Just I try to get out they puuuuullllll me back in…
Man, I love the NBA draft. There’s a number of reason. For one, the entire thing is four hours long. The NFL took SIX hours for just their first round. I watched the entire bloody draft and was in bed by midnight. There’s only five minutes between picks in the first round and two minutes between picks in the second. Now THAT’S how you run a draft.
Things I noticed:
-Jay Bilas is an idiot. I have NO idea why this guy is considered an expert. I’m convinced that he hasn’t watched a single one of these players play a college game. All I hear about is “upside potential” and “wingspan” and “long” and other lame buzzwords. And my favorite is when he says a guy “isn’t athletic.” What? What does this even mean? If a kid plays 30 minutes a game in college and isn’t exhausted by the end of it, then isn’t he athletic? Unless a player is a fat slob then how can he not be athletic? This dude drives me nuts. You need no further evidence than when he had a white stiff like Josh McRoberts sitting on his “Top Prospects” list for hours before he was finally selected in Round 2 followed by Bilas gushing over him. Then he ranked Atlanta as one of the big “losers” of the draft which made no sense and he didn’t even explain why. I mean they needed a point guard and wisely waited on it to grab Horford at #3 then got the best PG in the draft in Acie Law anyway. How is that bad? Seriously, even a screaming nutjob like Stephen A. Smith makes more sense.
-I had no idea what Portland was doing. They grabbed Oden which was fine and I figured that with him, Zach Randolph would be able to do more combined with Brandon Roy who was awesome last year. Instead they trade Zach to the Knicks!!? What? And what did they get in return?.. ----- and Steve Francis and his ridiculous contract? What? WHY? They got NOTHING for a 20-10 guy!!! And, of course, that idiot Bilas LOVED the deal since he loves how the Blazers have blown up their entire team in the last two years to get good “character” guys. Last I checked, no one’s ever won a title with “character.” Also, last I checked, blowing up your entire team NEVER works. Ever. Third, Bilas doesn’t know of the one-crazy-guy rule. I basically states that any team can be okay with only ONE crazy guy but no more than one. If you get two or more crazy guys, their craziness feeds off each other and creates major problems. But if you have one nutjob but he’s surrounded by good guys then things work out. Rasheed won a title with the Pistons. Stephen Jackson was a big help for the Spurs in their title (and was a big help with Golden State last year). Even Artest was only getting in minor trouble with the Pacers but the second they combined him with Stephen Jackson, they were both flying into the Detroit stands two months into the season. Zach Randolph could have easily worked in Portland and instead they dumped him off for nothing. That’s possibly the first time in history that Isiah’s ever ripped someone ELSE off in a draft.
-Ray Allen to the Celtics. I can’t say I mind the move of dumping Ray Allen. It just wasn’t working in Seattle. But what they received…Delonte West and ----?? Yeah, they got Jeff Green but they should have gotten something better. Basically aside from Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson everyone on the Celtics blows so they should have gotten one of them or else it was a waste. So now the Celtics can roll out Pierce/Jefferson/Allen and Seattle has a rookie and Delonte West? And what if Rashard Lewis doesn’t stick around. Seattle could be screeewwwwed. Everyone’s ranting that this Sam Presti is some hot new GM but I’m not impressed.
-Jason Richardson to Charlotte? I don’t mind it THAT much. Charlotte’s been trying to roll out a team almost completely composed of a who’s-who of young college stars and it’s not working so they definitely needed a veteran guy to settle things down. The trade works IF Brandon Wright becomes a star…except I think he’s very overrated so I’d say that Golden State got the sad side of the deal. But I could be wrong so who knows. By the way, when did Michael Jordan become the GM of the Bobcats. I swear, EVERY TIME these guys mentioned the Bobcats, they HAD to mention Jordan. Guys…he’s a partial minority OWNER of the team. He’s not the President, he’s not the GM, he don’t run the team. I’m sure he’s got input and stuff but why did ESPN give him credit for every pick and decision like he was the SOLE decision maker? I remember even seeing a graphic as they went to commercial that said “Up Next: MJ and the Bobcats pick” MJ and the Bobcats??? Is that the new name of the team? Are they now the Charlotte Jordans? Seriously, this bloody obsession and worship of Jordan by ESPN is just sickening. He’s a great player!! I get it!! You don’t need to jam him down my throat at every opportunity. Besides, if he really is the sole decision-maker of Charlotte than it’s a mistake since he was terrible as the Wizards GM. His greatest decision of that period was “Bah, I can’t pick players at all…I know…I’ll just play for them myself!!” GREAT idea, Michael.
-The 76ers are, as always, laughable. For one, they grabbed ---- when both Julian Wright and Al Thornton were on the board. They pick a Taurean Green which I thought was a good pick but then they immediately traded him to Miami for yet another big white stiff in Jason Smith from Colorado State. Then later on they were just buying picks for cash. I swear it was like GMs were playing a game where they were calling up Billy King with the most inane and stupid deals just to see how he would react, then they were shocked and amazed when he said yes. That’s what it felt like.
-The Spurs. I love how I predicted the Spurs pick. I literally said: “Watch…the Spurs will pick some foreign guy that we’ve never heard of who we won’t see again for two or three years who will suddenly show up on their roster and be really good” and sure enough, they grabbed that guy from Italy. Hilarious. It’s like the Spurs are twenty steps ahead of everyone.
-And as a fine Chicago-hater, I’d be remissed if I didn’t mock their pick. So wait…the Bulls got beat in the playoffs because they didn’t have a low-post scorer and undersized guards so they go ahead a draft a guy with virtually no offensive skills who is basically identical to Luol Deng on defense at #9? Okay. Whatever you say, Bulls. Have fun with that. I can’t wait for the game of HORSE between him and Ben Wallace.
-Anyway, my Pistons. Eh. Hard to say. I was really getting more and more bummed as the Pistons #15 came up. I was really hoping they would get Julian Wright, Al Horford or Acie Law and ALL THREE went off the board one-by-one as the Pistons pick came up. I only saw this Rodney Stuckey guy in one game in the Big Sky Finals so I only knew a little bit about him but I know that I did NOT want Nick Young from USC…that guy didn’t impress me at all. Stuckey sounds like he’s a scorer who can charge the basket and create his own shot which is what the Pistons need so I guess I’m okay with it for now. I thought the Afflalo pick was cool too since the kid plays some mean defense which fits in perfect with the Stones. It was strange that they drafted three guards though…I hope they have a clue where they’re getting a center.
And yeah, I liked the commercials with Durant and Gilbert Arenas but I found it pretty funny when they was that one commercial when they had Durant make this spin move and totally school Gilbert and then take it to the basket and Gilbert’s all shocked. Why were you shocked Gilbert?..You can’t defend anyone anyway…why would you be shocked at Durant schooling you? Not only were the commercials funny, they were accurate too.
Oh…and is there a bigger shocker than ESPN running commercials for a mini-series on the Yankees? Big shocker there. No it’s not enough that they spend 15-minutes on every Sportscenter to yammer about the Yankees, show 50% of their games on national TV and run 24/7 coverage of Roger Clemens and have careful analysis of when he blows his nose…no now we need a mini-series of the Yankees in the 70’s. Why don’t they just throw Michael Jordan in there as well so they can have both of their most overplayed and tired obsessions together in one show. Gimmie a break.
Stevo
