The bigs get thinner

The past few days saw an already depleted draft get thinner as Pat Patterson, Jarvis Vanardo and Michael Washington all returned to college. While this should make the 2010 draft that much more awesome, it means any team looking for cheap, immediate help inside this summer best scour the D-leagues.
The most interesting decision is that of Patterson. Things are going to change next year at Kentucky. It's not a question of whether Calipari gets them back to elite level, it's when. With 2 of the nation's top big men in Cousins and Orton coming in, Patterson should get more time on the perimeter. This past season he was the Wildcats only inside player and he did a solid job, hitting over 60% of his shots and posting strong rebounding numbers. Next year he should have some chance to flash some perimeter skills. This is probably necessary for him, because he's on the small side for a PF. The bad side of this situation for Patterson is he could find himself buried in the wave of talent being brought in by Calipari or fail miserably as a perimeter player and become irrelevant come draft day 2010. But this is probably a gamble he has to take. Had he stayed in the 2009 draft, it appears his spot would have been in the 15-20 range. If he brings a more varied offensive game to the camps next year he'll be a much hotter item.