Four Choices at Number Four

First, the bad news: the Sonics did not get the #1 pick in today's NBA draft lottery. That honor goes to the Chicago Bulls, who will most likely select Memphis freshman Derrick Rose with the top pick in the draft (although, given the Bulls' needs and relative youth, they should take a hard look at Brook Lopez there). That leaves Derrick Coleman...I mean, Michael Beasley for the Heat to take with the second pick (but again, see above parenthetical, and consider Pat Riley's affinity for pure centers and the fact that Miami is likely to lock Beasley's fellow combo forward Shawn Marion into a lucrative extension), and Minnesota to take either O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon, Jerryd Bayless, Lopez, or his fellow all-Pac-10 first-teamer, Kevin Love.

The obvious pick -- and probably the smartest one -- for the Sonics at #4 will be to take the leftover big man, Lopez or Love. Lopez is projected to go approximately that high, while Love isn't. Given a choice between the two, we'd flip a coin -- but under no circumstances should Presti be tempted by skinny white Euros (remember Andrea Bargnani) and long, underdeveloped underclassmen like DeAndre Jordan. If the Durantula and Jeff Green are peanut butter and jelly, then Love is the bread.

But before we leave you, two wild-card picks to ponder: D.J. Augustin and Roy Hibbert. One was Durant's point guard at Texas, the other was Green's center at Georgetown, and a case could be made for either landing in the lottery. If, for some reason, both Lopez and Love are gone by number four (super doubtful) or the Sonics feel somehow compelled to trade down, these are two heady, add-water ballers who play bedrock positions whom the franchise's cornerstone rookies would welcome with grins spread wide. If pre-draft projections are to believed, Hibbert could actually fall to the Sonics at #24. Remember, this is a guy who, had he left after his junior year, might have been a lottery pick, so it'd be a little sad to see him get punished for sticking around for the full four.