FanHouse JrueHoliday

ORLANDO -- To many who follow the NBA, it doesn't seem that long ago that Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer led the Detroit Pistons -- the famed Bad Boys -- to their second consecutive NBA title in 1990, cementing their place among the great teams in league history.

It was two days after Jrue Holiday was born.

Holiday, a rookie guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, isn't just the youngest player in the NBA this season. He also earned the distinction of being the first person born in the 1990's to be on an NBA roster.

That makes a lot of us feel old.

A to Z.

It sounds like the 1952 NBA All-Star Game, which featured Paul Arizin and Max Zaslofsky.

It sounds like the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Zopf.

It sounds like the history of Lithuanian centers, from Arvydas Sabonis to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It also sounds like a good way to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA season:

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

When Philadelphia took just about the most raw point guard possible (Jrue Holiday) in the June draft, then declined to make a strong play to retain incumbent point guard Andre Miller, then declined to cash any other middle tier free agent point guards on the market ... that's when Louis Williams became a starting NBA point guard.

Up until now, Lou has been a bench fireplug for the 76ers, playing both guard positions. It's the classic combo situation: he's a shooting guard with slight point guard tendencies who happens to be the height of a point guard. He's a Bobby Jackson, a Leandro Barbosa. And like Jackson and Barbosa, Williams to this point has been a bench player exclusively.

But with Miller gone and Holiday wrapped in nori, that's about to change.

Philadelphia sat in strong position, needing a point guard in a deep point guard draft. Andre Miller is a free agent, and Louis Williams is an Eddie House clone. A few potential lottery picks fell down to the 76ers at No. 17: Ed Stefanski had his choice of Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague and UCLA's Jrue Holiday, a player once rumored to go as high as No. 4. The Sixers took Holiday, the youngest (and most unproven) of the trio.

Holiday is basically unformed right now. He has a good left hand, a good right hand. His shooting stroke isn't broken. He has length and athleticism and strength. He's a great prospect ... but he's going to need a bit of time (he's only 18). Philly needs a point guard now. Passing on Lawson in particular is surprising, considering the Sixers expect to contend soon, given the massive payroll and Elton Brand's ticking clock.

* Memphis general manager Chris Wallace allegedly tells Spanish sports page Marca that the Grizzlies won't pass on Ricky Rubio, though there are matters to be worked out. The rumor out there has been that Wallace and the team's scouts love Rubio, but owner Michael Heisley is reluctant to take a risk on the young point guard, given the bad dissolutions with Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro. (And as with all things Ricky, this could very well be posturing.)

* Jrue Holiday can see himself going as high as No. 4 to Sacramento, the point guard tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. (Ignore his fingers. Sam Presti wouldn't dare destroy the galaxy by pairing Holiday and Russell Westbrook.)

* The Baseline's Sean Deveney talks about Lester Hudson's strange path to the NBA Draft.

Now that the 2009 NBA Draft order is set, it's time for the second FanHouse Mock Draft of the season.

The Clippers have won the first pick, with Memphis and Oklahoma City rounding out the top three spots. Several teams, including Minnesota, Sacramento and Chicago, have multiple picks in the first round.

After the jump, find the full first round mocked out. Then, feel free to mock it. That's how this works.

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The upheaval at USC and constant defections at UCLA may have sent conference supremacy north.

The NBA draft's early entries have one month to return to school (June 15), but it doesn't appear any of the Pac-10 entries are coming back. Six underclassmen -- USC's DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson, UCLA's Jrue Holiday, the Arizona duo of Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and Arizona State's James Harden -- will participate in the draft combine beginning May 28 in Chicago, and none are likely to return to their schools. Even Holiday, a projected late first-rounder, is reportedly close to hiring an agent and remaining in the draft.

FanHouse covers the 2009 NBA Draft.

All mock drafts are not created equal. And why would you want them to be? That'd be awful boring, just reading lists of names over and over. At FanHouse, we emphasize the commentary -- so in our mocks we'll (try to) explain why we think certain players fit in their theoretical slots. We will also project our own biases (positive and negative), of course.

At this early stage -- and let's be honest, at every stage -- this is 5% homework, 5% supreme divination, 90% guesswork. (A great endorsement, no?) After the jump, a full first-round mock draft for your amusement bemusement.

Each week, ESPN's Joe Lunardi predicts the NCAA tournament field if the season ended today. While he's good at this, Lunardi only focuses on past performance, and wins and losses. Bracketology Busters looks at which teams should be expected to perform significantly better or worse than their projected seeds.

This week we'll look at a team that's seen their perception drop after a great three-year stretch, but is primed to make yet another late season run.

Ben Howland has sent a lot of players into the NBA and he's going to do it this year too. Howland is going to send freshman Jrue Holiday to the Association, but not in the manner that he likely expected.

Howland had Kevin Love last season as a one-and-done freshman. Holiday could be looking for similar results, but he's taking an entirely different path. Love left school after leading the Bruins to a third consecutive Final Four appearance. Holiday might do it as a cheerleader.

Holiday spent the second-half of Saturday's loss to Washington State on the bench. And Howland told the Los Angeles Times that Holiday should get pretty comfortable as Malcolm Lee will likely see increased playing time. Howland even called Lee the team's best defensive wing right now.