This is the time of year when you have to pick up the phone and call/text people who are determined not to tell you what they're actually thinking. You have to do this because while the rest of Earth is celebrating/lamenting March Madness, the clock is ticking toward the June NBA Draft, and it's time to start ranking prospects.
It does not bother me that people are lying. I expect it. Like I expect animals to wallow in mud and fling things at me if I get too close to them. It's what they do.
Very few people are going to honestly tell you the players they like in a regular year. But the new Collective Bargaining Agreement makes keeping one's Draft picks even more valuable -- rookie players are on rookie deals, which can go as long as five years, and having such players on your roster is essential to having any chance to maintain salary cap discipline.
