The draft is regarded as exceptionally deep, for two reasons: five high-school stars who were barred from the 2006 draft, including Oden and Durant, are eligible; and four Florida players who put off the N.B.A. last year to pursue a second consecutive N.C.A.A. championship have declared for the draft.
As a result, players who might have been drafted in the top 10 — had Oden, Durant, et al been taken last year — will be pushed into the middle of the first round.
“The ninth pick in the draft is probably going to be a top 3-to-5 pick talent, because that’s where he would have gone had things stayed the same last year,” said an Eastern Conference scouting director.
The 2006 draft was the first in which high school players were barred by a new N.B.A. rule. The decision of Florida’s stars — Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green — to stay another year created an additional anomaly.
“It created a weak draft last year,” the scouting director said, “and it created a deep draft this year.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/sports/basketball/22draft.html?ref=sports
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