Everyone knows you only come to desipio if you’re not real busy. But even so, in these hectic days leading up to the 2007 NBA Draft, nobody’s schedule can possibly have enough free time to search for, read and analyse every Mock Draft on the internet.

So of course, that’s exactly what we have done.

Ensure you’re the best prepared attendee at your local Draft Party by downloading a copy of the 2007 Desipio Draft Lottery Primer.

In all, 6 Mock Drafts were consulted in compiling this comprehensive lottery comparison – NBA.com, nbadraft.net, ESPN, Yahoo/DraftExpress, Fox Sports and slamonline. That’s some of the finest basketball minds in the country currently not employed by the NBA. We also reviewed hoopville.net, which has long been a favorite for college basketball news and gossip <end plug>.

If you only read one Mock Draft, you risk being mislead by the bias or ignorance of the author. But if you read 6, then you have an end result that smooths out all the quirks, blips and holes to ensure your draft lottery cheat-sheet is replete with errors of central tendency instead. But hey.

So let’s get to it. One by one, we will go through the draftees 1 to 14, in order of their consensus Mock Draft position;

Consensus 1st – Greg Oden – 7-0 C – Mock Positions 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1.
Does anybody really believe Kevin Pritchard won’t draft him? The NBA’s next great center joins the same Conference as Yao, Duncan and Stoudemire (for the time being, anyway). Instantly transforms the Trailblazers into a playoff team.

Consensus 2nd – Kevin Durant – 6-10 SF – Mock Positions 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2.
Seattle pick up a phenomenal specimen of basketball skill and human genetics that no current or former ballplayer has ever possessed.  Perhaps a hybrid of McGrady and Garnett best describes him, but really, that still sells Durant short.

Consensus 3rd – Al Horford – 6-9½ PF – Mock Positions 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4.
Horford is your prototypical power forward, a can’t-miss 4 who may well play his rock-solid rookie season in snowy Minnesota instead of the dirty south if the recently rumored Garnett-to-Phoenix, Stoudemire-to-Atlanta deal actually comes true.

Consensus 4th – Mike Conley Jnr – 6-0 PG – Mock Positions 7, 6, 4, 6, 4, 3.
Oden’s favorite point guard may wind up anywhere, but most likely he’ll go here to the Grizzlies, who were so weak at the 1 last season that Damon Stoudamire was their best option. Note; Brandan Wright also appeared at 4 in 2 Mocks.

Consensus 5th - Corey Brewer – 6-8 SG – Mock Positions 5, 7, 8, 5, 8, 5.
Danny Ainge is desperately hoping either Horford or Conley will fall into his lap, but if not, he will either play it safe with Brewer, the athletic Florida scorer, or else gamble on the height of either Yi Jianlian or Joakim Noah.

Consensus 6th – Brandan Wright – 6-10 PF – Mock Positions 6, 4, 6, 4, 10, 6.
Yes, the multi-talented 19 year-old has the potential to get drafted as high as 4, but if things go as forecast he’ll end up as a terrific pickup at 6 for the Bucks. For the record, it’s Chad Ford who has got him sliding all the way to 10.

Consensus 7th – Jeff Green – 6-9½ SF – Mock Positions 8, 5, 5, 8, 6, 7.
Currently Minnesota are picking 7th, but this selection may end up being made by, or for, Phoenix, Atlanta (or somewhere in between). Regardless, Green is no worse than the 8th-most talented player in the draft, so he earns the spot on merit.

Consensus 8th – Joakim Noah – 6-11 PF – Mock Positions 4, 8, 9, 9, 7, 10.
As you can see, Noah is all over the board, and it may come down to whether or not the Bobcats deal this pick that determines who ultimately goes here. If it’s the Suns, they’ll take whoever’s left out of Green, Brewer and Noah.

Consensus 9th – Spencer Hawes – 7-0½ C – Mock Positions 13, 12, 7, 7, 9, 11.
The raw Washington big guy could go as high as 7, or as low as 13. But his most statistically perfect position may actually be at 12; Cherokee Parks, Alec Kessler, Michael Doleac, Robert Swift and Vitaly Potapenko each were drafted 12th.

Consensus 10th – Yi Jianlian – 7-0 C – Mock Positions 9, 10, 10, 10, 5, 9.
The big question of the 2007 draft is whether Yi (pronounced ‘E’) will actually make the great leap forward into the top 5? If so, it will forever define the career of the GM who decides to take him. If not, Yi becomes a no-pressure pick at 10.

Consensus 11th – Acie Law – 6-3½ PG – Mock Positions X, X, 11, 11, X, 11.
That’s right, 50% of the Mocks don’t even have Law in the lottery. But the other 50% believe he’ll go 11th to the Hawks. If this pick ends up in Kevin McHale’s hands instead, it may turn out to be Julian Wright, (w)rightly or wrongly.

Consensus 12th – Al Thornton – 6-7 F – Mock Positions X, 12, 12, 12, X, 11.
As a 4-year senior, Thornton will make an impact right away with whatever lottery-cusp team is fortunate enough to nab him. He has the height and hops to play either forward position, and in a normal year, he’d be gone well before now.

Consensus 13th – Nick Young – 6-6 SG – Mock Positions 13, 13, 13, 11, 8, 13.
Everybody knows the Hornets need a 2-guard, and everybody believes the USC shooter will be available at 13. So it’s an obvious match. Young will walk into a starting lineup in New Orklahoma that fancies itself a playoff team.

Consensus 14th – Javaris Crittenton – 6-5 PG – Mock Positions X, 14, X, 14, X, 14. It’s apparently common knowledge the Clippers have promised to take Crittenton here, whether or not he’s worthy of the 14th pick. Does a 6’5’, 19 year-old point guard remind you of anyone? Oh, they’re not desperate. No, not at all.

The downside to this type of rule-based statistical analysis, as you may have guessed by now, is that it cannot respond to the unique, sometimes peculiar, needs of the individual team making the drafting decision. Will Conley go 4? Will Green go 7? Will Hawes go in the lottery at all? It all depends on which team is drafting, as opposed to which player’s talent is better suited to that number.

The other obvious issue is that when there’s 15 players and 14 lottery picks, somebody is going to get left out in every Mock Draft. In this exercise, we saw it with Julian Wright – 6-9 F who got Mocked at 10, 9, 12, 14, 13 and 11. So although everyone seems to agree Wright’s going to go somewhere around the late-lottery, nobody can say for sure who gets left out as a result. Law is apparently most likely.

Finally, it’s clear that the hottest name right now in the Draft has just 2 letters. Yi. He could go as high as 3rd, or he could drop all the way into the 20’s. Who knows? But we do know he’s absolutely everywhere – on every podcast and every blog – despite nobody really being sure whether he’s a legit NBA prospect or just another exotic hoax.Â

So, in another world-first service to you, the loyal desipio reader, we have tracked down the exclusive opinion of one of Yi’s fellow country-men.

This is the transcript of the MSN conversation I had yesterday with my embedded Mandarin correspondent;

mattus 说 (9:06): good morning Liu.

mattus 说 (9:06): have you heard of a basketballer named Yi Jianlian?

Liu 说 (9:06): Yes.

mattus 说 (9:06): according to ESPN, he is expected to be drafted in the NBA draft this Friday.

mattus 说 (9:06): is he any good?

Liu 说 (9:08): His technic is steady-going.

mattus 说 (9:09): good attitude?

Liu 说 (9:13): yes. he is good at pitch 3 points.

mattus 说 (9:13): how good compared to Yao? 80%? 50%?

Liu 说 (9:14): However, some still doubting on his full ability.

Liu 说 (9:15): Estimate compared over 80%.

mattus 说 (9:17): not bad.

mattus 说 (9:17): what is your personal opinion? good or just average?

Liu 说 (9:18): His training master said his progress improved quickly, then his burst and jump ability was matched NBA advantage.

Liu 说 (9:18): In my opinion, he is good.

mattus 说 (9:18): that sounds good.

mattus 说 (9:19): maybe he will be drafted #5 by Boston.

mattus 说 (9:19): or maybe #9 by Chicago.

Liu 说 (9:21): yes, he seemed a black horse rushing appearance the Draft Show.

mattus 说 (9:22): exciting.

Liu 说 (9:30): Yi is very young, age 20 only. Most of people believe he will be beyond Yao further.

There you go. At least 80% as good as Yao Ming, and possibly beyond Yao further. So irrespective of where Yi ends up being picked tomorrow, you can’t say you weren’t warned.