Now that the NBA title has been decided, and the Lakers have had their parade through the city, the league turns itself to the next step in preparation for the 2009-10 season, that being the NBA draft.  It will be held Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.  The Los Angeles Clippers have the first overall pick, having won the draft lottery, and are expected to select Blake Griffin, the double double machine from Oklahoma that did a superb job of carrying the Sooners deep into the NCAA Tournament this past season.  Look at it this way:  at least the Clippers will never have to worry about running out of balls for their ping pong table. You get in the lottery as often as they do, you have a practically endless supply.

It's after that where things get a bit fuzzy as far as who will go where and to whom.

One thing that is for certain is that the Minnesota Timberwolves will be big time players in the draft.  They dealt Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Washington Wizards for Etan Thomas, Darius Songalia and Oleksiy Pecherov, along with the Wizards first round pick, fifth overall.  That gives Minnesota four first round selections:  the fifth, sixth,  eighteenth and twenty eighth picks in round number one.  They've been trying to be proactive, attempting to move as far up as pick number 2, but Memphis was unwilling to accept a deal that wouldn't include either both the fifth and sixth selections, or one of those and second year postman Kevin Love. 

Memphis has also tried to make a deal with Sacramento to get the fourth pick plus a player for the second pick, but the Kings balked.  There was also speculation that the Thunder might be interested, but the desire for Thabo Sefolosha and the third pick to move up one spot was a bit too rich for Oklahoma City, especially knowing that the Grizzlies have given up chasing after Spanish guard Ricky Rubio.  Rubio has a lot of talent on the international scale, but sometimes that doesn't translate to the NBA game.  Don't believe me?  Ask Darko MIlicic.  Speaking of Milicic, there is talk that he might be swapped straight up for Quentin Richardson of the Knicks, as both men have expiring contracts, which will clear cap room. 

As far as the cap goes, it is the first time in recent memory that the cap has actually shrunk from the previous season.  The drop is somewhere in the $1.5 million range, with the projected cap to be about $57.3 million for next season.  Elsewhere, the Blazers dealt the 24th and 56th picks in the draft and the worst second draft choice next year to the Mavericks to move up just two spots to number 22.   Rumor and speculation was that the Kings had an eye on one of the Blazers potential targets to help their ailing frontcourt, so they made a preemptive strike. 

We know that no matter what, the Clippers are most likely NOT going to be a playoff team next season.  They've been a sorry excuse for a NBA franchise since leaving Buffalo for San Diego, and then Los Angeles.  In fact, they had more winning seasons in eight seasons in Buffalo (three) than they have since moving to Los Angeles in 1984-85 (two, though they do have another season when they finished 41-41.)  They've only been to the playoffs four times since moving to LA, and made the second round just once.  On top of that, they are coming off a season with just nineteen wins, which simply isn't going to get it done, especially in the competitive Western Conference.

Then there are the Timberwolves, who have those four first round choices.  They had a good run while Kevin Garnett was the focal point of the franchise, but have regressed over the past five seasons.  The last two years were particularly poor, as the team won just 46 of 164 games.  Dealing Foye and Miller for expiring contracts doesn't really bode well for the 09-10 season in Minnesota either, as none of the acquired "talent" will serve much in the way of helping franchise player Al Jefferson in turning the club around.  It will be interesting to see if Minnesota tries to deal to get some veteran presence, such as the Clippers Baron Davis, in order to help, or if they simply use the four first round picks in an attempt to start the rebuilding process over again.

Of course, where will James Harden, Hasheem Thabeet, Stephen Curry and Jonny Flynn fall in the draft?  Who will the Jazz select in round one?  Will there be players who will regret their decision to come out instead of staying in school?  What about players like Luke Harangody, from Notre Dame, who decided to stay in school rather than declare for the draft?  Will he have any second thoughts about it when  he sees some of the names selected early on, knowing the millions of dollars that was involved?

We'll find out tomorrow, starting at 7 ET when the draft gets underway.  Coverage of course, will be brought to you on ESPN.