<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HwtvTz1LXd4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I think Donnie Nelson was drunk during the 2012 NBA Draft.
Well, then he must be a mean drunk, because he screwed the Rockets over with their trade of the 17th pick.
Really surprised the Mavs opted for three "decent" prospects and slightly more cap room over taking Terrence Jones. Jones just seemed like a great fit, great talent, great get for them. Had the Rockets gotten Zeller at 18, I would have been ecstatic. Seems that was the plan, too. Dammit!
Not sure this is really worth getting upset about. I know the whole "center vs another PF" thing but is Zeller that much "bigger" than Jones in any meaningful sense? I mean, yes, the top of Zeller's head is higher than the top of Jones' (6'11.25'' without shoes vs. 6'8.25'' without shoes), but Jones has the higher standing reach 8'11'' for Jones vs. 8'8.5'' for Zeller. Even if we give Zeller 3 inches on account of the possible "tanking" that we discussed, their standing reaches are basically still the same. Their vertical leap numbers are basically the same (30" no step, 34" max for Zeller, 29.4" no step and 34.5" max for Jones) so Jones actually can reach a couple inches higher when he jumps than Zeller can. Jones also outweighed Zeller by 5 lbs at the combine (252 vs. 247). In terms of shot blocking, Jones averaged 2.4 blocks per 40 minutes pace adjusted each of the past 2 seasons, Zeller on the other hand, averaged 1.6 and 2.0 per 40 pace adjusted during the same two seasons. It is not clear that Zeller was a better rebounder, either: Zeller had better rebounding #s in the 2011-12 season than Jones di (12.4 rebounds per 40 pace adjusted vs. 9.7 per 40 pace adjusted for Jones), but a big part of it was likely that Jones had many of his rebounds "stolen" by Davis and MKG. In the 2010-11 season, Jones averaged 11.3 rebounds per 40 min pace adjusted while Zeller averaged only 9.4.
That's normal Donnie. I was able to hang with him a bunch of times in Dallas and that's him to a tee. He seems like he's tipsy but he knows what he's doing. He's just a fun loving guy. He's so much like Don in terms of his jovial demeanour but even more laid back. He does work super hard though. He reminds me of the guy in one's class that you go out drinking with after class. When you go to sleep at 2 or 3 am, he doesn't go to sleep too but rather goes to study at that time and then you go to class the next day and wonder how he aced the test. That's Donnie. He looks and acts like he's off his rocker but no one is more on top of things than him. Especially working for an owner like Cubes.
I wonder what that board says behind him. You can see "HOU" is the 2nd or 3rd team down on the whiteboard on the right at around 0:52.
At 1:14 on the right, you can see HOU appear a couple of times again along with what looks like a list of players in draft order. At 12, next to HOU, you can see something that looks like "Zeller" 13) ? 14) Ross (Terrence?) 15) T. J (ones?) 16) next to HOU, Nicholson (? - see 22 below) 17) Dallas' pick is blank Then it looks like 18 is missing and the marker color changes to blue 19) Teague 20) Looks to be Marshall (Kendall?) 21) White 22) Nicholson (again?) 23) Sullinger 24) Melo 25) Barton (?) 26) To the left of 24) above is Lamb, but not sure what that indicates. Neat stuff.
Green draft scenario at 14 sec in 1 Davis 2 Robinson 3 Beal 4 GIlchrist 5 Barnes 6 Lillard 7 Waiters 8 Lamb 9 Drummond 10 Rivers 11 Henson 12 Zeller 13 Moultrie 14 Ross 15 T. Jones 16 Nicholson 17 ? 18 ? 19 Teague 20 Marshal 21 Melo 22 J. Taylor 23 Sullinger 24 P. Jones 25 Cunningham 26 Q. Miller 27 Ezuili 28 Fournier 29 Leonard 30 Jenkinks (There are also 2 blue draft boards that has Houston taking Henson, Ross, and Harkless at 12/14/16 on one and Leonard/Ross on the other at 12/14) I wonder how many interations they had, because they presumably had draft boards that had us trading up on some of them.
