Does this draft hold the direction of the Franchise in the balance?

When Mullin picks, trades, or both this week he will be setting the course of the franchise in both the near and long term. Hint: think long term.

Assuming Baron and Nelson are back for only one more season, our erstwhile GM must be wondering whether to go for it ala Boston or continue to build gradually. Likely he already has a notion of which direction – and the sheer absence of trade talk involving the Dubs other than some silly Yi talk and speculative agent-induced Varejao chatter shouldn’t indicate that Nelson is settling for a ho-hum draft of a #14 pick to back up a back up somewhere on the depth chart. Mullin characteristically plays his cards to the vest and no one really knows what he’s scheming. Still, his options are limited.

It is difficult to imagine how Mullin could replicate the Boston miracle of landing a couple major players to pair with Baron. He cannot trade Monta nor AB and must be hoping they do not get astronomical offers elsewhere. Jackson is not coveted, and Harrington’s contract is unlikely to bring back a big worth trading for. Any thoughts of trading Al must include a means of adding real depth inside – Wright and Beans can not be expected to carry us into WC playoffs. Unless Mullin trades the #14 for a pricey veteran using the TPE, the only way to add a significant player is through FA. Perhaps Mullin can make enough of an offer to a Turiaf-esque FA who resides on a team log-jammed at his position and significantly over the cap, but going beyond the MLE-level FA is extremely unlikely due to cap restraints. And while Turiaf type players might help us get back to the playoffs,  we will likely not sniff the finals for quite some time.

The cap, and most poignantly Foyle’s continued contractual obligation, remains the self-inflicted albatross around Mullin’s neck. To re-sign both AB and Monta, two draftees, and the number of bench players necessary to keep the non-Nelson side of the bench from rising into a teeter-totter means that there simply wont be financial room to spend on many major additions.

This makes the draft all the more interesting assuming Mullin takes the BPA approach. We could see a talented wing drafted at #14 who could compete immediately with Bellinelli for minutes (anyone available at #14 is not going to help Nelson immediately elsewhere, and it’s not a lot to ask someone to be better than Marco). Who knows, maybe Mullin will replace Pietrus with another Frenchy – *Nic Batum*, or another Euro - *Danilo Gallinari* if the Nets don’t make good on their draft “promise”. We could look like Toronto-West. Maybe we take *Donte Green* (as prognosticated on DraftExpress). I’ve seen *Brandon Rush* (6'7" G) and could imagine him stepping right into some minutes right away for Nelson, while also being a major cog in our future. I’d be pretty happy landing Rush with a #14. If *Anthony Randolph* ( 6'11 Fwd) or *Alexis Ajinca* (7’1 C) slip to #14, Mullin might draft a big and who knows, maybe he reaches for *Robin Lopez* out of Stanford or *Darrell Arthur* (6'9" PF) out of Kansas. Trading up is as problematic as a straight trade for the simple reason that Mullin has so few tradable assets:

Baron can opt out, and though is unlikely to cannot be traded until declaring.

Harrington has a big contract, and plays our thinnest position.

Jackson is not very attractive with his contract, and history.

Barnes, Pietrus, Azubuike, Croshere, POB = all FA.

Ellis & Biedrins = RFA.

Kosta and CJ Watson have little trade value.

The X-factor is *Brandan Wright*- who is tradable, but would not net a return worth making the move unless it was for an over-priced big who Mullin would exercise the TPE on. If that kind of move is made, it would signal a go-for-it-now mode. But I can’t see any bigs on the horizon that would fit the requirements of being compatible with Nelson and Baron and available on the market, other than maaaaaybe, *Rasheed Wallace* (fat chance of that $12.5m contract being added here).

As much as I hate to say it, and I do hate it, the “smart” move may be no move &  not exercising the JRich TPE. Most likely, Mullin will simply be drafting the BPA.

*Brandon Rush anyone?*