A fun Friday exercise, for sure. As of right now, here are the 10 worst teams in the NBA, record-wise, from worst to best: Miami, Seattle, Minnesota, Memphis, New York, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee, Chicago, Charlotte and New Jersey. Let’s assume this holds up, shall we?

And let’s also assume that Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, neither of which has officially declared for the draft, do so next week. (Joe Alexander, this has mistake written all over it.) Everyone ready?

1. Miami. Beasley or Rose? Do you prefer the backcourt of Rose and Wade, or the frontcourt of Marion and Beasley? The lone argument against Beasley is that Haslem is an adequate PF, and the Heat don’t have an adequate PG. If you want to run, the trio of Rose, Wade and Marion could be exciting. And sell tickets. We think Riley goes with Rose.
2. Seattle. The Sonics have to be praying the Heat go with Beasley, because they’re set at PF with Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison, both who are above-average at their position, and are being paid handsomely. Guess Miami could ask for Wilcox’s expiring contract and the No. 2 pick for the No. 1 and some junk, right? All is not lost – if Miami won’t work, somebody will want to trade up for Beasley (Minnesota to pair him with Jefferson? Chicago, which needs low-post punch?), and then the Sonics can get a pick and hopefully a PG in return (are you really sold on Ridnour?), and then draft a defensive-minded center, like Brook Lopez.
3. Minnesota. Really could use a PF, but also some punch in the backcourt at either guard position (Foye plays both well; neither awesomely). Either Mayo or Bayless would work, but then you’d have two big guards, neither of which is a pure point. Brook Lopez and Jefferson has serious potential inside, though. The move: pray for the No. 2 pick, and if that doesn’t work, settle for Bayless, giving the Wolves a young and exciting (and high-scoring) backcourt.
4. Memphis - Really, really need a force inside (at both ends), and this could be the team that deals with Seattle (Conley? Navarro?) to jump up and grab Beasley. Other than Beasley, there isn’t a polished inside scorer in the draft.
5. New York - A wild card because Donnie Walsh is going to do anything to shake the stench of Isiah away from this franchise. The sad thing is, there are talented players on this team (Crawford, Randolph). Got no idea where they’ll go, but this being NY, they’ll obviously be looking for a splashy get, such as Mayo, even though he makes zero sense.
6. Los Angeles Clippers – Shooting guard, and that’s it. Mayo, Bayless, Gordon and perhaps even Russell Westbrook. Any other considerations would be foolish, but that’s how Donald Sterling operates.
7. Milwaukee – On paper, a good starting lineup. Even if you wanted a more pure point guard than Mo Williams, you couldn’t do it, because he’s got a massive salary. Guess the move here is small forward (Desmond Mason’s got an expiring contract, but Bobby Simmons is making way too much bank for his own good), and they went foreign last year, so maybe they do that again with this Danilo Gallinari kid, who we haven’t seen, except on highlight reels. Problem is, he’s the same type of player as Yi and Charlie V, so you’d have three tweeners at the 3/4. What a mess.
8. Chicago - The three-headed monster at the 4/5 is Drew Gooden, Ty Thomas, and Joakim Noah. None of them can shoot straight. Problem is, most of the bigs in this draft are all inside-only guys, and that’s because they’re too young to have a polished game. Dontae Green from Syracuse is interesting; he’s 6-10 and an inside-out player. Depending on what happens with Ben Gordon, maybe the Bulls get lucky and can grab local product Eric Gordon. But if the Bulls want to shake things up, they could offer an enticing package to get Beasley at No. 2.
9. Charlotte - Somebody to play next to Emeka Okafor. Don’t laugh – Roy Hibbert? This team has scoring in J Rich and Wallace, but if it can get two long, defensive-minded players to clog the middle, look out East! Jordan (Texas A&M) and McGee (Nevada) just seem too young and raw at this point.
10. New Jersey - Should the Nets assume VC or RJ will get hurt, and draft a scoring wing? Or is the move to get another post player, except one who can do more than defend and rebound? Kevin Love is actually somewhat interesting here, and we also like DJ White a lot (then again, we liked Marco Killingsworth back in the day). As for the scoring wing – Brandon Rush, CDR, or the local kid, Earl Clark, would all make fine selections.