RealGM

Pacers Draft Board:

1. Derrick Rose
2. Michael Beasley
3. O.J. Mayo
4. Jerryd Bayless
5. Brook Lopez
6. Eric Gordon
7. Anthony Randolph

I'm going to go with DeAndre Jordan, he has so much potential, and while he may not pan out to be as good as he could be, with his athleticism and speed I still think he could fit in with our offense.

I think this is the beginning of the "second-tier" group where you are looking more at solid rotational players as opposed to all-stars although I'm sure one or two could surprise.

That being said, I'm going to go with Russell Westbrook. I think he has the highest ceiling (with the exception of Jordan...but much less risk), and he'd immediately be able to contribute to our backcourt. The main weaknesses of our backcourt have been overall speed, athleticism, and the ability to create as well as finish at the rim. Westbrook can do all of those, and he's only 19 years old.

Outside of Jordan, Westbrook would probably be my second choice. I like Westbrook a lot, I hear he has some PG skills and thats what we need. Plus he should be a great defender. I can actually see him becoming a Billups like player, not saying he will, but I think thats his ceiling.

However with Jordan, his ceiling is as high as a Hall of Famer. I hear he doesn't have the greatest work ethic, but he is a teenager. I think theres a good chance he could grow out of that. I don't know, I think the Pacers should take a risk at this point in the draft.

I tossed a coin between Jordan and Westbrook and it came up Jordan. I almost went with Batum just because someone said to take him off, but decided I would rather my vote count

Going with Love again, with Westbrook as my second choice.

This team needs defense. Westbrook without a doubt. I really don't want us to take some project big man who may or may not turn out to be worth a darn.

I think we need help immediately. I am tired of waiting around for bigs to develop. The only big we had developing that excited me was primo (and he went to char during the expansion). With this being said we need guard help now. So the decision is clear, the decision is Westbrook.

However if we can trade back into the end of the first round and select chalmers (he is still in the draft right?), then I say go for a big. Take jordan...

Confusing i know

Are we going to try to get through the first 14 players before the draft lottery?

I wouldn't think that we'd have to. I think this is still a valid process all the way through the 1st round, and possibly both rounds. We could always trade at different points, and this would simply be a good exercise at developing the Pacers Board "Draft Board" of sorts and who we rank and value differently.

DJ Augustin has to be on our board. He fits our system well and gives us a solid PG he is our guy.

Augustin may be a good pick at #11, but I think he'd be a little bit of a reach at #8. I would think if we were in this situation we'd take Westbrook or Jordan first.