In hindsight, the decision not to re-sign Kenyon Martin last off-season turned out to be disastrous for the Nets. They have great athleticism at the wing positions, including Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, and Jason Kidd to distribute the rock, but they sorely lack somebody like Martin who can crash the boards with authority. Nenad Krstic was solid offensively (10.0 ppg) as a rookie big man, but the Nets need someone with a little more muscle who can contribute right away defensively and on the glass. With aging veterans Kidd and Carter, the Nets don’t have time to invest in a project like high-schooler Andrew Bynum or Frenchman ^{Johan Petro} with their first round pick. Instead, look for them to take Sean May, Charlie Villanueva, ^{Channing Frye}, Ike Diogu, ^{Hakim Warrick}, or even Chris Taft if he happens to slide out of the lottery.

In the second round, they will likely add some insurance for the oft-injured Kidd, by selecting someone like John Gilchrist, Nate Robinson, or Louis Williams. They could also use a three point shooter such as Francisco Garcia, Salim Stoudamire, or Dijon Thompson.

The Raptors have good athleticism on the wings with Jalen Rose and Morris Peterson, although they would love to move Rose if the right deal came along. That said, Chris Bosh is the most promising talent the franchise has and is probably the only player they’d be unwilling to part with. They can certainly upgrade the point guard position (Rafer Alston, Milt Palacio) and likely will in the first round. They could also use some help up front for Bosh, as last year’s first round pick Rafael Araujo is a long way away from making a significant contribution. And if they move Rose, they would have a need for an athletic wing man to fill his shoes. Fortunately for Raptors fans, the team has 4 picks in this draft, including two of the top 16 and three of the top 38 picks. That should lead to opportunities to improve the team either by using the picks or via trade opportunities.

With the #7 pick, Toronto will likely look point guard first as the big men available here will be a reach (hopefully they learned their lesson last year selecting Araujo at # 8). Toronto would love for Deron Williams to still be on the board, but Raymond Felton is a more likely option. If they find a way to move Rose before the draft, Gerald Green or Danny Granger would make sense here as well. With the # 16 pick they will likely go bigger, entering the sweepstakes for the seasoned college players who may not be future all-stars but could contribute immediately. This includes players like Sean May, ^{Channing Frye}, ^{Charlie Villanueva}, and ^{Hakim Warrick}.

With over $100 million in payroll, you would think that the Knicks would have won more than 33 games last season and would have a star at every position. Not so fast – you have to remember that Isaiah Thomas is running this team and has made some very questionable moves during his tenure in the front office. Thomas does, however, appear to have his backcourt covered with Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Allan Houston and Anfernee Hardaway (and at a combined $57 million in salary they should more than cover it!). That leaves the frontcourt, where the Knicks are severely undersized and lack the talent to keep opponents from dominating them in the paint. Kurt Thomas is respectable and Mike Sweetney has shown some promise, but neither is bigger than 6’8” or explosive enough to overcome the fact that they are usually matched up with bigger power forwards.

So logic would say that the Knicks will go big (Fran Vazquez, Tiago Splitter) or explosive (Chris Taft) with the # 8 pick. In addition, rumor has it that they would like to trade Tim Thomas, which means Danny Granger would make sense here too. With the 30th pick, look for Thomas to add more front-court depth (Wayne Simien, Ronny Turiaf) or possibly add another athletic wing player (Ryan Gomes, Francisco Garcia) to spell Houston and Crawford.