We wondered then, but now it makes perfect sense why John Stockton chose Isiah Thomas as his Hall of Fame presenter. Call it payback for the huge favor Zeke did for the Jazz when the former Knickerbocker GM traded away New York's 2010 first-round pick. With Utah visiting PingPong Ball Central today, let's look at potential lottery draftees:

1. The Great Wall of Carolina

Granted, Utah already has a star playmaker and phenom point guard John Wall plays for (don't look U. fans) Kentucky. Drawbacks aside, the fast-and-flashy freshman from North Carolina is a consensus No. 1 pre-draft pick. ESPN's Chad Ford calls the 6-4 guard "freakish athletic" and "explosive," but says he needs to work on his outside game. Hmmm, kinda sounds like a rich man's Ronnie Price.

2. Big-time bigs for bigger-is-better bunch

They could be the next Darko Milicic or Michael Olowokandi, but promising posts Ed Davis (6-10, N.C.) and Derrick Favors (6-9, Ga. Tech) might fill a power-forward opening and are projected top-5 picks by NBAdraft.net and ESPN. Good news for Jazz fans hankering for another Kansas big man: 7-foot Jayhawk Cole Aldrich is the most coveted center.

3. Best of the rest (at least for now)

Other lottery likelies per ESPN/NBADraft.net: PGs Willie Warren (6-4, Okla.) and Terricho White (6-5, Miss.); SG Evan Turner (6-7, Ohio St.); SFs Devin Ebanks (6-9, W. Va.), Paul George (6-7, Fresno St.) and Al-Farouq Aminu (6-8, Wake Forest); PFs Greg Monroe (6-11, Georgetown), John Henson (6-10, N.C.), Donatas Motiejunas (7-0, Lithuania), Craig Brackins (6-10, Iowa St.) and Larry Sanders (6-10, VCU); and C Solomon Alabi (7-1, Fla. State).

4. The next MJ: Marcus Jordan

Can Michael Jordan's son play? Who knows? We do know Marcus wears daddy-approved shoes (his Nikes cost Central Florida $3 million from adidas). So why draft this MJ? It'd just be fun to know his old man would have to be a Jazz fan. Plus, if Heir Jordan is sent to Orem, maybe the Flash can get the coveted Bryon Russell-Jordan showdown they keep hyping up.

5. That female college soccer player

No, not the International Internet Superstar. The Jazz don't need a loose wire. They need somebody who knows how to unloosen other players' wires a la rocking-chair-bound Matt Harpring. That's why Utah should consider BYU's Carlee Payne. Though only 5-4, Payne's coy elbow love tap helped New Mexico's "Loco Lobo," as some are calling her, go bonkers. Just imagine what she could make Ron Artest or Rasheed Wallace do with a little elbow grief.

e-mail: jody@desnews.com