Alphabet City is currently being spelled in the world of college basketball. The NCAA and NIT will hoop it up on USA soil to determine collegiate basketball’s champion. Universities such as KSU, UNC, UCLA, MSU, and countless other lettermen will be covered by CBS and analyzed by ESPN in the Madness matrix hex that assures high drama. I have heard the hordes hemming me up the latest NBA Mock Draft so this initial foray will be 12 teams deep with the full 30-team breakdown forthcoming shortly.

To the multitudes that have resonated with the lines of mine found here to serve your Hoops Addict fix I’m truly feeling you out there. Word is bond.

1. Miami Heat - Michael Beasley 6-9 Kansas State Power Forward - 2008 Big 12 Player of the Year & 2008 Big 12 Freshman of the Year: Miami front office impresario Pat Riley has accepted the fizzle of the Heat’s sizzle icily. The Heat, who won the NBA championship two seasons ago, are the league’s leaders in lottery balls for Draft Day 2008. When Heat management meet to pinpoint why they dwell in the catacombs of futility, the conference attendees need not look any further than management’s bent on attaining veterans past there prime. Additionally, Miami’s style of play under taskmaster Riley has an expiration date in the uptempo world of the NBA today. Riley’s frustration with the 2007-2008 Miami Heat had him seeking holistic retreat at college games to scout remedies for his team’s varied inadequacies. The panacea for Riley’s woes starts with the drafting of Michael Beasley. A starting lineup featuring Shawn Marion at small forward, Dwyane Wade at shooting guard, and the soon to be named consensus NCAA Player of the Year Michael Beasley at power forward would have Pat Riley in a Showtime frame of mind.

2. Minnesota Timberwolves- Brook Lopez 7-0 Stanford Center: Minnesota is an NBA charter that has a profusion of wing flavor, swashbuckling guards developing daily and Al Jefferson close to acquiring card-carrying membership into the NBA’s pantheon of Western Conference All-Stars. The Wolves need post presence desperately and Brook Lopez is tailor made to run for Randy Wittman’s maligned dozen. Brook’s fluid arrival remedies the hoops dehydration in the State of 10,000 lakes. Wolves season ticket holders have not seen a center with the resume of Lopez and this is not a slight to former Wolves men in the middle such as Ervin “No Relation to Magic” Johnson and Michael “Candy Man” Olowokandi. Kevin McHale calls the draft day shots and knows the importance of frontline excellence based on his playing days as a Celtics high siding with Cornbread, Chief and Bird. Lopez on the draft board and defending the T-Wolves backboard is a simple solution for Minny’s men.

3. Memphis Grizzlies- Danilo Gallinari 6-9 Italy Frontline Hybrid: Grizz’ General Manager Chris Wallace is on the board and the point guard balling for a collegiate team in the same city won’t be the choice here due to Memphis drafting a point guard within the top five last season. The Grizzlies have talent yet no chemistry. So the phonetics of Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni coupled with the pronouncement of Danilo Gallinari is an alchemical start via alliteration. Name symmetry may prompt playing chemistry … the power of words. The Grizzlies need players and Gallinari brings a multitude of traits that would merge well with the abilities of Rudy Gay, Mike Miller, and Mike Conley. He is a self sufficient player that can resolve Iavaroni’s on-floor mess with a game that is equitable and observable. Long term NBA team building is implicit on star personnel and clever draft day decison-making. Ratifying Gallinari, a hoops “flavour man,” to the Grizzlies is something Wallace and the rest of the front office will want to consider come June.

4. New York Knicks- Derrick Rose 6-3 Memphis Point Guard: James Dolan, owner of the New York Knickerbockers, should take a bow. Dolan has shown New York’s basketball front man Isiah Thomas unparalleled job security. Dolan has let no one decide Zeke’s fate despite a consensus condemnation of Thomas’ management IQ. So, as this is written Isiah Thomas is still in power in New York therefore it’s his draft and he selects fellow Chicagoan Derrick Rose. Rose is what New York obliges in an unparalleled floor leader that can excel under the bright lights of Broadway. Thomas has been fiending for a floor leader such as Rose and the fact that he’s from Chi-Town is not loss on Thomas who is apt to say, “I’m familiar with all things Chicago.”

5. Seattle Supersonics- Eric Gordon 6-2 Indiana Guard Hybrid - 2008 Big Ten Freshman of the Year: The city of Seattle’s apparently irretrievable Supersonics appear headed for Oklahoma City and the municipality is yearning for the 2008 Rookie of the Year in marination, Kevin Durant, to rack up points in a venue prepared by former Association tenants the New Orleans Hornets. Last year on draft night, Sonic sonar shooter Ray Allen was traded to Boston for rookie Jeff Green and some spare parts, so opprobrious firepower arrives this summer in Eric Gordon. The addition of Gordon this summer to play alongside Durant and Green is the right move. Gordon’s faculties to play at lead guard and the two spot while imparting backcourt attitude to a team lacking backcourt bite. Gordon can nourish the new identity in OKC as the new locale’s first draft pick.

6. Charlotte Bobcats- OJ Mayo 6-5 USC Shooting Guard: With the pressure on Michael Jordan he opts for O.J. Mayo to bestow the scoring spark so craved for Charlotte’s offensive tastes. Head coach Sam Vincent needs offensive ammunition and a shot creator which is something Mayo can accommodate via double-time. Jordan can help mentor Mayo on the ways of propitious NBA scoring methodologies. Bob’s Cats require aid and players that can “get after it” with the singular will possessed by Mayo.

7. Los Angeles Clippers-Jerryd Bayless 6-3 Arizona Point Guard: Mike Dunleavy has coached both Los Angeles franchises and has full brevity on what it means “to live and die in LA.” In his first season at the Lakers helm he guided the gold and purple to the NBA finals and just two seasons ago the Clippers were the toast of LA, as Dunleavy guided the Clips’ past the first round of the playoffs giving Clippers fan and Yankee spring training hopeful entertainer Billy Crystal airtime that he had not received in decades. This season Dunleavy was without the utility of All-Star Elton Brand and point guard Shawn Livingston which saw the team plummet in the standings. Dunleavy, a father of a current NBA player and a scrappy guard in his playing days, knows his Clippers’ need for backcourt excellence epitomized by Jerryd Bayless. Bayless in the Clipper fold and the return of Brand in 2009, coupled with 2008 All-Rookie performer Al Thornton, can change the masts of the Clippers affluence to winds of wins. Bayless is a funky fresh phenomenon who is NBA authorized.

8. Milwaukee Bucks- Jason Thompson 6-11 Rider Power Forward - 2008 MAAC MVP & 2008 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year: Just who are the Milwaukee Bucks? The question is one of team personality. The Bucks have had a load of high draft picks which has resulted in more high annual lottery selections season-after-season. Australia’s Andrew Bogut was selected as the overall number one not too long ago with many of you asking Andrew who? China’s Yi Jianlian was Bucks GM Larry Harris lottery tab in 2007. Milwaukee has efficient offensive output in guard tandem Michael Redd and Mo Williams yet none of this (annual lottery picks, an All Star in Redd, coaching changes, etc.) adds up to victories. What Milwaukee needs is a gifted talented playmaking athlete that can succeed at the three-, the four-, and the five-slot and that expertise happens to be Jason Thompson of Rider College. Thompson will coerce any team into better achievement signally a team like Milwaukee. Bucks fands should want Thompson’s camel-like stamina that would earnestly help the Bucks get over their perpetual “see you next year in Secaucus hump.”

9. Chicago Bulls- Roy Hibbert 7-2 Center Georgetown: Bulls General Manager John Paxson is perplexed and is pondering what went wrong. Two 82 game sets ago the Bulls were eliminating the then-NBA defending champion Miami Heat from the first round of the playoffs. That team was coached by Scott Skiles and anchored by Ben Wallace and the team appeared to be back in the mix as a legitimate Eastern Conference contender. That was then and now Paxson is wondering about the recent situations in which the franchise has become chilly like the famed “hawk” that gusts in the winter time. Skiles’ skills as a leader were let go and Ben Wallace, who could not don a headband under Skiles, is in Cleveland with his huge contract forever out of Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s monthly expenses. Before Wallace bounced, rookie Joakim Noah allegedly stepped to Wallace with coiled fists. The report of that alleged scrap’s victor was never revealed yet Noah took the suspension and 20 rebounds over Big Ben when they competed as opponents. Bulls guard Chris Duhon tiptoed on his Bulls practice commitment honouring his status as a Duke alumnus to watch the Blue Devils clash with the North Carolina Tarheels. Duhon was suspended by Paxson for his Coach K Court commitment having more precedence than his employer the Chicago Bulls. So where does Chicago go from here ?The Luv-A-Bulls draft a sure thing in a high performing collegiate center out of Georgetown named Roy Hibbert. Chicago needs an offensive post threat and the painted area space eater that Hibbert embodies. The three-point shooting Bulls, weighted with slashers and dashers, need one basketball rogue with a deft scoring touch in the paint and that’s Hibbert.

10. Sacramento Kings- Kevin Love 6-9 UCLA Power Forward - 2008 Pac Ten MVP & 2008 Pac Ten Freshman of the Year: One consistent early season press conference blurb from Kings first year coach Reggie Theus is, “I do not have a low post presence.” The second most consistent outtake of a Theus interview is, “We are a pick-and-pop team.” The translation of Sacramento’s head coach disposition is, “We have nobody that can bang in the post”. All of Theus’ press corp language can be remedied with the drafting of UCLA’s Kevin Love. Love is a special talent that has the propensity to carve out low post position with exquisite consistency, both offensively and defensively. Love can also play pick-and-pop but is more apt to mix it up. The Kings reel into the lottery with much on the line not limited to the organization’s faltering ticket sales, exploratory team identity and a declining Arena decadent with mixed and matched seating coupled with timed out judges of talent. The upswing for better can be initiated by the Maloof brothers , solid management support behind the coach Reggie Theus, and some injection of non crony basketball minds that would resurrect the flaccidity identified at Kings games. Kings hoops president Geoff Petrie is not up for the continuation of his team standing single file in sub .500 row. Petrie understands it’s time to unload more than players and coaches. Therefore drafting Kevin Love would aid a feeble franchise expeditiously.

11. Indiana Pacers- DJ Augustin 5-11 Texas Point Guard:The Pacers have found that their franchise is located on the outer limits of a thriving NBA. Pacers front office leader Larry Bird, like many former playing greats, hankers he can time machine his physical faculties to suit up and challenge his Pacer personnel. Indiana players have been involved in shoot-outs and fisticuffs with such frequency that Bird and Pacer president Donnie Walsh have a running dialogue with the district attorney’s office. Walsh and Bird need a calming on-floor influence and that is Texas point guard DJ Augustin. Jamal Tinsley’s days in Pacer pinstripes are dwindling and lead guard imminence can be greatly enhanced with the drafting of Texas Longhorn Augustin. Augustin gleams transcendent in big game environs and has been gunning for his NBA debut since he first arrived in Austin with Kevin Durant. The Pacers’ “enough is enough” credo makes sense by selecting Augustin.

12. Portland Trailblazers- Shan Foster 6-6 Vanderbilt Wing - 2008 SEC Player of the Year: Portland General Manager Kevin Pritchard and head coach Nate McMillan are in a rich get richer position for Draft Day 2008. The Blazers have been distinct in their appliance of the draft by culling Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden all in the past 24 months. Oden has sat out this NBA season rehabbing an injured knee, allowing Oden to examine the NBA way (lifestyle, officiating thought processes, scouting future low post adversaries, etc.) while morphing his body into NBA five-position force. Oden’s fitness shtick had become too Herculean and buffed in materialization for McMillan, who met with Trailblazer strength and conditioning trainers to come up with another program for a more streamlined racehorse philosophy. Such is the luxury of Portland brass to have the time to tinker with training techniques for the NBA’s overall first pick a season ago. Sarge and GM Pritchard approach this draft with the proverbial “best player available mentality.” That player is Vandy’s Shan Foster, a versatile three-position wingman that can create mayhem in Portland’s go-getter style. Portland will blaze into 2008-09 with two dynamic players, Oden and Foster, with zero NBA games under their black and red Blazer belt. McMillan will have the components to concoct multiple mismatches with such varied, versatile and vibrant human resources at his command.

13. Phoenix Suns- Nicolas Batum 6-8 France Wing

14. Denver Nuggets- Darren Collison 6-1 UCLA Point Guard *2008 Pac Ten Tourney MVP

15. New Jersey Nets- Darrell Arthur 6-10 Kansas Power Forward

16. Philadelphia 76ers- Russell Westbrook 6-3 UCLA Combo Guard *2008 Pac Ten Defensive Player of the Year

17. Washington Wizards- DeAndre Jordan 7-0 Texas A&M Center

18. Toronto Raptors- Hasheem Thabeet 7-3 Connecticut Center

19. Cleveland Cavaliers- Chris Douglas-Roberts 6-7 Memphis Wing

20. Golden State Warriors- Serge Ibaka 6-9 Congo Power Forward

21. Orlando Magic- Tyler Hansbrough 6-9 North Carolina Power Forward *2008 ACC Player of the Year & *2008 ACC Tourney MVP

22. New Jersey Nets- Tyler Smith 6-8 Tennessee Wing

23. Utah Jazz- Devon Hardin 6-11 California Center

24. Seattle Supersonics- Mario Chalmers 6-1 Kansas Point Guard

25. Houston Rockets- Richard Hendrix 6-9 Alabama Power Forward

26. New Orleans Hornets- Courtney Lee 6-5 Western Kentucky Wing *2008 Sunbelt Conference MVP

27. Memphis Grizzlies- DJ White 6-9 Indiana *2008 Big Ten Player of the Year

28. San Antonio Spurs- Brandon Rush 6-9 Kansas Wing *2008 Big 12 Tourney MVP

29. Detroit Pistons- Ryan Anderson 6-10 California Frontline Hybrid

30. Boston Celtics- Chase Budinger 6-7 Arizona Wing

On the cusp first rounder’s (Alphabetical Order)

1. Jamont Gordon 6-4 Mississippi State Two Guard
2. Donte Green 6-9 Syracuse Wing
3. James Harden 6-4 Arizona State Two Guard
4. DeMarcus Nelson 6-3 Duke Combo Guard
5. David Padgett 6-11 Louisville Center

6. Jeremy Pargo 6-3 Gonzaga Point Guard
7. Trent Plaisted 6-11 Brigham Young Frontcourt
8. Anthony Randolph 6-11 LSU Frontcourt
9. Ante Tomic 7-2 Croatia Center
10. Greivis Vasquez 6-6 Maryland Point Guard