In the first round, exactly what was supposed to happen, happened. The Lakers selected Toney Douglas, who very soon was traded to the Knicks for much needed cash (rumored to be $3 million) and a future second rounder (2011?).

The second round, the Lakers took an American in the Ukraine — Patrick Beverley. Then, just as we were learning about him, the Lakers traded him to the Miami Heat for a future second rounder and more cash.

It’s all about the cash — we want Ariza and Odom both back.

With the 59th pick, the Lakers took Chinemelu Elonu — a 6-10 F/C out of Texas A&M who likes to bang and has a real NBA body, but who apparently is very raw. Let’s be honest, this is the kind of guy the Lakers likely bring to Summer League and in as camp fodder, but who will likely spend a year at least in the D-League before making an impact. The Lakers front office is saying he can compete for a job, that they had him the 34th best guy in the draft, but to get a roster spot he is going to have to beat out DJ Mbenga or Josh Powell, two proven pros with some diversity to their games. And they are guys who know the system. Elonu has a real uphill climb. The fact of the matter is, the Lakers are not going to pay the luxury tax money for some guy to learn on the job, he has to prove he can contribute.

No, the Lakers did not take Nick Calathes, the one guy a lot of us wanted at 42. But to be honest, we wanted him because he is a known quantity. He played at Florida and worked out with David Thorpe (who promotes his guys hard). But the fact is, we never really see any of these guys. We don’t really know, it’s all second hand stuff. So, we need to trust the judgment of the Lakers overseas scouts.

We all knew two things: 1) The player selected at 29 by the Lakers was not going to see any meaningful court time on a stacked Lakers roster; 2) The Lakers needed money to resign Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom.

So the deal that the Lakers apparently struck with the Knicks makes sense. ED Note: Okay, I’ve got confirmation on this now from several sources:

The Lakers cannot trade this pick, only the right to the pick once it is made. So on the dias tonight they will say “The Lakers select X” but said player will instantly be traded for cash once the selection is made. That deal just cannot be executed until after the pick is made. NBA rules prohibit the trading or selling of first round picks in consecutive years, and the Lakers 2008 and 2010 first rounders belong to Memphis in the Gasol deal.

And if that number is right and the Lakers really get $3 million for that pick, that is a great deal by Kupchak. Combine that with the money saved not having to pay a first rounder and it is more than $4 million in savings, which covers a lot of what Ariza will get next year.

And I’m good with this. The Lakers need the cash more than a Euro player to stash away for a couple years. And I expect them to take at least one of those guys in the second round anyway.

Now, a few final thoughts heading into tonight.

• My short and sweet take on the Shaq to Cleveland trade: Cleveland is a desperate team and this is a desperation move, but it’s not a bad one. Now you will have Shaq taking up Big Ben Wallace’s useless minutes, and that will be an improvement. He will split time with Big Z (I bet 26 for Shaq, 22 for Z, in that range) so Cleveland gets some frontcourt depth. Shaq has defended Howard well in the past. Shaq can still score in the paint pretty efficiently. I think this makes them better if everything goes right.

But there are 423,856 ways this could go wrong. Shaq brings a lot of ego to Cleveland. He and Big Z are not exactly known for staying healthy. And this is just one piece of what Cleveland has to do — they shot 32% from three against Orlando and Shaq makes it easier to just pack the paint on Cleveland and dare them to beat you with the jumper. They still need some guys on the wing to compete with the Lakers and probably a healthy Orlando or Boston. And I have serious questions if Mike Brown is the coach that can pull it all together. Still, this is a step forward for them.

• I don’t put much stock in these, especially with all the trades we will likely see tonight, but here are the Final results from some top mock drafts regarding the Lakers:

DraftExpress: Nick Calathes 6-5 PG/SG, Florida and Greece (Jon Brockman 6-7 PF Washington; and Lester Hudson 6-3 PG/SG Tenn. Martin in the second round)

Chad Ford, ESPN: Toney Douglas, 6-2 SG, Florida State. (Rodrigue Beaubois, PG, France; and Dante Cunningham, F, Villanova in the second round)

NBAdraft.net: Toney Douglas, 6-2 SG, Florida State (then traded to Knicks). (Darren Collison 6-1 PG UCLA; and Courtney Fells, 6-6 SG NC State in the second round).

• I like Top Chef Masters, but it lacks the drama of the regular Top Chef. The problem is these chefs, while great, have made it to the top. And they all like and respect one another. So if they fall short they still publicize and get a little money for a favorite charity, then go back home to being a rock-star, James Beard Award chef. In the regular Top Chef, these people are cooking for their careers, that gives real drama to it. Still, with no hoops on it’s a fun summer watch.

• Top Chef Masters has about all the drama of the #1 pick in the draft, basically. But what the Clippers do the rest of the summer will be much more interesting.

• Now a little technical site stuff. This post will be up and going through the draft if you want to make comments here and we can discuss the trades and moves here. Later, closer to the draft, I will post the TrueHoop Network Chat up, which you can read/participate in as you choose, or just keep the comments flowing here.

At some point during the draft when we have Lakers news to discuss, I’ll start a new thread where we can break down what they and everyone else did.

“We have three picks, and if we bring back the players we want to we’ll have at least 13 players on our roster. It stands to reason that we’d look to either move a pick, trade a pick, exchange picks for future picks or pick a player and look for them to play overseas for at least a year.”
— Mitch Kupchak

That quote pretty much tells you all you need to know about what the Lakers are going to do in this draft. The Lakers have pick 29 in the first round, then 42 and 59 in the second round.

The first round pick comes with a guaranteed contract, something the Lakers are not going to take on for next season when they are trying to save cash. The Lakers cannot trade this pick — NBA rules prohibit trading first round picks in consecutive years, and the Lakers 2008 and 2010 picks go to Memphis as part of the Gasol deal.

So here’s my guess as to what the Lakers do with that first round pick:

1) They draft a college player in a pre-arranged deal with another team to trade said player for future picks.

2) They draft an international player that can be stashed in Europe for a year or two.

Three guys that may be around at 29 who are International players are:

Jonas Jerebko, 6-9, 210, the Swedish-born forward playing in Italy. He turned some heads at the recent Reebok Eurocamp, playing just one game but hitting 6 of 7 from the floor with 5 steals, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes. One of those makes was an honest-to-goodness skyhook. Considered a good defensive player who on offense has an effective but not very pretty shot, but mostly gets his points and chances on hustle plays. The comparison player is usually Thabo Sefolosha.

Nick Calathes, the 6-5, 185 point guard is an American playing in Greece. He strikes me as the kind of player the Lakers may want if they plan on sticking with the triangle — he’s more of a good spot-up shooter who can slash and finishes well at the rim. Last season he turned the ball over on 19% of his possessions. He can get out and run. If the name sounds familiar, he played a little at Florida. There are questions if he can defend the small, quick NBA PGs.

Rodrigue Beaubois, the 6-2, 180 point guard out of France. A little bit of an unknown who caught eyes at the Eurocamp. Really long wingspan. Some questions about the consistency of his handle and his shot, but has caught a lot of scout’s attention because he has the tools.

The two second round picks, I still think the Lakers would like to move them. But there is not commitment to taking a player here, so if someone they like drops to them they may take him, send him to Summer League and invite him to camp and see if they can get him in cheap. There basically will be no playing time on the Lakers for a rookie, so if they do go this route said player will likely spend a lot of time with the D-Fenders.

Draft Express has the Lakers taking North Carolina’s Danny Green with the 42nd pick (which they got from the Bobcats years ago in the Kareem Rush trade).

They could go international here as well, taking someone like Victor Claver out of Spain, a 6-10, 218 pound power forward (with that build, power may not be the operative word). He is coming off a knee injury and is someone that needs to develop – this is a guy you are choosing for the dreaded “upside,” but that’s not a bad risk in the second round. The same is true of Slava Kravtsov, the 7-0, 265 Russian center.

Note, this is all info gathered from written reports, leaning heavily on the great Draft Express, as I have not seen these guys play.