The day is here, and the time has come. It's time to liveblog the NBA Draft with the rest of Bloguin!

We will be doing it via cover it live below. A Stern Warning, Bust a Bucket, With Malice, and other are expected to contribute. Make sure to keep checking here for the latest updates on how the draft and Thunder Draft Party are going! (Hopefully they have internet.)

Going to watch the draft party with a few friends, and you don't know what to say?

Need a quick update on what's gone on in the NBA since the Fakers won another title?

Bored and need something to read?

Well then, look know further! Here's what you need to know about the trades have gone down since the curtain has fallen on the 2008-2009 Season. (Trades are in no particular order.)

Trade 1:

Cleveland Cavaliers - Phoenix Suns

Cavaliers Give: Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, Pick #46, Cash

Suns Give: Shaquille O'Neal

Cavaliers Perspective: During the Eastern conference finals, all that the announcers could say is that Big Z and Ben Wallace looked very old when facing off against the youthful exuberance of Dwight Howard. So, what is the Cavaliers solution to this predicament if they want to win next year? Get an even older big man, of course! Obviously, people will say that Shaq is different because he was always better than those two, and that he has the dominant years left in him that Ben Wallace and Zyundras Ilgauskas didn't. But I'm still skeptical. Sure, Shaq will probably translate to more wins, and better performance against worse teams, but, if the Magic can keep it together, I don't see any reason as to why he'd bring the Cavaliers to victory. He'll look just as old as the other two did against Dwight Howard. All of that said, I still love Shaq, and hope he dominates Dwight Howard.

Suns Perspective: The Shaq experiment is over, and this is probably the first move in rebuilding. Nobody but the Cavaliers wanted a piece of Shaq's contract, so a expired Ben Wallace, a streaky shooter, and a long shot draft pick is all they could get. Better than nothing, I suppose, and who knows? Both of them could fit into the Suns current system well, if they want to keep it going.

Final Verdict: Both teams got what they wanted, but since the Cavaliers have the much brighter future and it's doubtful anything the Suns gave will turn into anything, I say the Cavaliers win.

Trade 2:

San Antonio Spurs - Milwaukee Bucks

Spurs Give: Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, Fabricio Oberto

Bucks Give: Richard Jefferson

Spurs Perspective: Congratulations San Antonio! You've successfully found a way to keep your dominance going. Basically, the Spurs traded away two guys who are ancient and very close to retirement and an average center for a borderline All-Star Small Forward to amplify their lineup. If they can convince Tiago Splitter to come from Brazil and a few veterans to come from Free Agency to fill their bench, then San Antonio could very well be Title Town again in 2010.

Bucks Perspective: It looks like the Bucks small experiment at semi greatness is crashing down, and now they're just rebuilding. Oberto was just trade bait for the Pistons so they could obtain Amir Johnson (see Trade 3 below). Bowen and Thomas could theoretically help out it backup roles, but given that they may not want to play in Milwaukee and the fact that their stats have declined recently, it's doubtful you'll see either suit up for serious minutes on the Bucks next season, if they're on the roster at all.

Final Verdict: Spurs by a mile.

Trade 3:

Detroit Pistons - Milwaukee Bucks

Pistons Give: Amir Johnson

Bucks Give: Fabricio Oberto

Pistons Perspective: Just clearing more cap room for the 2010 Free Agency class, and completely giving up any hope of winning in 2009-2010. Expect a dismal record, folks. Oh, and if you didn't already know, the old Pistons are gone forever now, and they're never coming back. This deal is just a further example of that.

Bucks Perspective: Amir Johnson is certainly a solid player....but, he's on a bad contract. He'll help the Bucks off of the bench, but will it really make any difference without Richard Jefferson? I guess it's a solid aim at the future....

Final Verdict: It's hard to say here. Either way, this deal doesn't set the world on fire, but Ill give the credit to the Pistons for clearing even more cap space. I just don't think Amir Johnson and his bad contract will help out the Bucks very much.

Trade 4:

Washington Wizards - Minnesota Timberwolves

Wizards Give: Etan Thomas, Oleksiy Pecherov, Darius Songaila, #5 Pick

Timberwolves Give: Randy Foye, Mike Miller

Wizards Perspective: These players, for the Wizards, are nothing but contracts. They're all nameless centers in the wizards mush, and the only one I really know anything about is Etan Thomas, simply because he collaborates with Adonal Foyle to make poetry, and because he has dreadlocks. I'm sure the Wizards fans will be glad to see the nameless men gone. As for giving away the pick for Foye and Miller, two very solid Shooting Guards, it's a case of giving up a gamble in the draft for a sure commodity in these two guards. Personally, I think it was the right decision, as Miller is still regarded as one of the best three point shooters in the league and Randy Foye is a good starter for any team. Nevertheless, this leaves the Wizards with many questions. How will they make their lineup? They have Mike James, Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Randy Foye, and Mike Miller. None of them are big men. We could either be seeing the dawn of a new small ball team (with Blatche at center) or the Wizards could be nowhere done trading. Either is a good possibility at this point.

Timberwolves Perspective: As Okluschen pointed out in an earlier article, the Timberwolves are rumoured to be trying to aggressively trade up to get Rubio. He would certainly be a good Point Guard to anchor the team, and, if Rubio turns out who everyone expects him to be, then its a good trade. If Rubio holds out, doesn't turn out to be good, or, worst of all ,don't get him at all....the deal will be a total failure. I mean, imagine having given up Randy Foye and Mike Miller to get a bunch of nobody centers and Stephen Curry. Not trying to take anything away from Curry, because he'll probably turn out similar in skill level to Mike Miller. But, in the end, it's like trading two apples for an apple and a bunch of brussel sprouts. And trust me, no one wants those.

Final Verdict: Wizards for now, but if Rubio is obtained and turns out to be the player he's all cracked up to be, then the Timberwolves win. Either way, I think the Wizards made a good move here if they are to salvage this team from the depths of the NBA for a few more runs in the playoffs.

Trade 5 (Highly Rumoured, But Not Official):

Golden State Warriors - Atlanta Hawks

Warriors Give: Jamal Crawford

Hawks Give: Speedy Claxton, Acie Law IV

Warriors Perspective: Crawford has been wanting out of Golden State for a long time, but is this the right trade involving him? Moving up or out of the draft would have been nice. I mean, now they get Speedy Claxton back, and he can be a decent backup point guard. And Acie Law could be okay, though I doubt he'll be any good. Long story short, they get two backup Point guards, but no one to truly solve their woes. On the other hand it is a gamble in that they are hoping that Speedy Claxton is still too injured to play, and that 80% of his salary will be covered by insurance. Hopefully they can make something out of that cap space.

Hawks Perspective: They give up the guys who play behind Bibby for a very nice upgrade at backup Shooting Guard. He will be very nice backing up Joe Johnson and possibly Marvin Williams, making this team even better than they already were. But, I wouldn't put it past them to continue trading and getting better.

Final Verdict: The Hawks win this one, easily. I don't see how the Warriors get much better by this other than removing a guy who wanted out. They still need another Point Guard. The only wasy I could see the Warriors winning this trade down the line is if they did something really good with that cap space. The Hawks, however, are ready to take another shot at the East next season.

Good God, the draft is tomorrow and we've yet to cover it. That's about to change. Welcome to the Blue Blitz Draft Extravaganza special. This is your one stop shop for all your Thunder draft day needs. I'll start out with my list of 5 things Thunder fans should watch on draft day and then its mock draft madness...

Teams are going mad in order to have a chance to draft this man...or boy...or girl...

1. TIMBERWOLVES MOVES - The sudden unforseen aggressiveness by Minnesota has thrown a monkey wrench into many of the Thunder's trade plans on draft day. If the T-Wolves move up to take Rubio, Sam Presti doesn't have much leverage to work with, because it's unlikely that anyone will want to trade up for Thabeet
2. STEPH CURRY - The only hope the Thunder will have for trading their pick is if Charlotte or New York wants to trade for a chance to draft Curry. This isn't likely, but it depends on how desperate D'Antonni or Brown are for the leading scorer in college last season. Of course, the Thunder could always use the pick to draft Curry themselves, as many fans would advise.
3. RUBIO DRAMA - If the Wolves don't get ahead of the Thunder, its quite possible that the Thunder would end up with El Maravich himself, Ricky Rubio. Many people would like this pick, as Ricky has the promise of being one of the best passing guards in the league. There is a problem though, Ricky doesn't want to be here. As my compadre Zorgon would say "SPAAAAIN!!!" That leaves the Thunder with a couple of options. First, trade him to a place he does want to be, i.e. Sacramento, Minnesota, New York. The Thunder could get a vet and later draft pick in return. Second, they could force him to suck it up and learn to play here. I think if Rubio realized that there was no way for him to get out of OKC, he would have to man up.
4. HASHEEM THABEET - If Rubio is off the board, the Thunder may end up with Dikembe, er, Hasheem Thabeet. On one hand, he's a great young defensive presence who happens to be over 7 feet tall. You can't teach height. On the other hand, its this same logic that resulted in the organization drafting studs like Swift and Sene. Will the Thunder be leary of picking a big with "potential" this time around? If not, in my opinion, they should be. Thabeet was a good shot blocker...in college. Yeah, he changes shots, but when you have a top three pick do you want to use it on a player who lacks any versatility?
5. FORGET ABOUT BLAKE - He won't be wearing a Thunder uniform, period. End of story. I don't want to hear your crazy trade packages involving current and future draft picks, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, and his mother. Unfortunately, the local hero is getting drafted into basketball hell, and this is the last we'll ever hear of him.

The 2009 Blue Blitz Mock Draft

James Harden, the projected first pick of the Oklahoma City Thunder, chillin' in the stands...all alone.

1) Los Angeles Clippers - Blake Griffin, PF, Oklahoma

2) *Minnesota Timberwolves - Ricky Rubio, PG, JKV Joventut

3) Oklahoma City Thunder - James Harden, SG, Arizona State

4) Sacramento Kings - Jrue Holliday, PG, UCLA

5) *Memphis Grizzlies - Hasheem Thabeet, C, Connecticut

6) Minnesota Timberwolves - Jordan Hill, PF, Arizona

7) Golden State Warriors - Stephen Curry, PG, Davidson

8) New York Knicks - Jonny Flynn, PG, Syracuse

9) Toronto Raptors - DeMarr DeRozan, SG, USC

10) Milwaukee Bucks - Tyreke Evans, PG, Memphis

11) New Jersey Nets - Gerald Henderson, SF, Duke

12) Charlotte Bobcats - Tyler Hansborough, PF, North Carolina

13) Indiana Pacers - Earl Clark, SF, Louisville

14) Phoenix Suns - Brandon Jennings, PG, Lottomatica

15) Detroit Pistons - B.J. Mullens, C, Ohio State

16) Chicago Bulls - Terrence Williams, SF, Louisville

17) Philadelphia 76ers - Ty Lawson, PG, North Carolina

18) *Memphis Grizzlies - DeJuan Blair, PF, Pittsburgh

19) Atlanta Hawks - Jeff Teague, PG, Wake Forest

20) Utah Jazz - James Johnson, SF, Wake Forest

21) New Orleans Hornets - Eric Maynor, PG, Virginia Commonwealth

22) Dallas Mavericks - Josh Heytvelt, C, Gonzaga

23) Sacramento Kings - Omri Casspi, SF, Maccabi Tel Aviv

24) Portland Trailblazers - Sam Young, SF, Pittsburgh

25) Oklahoma City Thunder - Chase Budinger, SG, Arizona

26) Chicago Bulls - Darren Collison, PG, UCLA

27) Memphis Grizzlies - Nick Calathes, PG, Florida

28) Minnesota Timberwolves - Jonas Jerebko, SF, Angelico Biella

29) Los Angeles Lakers - Austin Daye, SF, Gonzaga

30) Cleveland Cavaliers - Derrick Brown, SF, Xavier

You can never draft enough blonde leprechauns

* A trade is projected in which Minnesota trades picks 5 and 18 with Memphis for the Grizzlies 2nd overall pick.

The Nats Blog recently did a piece on who the worst franchise ever was, and apparently the Thunder could have a case made for them that they are the worst franchise in all of sports. Not in the slightest. I defend ourselves, and go attack on the hapless Clippers.

Go Look, I consider it to be some of my best writing in a long time.

Here's a quick update on some blog collaberation pieces that I've contributed to over the past few weeks wile on hiatus:

First of all, I did a piece about why the Thunder should win the lottery with Chip at 3 Shades of Blue. It's short, but it's funny, and I like the cynical take on how the NBA is run. After all, you never know....

Second of all, I contributed to the Blogger MVP and Rookie Rankings, which were posted over at Sactown Royalty. I bet you can guess who put Russell Westbrook first on their ballot, and Kyle Weaver fifth.

Third of all, I contributed to the "Best of the Worst" NBA Awards over at Hoop Heads North. I had a lot of fun putting this one together, too bad that my rants on Monta Ellis and Michael Redd got shafted.

Be sure to check them all out, great pieces in their own right.

Anyway, Onward to May 19th!

Hiatus be damned, some interesting stuff has been going on Blue Blitz related in the blog land that is known as the internet.

First of all, I contributed to With-Malices playoff predictions, which actually turned out to be very boring to look at unless you look at the number of games it was predicted for each team to take to win their respective series, and even then, it's pretty boring.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

I'll have a full playoff preview going on Friday. Be prepared, because I usually have some wacky predictions!

Also, Jason at Ballhype did a retrospective on the NBA Blogger Previews this year.

As it turns out, ours was the only Blog to predict their teams wins in the teens....and aside from 3 Shades of Blue, the only blog to predict their teams wins below 30. In fact, we predicted the lowest win total for our team in he entire history of NBA Blogger Previews, with the only blog ever to come close being TWolves Blog in 07-08, who predicted 20 wins (given that KG had just left, I don't blame them.)

If P.J. was still coaching and the Thunder roster never changed, I'm confident our number would have stuck.