wizards - I’d rather have an undersized PF with kidney problems than a skinny center who hasn’t learned how to play yet.

Bored

Detroit Pistons - I’m willing to bet that no Pistons fan has seen both Walter Sharpe and Trent Plaisted play. I’d also be willing to bet that they never will.

San Antonio Spurs - Tim Duncan was the last time the Spurs had an exciting draft. And he’s the greatest boring player ever. More than any other team, it will be extremely weird to see them in the lottery one day. Can you imagine them taking a player like O.J. Mayo?

Sacramento Kings - Jason Thompson’s name is even boring. They didn’t get their guy (Augustin) and should probably have traded out of the first round.

Philadelphia Sixers - My guy (J.J. Hickson) was there. My 2nd choice (Kosta Koufos) dropped further than we thought. Either of these guys and I’d be really excited and then……. Marreese Speights. Both Dannie and my reaction? “Meh.” Our reaction to us not giving up 2 second rounders to get Mario Chalmers, or trade back into the first to get Darrell Arthur? “Meh.” Dannie will have much more on the Sixers draft, but I’m not sure it could have been more dull for us. That’s 2 “r’s,” 2 “e’s” and 1 “s” in Marreese, by the way.

New Jersey Nets - Thought about giving these guys and the Cavs their own category called “scared to death.” Essentially, the ownership has said that they are mailing in the next two years under the pretense that LeBron will sign with them because he’s friends with Jay-Z. In the meantime, you’ll have to watch the exhilarating games of Brook Lopez, a half-trying Vince Carter and Bobby Simmons. Oh - and if LeBron doesn’t sign, you’ve just lost 2 years of your life.

Phoenix Suns - Excited that you drafted SOMEONE, I guess. But considering the coaching change, potential disaster Shaq trade, and the window clearly closing on this team, it’s hard to get excited about someone who’s ceiling is Anderson Varejao.

Confused

Memphis Grizzlies - If you are a Memphis fan right now, what on earth is going through your head? On the one hand, you’ve got to be delighted you ended the night with O.J. Mayo and Darrell Arthur. On the other hand, you’ve spent the last couple weeks watching Pau Gasol in the playoffs, hearing that you will sell this pick to the highest bidder to save cap space and that your owners want to cut salary even though they are under the cap. THEN - you go ahead and acquire a horrendous contract in Marko Jaric and include your second best player, Mike Miller, in the Love/Mayo deal. Do you want to win? Do you want to save money? You couldn’t trade one of your THREE young PG’s instead of Miller? Do you have ANY SORT OF PLAN HERE? (Sidenote: If you don’t have enough money to run a professional sports team, then DON’T BUY AN EFFING PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM. Go buy a yacht or a house in Milan and pay peasants to let you spit on them. OK, I feel better now.)

Milwaukee Bucks - I’d want to be ticked, but the team improved, so I’ll settle for confused. How do you pick Joe Alexander when you just traded for Richard Jefferson and Jerryd Bayless and DJ Augustin are staring you in the face as a upgrade to Mo Williams at PG. Essentially what they said is that their #8 overall pick is not going to start for 3 years or so. Get excited Milwaukee.

Indiana Pacers - Indiana fans this morning: Uhhh… are we good now? I can’t tell. Including the O’Neal trade, the Pacers have SIX new players on their squad. They are now a deep team, with no #1 guy, who will be impossible to project next year. Added to this was trading the gift-wrapped Jerryd Bayless (great option when T.J. Ford gets hurt) for Brandon Rush and only picking up Jarrett Jack as a bonus. Here is their rotation next year: Ford, Jack, Dunleavy, B. Rush, Granger, Daniels, Murphy, Foster, Hibbert and Nesterovic. They could win 25 games or 45 games. I have no idea.

Golden State Warriors - Didn’t we just draft Anthony Randolph last year? Does this mean Brandan Wright isn’t any good? Is it bad that our two PF’s weigh a combined 250 pounds? Richard Hendrix would excite me as a great 2nd round pick-up though.

Looking to 2009: Ok, so Dannie and I clearly have an unhealthy interest in the NBA draft. No, I’m not about to throw down a mock draft for 2009. BUT, I am going to throw a name out for you if you haven’t heard it before to remember for 2009: Ricky Rubio.

Here are some Rubio facts:

- He is a 6′3” PG from Spain that looks like Pete Maravich
- He was the youngest player to ever play in Spain’s ACB (their NBA) at age 15
- At 16, he led the Euroleague in steals (3.45) despite playing only 18 minutes a game
- This season, at 17, his club team, Joventut Badalona, won the ULEB cup. His teammate and future TrailBlazer, Rudy Fernandez won the MVP. Rubio, the youngest player in the team’s rotation by 3 years, averaged 7.6 pts (on 53% shooting), 4.5 apg, 3.4 rpg and 2.4 spg in 20 minutes.
- Pepe Sanchez said of Rubio: “I think he’s a freak of nature — being so young and being so skilled and also so cool all the time. You can see that he knows what he’s doing. He’s not playing out there with pros based only on his talents. He knows the game and he can only improve.”
- And my favorite Rubio fact. In 2006, Rubio led the U-16 Spanish National Team to the FIBA Europe Championship. During the tournament, he had 3 triple-doubles and 1 quadruple-double. His line for the championship game against Russia? 51 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists and 7 steals. He also hit a buzzer beater from half-court to send the game into over time. Needless to say, he won the tournament’s MVP after leading it in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

When the Phillies are playing this bad - I tend to not watch them. I decided a couple years ago that it was not worth the mental anguish of watching Carlos Ruiz hitting into a bases-loaded, one-out, double play. I get too mad. It’s only mid-way through the regular season. I can get mad in September. So instead of watching the rest of the game, gritting my teeth, and probably taking years off my lifespan, I simply change the channel or go into the other room and look at trade rumors or something.

During this slump, I’ve been distracting myself by thinking about whether or not we should include Carlos Carrasco in a trade for a rent-a-pitcher. At this point, I’ve pretty much made up my mind that we should not. Especially after reading stuff like this from Jayson Stark…

• The Carlos Carrasco Watch: Carlos Carrasco is no household name to most fans. But among the scouting community, he’s the most-watched pitcher in the entire Phillies system — a 21-year-old right-handed rocket-launcher the Phillies would have to agonize over seriously before trading. One scout’s review: “Why is this guy still in Double-A? He’s a big-time arm with quality stuff who could eventually be a top-of-the-rotation guy. I don’t see them trading him. I really don’t.”

I am a real believer that you do not give up guys like this unless you are getting a proven pitcher back who will be on your team for at least 3 years (Johan Santana, Dan Haren, etc…). Right now, it appears that the two players Carrasco would be traded for would be a 1/2 year rental (Sabathia) or a 1 1/2 year rental (Bedard). Young pitchers who come up through your system and who you control for their first 6 years in the majors are THE most valuable commodities in baseball. You’ve got to get equal value back on a trade like that.

If Carrasco can make an impact in 2009-2010, the Phils would add a starter to their rotation at less than $1 million a year and could certainly sign another. A rotation of Hamels, Carrasco, Kendrick, one of our other young pitchers (Bastardo, Savery, Garcia, Naylor or Happ) and a decent FA - is not a bad “rotation of the future.” I know 2010 is far away, but if you make this type of trade now, you are forcing yourself to build your future rotation through overpaying free agents, which as we’ve seen with Eaton, Lieber and others, is not the way you want to go about it and is extremely frustrating for the fans.

I know there will be several different opinions on this, let me know what you think.

ALSO - In a completely unrelated, and probably boring for you, development, I was bored at work today and put together my dream roster (no Phillies) if I were able to create team with every player in the league available. These are not the best players at every position, but rather who I would want on my team and would want to watch every day - essentially my favorite players at every position.

C- Joe Mauer, Twins
1B- Jim Thome, White Sox
2B- Howie Kendrick, Angels
SS- Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
3B- Evan Longoria, Rays
OF- Justin Upton, Diamondbacks
OF- B.J. Upton, Rays
OF- Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
DH- Vladimir Guerrero, Angels

SP- Dan Haren, Diamondbacks
SP- Scott Kazmir, Rays
SP- Tim Lincecum, Giants
SP- Zach Greinke, Royals
SP- Jon Lester, Red Sox

RP- Scot Shields, Angels
RP- Jonathan Broxton, Dodgers
CL- Francisco Rodriguez, Angels

OK - so this is clearly the most confusing draft of all time. Chad Ford said it best, so I’m not going to try to say it better:

Every team I speak with says the same thing: This is one of the most difficult drafts ever to predict. Different teams are coming to wildly different conclusions on the same players. Agents are insisting that their players are going higher than others project. Last-minute workouts and trade talks are still changing the landscape dramatically.

So below you will find my 6th, and probably final, mock draft. It is a combination of all the rumors floating around out there and what I personally think the teams should do. Considering how crazy this draft is, it’s as good a guess as anyone’s.

OK…let’s see if we can sort this all out…

- The first 3 picks remain unchanged. Though all signs are pointing towards the Heat making a trade with the Grizzlies (either Mike Miller, Kyle Lowry and #5 for #2 and a player OR Mike Conley Jr. and #5 for #2 and Daequan Cook).

- The first big change is Brook Lopez going #4 to the Sonics. Up until this week, everything I’ve read had them taking a guard here, but both draftexpress.com and Andy Katz of ESPN are saying that multiple sources have told them they will take Lopez. It makes sense because they need a center, but as I’ve said many times, you shouldn’t draft for need in the NBA. With Eric Gordon and Jerryd Bayless on the board here, you can’t take Lopez, who I think will be an average NBA center.

- This drops Bayless into the Knicks lap. I can tell you right now, if Bayless and Gordon are still on the board here, and the Knicks draft Danilo Gallinari, NYC is going to look a lot like those previews for The Happening with expressionless people wondering aimlessly down the street, sticking sewing needles into their necks and hurling themselves off of buildings.

- Eric Gordon to the Clips. It’s really a toss up between him and Russell Westbrook, but I used my personal judgment here and gave them Gordon because at a younger age he led the Big 10 in scoring while injured and Westbrook didn’t even start for his own college team.

- Westbrook to the Bobcats. I’m not saying he will be bad, but he has 2 red flags for me. He didn’t start on his college team and the knock on him is that he can’t shoot. When you tell me a player can’t shoot, you are telling me his ceiling is a role player.

- Gallinari replaces Anthony Randolph as the Nets pick because apparently Randolph’s skill can’t overcome the fact that he appears to not have eaten in a month or so. Also, everyone is reporting that Gallinari will go to one of the 2 NY area teams.

- Mario Chalmers rises up the board as he continues to impress in workouts. When we starting writing about the draft, Dannie wanted the Sixers to take Chalmers, and I wanted them to take Brandon Rush. At the time, they both looked like reaches. Now, it looks like they will both be off the board. God we’re smart.

- I’m sticking with J.J. Hickson as the Sixers pick. Essentially, if the draft plays out this way, I have a 1 in 7 chance of being right. I’m going with Hickson because he’s doesn’t have anything in particular I’m concerned about and he would be a good fit in our system. The other players all have red flags for me.

Speights - Motivation and Attitude. Arthur - Size. Ajinca, Jordan, McGee - Offensive game. Greene - Toughness and a tweener.

I will always give any player we draft the benefit of the doubt, but I’m rooting for Hickson on draft day. If Koufos is there, I’d be OK with him as well. He’s 7-feet, has a 38 inch vert and can drain the 3 - consider me intrigued. Actually, I might as well get on the record and rank the 9 players we put on our poll yesterday.

1. J.J. Hickson
2. Kosta Koufos
3. Marresse Speights
4. Darrell Arthur
5. Alexis Ajinca
6. D’Andre Jordan
7. Donte Greene
8. Jason Thompson
9. JaVale McGee

- Donte Greene in Cleveland would be very interesting. He’s extremely talented and can really shoot the ball.

- D’Andre Jordan falls all the way to #25 after starting the year seemingly as a sure fire top 5 pick.

- Immediately after I said some good things about JaVale McGee, he got showed up in nearly every workout he went to and is now the person I would least like to see the Sixers take at #16.

Check out other Mock Drafts at NBA Mock Draft Database

Eddie Stefanski said recently that the Sixers have a list of about “8 guys” they are looking at with the 16th pick. Based on what he’s said about wanting a big man, and who they’ve brought in for workouts, I’m pretty confident that our pick will be from one of the 9 players listed below (unless we trade up or someone like Anthony Randolph falls to us, or the Sixers are completely lying). So - what do the people think? If all 9 of these guys were available at the 16th pick, who would you be rooting for us to take?

The Phillies need another starting pitcher. This past 9-game stretch, where we’ve gone 3-6 against 3 of top teams in the MLB, has shown that come playoff time, you cannot rely on a streaky offense and one good pitcher to win you 7-game series. Up until yesterday, I figured that the starter we need could either come from within the organization (i.e. Brett Myers pulling a Gavin Floyd and finally pitching to his potential 6 years after the fact) or from a low-cost starter outside the organization (Randy Wolf, Dave Bush etc…). But then, I read this in Jayson Stark’s Rumblings and Grumblings:

• Phretting in Philly: With the help of a number of clubs that have spoken with the Phillies, we’ve assembled this shopping list of starting pitchers it appears they’ve at least kicked tires on: Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Bronson Arroyo and (surprisingly) Jarrod Washburn. Bedard just hit the market, so you can add his name any minute now.

But those same clubs say the Phillies might have the hardest decisions to make of just about any team with win-the-World Series upside. If they go for it now — and decimate their still-thin system to deal for a big-name rent-a-pitcher like Sabathia or Burnett — this might be the only year they’d be capable of contending.

To make a trade like that, they’d probably have to give up both of their two most advanced starting-pitching prospects, Carlos Carrasco and Antonio Bastardo. So if they lose Brad Lidge and their rent-a-starter to free agency, and Jamie Moyer retires, Brett Myers doesn’t rebound and Adam Eaton’s first half turns out to be a mirage, the Phillies’ pitching staff next year would essentially consist of Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, an uncertain Myers and seven question marks.

“So that’s a tough call,” said one NL executive. “Do you say, ‘Go for it, and the hell with next year’? Or do you think big picture, but maybe not have enough [pitching] to win this year? It’s a scary choice to have to make.”

Scary choice indeed. Personally, given the Phillies history, I was shocked they are interested in Sabathia and/or Bedard. So here is the question - do you make either of these trades:

- Carlos Carrasco and Antonio Bastardo for C.C. Sabathia with the disclaimer that C.C. will NOT re-sign with the Phillies

- Carlos Carrasco, Antonio Bastardo and Michael Taylor for Eric Bedard with the disclaimer that you get Bedard for 2009 as well before he becomes a free agent

My personal opinion? I might make the Bedard deal because we get him for a year and a half and if we do something crazy like win a World Series, our budget might go up enough we could re-sign him. I wouldn’t do the Sabathia deal, because there is no way we could re-sign him and I don’t think you should ever give up 2 quality pitching prospects for a rental (see Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano trade).

So what do you do? Do you go for it, assuming that you only have one or two chances with Utley, Howard and Rollins in their primes? Or, do you keep hold of your prospects with the hopes that the team will stay competitive for years to come though maybe not as good as this team.

With the draft fast approaching, many fans are wondering what caliber player they can pick up at their slot. Well, I’ve compiled a list of 1-30, of the best, and worst picks since 2000.

1. Best: LeBron James Worst: Kwame Brown

Kwame Brown is a case-study in dealing with players with fragile mental states. He looked dominant in every pre-draft event I saw, and I didn’t disagree with taking him #1. Then Michael Jordan and Doug Collins forced him into the fetal position for several years.

2. Best: Kevin Durant Worst: Darko Milicic

The #2 pick been surprising mediocre (Stromile Swift, Jay Williams, Marvin Williams), but none compare to the hilarious fiasco that is Darko. Darko isn’t horrible, and is better than Stromile, but taking him over ‘Melo, D-Wade and Bosh cost Detroit 1-2 championships.

3. Best: Carmelo Anthony Worst: Adam Morrison

So, we’re only 3 deep, and already Michael Jordan is responsible for the 2 of the 3 worst choices. Bravo!

4. Best: Chris Paul Worst: Marcus Fizer

Was talking to a Bulls fan last night and we discussed how in the NBA, you should never draft for need, you should only take the best player available. As I said, “that’s how you end up with Andrew Bogut instead of Chris Paul.”

5. Best: Dwyane Wade Worst: Nikoloz Tskitishvili

“After signing with Benetton, Tskitishvili played in six games leading up to the European Final Four. He played limited minutes on a talented Benetton team, averaging just six minutes and 1 point a game.” That was from his 2002 draft profile. If you are averaging 1 point a game for Benetton, that amounts to about 0.5 points per game in the NBA, which turned out to be pretty accurate. To his credit, that same draft profile mentions that he made 10 3’s in a row during one workout. 10!!! How do you pass that up!

6. Best: Brandon Roy Worst: Dajuan Wagner

The players drafted immediately after Wagner go as follows: Nene, Chris Wilcox, Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler. Ouch.

7. Best: Luol Deng Worst: Eddie Griffin

I’m going to avoid the urge to say something funny about Eddie Griffin, and simply say that is no way I could be a Suns fan when they do stuff like trade Luol Deng to the Bulls for nothing in particular.

8. Best: Rudy Gay Worst: Rafael Arajuo

Arajuo was one of the worst picks in Toronto history and also one of the best in Sixers history as it landed a gift-wrapped Andre Iguodala in our laps.

9. Best: Amare Stoudemire Worst: Patrick O’Bryant

GS GM: Hey! That guy we just worked out was really tall!
GS Fan: True, but did you notice he had trouble catching the ball?
GS GM: Man, he could almost touch the rim just standing there! I wish I could do that!
GS Fan: He shuffled his feet everytime he did a post move though
GS GM: If I was him, I would just be like, dunking ALL the time
GS Fan: No, if you were him you’d be wondering why you were getting showed up by Adonal Foyle
GS GM: This is gonna be the best draft EVER!

10. Best: Caron Butler Worst: Saer Sene

See above conversation, only replace “tall” with “long” and “Adonal Foyle” with “Calvin Booth.” Also, Miami becomes the first team to have 2 “best” picks.

11. Best: Andris Biendrins Worst: Fran Vazquez

Vazquez is the 4th foreign player to make the worst list, while Biendrins is the 1st to make the best list. Vazquez has not so much as sat on the Magic bench, and it doesn’t appear that he ever will.

12. Best: Nick Collison Worst: Robert Swift

Seattle becomes the first team to have 2 of the worst picks (this is also their 2nd “best” pick). The Robert Swift pick was hilarious at the time and continues to be today as his ponytail grows longer and tattoos expand. We’re talking about a tall, goofy white guy, coming out of High School, who no one had seen work out. Can you imagine being in a draft war room where people were pumped about this kid? They should have had a reality show where after the draft, Swift would work out against Al Jefferson and Josh Smith while the camera’s roll on the Seattle brass. Side Note: Thad Young may well end up being the best #12 pick, but I can’t give it to him after 1 season.

13. Best: Richard Jefferson Worst: Sebastian Telfair

There is not a non-Sixers pick in any draft that made me more angry than the Sebastian Telfair over Jameer Nelson pick, so it gives me great satisfaction to put him there. Telfair was drafted based on the fact that he was from New York and knew Jay-Z. Turns out 5′8” PGs who can’t play D or shoot aren’t all that good, regardless of how many rappers they know. Telfair has played slightly better of late, but the fact that he was picked over Nelson, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith and JR Smith, and made me angry, puts him here.

14. Best: Al Thornton Worst: Mateen Cleaves

Thornton looks like he’s going to be a good player. You can’t really blame Detroit for picking Cleaves, he just didn’t pan out as an NBA player.

15. Best: Al Jefferson Worst: Reece Gaines

Jefferson was a very risky pick at the time. He averaged something absurd like 45ppg in some really weak High School division in Mississippi and had never really played against top talent. Turned out OK though.

16. Best: Hedu Turkoglu Worst: Troy Bell

This is where the Sixers pick, and is arguably the worst spot in terms of production of those drafted there. Bell (11 career points) barely edged out Kirk Haston (32 career points) and the incomparable Jiri Welsch.

17. Best: Josh Smith Worst: Zarko Cabarkapa

The most surprising thing about this one? Cabarkapa wasn’t the first “Zarko” in NBA history. That honor belongs to the great Zarko Paspalj, who scored 72 points for the Spurs in 1989-90.

18. Best: David West Worst: Curtis Borchardt

And with the 18th pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz select “A tall, injured, white center from Stanford!” Sorry Curtis, you never had a chance.

19. Best: Zach Randolph Worst: Ryan Humphrey

I was a student at Notre Dame at the time, and I remember being very surprised when Humphrey’s name was called at 19. His best attribute was at least once a game he would blatantly goaltend a shot to see how far he could get it into the crowd.

20. Best: Jameer Nelson Worst: Julius Hodge

Portland should have drafted him, Miami should have drafted him, Denver should have kept him. Jameer isn’t a superstar, but he’s an above-average PG and a big game player. It’s almost like he won national player of the year and led his team to an undefeated season. (I’m still bitter about this draft, can you tell?). On the other end, I really can’t believe Julius Hodge didn’t make it as a pro. He was so tough (that was a serious statement, I fear my sarcasm as seriousness may be hard to distinguish between).

21. Best: Rajon Rondo Worst: Pavel Podkolzin

The Mavericks could have drafted Andre the Giant and had the same success they did with Podkolzin. The 7′5” monster scored a total of 4 points in his career, to go along with his 4 turnovers and 4 fouls.

22. Best: Jarrett Jack Worst: Jeryl Sasser

#22 would give #16 a run for its money for worst pick to have (sorry, Orlando). Meanwhile, Sasser was the first player who I had never heard of.

23. Best: Tayshaun Prince Worst: Sergio Monia

Monia, along with Viktor Khryapa was selected by the Portland Trailblazers with back-to-back picks in 2004. Strangely enough, both of them already played together, at the same position, in Russia. One of my favorite quotes from the draft was something like this “either that is the greatest SF platoon in international basketball history, or the Blazers just made a huge mistake.” Given that the next 4 picks (Delonte West, Tony Allen, Kevin Martin and Sasha Vujacic) are all productive pros, I’d go with the latter.

24. Best: Delonte West Worst: Dalibor Bagaric

It’s NOT homerism that I have Nelson and West on here. I swear. Nelson’s closest competitor was Brenden Haywood, who finally had his first good season last year, and West’s closest was Nenad Kristic and Kyle Lowry, neither of whom have been healthy enough to play. As for Dalibor, he’s a real guy, I checked into it. Proof of his existence is here. He even played 50 games for the Bulls in 2001, shooting a whopping 40% from the field, which would be OK if he were Kyle Lowry’s size, and not 7′1”.

25. Best: Gerald Wallace Worst: Frank Williams

Remember how excited Knicks fans were about Frank Williams? About as excited as Jason Kidd was after this block.

26. Best: Kevin Martin Worst: Ndubi Ebi

Kevin Martin is the perfect example of great pick. Someone who no ones talks about before, during or after the draft, and then when he drops 30 on your squad, you are wondering where on earth he came from. As for Ebi, he was the T-Wolves first pick after a 2-year hiatus for illegally signing Joe Smith. Moving forward, the NBA will reward them with extra first rounds picks as a penalty instead.

27. Best: Linas Kleiza Worst: Chris Jefferies

How good is Linas Kleiza? So good that the Nuggets wouldn’t part with him for a player they desperately needed, Ron Artest, before the trade deadline. However, a few months later, he’s so good that they are trying to package him and their draft pick for Kyle Lowry. That makes sense.

28. Best: Tony Parker Worst: Erick Barkley

How did no one else pick Tony Parker? Radmonovic and Raul Lopez went ahead of him, so teams were scouting foreign players. Was it because he was French? Too skinny? Talks like a girl a little bit? If you watched film of him, you had to see he had rare quickness, right? This is one of the biggest draft mysteries to me. If anyone knows why he went here, let me know.

29. Best: Josh Howard Worst: Wayne Simien

With James, Anthony, Wade, Bosh, Kaman, Hinrich, Ford, Collison, Ridnour, West, Barbosa and Josh Howard, the 2003 draft was one of the best ever. Of course, the Sixers were not involved in the festivities after trading this first round pick in 2001, for Jerome Moiso, who never played a game for us. 25 years and counting folks.

30. Best: David Lee Worst: Joel Freeland

It’s tough to rag on a team for a bad 30th pick, but Freeland is a British guy who, when drafted, had only played 1 year of profesional basketball. Shockingly, he has not yet made it to the league.

- The biggest change I’ve made is that I now have Michael Beasley going to the Heat instead of O.J. Mayo. There have been rumblings that Pat Riley thinks that Mayo and Dwyane Wade are too similar, and unless they can trade down to get him and pick up some more assets, they won’t take him at 2. It’s also been written that the Wolves are going to work out Mayo, and my gut feeling is that he will impress them to the point that they don’t feel like they need Beasley.

- Russell Westbrook has replaced D.J. Augustin as the Clippers pick as everything I have read says that Westbrook is the better prospect.

- Rumors are that the Bucks are leaning heavily towards Joe Alexander. This proves once again, that I am smarter than Chad Ford.

- People continue to write that Danilo Gallinari won’t drop below the Nets at #10, but I don’t think the Nets are planning on Anthony Randolph to be there, so I’m sticking with Randolph as the pick.

- Brandon Rush, my initial hope for the Sixers, continues to move up the draft board, and may go even higher. One scout said if he had to pick between Eric Gordon and Rush, he’d have to take Rush. He’d be a great fit in Portland.

- Kosta Koufos is rising up draft boards as well. Can’t say I’d be pleased if the Sixers drafted him, the couple times I’ve seen him play he seemed timid and soft.

- OK, so now the big change in my draft. With D’Andre Jordan, Marreese Speights, Darrell Arthur and JaVale McGee still on the board, the Sixers select J.J. Hickson. Here are my reasons:

1. I am hearing nothing but bad things about Jordan and McGee in their workouts. They are getting killed by Roy Hibbert. It is a general rule of the draft that if you are 7-feet tall, and don’t go Top-10, you just aren’t any good. I thought both of these guys would be workout wonders - they aren’t - and when’s the last time 7-feet tall guys, who don’t work out well and fall out of lottery developed into anything good?

2. I’ve already had Darrell Arthur dropping when I found out he was 6′7” and skinny, but now he’s skipping workouts with out so much as a call to tell the teams he won’t be there. Add character issues to a questionable PF prospect, and he’s dropping more.

3. I stand by what I said about Marreese Speights in earlier write-ups: If he lacks drive and conditioning, I don’t want him on my team.

4. This brings us to Hickson. Hickson strikes me as a PF version of our Thaddeus Young pick last year. He was incredibly efficient and effective as a freshman in the ACC (14.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 59% shooting). He’s skinny for his position, but he is a great athlete who is very versatile. He plays within himself, and doesn’t force shots or foul a lot on D (1.5 blk/g, 1.9 fouls/g). He is not as savvy or basketball smart as Young, but like Young, he’s only 19. He has been working out very well and is one of only a few players the Sixers have worked out. I think he would be a great fit in our system, and like Thad, could be picked higher than many people think.

- Alexis Ajinca takes a huge jump. Apparently he is a freak of nature, like a Tyrus Thomas. Not sure I’d want him on my team given how raw he is, but apparently NBA teams are interested.

- Courtney Lee to the Magic is the hot rumor right now. Productive small-school players tend to be good picks, so I could see that working out for them.

- Roy Hibbert stays in the same place despite rumors of great workouts. I’m just not buying it. By the way, it would really tick me off as a college basketball fan if a player on my team showed up to these NBA workouts in much better shape than they were during the season. What the hell? Couldn’t lose that 15 pounds before the season, Roy? Same goes for Kevin Love.

- Serge Ibaka to the Sonics, so that Mohammed Saer Sene, Johan Petro and Robert Swift have someone else to hang out with.

- Mario Chalmers defense and shooting would fit in well in San Antonio

- Ante Tomic to the Celtics, just to make Dannie mad. “Why would you draft someone who you know will never play in the NBA?” Well - at least it’s better than the Clippers taking Yaroslav Korolev over Danny Granger a couple years back.

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