The NBA Draft is coming up this Thursday night: let's preview it. But, not just today. Every day, a brief blog entry on the draft. Because I love ya'll so much.
Everyone says this draft is full of bad prospects and no talent. I personally think the ceiling on a number of players is limited, but the floor may be as well. Most of these early first-rounders will at least be rotation players in the league, as opposed to total busts. Therefore, the draft should be better in quality than the 2000 & 2001 drafts to which it has been compared.
That being said, there are not too many potentially great players to be had. Even the consensus #1 pick, Blake Griffin, is probably not the stud player for an NBA Championship-caliber team. An All-Star, sure, but I don't see him in the Karl Malone category as he has been likened to. I see flashes of Amare, an occasional Mailman, and a bit of Horace Grant all rolled into Griffin. Not bad company, so it is easy to see why he's the best talent in this draft. Keep in mind too that he dominated college basketball this year, to a much greater extent than Derrick Rose, Greg Oden, Andrew Bogut, or some of the other recent collegiate #1's (those guys were great in college, Bogut won player of the year like Griffin; but seriously, Griffin was a man among boys this year). This domination hopefully lends itself to an aggressive confidence and the drive for Blake to become great.
Other than Griffin, there are a few players I really like early on. James Harden should be solid for 12 years or so: cerebral, efficient game with good length and the ability to improve. Jordan Hill will be a good rotation guy for some team, but I don't see an All-Star in the making. I also can see him falling down the lottery board to the 10th pick or so this Thursday - just a hunch. I really liked Johnny Flynn at Syracuse this season, but he might be a bit overrated in the mid-lottery. I'd rather take Lawson or Teague ten picks later than Flynn early on. After that, not much else in the lottery. Oh, there is one guy I absolutely love...but more on him tomorrow. That's right, he gets his own entry.
As for the players I don't so much love? Hasheem Thabeet. He has no offensive game whatsoever and will absolutely be a liability for his team when they have the ball. Furthermore, he is NOT going to rebound in the NBA. The guy has no mass and is not quick enough to beat opponents to the ball. If 6-5 DeJuan Blair can ride him out and knock him on the chest to the tune of 23 & 20, then imagine what Dwight Howard would do to Thabeet? They compare him to Mutombo, but Dikembe was much more athletic at this same stage, in my opinion.
Who else? Stephen Curry. I've seen him in person, he is amazing. He is savvy, he is tough, he is a better ball handler than you think. But, he also took a lot of bad shots, is still only 6-3, and is not an NBA-level defender. Unfortunately, the love affair teams apparently have with this guy and the clamoring to select him at #3 or #4 pretty much sums up this draft - it's just not that good at the top. He might actually be the fourth best guy in this draft. The problem is a team is committed to paying him the same amount of #4 overall pick money as any other year in the draft.
A few late-first round sleepers on the "yay" list: Earl Clark, Chase Budinger, Psycho T (duh), & Derrick Brown. Second rounders: Toney Douglas, Dionte Christmas, Josh Heytvelt, Danny Green, Chris Johnson, & Wesley Matthews.
That's it for today, brief and generalized. I leave you with links to an emerging artist out of DC named Wale. He dropped "Nike Boots" on us earlier this year and his collaboration with Lady Gaga "Chillin" is out now & I'm kinda obsessed. Different sound, quite popular here in the VA and in the District. Enjoy.
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2 comments:
BJ Mullens is one that I am afraid will bust as well. What are your thoughts?
Almost impossible to say. He's tall and was effective in high school, but did little in his one year at Ohio State. 50/50 odds really, just like nearly every high school big man. Regardless, whoever takes Mullens had better be patient and ready to pay a guy $3 million/year for 2-3 years of riding the pine. That's the problem with big guys this young - by the time they're any good, they are at or near the end of their rookie deals. A team like Minnesota could use one of their four first-rounders on him and be fine, but most teams cannot afford to wait on a guy that long to contribute.
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