The lottery drawing was last nite, and somehow Milwaukee moved up to steal the first pick. This year was a little different, in that they only drew for the top 3 seeds. 1-14 got entries/ping pong balls, but they only chose the top 3. The rest of the teams that weren’t picked were then ordered by worst record similar to the playoff teams’ seeding. Portland and Milwaukee moved up, while Charlotte was one of the teams disappointed.

On an Illini slant, Deron is slated to go at #5 to Charlotte in the latest ESPN mock draft. I didn’t think Charlotte needed a point that badly over other needs; as long as he gets a solid start wherever he goes. I really hope he falls to Utah at #6 as we all know how that team values point guards.

Related to Dee Brown: yes, he declared a few weeks back, and there’s been conflicting information from him and the Illini coaches on how serious he is. He hasn’t hired an agent, and the coaches say he gave them a 99% probability of coming back. But his news conference had a much different tone. I hope it’s Dee just running his mouth a little, trying to give the impression that he’s serious about the draft to get the best possible read on where he’d go in the draft. I highly doubt he’ll make it to the first-round, though, given his size and lack of point-guard experience. I mean he has alot especially running the point when Deron was on the bench, etc., but he’s not in the same league as a Deron Williams in that aspect right now. And point is the only place he’ll fit into the NBA at. I would not understand if he decides to stay in if projected as a second-round pick. Why not stay in school one more year, run the point, and improve to hopefully a first-round? I mean there’s no risk involved; whether you stay or go, if you have a bad year next year, you’ll be ‘out of a job’ regardless, as a 2nd-round pick needs to show great progress to have a serious future and get playing time to progress.

Just my 2 cents…I bank on Dee coming back, 90% probability IMHO