Paulao Prestes

Paulao Prestes - 45th pick, 2010
Went back to Brazil and has been merely a role player there. Has not developed in any discern-ible way and is no longer in the NBA running.

Paulao Prestes (45th pick, 2010)

- After switching loan teams from Murcia to Granada, it's been a bit of a down year for Prestes. His minutes are down (24.0 to 21.0), his points are down (9.2 to 7.0), his rebounds are way down (7.3 to 5.2), and his fouls are up (2.3 to 2.5). The only solace is that he improved after a terrible start to the season. Prestes's productivity as a rebounder and occasional post option were the things on which his NBA case was made, moreso than any defensive impact. He was already disadvantaged by his slowness in an era of athletic NBA centres. If he's going to make it, the production has to go up, way up. And 2.9 defensive rebounds in 21 minutes per game is not even close to getting it done.

Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: 5%

Pick 44 and 45: The next two picks were missed due to a commercial break. I don't know what you saw in America during that break, but here in England, we watched a montage of Australian people fighting. True story.

At 44, Milwaukee picked Jerome Jordan of Tulsa, who has a similar body type to Dan Gadzuric but who plays in the opposite fashion. Milwaukee later trades this pick to the New York Knicks, who don't seem to care that their centre rotation for next season, as things stand, reads Jerome Jordan and Earl Barron. There's scoring, size and shooting there, but they might need some size and physical play in there somewhere. Speaking of physical play, the Timberwolves addressed a need there by drafting Brazilian big man Paulao Prestes, who has all the athletic ability of a stubborn bunion, but who can flat out rebound the ball. Fran Frascilla praises Prestes relentlessly - specifically his feet, for some reason - but avoids waxing too lyrical about the people that drafted him. He would, of course, but he already did it when the Timberwolves caught Pneumonia.

There are ways to make Prestes look much better than his highlight montage, which just showed a series of very grounded layups. But he can play. He's a rebounder. A very good one. And the league always needs those.