re: what does round 2 look like for us?

We really should not have to sell picks this year, and I will be annoyed if we do.

The team should have made some money with those postseason games last season. We shouldn't have any trouble selling season tickets for this upcoming season. There's zero reason to justify those people who label us a "poverty franchise."

As other people have pointed out, we don't have a roster spot available for our 2nd-round picks, which is why I think that combining them to trade up to the top of the 2nd round is unlikely.

After the first ten or so picks of the 2nd round, guys start getting two-way contracts instead of regular NBA contracts, so pick 41 is right around where that starts to happen. Obviously, in that spot, you want to have contacted a player's agent to make sure that they're willing to sign a two-way deal, but there's no reason that can't happen at 41. Of course, at 52, that player is obviously only signing a two-way deal.

Guess what? We can sign both of our 2nd-round picks to two-way contracts, and we want great players for our two-ways. We want to build up the Birmingham fanbase by giving them a winning team. We have a great history of getting our two-way guys paid. I mean, we ended up getting Josh Gray paid a regular NBA contract. Look at our success last season with Jose and how he was developed. When you look at our player development coaches, you've got to believe that agents are telling players "hey, you want this New Orleans two-way deal, because they are going to make you better and get you paid." If a two-way guy develops, we simply make a trade at the deadline to create a roster spot and put him on the regular roster.

So, there's no reason that we shouldn't simply take the best players on our board at 41 and 52. If we don't, though, we could definitely draft and stash a foreign guy, or we could trade a pick for a pick next season.