Believe it or not, the NBA Draft is less than a week away and most team's boards are locked in, despite the posturing GMs are doing on a daily basis.
So, as New Jersey Nets GM Billy King and coach Avery Johnson evaluate the talent they know will be coming back for the franchise's final year in the Garden State, which position will they favor the most?
According to SB Nation's Tom Ziller, it has been and continues to be point guard.
27. New Jersey Nets: Iman Shumpert, PG, Georgia Tech
Shumpert could go in the teens. My question: if he's such a good prospect, why has everyone constantly ripped Georgia Tech's guard play?
It would be a major surprise if the Nets go with anyone other than the most NBA ready player still on the board. Does Shumpert fit that description? In Ziller's scenario you can certainly make that argument but it only takes one player to fall -- Jordan Hamilton, Marshon Brooks -- down the draft board and all that would change.
Shumpert would obviously give New Jersey an upgrade behind Deron Williams, but there are still very big questions about if he really is indeed a point guard. Over his three years at Georgia Tech he was forced to take on more of a scorer's role and he had a career low 3.5 assists per game. Shumpert also never shot more than 33 percent from behind the arc, something that will allow defenders at the next level to play off of him and prevent drives to the basket.
Don't forget that owner Mikhail Prokhorov has plenty of money to spend and will be very active on draft night trying to purchase at least one more first-round pick. That means there are players destined for the late teens and early 20s that could find their way to the Nets.