Here’s my mock draft for the 2009 lottery teams. After 14 your guess is as good as mine.

1. L.A. Clipper - Blake Griffin PF, Oklahoma
2. Memphis - Tyreke Evans PG, Memphis
3. Oklahoma City -  Ricky Rubio PG, Spain
4. Sacramento - Stephen Curry PG, Davidson
5. Minnesota - Hasheem Thabeet C, U-Conn
6. Minnesota - James Harden G, ASU
7. Golden State - Jordan Hill C, Arizona
8. New York - Jonny Flynn PG, Syracuse
9. Toronto - Dejuan Blair F, Pittsburgh
10. Milwaukee - Demar Derozan F, USC
11. New Jersey - Gerald Henderson F, Duke
12. Charlotte - Terrance Williams G, Louisville
13. Indiana - Brandon Jennings G, Italy
14. Phoenix - B.J. Mullens C, Ohio State

Here’s what really happened:

1. L.A. Clippers - Blake Griffin - PF, Oklahoma
2. Memphis - Hasheem Thabeet - C, Connecticut
3. Oklahoma City - James Harden - G, ASU
4. Sacramento - Tyreke Evans - G, Memphis
5. Minnesota - Ricky Rubio - PG, Spain
6. Minnesota - Jonny Flynn - PG, Syracuse
7. Golden State - Stephen Curry - PG, Davidson
8. New York - Jordan Hill - PF, Arizona
9. Toronto - DeMar DeRozan - G, USC
10. Milwaukee - Brandon Jennings - PG, Italy
11. New Jersey - Terrence Williams-G, Louisville
12. Charlotte - Gerald Henderson - G, Duke
13. Indiana - Tyler Hansbrough- PF, UNC
14. Phoenix - Earl Clark - PF, Louisville
15. Detroit - Austin Daye - SF, Gonzaga
16. Chicago - James Johnson - PF, Wake Forest
17. Philadelphia - Jru Holiday- PG, UCLA
18. Minnesota - Ty Lawson - PG, UNC
19. Atlanta - Jeff Teague - PG, Wake Forest
20. Utah - Eric Maynor- PG, Virginia Commonwealth
21. New Orleans - Darren Collison - PG, UCLA
22. Portland - Victor Claver - F, Spain
23. Sacramento - Omri Casspi - F, Israel
24. Dallas - B. J. Mullens - C, Ohio State (traded to OKC)
25. Oklahoma City - Rodrigue Beaubois - PG, France (traded to Dallas)
26. Chicago - Taj Gibson - PF, USC
27. Memphis - DeMarre Carroll - PF, Missouri
28. Minnesota - Wayne Ellington - G, UNC
29 New York - Toney Douglas - G, Florida State
30. Cleveland - Christian Eyenga - F, Congo

Picks 1-10 Update:  Initial thoughts - Only got 1 pick correct. This draft is all over the place. Has to be a trade in the works for Minnesota. 2 point guards is not what they need…or they’ll be back in the lottery next year for sure.  Keep Rubio and trade Flynn! Griffin was a no-brainer.  Thabeet will improve the lousy defense in Memphis, but his offense is not up to par and the NBA is not the place to learn.  A lot of “experts” were down on Sacramento for going with Tyreke Evans over Ricky Rubio. Not me, Evans may not be a classic point guard, but the Kings will feel his impact right away. They need it now and can’t wait for Rubio and his learning curve.  Jordan Hill to the Knicks at #8 is the steal of the draft so far! I know they wanted Curry, but Hill is the real deal!   Harden is ready to play now, but I think OKC would have done much better with Hill in the long run.  I love watching the midget league run by Don Nelson, but unless they do indeed have a deal for Amare in the works with Phoenix i don’t think Curry is a great fit.  DeRozan will enjoy playing with Bosh for 1 season…hpe he can develop into a big time scorer. There’s been a Brandon Jennings sighting! i was worried he had gone back to Europe after hearing he was falling out of the lottery picks.  Good pick for a team with question marks at the point. Can’t wait for him to play against Rubio.  More after pick 15!

Picks 11-15 Update:  I like Williams going to the Nets. After their trade of Carter to orlando it’s time to rebuild. good building blocks with Devin Harris, Courtney Lee and Brook Lopez. I thought Indiana was the trade target for Minnesota’s multiple point guards?  Henderson is a solid defensive-minded selection for Charlotte and Larry Brown. Earl Clark is steal #2 of the draft after Jordan Hill. If Phoenix is indeed trading Amare, look for even more of the run and gun under Coach Gentry.  Austin Daye at #15 is a surprise after his rapid slide the last few weeks. I had him going to Detroit 2 weeks ago, but his lack of strength i thought would work against him. Don’t the Piston already have Austin Daye…his name is Tayshaun Prince! More after pick 20.

Picks 16-20 Update: James Johnson is another big young body the Bulls don’t need. They need a veteran. Maybe the trade talk with Hinrich going to Portland will pan out and pay dividends.  Jrue Holiday - supposed to be a great point guard, wouldn’t know he didn’t play the position at UCLA. This is all about upside and a replacement for Andre Miller.  Ty Lawson is on the move to Denver. not a bad pick at all for the Nuggets, he can learn from a good one in Billups! Jeff Teague say hello to Atlanta and along with Jamal Crawford bid Mike Bibby a fond farewell.  Eric Maynor to the Jazz.  I know Portland was interested. Another good point guard in waiting pick! More after #25.

Picks 21 - 25  Update: The point guard understudy program continues with Collison going to New Orleans. Better pick in my book than Jru Holiday. Great pick for the future, but won’t due anything for the Hornets now.   Portland takes Victor Claver out of Spain. We heard this yesterday in The Zone. No impact, he will remain overseas. Portland will make their waves in free-agency if Kevin Pritchard has his way.  Sacramento gets Omri Casspi…congrats…don’t know a lick about him except Portland was interested in him as well.  B.J. Mullens and Rodrigue Beaubois are being swapped. The Thunder gets another raw big man (The Petro and Sene experiments weren’t bad enough?) and Dallas gets a French point guard we’ve never heard of….wahoo! More after #30.

Picks 26 - 30  Update: I like Taj Gibson, but not to the Bulls. They don’t need another tall tweener…he’s athletic, but doesn’t have enough bulk .  DeMarre Carroll - defensive minded player for the Grizz…good they need it.  I really like the Wayne Ellington pick for Minnesota at #28. They need to a shooting guard and got a smart one to pair with Al Jefferson and their dozen’s of point guards.  Toney Douglas is a real find for New York at #29. He can play defense and can really shoot the three.  The Knicks have done well tonight (even with the trade for Darko).  Cleveland takes Christian Eyenga  to wrap up the 1st round….If you can’t say anything nice about a small forward from the Congo, don’t say anything at all!

Tomorrow:  highlights from the second round and overall team grades…Gotta love the draft!

I can’t beleive I haven’t blogged at all in 2009. Time to change that. I promise to blog as often as possible in the forseeable future. It will be all quantity over quality….lucky you! 

Mariners: Get on the bus and drink the Kool-Aid! The M’s are off to their best start since 2001 and I’m lovin’ it. I don’t want to give in to hyperbole, but the Mariner’s are NEVER GONNA LOSE AGAIN! Next stop World Series! 

Seriously, with as bad as 2008 was for the Washington/Seattle/local sports scene, we need a great Mariner Magic Carpet Ride like never before! It won’t bring back the Sonics or WWU football, improve the 6 total wins in football last season for the Seahawks, WSU & UW or make the pending traffic woes/money suck of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver any more palitable, but it will distract us from these woes for a while. Isn’t that what sports should do? Provide a little entertaining escapism during tough times. Look around…times are tough all over! Realxing with some garlic fries on a sunny day at Safeco Field  while Griffey and Ichiro go yard sonds pretty nice to me right now! Plus….they’re NEVER GONNA LOSE AGAIN!!!!!!!

Pirates:  I like pirates. Treasue Island is one of my favorite books, can’t ride “Pirates of the Caribbean” enough at Disney, all of my impressions eventually sound like pirate and I even enjoy those Johnny Depp movies.  What I don’t like is that in 2009 we apparently have to worry about Long John Silver on the international high seas! 

I don’t mean to sound like your Granddad but “if we can put a man on the moon”…..why can’t we get rid of pirates in the 21st century?

Now before I go on, let me say how relieved and happy I am that this most recent international incident was quelled with a heroic effort from the ship captain and Navy SEALS.  And all joking aside, maybe that summer cruise to Somalia should be re-considered. Now back to the rant… 

We can put a monkey’s heart in a human body, watch TV, take pictures and blance our checkbooks on our cellphones and Tampa Bay can go to the World Series, but Captain Hook can still shiver our timbers on the water? Get out of that apple barrel and say it aint so Jim Hawkins!

How can this be happening?  Are freighter captains unaware of what the Jolly Roger-skull and crossbones flag looks like?  How do they get on board? Was the eye patch, parrot and wooden leg not enough of a give-away that these sea-faring souls were not hitch hikers? What are these pirates after? Does anybody still use Spanish doubloons anymore? Maybe some questions are better left unanswered.

Note to self: Stay out of international waters, the only pirates I would like to see are from Pittsburgh.  I would be plenty happy to see them come to Safeco Field in October for a World Series butt-kicking from the Mariners…..who are NEVER GONNA LOSE AGAIN! (Pittsburgh????? didn’t think I could tie it all together did ya? I know it’s a stretch…but who ever heard of  Cubs or Phillies or Cardinals attacking boats?) Remember I promised quantity, not quality!

Here’s the first blog on the new kpug1170.com.  No rant about the hum-drum off season for the Mariners even with a new GM and manager. No opinion on the Steve Sarkisian hire by the Huskies. I’m not even going to weigh in on T.O. or Plaxico. Nope it’s gonna be a pretty simple blog request .  We want your help in finishing off our new website. 

 kpug1170.com more usefull to you?

Feel free to e-mail your responses back to me at doug@kpug1170.com. Hopefully your feedback will help make our site even better. Oh yeah and while you’re checking things out….please sign up for our new listener club “The Locker Room” - You’ll be happy you did!