Mike Conley

Chad Ford's new mock draft (Insider) has Atlanta selecting Brandan Wright, bucking the conventional wisdom that they need to take the best PG since they passed the past 2 years (missing out on both Chris Paul and Deron Williams). This leaves the Bucks as the logical place for Mike Conley.

I'm not going to comment on how good Conley may be, since that's all speculation. But I think that in the short run this would be among the least advantageous results. If they pick a PG they obviously let Mo leave in free agency. So how much do their playoff chances go up from last year? Trading a proven, yet non-traditional, PG for a rookie, how much does it improve the team? It's doubtful this will help their defense, which is the biggest need.

This is the dark results of their lottery luck. Instead of having their pick of the bigs, especially Brandon Wright and Tito Jr., they now will likely be picking from the riskier selections. In Ford's projection, I prefer a player like Noah who's been devalued but could be a major sleeper. He provides the type of defensive specialist who could improve the team immediately off the bench.

Then again, the workouts haven't even started. I'm sure there'll be some major shuffling in the coming weeks.