NBA Draft Review
Good news everyone: I'm moving to Toronto! That's right! I'm going to go to Toronto and become the Raptor's new GM, replacing Ron Babcock, who is a fricking moron. I'm really excited about this opportunity, even though I'll be in Canada and it's fricking ridiculously cold up there. But hey, I have friends in Canada now.
So here's some grades for the teams in the draft (I wasn't going to do all of them, but I've got a bad feeling I will end up doing all of them).
Atlanta Hawks--Marvin Williams(2), Salim Stoudamire(31), Cenk Akyol(59): A. Come on pundits. You have to love the media; you're not supposed to draft on need, but skill. Marvin Williams is supposed to be the best player in the draft, and the Bucks are making a mistake by taking Bogut instead of him. So now the Hawks are being ripped for taking Williams because they have Al Harrington and Josh Smith? FUCK YOU. If Williams is as good as you assholes say he is, they he is miles ahead of Harrington, and you have no idea if Smith is going to turn out into anything or not (he's a high school pick from last year who won the dunk contest. That's hardly blowing me away.). Let's face it people: the Hawks need EVERYTHING. So leave them alone since they managed to not end up with the White Guy.
Boston Celtics--Gerald Green(18), Ryan Gomes(50), Orien Greene(53): A. Good for Boston. Once again (like they did with Pierce back in 98), they counted on other teams being stupid, and simply benefited from that. They are already developing high schooler Al Jefferson, why not develop a great swingman to go with him? They've got a great future and a decent present. And Gomes is a steal at 50.
Charlotte Bobcats--Raymond Felton(5), Sean May(13): C. Sigh...Bernie Bickerstaff, I think we might have to let you go, too. Hey Felton's a very good point, but he's not a top five pick in this draft. And May at 13? With Danny Granger, Gerald Green, Joey Graham, and Antoine Wright still on the board? Does he not realize May plays Okafur's position? Oh yeah, May will be REALLY motivated to get in shape playing for the Bobcats. You know it's bad when all the media can come up with is, "Well, they're local boys, so they will sell a lot of tickets!" Huh, I thought we were here to WIN GAMES. My bad.
Chicago Bulls--No picks: A. They traded this year's pick for Luol Deng last year. Since they would have picked 21, that was a GREAT trade.
Clevaland Cavaliers--Martynas Andriuskevicius(44): B. If you don't think I copied and pasted that name, you're crazy. Cavs didn't have any picks, and bought this one from the Magic. Why not? Probably didn't cost him too much, and this guy was supposed to go in the mid to late first round. Worth a couple of bucks.
Dallas Mavericks--No picks: C+. Traded this for Pavel Pafjlajfeao (the 7'5" Russian dude), would have been 27. Why not, it was worth a shot.
Denver Nuggets--Julius Hodge(20), Linas Kleiza(27), Ricky Sanchez(35), Axel Hervelle(52): C-. Some teams are really liking this, but I'm not. Granted, there wasn't much left to work with, but I'm not a Hodge fan (I swear the reason the media likes him is because he stayed at school for 20 years, and they're just trying to use him to make kids stay longer), I've never heard of Linas and he plays in the Big 12, and the other two are whatevers. Again, not much was left here, but the Nuggets have one hole: a good shooting two guard. I'm not a huge Francisco Garcia fan, but couldn't he have done that? Or even Salim Stoudamire? I mean, this draft didn't matter that much for this team, but with four picks you would think they could have gotten SOMETHING.
Detroit Pistons--Jason Maxiell(26), Amir Johnson(56): C-. Some 6'6" PF out of Cinci? Surely we could have done better than this.
Golden State Warriors--Ike Diogu(9), Monta Ellis(40), Chris Taft(42): A-. Nice job, especially picking up Taft at 42. He was a top ten to 15 pick before people became concerned about his work ethic. If he works at 42, awesome, if not, who cares? I like Diogu, though I like Granger better, so I bumped them from an A to an A-.
Houston Rockets--Luther Head(24): B-.Again, not much left by now. They needed a point, so they took the best available. I would have taken Simien, but whatever.
Indiana Pacers--Danny Granger(18), Erazem Lorbek(46): A+. Make no mistake--Donnie Walsh is the best GM in the NBA right now. Not that this was hard; how in the FUCK did Granger slip to 18? I don't understand it. I honestly don't. Teams will rue the day they let this happen. Well! Start rueing!
And now, all of the sudden, Indiana has a starting small forward. All of the sudden, crackhead Ron Artest is expendable. I would deal him in a HEARTBEAT.
LA Clippers--Yaroslav Korolev(12), Daniel Ewing(32): C-. Ahhh...new GM, same results. I'm glad we can count on some things in life: the Clips making bad draft picks.
LA Lakers--Andrew Bynum(10), Ronny Turiaf(37), Von Wafer(39): C. Ummm...what the Hell is going on here? They draft a high school center at 10? How do you think Kobe feels about this? With Granger on the table? Are they going to deal Kobe and try to rebuild? Stay tuned...
Memphis Grizzlies--Hakim Warrick(19), Lawrence Roberts(55): B. Best player available. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies now have about ten power forwards on their roster, but whatever. They went from a B- to a B, though with the best line of the night, coming from Jerry West: "He was a very good player at Princeton", referring to Warrick. Ummmm, Jerry? He spent four years at Syracuse. Jerry, would you really draft someone in the first round from Princeton? Really?
How the mighty have fallen.
Miami Heat--Wayne Simien(29): B.As Miami only has about 5 real players, they could use another player at any position except center (Shaq and Zo have that covered, both starter and backup). Simien is NBA ready, and you could put a zombie from the Land of the Undead next to him and the Zombie would average 10 and 10.
Milwaukee Bucks--Andrew Bogut(1), Ersan Ilyasova(36): D. Michael Olowakandi. Sam Bowie. Darko Milicic. Andrew, enjoy their company.
Minnesota Timberwolves--Rashad McCants(14), Bracey Wright(47): C+. You know, this isn't a bad pick until you realize that Antoine Wright, Joey Graham, and oh yeah, DANNY FUCKING GRANGER were still left of the table. Welcome to a younger Latrell Sprewell.
New Jersey Nets--Antoine Wright(15), Mile Ilic(43): B-. Now I've bashed some teams for passing on Wright. However, those teams did not have Richard Jefferson AND Vince Carter. I just think someone like Warrik might have fit a LITTLE bit better. Good talent though.
New Orleans Hornets--Chris Paul(4), Brandon Bass(33): A+. The Hornets got probably the best player in the draft with the fourth pick, and picked up a solid PF in the second round. GREAT job. They'll be fun to watch with Paul running the show, too.
New York Knicks--Channing Frye(8), Nate Robinson(21), David Lee(30): C+. I'm sorry, but I think there's a damn good chance Frye is the next Loren Woods. If you don't know who Woods is, yeah. Exactly. However, Robinson will be a good backup, and an INSTANT fan favorite, and the fans haven't had a fave on the Knicks for a long time.
Orlando Magic--Fran Vazquez(11), Travis Diener(38), Marcin Gorat(57): D+. Wow. Where to begin. They drafted a Spaniard who averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds a game in Spain. WOW. And he plays the same position as Dwight Howard. Good thinking. Then in the second round, they took and undersized backup point guard. Oh, wait; isn't Jameer Nelson an undersized, backup point guard?
Philadelphia 76ers--Louis Williams(45): C. Only a second round pick, and a deep one at that. Eh.
Phoenix Suns--Dijon Thompson(54): C. They traded Nate Robinson as part of the Kurt Thomas-Quentin Richardson trade. I'm not sure I like that trade...more on that in the future.
Portland Trailblazers--Martell Webster(6), Jarrett Jack (22): C. What, exactly, did they trade down for? Jarrett Jack? Okay...guys, don't just trade down to trade down, have a purpose in mind, and I hope that Jarrett Jack was not it. And Martell Webster over Granger and Green? No, thank you.
Sacramento Kings--Francisco Garcia(23): B-.Eh. I'm not a big fan of Garcia, but the Kings needed a shooter, and he was probably both the best shooter and player available at this point, so why not?
San Antonio Spurs--Ian Mahinmi(28): D+. Wow. Who the Hell is this guy? HE'S A VOLLEYBALL PLAYER! He started playing basketball 4 years ago! He's not even listed as the third best player ON HIS FRENCH TEAM! I love all the pundits: "Well, these are the guys who drafted Tony Parker and Manu, so they must just know something we don't." Hey, I have much respect for the Spurs organization too, but it's okay to say they dropped the ball on this one.
Seattle Supersonics--Johan Petro(25), Mickael Gelabale(48): C.I'm sorry, the Mavs brought over that French guy this year who was supposed to be the best player in France, and that guy would not get minutes on my Tuesday and Thursday night rec league. I'm not kidding at all. I can't believe that these two are going to end up being that great.
Toronto Raptors--Charlie Villanueva(7), Joey Graham(16), Roko Ulic(41), Uros Slokar(58): D. Ahhh...my new job. How does Babcock have a job? He drafted Rafael Araujo at number 8 last year--that has ALREADY made SI's 20 worst draft picks of all time--and then with all the talent on the board, they take Charlie Villanueva at 7. Unbelievable. He's not talented, he's a head case, and he plays the same position as your ONLY good player, Chris Bosh. And while Joey isn't a bad pick, Joey over Danny Granger? Hell, as bad as the Raptors are going to be for the next few years, Joey over Gerald Green? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If you don't think I'm not going to send the Raptors an email offering my services as their new GM, you're crazy.
Utah Jazz--Deron Williams(3), CJ Miles(34), Robert Whaley(51): A-. They might regret taking Williams over Paul, but they get props for moving up to number 3 for basically a bunch of crap. They finally have the point they need. Unless Jerry Sloan gets mad at him, too.
Washington Wizards--Andray Blatche(49): B. The media is very excited about this pick; he's a high school kid, I have no clue who the fuck he is. Hey, it's 49, so why not. Besides, the Wizards have done well with High School kids in the past. Oh, wait...
So here's some grades for the teams in the draft (I wasn't going to do all of them, but I've got a bad feeling I will end up doing all of them).
Atlanta Hawks--Marvin Williams(2), Salim Stoudamire(31), Cenk Akyol(59): A. Come on pundits. You have to love the media; you're not supposed to draft on need, but skill. Marvin Williams is supposed to be the best player in the draft, and the Bucks are making a mistake by taking Bogut instead of him. So now the Hawks are being ripped for taking Williams because they have Al Harrington and Josh Smith? FUCK YOU. If Williams is as good as you assholes say he is, they he is miles ahead of Harrington, and you have no idea if Smith is going to turn out into anything or not (he's a high school pick from last year who won the dunk contest. That's hardly blowing me away.). Let's face it people: the Hawks need EVERYTHING. So leave them alone since they managed to not end up with the White Guy.
Boston Celtics--Gerald Green(18), Ryan Gomes(50), Orien Greene(53): A. Good for Boston. Once again (like they did with Pierce back in 98), they counted on other teams being stupid, and simply benefited from that. They are already developing high schooler Al Jefferson, why not develop a great swingman to go with him? They've got a great future and a decent present. And Gomes is a steal at 50.
Charlotte Bobcats--Raymond Felton(5), Sean May(13): C. Sigh...Bernie Bickerstaff, I think we might have to let you go, too. Hey Felton's a very good point, but he's not a top five pick in this draft. And May at 13? With Danny Granger, Gerald Green, Joey Graham, and Antoine Wright still on the board? Does he not realize May plays Okafur's position? Oh yeah, May will be REALLY motivated to get in shape playing for the Bobcats. You know it's bad when all the media can come up with is, "Well, they're local boys, so they will sell a lot of tickets!" Huh, I thought we were here to WIN GAMES. My bad.
Chicago Bulls--No picks: A. They traded this year's pick for Luol Deng last year. Since they would have picked 21, that was a GREAT trade.
Clevaland Cavaliers--Martynas Andriuskevicius(44): B. If you don't think I copied and pasted that name, you're crazy. Cavs didn't have any picks, and bought this one from the Magic. Why not? Probably didn't cost him too much, and this guy was supposed to go in the mid to late first round. Worth a couple of bucks.
Dallas Mavericks--No picks: C+. Traded this for Pavel Pafjlajfeao (the 7'5" Russian dude), would have been 27. Why not, it was worth a shot.
Denver Nuggets--Julius Hodge(20), Linas Kleiza(27), Ricky Sanchez(35), Axel Hervelle(52): C-. Some teams are really liking this, but I'm not. Granted, there wasn't much left to work with, but I'm not a Hodge fan (I swear the reason the media likes him is because he stayed at school for 20 years, and they're just trying to use him to make kids stay longer), I've never heard of Linas and he plays in the Big 12, and the other two are whatevers. Again, not much was left here, but the Nuggets have one hole: a good shooting two guard. I'm not a huge Francisco Garcia fan, but couldn't he have done that? Or even Salim Stoudamire? I mean, this draft didn't matter that much for this team, but with four picks you would think they could have gotten SOMETHING.
Detroit Pistons--Jason Maxiell(26), Amir Johnson(56): C-. Some 6'6" PF out of Cinci? Surely we could have done better than this.
Golden State Warriors--Ike Diogu(9), Monta Ellis(40), Chris Taft(42): A-. Nice job, especially picking up Taft at 42. He was a top ten to 15 pick before people became concerned about his work ethic. If he works at 42, awesome, if not, who cares? I like Diogu, though I like Granger better, so I bumped them from an A to an A-.
Houston Rockets--Luther Head(24): B-.Again, not much left by now. They needed a point, so they took the best available. I would have taken Simien, but whatever.
Indiana Pacers--Danny Granger(18), Erazem Lorbek(46): A+. Make no mistake--Donnie Walsh is the best GM in the NBA right now. Not that this was hard; how in the FUCK did Granger slip to 18? I don't understand it. I honestly don't. Teams will rue the day they let this happen. Well! Start rueing!
And now, all of the sudden, Indiana has a starting small forward. All of the sudden, crackhead Ron Artest is expendable. I would deal him in a HEARTBEAT.
LA Clippers--Yaroslav Korolev(12), Daniel Ewing(32): C-. Ahhh...new GM, same results. I'm glad we can count on some things in life: the Clips making bad draft picks.
LA Lakers--Andrew Bynum(10), Ronny Turiaf(37), Von Wafer(39): C. Ummm...what the Hell is going on here? They draft a high school center at 10? How do you think Kobe feels about this? With Granger on the table? Are they going to deal Kobe and try to rebuild? Stay tuned...
Memphis Grizzlies--Hakim Warrick(19), Lawrence Roberts(55): B. Best player available. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies now have about ten power forwards on their roster, but whatever. They went from a B- to a B, though with the best line of the night, coming from Jerry West: "He was a very good player at Princeton", referring to Warrick. Ummmm, Jerry? He spent four years at Syracuse. Jerry, would you really draft someone in the first round from Princeton? Really?
How the mighty have fallen.
Miami Heat--Wayne Simien(29): B.As Miami only has about 5 real players, they could use another player at any position except center (Shaq and Zo have that covered, both starter and backup). Simien is NBA ready, and you could put a zombie from the Land of the Undead next to him and the Zombie would average 10 and 10.
Milwaukee Bucks--Andrew Bogut(1), Ersan Ilyasova(36): D. Michael Olowakandi. Sam Bowie. Darko Milicic. Andrew, enjoy their company.
Minnesota Timberwolves--Rashad McCants(14), Bracey Wright(47): C+. You know, this isn't a bad pick until you realize that Antoine Wright, Joey Graham, and oh yeah, DANNY FUCKING GRANGER were still left of the table. Welcome to a younger Latrell Sprewell.
New Jersey Nets--Antoine Wright(15), Mile Ilic(43): B-. Now I've bashed some teams for passing on Wright. However, those teams did not have Richard Jefferson AND Vince Carter. I just think someone like Warrik might have fit a LITTLE bit better. Good talent though.
New Orleans Hornets--Chris Paul(4), Brandon Bass(33): A+. The Hornets got probably the best player in the draft with the fourth pick, and picked up a solid PF in the second round. GREAT job. They'll be fun to watch with Paul running the show, too.
New York Knicks--Channing Frye(8), Nate Robinson(21), David Lee(30): C+. I'm sorry, but I think there's a damn good chance Frye is the next Loren Woods. If you don't know who Woods is, yeah. Exactly. However, Robinson will be a good backup, and an INSTANT fan favorite, and the fans haven't had a fave on the Knicks for a long time.
Orlando Magic--Fran Vazquez(11), Travis Diener(38), Marcin Gorat(57): D+. Wow. Where to begin. They drafted a Spaniard who averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds a game in Spain. WOW. And he plays the same position as Dwight Howard. Good thinking. Then in the second round, they took and undersized backup point guard. Oh, wait; isn't Jameer Nelson an undersized, backup point guard?
Philadelphia 76ers--Louis Williams(45): C. Only a second round pick, and a deep one at that. Eh.
Phoenix Suns--Dijon Thompson(54): C. They traded Nate Robinson as part of the Kurt Thomas-Quentin Richardson trade. I'm not sure I like that trade...more on that in the future.
Portland Trailblazers--Martell Webster(6), Jarrett Jack (22): C. What, exactly, did they trade down for? Jarrett Jack? Okay...guys, don't just trade down to trade down, have a purpose in mind, and I hope that Jarrett Jack was not it. And Martell Webster over Granger and Green? No, thank you.
Sacramento Kings--Francisco Garcia(23): B-.Eh. I'm not a big fan of Garcia, but the Kings needed a shooter, and he was probably both the best shooter and player available at this point, so why not?
San Antonio Spurs--Ian Mahinmi(28): D+. Wow. Who the Hell is this guy? HE'S A VOLLEYBALL PLAYER! He started playing basketball 4 years ago! He's not even listed as the third best player ON HIS FRENCH TEAM! I love all the pundits: "Well, these are the guys who drafted Tony Parker and Manu, so they must just know something we don't." Hey, I have much respect for the Spurs organization too, but it's okay to say they dropped the ball on this one.
Seattle Supersonics--Johan Petro(25), Mickael Gelabale(48): C.I'm sorry, the Mavs brought over that French guy this year who was supposed to be the best player in France, and that guy would not get minutes on my Tuesday and Thursday night rec league. I'm not kidding at all. I can't believe that these two are going to end up being that great.
Toronto Raptors--Charlie Villanueva(7), Joey Graham(16), Roko Ulic(41), Uros Slokar(58): D. Ahhh...my new job. How does Babcock have a job? He drafted Rafael Araujo at number 8 last year--that has ALREADY made SI's 20 worst draft picks of all time--and then with all the talent on the board, they take Charlie Villanueva at 7. Unbelievable. He's not talented, he's a head case, and he plays the same position as your ONLY good player, Chris Bosh. And while Joey isn't a bad pick, Joey over Danny Granger? Hell, as bad as the Raptors are going to be for the next few years, Joey over Gerald Green? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If you don't think I'm not going to send the Raptors an email offering my services as their new GM, you're crazy.
Utah Jazz--Deron Williams(3), CJ Miles(34), Robert Whaley(51): A-. They might regret taking Williams over Paul, but they get props for moving up to number 3 for basically a bunch of crap. They finally have the point they need. Unless Jerry Sloan gets mad at him, too.
Washington Wizards--Andray Blatche(49): B. The media is very excited about this pick; he's a high school kid, I have no clue who the fuck he is. Hey, it's 49, so why not. Besides, the Wizards have done well with High School kids in the past. Oh, wait...
posted by Michael Pondrom at 8:33 PM
1 Comments:
I know I am saying this after the fact, but when I was looking before the draft, I kept thinking that Deron Williams would be perfect for the Jazz. Smart guard, uses his body well. I think he will fit Sloan's pick and roll system perfectly.
Felton runs a good break and after what Phoenix did this year, teams were interested.
I still think of all the young points in this draft, Chris Paul is the most likely to bomb. I can't tell you why, just that I don't think he will last long.
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