I am ok with grabbing Livingston because I love his size at that position. But only if he proves he can play basketball this season (heard he was suppose to start playing pick up ball in the middle of June) and understand he won’t get paid much of anything until he proves not only that he can play but that he can play to the potential everyone thought he had before he got hurt.

With that said if his first basketball action is two weeks before FA opens on July 1st how can you really evaluate this kid? We would literally be tossing money in a wishing well or playing the lottery with a ticket that likely cost us $2 million dollars.

its been written here and there, and it’s my personal opinion that the Heat want Mayo. But – there is NO WAY that that is what they are telling other teams. If they believe that the Wolves want Beasley, they will call them up – infer that they (the Heat) plan on taking Beasley at #2 and try to get another player out of a deal. Happens all the time in the NBA and NFL. teams will leak false rumors, agents will leak false rumors, all sorts of stuff happens so that you are never really sure what a team is thinking so they can broker deals like this.

like i said earlier, the talent is there for javale mcgee. i just think it will take a while to get him to play on a consistant level, and thats why i think he could fall to seattle. it has been rumoured that the suns could start rebuilding after one more run so he is starting to make sense there, but i dont think he is a great fit for teams on their way up. the teams at 10-14, 16, 17, and 19-23 should not take him. i dont expect him to drop past 24.

Based on what I’ve read, I think that that Heat want Mayo more than Beasley. They worked him out first, he’s been out to dinner with D-Wade, they clearly want a guard more than a PF and Mayo has been extremely impressive in all his interactions with the Heat brass.

That being said, I don’t think they will select Mayo #2. Beasley is obviously a great talent, and I think that the Heat will trade the pick. The Wolves would love Beasley and might give another young player up to move up one spot to take him. So – my mock draft represents where I think the player will end up, not where they will be picked (though this is the only trade i am “forecasting”)

Not trying to be a petty a**hat with the distinction, but it’s worth noting that some of these guys, particularly Anthony Carter and Melvin Ely, were phenomenal players in an extremely talented and respected league, plus there are other WAC guys that were solid NBA players, just not currently on rosters.

I’m not too big a fan in general of talking about the competition level of conferences as a whole…I think it has to be done year to year. For instance, the Big-10 this year, completely top heavy with really 4-5 good teams, would have gotten slaughtered by the Big 10 of the late 90s and early 00s. The ACC this year was freaking horrible in comparison in years when they had 7 teams dancing each year.

You could also have a situation where individual teams in the WAC play a ridiculously tough out of conference schedule, and then walk back into what is still pretty tough conference play. Just saying keep the McGee comparisons to the two years he played, and the out of conference comp. he played, instead of putting him head to head with other WACers.