In case you haven't heard, the National Basketball Association is going to be hold their draft tonight (Starts at 7:00 Eastern; Coverage on ESPN).  Many players from local schools are hoping to hear their names called, and this promises to be one of the more interesting and unpredictable drafts in recent memory.  I remembered how much fun we had in last year's draft thread, and I wanted to make sure that we had one for this year as well! 

This draft should have interesting trades, first round reaches, and big names falling down the draft board.  However, it is pretty certain that John Wall will go #1 to the Wizards and the Ohio State University's Evan Turner will go #2 to the Philadelphia 76ers. 

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

The big story I'll be following tonight is the chance for the University of Kentucky to make history and have 5 players selected in the first round.  Just weeks ago, this was a virtual lock, but there have been reports of strange actions from the Daniel Orton camp & speculation is that he may fall out of the first round.  As mentioned, John Wall should go #1 and if there are no trades it looks like DeMarcus Cousins will go to the Kings at #5. Somewhere between 8 and 15 a team is going to do very well for themselves and draft Patrick Patterson.  Eric Bledsoe will most likely go in the first round, but mock drafts have him all over the place, so I don't have a handle on where he's likely to wind up.

I know not all of you guys are Kentucky fans, but fans of most local teams (not Louisville) should still have plenty of reason to watch.  Xavier should have a first rounder tonight in the form of Jordan Crawford.  Ohio State will have a very high draft pick in National Player of the Year Evan Turner.  And even though it's been a rough few years for the Cincinnati Bearcats, we can expect that at some point tonight "Born Ready" Lance Stephenson will be drafted.

I used to love the NBA Draft, and I have to say I'm more excited for this one than I have been any other in a long time!  Please join me, and keep the Kentucky Hate to a minimum :-)

via www.bigbluelowdown.com