So...maybe we can get some consensus, now that the draft is over, as to who came out the best and who came out the worst. Winners: New York Knicks * Sweetney was slightly a reach at #9, but is a solid post player. If Lampe can resolve his contract issues, he's a steal at #30. He reeks of Jake Tsakalidis, though the Knicks would be happy with that. Vranes - well, you can't teach 7'6". And, he's apparently not a stiff. Orlando Magic * OK, I'm slightly biased here as a Magic fan, but I really think they did well. Gaines was a steal for them at #15 and the perfect pick for them. Pachulia should've gone in the first round, is only 19, and brings exactly what the Magic need: interior play. Keith Bogans is a solid all-around guard who should provide good depth. Atlanta Hawks * Boris Diaw is the guy they needed to pair with Terry in the backcourt, assuming they keep Terry around. Solid pick there. Travis Hansen in rd. 2 was a steal and should provide them solid SG depth and a much-needed outside shooter. Losers: Boston Celtics * Marcus Banks is a reach, a big reach. So what if he worked out well? He still can't shoot, he's still small, and he's not a true point. Kendrick Perkins is years away. Their 2nd round pick (Hunter) will contribute more immediately. Memphis Grizzlies * What are they thinking with Bell and Jones? They are great athletes and may be good players, but they were both taken way too high. Jones can't shoot and Bell isn't a pure point. Minnesota Timberwolves * What do they need with Ebi? They already have Garnett and Joe Smith. Rickert should've stayed in school; again, what do they need with him? Maybe they took him for outside shooting, I don't know. They would've been better off with Chris Marcus.
I think Sweetney is going to surprise some people next year. Especially in the East he's got a great chance of putting up some decent numbers. Also the Magic did great. They had their eye on Reece Gaines from day one and were lucky he fell to them.
Chris Marcus and Matt Carroll went undrafted. I wonder if the Rocks will invite them to summer camp. There were several others that were not selected that might be interesting. Who are some others who could be sleeper additions?
I don't know about the Celtics being losers, essentially they addressed 2 needs. I do think Danny Ainge is being played by first Petrie and now West, but we'll see. We should give Memphis a chance simply because of West, if he thinks those 2 guys are players, then we should wait on the criticism for at least a year or so. Here's my winners + Losers: Winners: Detroit: This team's looking like it'll be real good for a real long time, especially in the east. Cleveland: A no brainer pick, but they're the biggest winners in this draft. Pheonix: Hate to say it, but they maybe got 2 solid pieces for an already formidable team. Orlando: I don't know if Gaines is a pg, but he'll contribute, good 2nd round too. N.J. : Solid pick for where they were. New York Crowd: Fire Layden, Lampe! Lampe! Espn's Tirico, Anthony, Michelle Tofoya (sp?): Tirico seemed really calm, collected, informed and regained my respect after that horrible incident with the Hulk hand on ABC, he's the perfect person to be a host, please replace Stu Scott and Kevin Frazier with this guy ESPN. Anthony was the only analyst that made much sense, although still not terribly exciting. Tofoya is not hot, but she is cute in a way and I don't mind her stupid questions as much. Here's this exchange with Chris Bosh: Michelle: Chris, what is the best thing about being drafted. Bosh thinking: The money, the groupies, the bling bling, the cars, the stupid questions i get a kick out of. Bosh answering: The challenge......BLAH BLAH Losers: Miami: Wade is probably going to be good, but the forced switch to pg may not realize his potential. Clippers: Aren't they automatically losers every year? Kaman is what, a less physical olawakandi? the only good thing for baby shaq is that he might not make the team with that log-jam at 4, every one that suits up for he clips seems to get instant bad karma. Milwaukee: Ford was a good pick, but this means they won't be keeping payton, so essentially they traded ray allen for desmond mason. Golden State: pick was essentially a plea for arenas to stay, don't think that'll work though. Seattle: Both of these guys are backups at best. What a homer pick with Ridnour. Portland + Minnesota: Promised high school kid they'd take him, and didn't back out even though other talents were slipping. Espn skipping 2nd round picks: this isn't the NFL draft, where 200 people get drafted, if you're gonna skip the picks, at least give us a description and video of each of those guys later.
Definitely the Knicks are winners for sure. When you luck out and get a possible franchise guy with a SECOND round pick, you know the planets are aligned just for you. But it will be all for nought if they don't ditch their nasty habit of overpaying for talent and clear some cap-space to get a few pieces to go along with their draft pick bonanza, which I think could be the cornerstone of a NYK revival. I definitely think Sweetney will contribute right away and be the post-up threat the Knicks have lacked since L.J. hung up his "big L" gesture. Once Lampe gets his contract issues settled, either he will join the team in two years a stronger player fresh from further seasoning in Europe or join the squad immediately and season against the Leastern Conference. Maybe we will see Vranes vs. Yao with Eddie Griffin matching up against Lampe and Sweeney in the Finals in a few years?! A repeat of the 94 Finals, with a new cast of characters? The Rocket City vs. the Big Apple!!!
A few more Losers: Jim Gray: Thanks for the non-news of Kobe opting out, did n't we know this last year? I would have prefered the sleazy Peter Vecsey and his obvious snide comments to the sleazy Jim Gray and his attempts to be serious. As an aside, is Kobe an attention hog or is the media doing this? The stories on him during the finals, his shoe contract after LBJ, and his 'news' during the draft, you just can't get away from the guy. Lampe's agent: Should be fired tonight. He didn't clear the buyout issue and now Lampe is pretty screwed. The situation should either have been cleared earlier or he should have pulled Lampe from the draft, this guy would have made alot more money next year, and he's gonna have to stay overseas anyway now. What a terrible job. Milicic's posse: Not a groupie in the group? where's his mom? he should have brought that cow his mom bought . And he kissed every guy at his table, maybe he'll do this with Ben Wallace next year!
Collison is not another white stiff. He is better than some may believe. I think he is a much better prospect than Sweetney. The poor Knicks fans were cheering, haha. They'll find out soon enough that they'd be lucky for Sweetney to turn into Othella Harrington, not Ewing. Magic got IMO one of the steals of the draft in Reece Gaines. ATL-I won't comment on Boris Diaw or Hansen since I haven't seen them play, but Hansen is supposed to be pretty athletic (like 40 in. vert). Boston-Banks could be a good player, but he is not what they needed. He is a scorer, they needed a playmaker. Perkins is a project pick, but if he has the work ethic that Ainge describe then you never know. I still don't know about using a 1st rounder on him though. Minn-Ebi is another project, but he actually has a better chance of being successful than Perkins. I'd say it'll be AWHILE though. Look at Jonathan Bender, I think he'll be progressing at that rate or slower. Rickert is not an NBA prospect, he shouldn't have left, and is not even worthy of a 2nd rounder. I'm still not sold on Wade. I was impressed watching him his Junior year, but he seemed way hyped last season. He did have some really good games towards the end of the season, and at least he is very likeable and respectable. It's pretty cool that Rid is going to Seattle. Playing in his home state on a team with some decent offensive talent should make the team even more exciting. I'm not really sure what Memphis was thinking. Troy Bell can probably become a good player and I won't say he cannot run point because how do we know? They only need Jones for defense, rebounding, and physical presence/athletic finisher so he might not be that bad at #27. No idea what GS is doing. I doubt Arenas would come back, don't see how this pick helps in any way. 1.Lebron 2.Darko 3.Carmello 4.Bosh 5.TJ Ford 6.Nick Collison 7.Reece Gaines 8.Mickael Pietrus 9.Zoran Planinic 10.Pavlovic
My Winners besides the obvious ( Clev Det Den etc) Lakers- Walton and Cook. Very nice Role players that they need. Note- If you thought Bill was on the Lakers Jock last year just wait till this year. Sonics - Collison Ridnuor- Most likely got two future starters, thats always good NY- I question the sweetney pick but Lampe fell right into their lap. Two top15 players for sure Losers Memphis- I'm shocked at what they ended up with. But its Jerry West so who am I to argue. Dicky V like both picks, Id be scared if I was a memphis fan Washington- Blake should be a nice back PG, and Hayes is the immediate help that they need Clippers - Kayman Scholoratis- I dont have nothing against those players but that probaly means goodbye to either Brand or Kandi or both. Clipper fans lose again.
I think Christian Laettner is a more than fair comparison, first Laettner was a god during college, accomplishing far more than collison individually and teamwise. They both played for a national team so the comparison is there too. Christian isn't a stiff either, he was an all-star and had decent numbers during the beginning stages of his career. I don't think Collison is as skilled as Christian was at the same point. The point is, if Collison can match Christian's production at the height of Christian's career, then that will make Collison an overacheiver and a successful pick, but there's no way that Collison can be better than that. Jones is actually the 20th pick, Bell was way too high too, but since the Logo made these picks we should wait before criticizing him.
