The NBA Draft has come and gone which does nothing but provide a tease for me for the next NBA season. While most cannot live without their NFL football, I am a basketball fanatic and each year I can not wait for the next season to begin once one ends.
First things first with the NBA Draft; these kids should have been drafted a year ago. The farce otherwise known as the NBA Draft age limit is just that; a huge farce. These kids go to school, pretend like they care about school for a year, and then go right to the league which was their intention in the first place.
It does help the NBA GM's not make big mistakes (for example, De'Andre Jordan was projected as a lottery - top 5 pick had he come out of high school) because it exposes whether a guy can really play. But maybe the GM's need a different assessment tool than a 2 hour workout and dinner with the coach and GM. Here's to hoping that college basketball and the NBA stop profiting from what William Rhoden would refer to as 40 million dollar slaves.
These kids can't accept a meal, can't get a tv, or accept a ticket to a basketball game. Meanwhile they can appear on television and help the NCAA make millions of television dollars all the while Miles Brand and David Stern pretend to do this all in the name of whats good for the kids. Whatever!
On to the actual NBA Draft. I have a few thoughts on the NBA draft:
Portland Trailblazers - They just keep on stockpiling talent and more importantly, they are stockpiling talent in areas where they are deficient. In the past they have added Roy, Aldridge, Oden, and Outlaw and now they have added Jerryd Bayless; the explosive point guard out of Arizona. Also keep in mind that Rudy Fernandez, the highly touted guard from Spain will be making the move here as well. They are 2 deep at every position and 2 deep with good character guys who can play.
If I'm the rest of the NBA, I better win all I can within the next 2 years because Portland has positioned themselves to win and win big for the next 10 years.
Miami Heat - They are here because they didn't over-think things. Putting a whoopie cushion in a seat is different than assault or selling/doing drugs. I'm not here to minimize Beasley's behavior but reportedly, these things took place before the age of 16. Not drafting a kid because he was a class clown in high school would have been ridiculous. Beasley was the best player in the draft and despite what people may tell you, should have gone #1. I also love the Mario Chalmers pick. He has the maturity to step right in and play big minutes. With a few more moves and good health from Wade, the Heat can be right back in the thick of things.
OJ Mayo and Kevin Love - Both are winners because they went to ideal situations for their careers. As most of you know, it's not about when you are picked, but sometimes, more about where. Love in Memphis would have been asked to carry the inside scoring load. I'm not sure he will ever be a guy who can do that for you, instead, he will be a guy who can score situationally, space the floor, rebound and provide winning plays.
While Memphis could use that, his talents fit better in Minny. OJ Mayo would have duplicated what Minny already had. Randy Roye, Rashard McCants are both 6'3 or 6'4 guards that are both somewhat tweeners. Mayo could have functioned in this situation as well, but in Memphis he gets to team up with Mike Conley and Rudy Gay to form a (on paper) potent perimeter team. They all have different skill sets as well that will allow them to compliment each other. Mayo can thrive in Ivaroni's Di'Antoni-light fast break system.
Milwaukee - Joe Alexander was a hot name in the draft and they nabbed him which they were rumored to do. However, I'm more impressed with their draft day trade. Unlike most people, I am a big fan of Scott Skiles. Why? Because he wins. I believe by adding a 20 point scorer in Richard Jefferson (and one who doesn't need a lot of shots to get 20) to their lineup, the Bucks can be viable in the East. Alexander duplicates Jefferson just a little bit. None the less, there was nothing else on the board sans Jerryd Bayless that would have really helped them in terms of what they actually need.
New Jersey Nets - Brook Lopez will be a solid pro, but Im not feeling the whole "get rid of players and hope Lebron leaves Cleveland strategy." Orlando tried that with Tim Duncan a few years ago and it took Dwight Howard landing in their laps 5 years later for them to recover. My motto is always to make smart business decisions to win now. So even though they did get some solid college players from the draft, attempting to strip your roster, waiting for Lebron, screams that you don't plan on really trying to win in the short term. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vince Carter being traded soon.
Seattle - Russell Westbrook is probably a nice young man who worked hard during high school to rise from an unrecruited player who couldn't dunk as a junior to explosive athlete at UCLA. With that said, going #4 was just too high for a player like Russell Westbrook. I can argue strongly that he wasn't one of their 3 best players last year and win that argument most of the time.
I hate to do this but, if Jerryd Bayless was a Bruin and Westbrook was an Arizona Wildcat, where would each respective program have been last year? I can do this with Eric Gordon or even Brandon Rush as well. What I am saying is this; his role has duped teams into thinking that he can be more than he is. But sometimes expanding someone's role exposes more of their weaknesses as opposed to playing towards their strengths. I think Seattle may live to regret drafting what amounts to a role playing PG in the Kenyon Dooling mold. Memo to Chad Ford; saying someone has the potential to be a Rondo type PG does not sell the masses on the pick.
De'Andre Jordan - I really feel bad for this kid because I believe he was a product of the rivals.com/scouts.com/espn projection syndrome. Sometimes those services, through no fault of their own, create in a young man a false sense of where they belong.
As has been the sin of scouting (particularly at the NBA level) in the past, they see a big athletic guy and immediately say he will be Dwight Howard or whatever the most recent great big man that entered the NBA (Tyson Chandler was supposed to be the new KG, remember that?). The facts are when you watched the guy play, he had no clue on how to play or use his size. He was just a great athlete. And instead of listening to the coaching staff and Texas A&M who attempted to coach him, he pouted and it was insinuated that they somehow were keeping his stock down to keep him on the bench thus forcing to stay for his 2nd year in college. Perhaps they put him on the bench because his skill and work ethic (the 2 things that caused him to slip to the 2nd round) were not up to par.
The NBA - I spoke about this earlier and I will repeat it again. The NBA looks really bad forcing kids who do not want to be in school to go to school. With the exception of De'Andre Jordan, each kid that was projected to be in the NBA was drafted on Thursday and drafted extremely high.
Its really a manipulative tool that Stern and Miles Brand are using to further each entity's agenda (NCAA and NBA). The NCAA wants stars in college so they can receive increased ratings and generate more revenue. The NBA wants these young men in college so they are easier to evaluate and they have a name that is known once they enter the league. Contrary to their belief, they are not protecting these kids from themselves nor is their true intent to. Their intentions are purely monetary. Meanwhile, OJ Mayo is painted as a bad guy because someone allegedly put a television in his dorm room and because he accepted a ticket to a Denver Nuggets game. Hypocrisy? I would say so when the NCAA can make millions of dollars off of a player's name but said player can't accept a 700 dollar television.
I believe this is one of those cases where something is repeated enough times that it becomes fact when reality is that there are absolutely other players in the draft and in his class that are equally as talented. Rose is definitely benefiting from the deep run in the tournament. Along with questioning how his skill set (athleticially, there is no question) will translate into the pro's, I believe that Chicago was duped into thinking that the NBA is being championed by the PG now. While there are some great PG's in the league today (enhanced by the fact that you can't touch them), one look at the champions in recent years and you will see that this supposed trend is a myth. A view of the champions of the last 10-15 years paints a clear picture:
Boston - Kevin Garnett - Rajon Rondo
San Antonio - Tim Duncan - Tony Parker
Miami Heat - Shaquille O'Neal - Jason Williams
Detroit Pistons - Rasheed Wallace - Chauncey Billups
San Antonio - Tim Duncan/David Robinson - Avery Johnson
Los Angeles Lakers - Shaquille O'Neal - Ron Harper
Los Angeles Lakers - Shaquille O'Neal - Derek Fisher
Houston Rockets - Hakeem Olajuwon - Kenny Smith
**Chicago Bulls - Michael Jordan - John Paxson
**Chicago Bulls - Michael Jordan - BJ Armstrong
Contrary to the myth out there, the champions (those were in no particular order) of the last 10 or 15 years have had good to mediocre PG's manning the position. If you review that list, there are no hall of famers on that list with Tony Parker the only one with a chance to make it. They were combined with a great big man and/or wing.
So while Beasley isn't a big man in the mold of a Duncan or Shaq, I would still have a hard time passing on him because he was just too productive. The good thing though is that we will know very soon.
The timberwolves were fools for trading OJ