Per ESPN…

Barring a last-minute change in thinking, the New Jersey Nets will select Georgia Tech freshman Derrick Favors over Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson with the No. 3 pick, ESPN.com was told Thursday morning.

According to a source with knowledge of the selection, the Nets made the decision because they are not guaranteed to get a power forward like Utah’s Carlos Boozer, Toronto’s Chris Bosh or Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire in free agency.

The source said that Favors is also the most tradeable asset available to the Nets for a possible deal — more so than Johnson. The source said the Nets might make a deal Thursday night after selecting Favors or wait to see if one comes in July during the free-agency period. The source said if the Nets make a deal they would have to include the pick of Favors.

This is a bit of a surprise as the Nets had seemingly settled on Wes Johnson because they believed they’d be able to get a good power forward in free agency. Now they’re planning to draft Favors because they’re not sure about getting a good power forward in free agency. Hmm.

The Nets could draft Favors as insurance and move him if they are able to land a good big in July’s free agency period.

Favors has a lot of upside, but hasn’t performed very well in workouts, which has hurt his stock a bit as draft day approaches. He was the 2009 Naismith Prep Player of the Year, which has a pretty good track record of predicting success in the NBA.

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