Everybody has an opinion on the top players in the draft.  Some opinions are informed, but most are not.

ESPN's David Aldridge doesn't claim to know the top players.  Unlike most of us, he can present an intelligent view because he's able to collect what he calls "consensus thoughts of executives and personnel types that I think are pretty smart."

He lists the top several players at each position.  Click on the link for details on about 30 players.  We'll give you the quick summary.

Of course, he gives good grades to Yao Ming and Jason Williams.  Aside from Dajuan Wagner, the rest of the top picks are all small or power forwards.  Incidentally, in response to the question of what position Dajuan Wagner plays, Aldridge reports most scouts say he's a point guard.

Aldridge say the scouts are way high on Caron Butler.  They're right up there on Mike Dunleavy.  Qyntel Woods gets a lot of recognition elsewhere, but one scout says, "He's a worse defender than you are. Not only does he not have an idea, but he doesn't want to have an idea."

Chris Wilcox gets the nod at power forward.  Drew Gooden and Amare Stoudemire are next in line, but there are questions about both.

The top six players appear to be Williams, Ming, Wagner, Butler, Dunleavy and Wilcox (in no particular order), and things start to level out after those picks.