During a team when Heat fans go back for more viewings of 'Bridesmaids' than Italian teenage girls went for 'Titanic', there will be silence as Wizard Nation holds its collective breath when the lottery balls start bouncing just over a month from now. Against the Skynet of superteams and supercities we already have our miracle, our John Connor, though if we learned anything from Terminators 3 and 4 (besides Clair Danes being extremely annoying and Sam Worthington being ridiculously overvalued by the film industry), it's that John couldn't do it alone.
The team that takes the floor in the post-CBA negotiation's brave new world will field the core of our contender for the next five to ten years. With Flip Saunders and Ernie Grunfeld ensconced for at least one more offseason, our primary leadership is settled and on the same page. The question of their employment moot, our question will become our degree of confidence in their ability to shape our contender. Ernie is on deck.
I don't think any of us believe Ernie is incapable of making smart moves, just as I don't think anyone believes he's infallible. Therefore, our degree of confidence in his ability to make the right choices will be the hot button issue instead of the 'Keep him!' - 'Fire him!' debate. The new discussion needs a landscape to take shape and the draft lottery is coming down like the fickle hand of fate.
There's a question I'd like to toss out to the community, something that hasn't seen much burn yet. We'd all be interested to see how Grunfeld might trade down at the #1, or trade up if disaster strikes...but where would you be comfortable standing pat, assuming Harrison Barnes DOES come out for the draft?