pick best player available/fill team need?

[air gordon]

i just stumbled on to an article about this on espn's site...

concerning the 1st rnd only, which strategy to go by?? i think for the teams that own a top 10 pick should look to fill a team need. 11 and on should pick the best player available

[Swoosh]

i read that too, and i agree with the author the most part, but u cant always draft pure on the needs, if there is a hot shot player u can use as good trade bait to fulfill a trade to get a good vet the need you really have thats a good thing, but that would be still drafting in function of the player you need so, guezz i agree with ya.

[Andrew]

Good topic.

I think it depends on who is available. For the most part, teams should use a lottery pick on someone they can use. Someone who actually stands a chance of having an impact. Someone who is an improvement. In other words, they should draft out of need.

However, if there's a player they just can't pass up, they should take him, even if his position is already taken. Consider the twin tower combination of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon. Both were centres, but that didn't stop the Rockets drafting the Dream and moving Sampson to power forward.