2012 NBA Pre-Draft Primer

Ok, everyone is anxious, the Rockets have been doing everything they can to pull off something meaningful and something big. Here is what is rumored and what has happened as of this posting:

• The Rockets acquired the 18^th pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves for Chase Budinger.
• The Rockets trade the 14^th pick, Samuel Dalembert, and a future second round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks for the 12^thpick in the draft, Jon Leuer, Shaun Livingston, and Jon Brockman.
• The Sacramento Kings are steadfastly refusing to move the 5^th pick on the offchance Anthony Davis drops to 5 or some other contrived bit of reasoning strikes them.
• Golden State Warriors are interested in a veteran small forward if they're going to give up the 7^th pick.
• Houston is confirmed as one of the five options being contemplated by the Charlotte Bobcats for the number 2 pick in the draft.
• The Houston Rockets currently hold the 12^th, 16^th, and 18^th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and do not want three rookies on their roster come October.
• The Rockets are not pursuing Pau Gasol.

UPDATE: 4:44 EST

• The Sacramento Kings are cooling on the idea of Anthony Davis falling to number 5 and will wait for tonight to determine whether to trade the pick to Houston. Rumblings suggest if Thomas Robinson is off the board the pick will go to Houston for a large deal.

After the jump you’ll see a little bit of commentary but all the relevant rumors will be updated here. I have class from 6:30PM to 8:30PM unless I decide to become ill so I’ll keep this thread up looking for excitement during class. Mike will be taking draft coverage, if I’m lucky he’ll pick up my slack before I go to class.

So there it is folks. These are the only things I feel comfortable listing as the "definite" information because right now, reports are slow to leak. That tends to be for the better because work is getting done. Kyle Lowry is still on the roster and I am hoping he doesn’t expect to be here by the end of the night. The Toronto Raptors are the team that is most likely to cough up their pick. The Portland Trailblazers may listen to offers but they have an eye for Drummond or Lillard and can’t go wrong with the 6^th selection.

If the Rockets get stonewalled at this stage I can’t say everything was a complete failure. They energized the franchise and put themselves in position to come away with a package of Meyers Leonard, Terrence Ross, and Kendall Marshall, which, I believe, would be a good cluster to start a rebuild with. The Rockets have put a lot of pressure on themselves to return a guy like a Dwight Howard or Andre Drummond on the roster and if the deal isn’t there, there is not much they can do.

If they don’t come away with at least one top ten pick I will certainly feel like we fell short but, admittedly, it would all be based on hype. I believe they have enough ammo in the chamber to get a top ten pick, hell, even a top 5 pick though and I wouldn’t be shocked to see us package 12, 16 or 18 along with Lowry or Kevin Martin to Charlotte. I would hope another move would be available to swap the survivor of Lowry or Martin and the 16 or 18 out for another pick and snag a guy in the later lottery.

Either way, we’ll keep you guys posted as the day goes on.