This guy is classless and played out. Here were are, after the 3rd pick, talking about Carmelo Anthony and the first thing he talks about is how Detroit is going to regret not drafting him, and then he proceeded to blast Darko Milic (sp?) saying that Darko has "upside" but Carmelo is ready to contribute now, which is funny since Darko is more built for the NBA game then Carmelo is right now. He never saw Darko. This is just like last year when he swore up and down that the Rockets would regret not trading Francis and taking Jay Williams. Unfortunately Jay Will was hurt, but if he wasn't hurt no way was he better then Yao Ming. I'm not saying Carmelo won't be a great player, but watching Duke Vitale completely blow him off to praise Carmelo makes me sick. Vitale is a joke.
Yeah, Dick's an ass. He'll say anything to defend his college guys. . . Whoa, Knick fans didn't boo their pick. Interesting.
Damn, every time they go to Vitale, he finds some reason to berate the earlier picks some more. Its like he learned nothing from last year. Amare and Yao were the top two rookies. His college guys, Jay and Dunleavy, sucked ass. (Well, Dunleavy anyway. But its not like Jay was all that good either.)
No the man to hate even more is that black guy on the 4-men coverage...dunno his name (not greg anthony). that guy brings up the most absurd information to tell...lebron's family was on welfare...who cares??? it's not our business....he also said some other stupid things...i swear this guy and that clown from NBA2Night sucks...ABC/ESPN needs new bball commentators.
I Am So SICK of Dick Vitale This is the same guy who claimed Houston was making a big mistake not taking Jay Williams last year. Everytime they go to him to comment on the current pick, all he does is criticize the teams who took foreign or high school players. ENOUGH ALREADY! We get it! You think everybody should go to college and if they don't you obviously think they are going to suck big time. Guess what? You're almost always wrong. Lest we forget this is the same guy that completely botched his draft choices in Detroit and ultimately had to drag his ass back to the college level like Pitino, like Calipari. Man, I used to really like that guy, but he has been nothing but an annoyance when it comes to the draft.
You can almost combine the threads. http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60304 Believe it or not, I actually like Dick Vitale......when he's doing COLLEGE BASKETBALL! He just sounds completely clueless when talking about the NBA, and he lets his personal opinions about the importance and greatness of attending college cloud his judgement.
Darko is a pretty much battle tested, and is coming in at 250 pounds, he has the size and weight already, a lot like Yao Ming. Carmelo may come in and make an impact right away, but his physical stature is going to be a question mark early on next year. I think you're talking about Stuart Scott and I agree. I HATE that guy, on Sportscenter, and now this stupid "sideline" reporting" He calls himself being cool and "talking black" when he's actually sounding like a jack@ss and embarassing himself and others. <b>Amare and Yao were the top two rookies. His college guys, Jay and Dunleavy, sucked ass. (Well, Dunleavy anyway. But its not like Jay was all that good either.)</b> No question Astro, but he STILL hasn't learned a thing. Instead of being objective, he wants to defend the college kids, especially the 4 years student, which is good but it gets annoying and repetitive.
It's refreshing hearing Dickie Bayyybeeee on the Draft. It seems to be the only time he isn't loudly lauding every player and coach of whom he superlativates. So, he's superlativating negatives on non-college types. Dickie is soooooooo horrible, bayyybeeeee!
His summations are agonizing not just to the fans but for the guys working with him who are trying to cut away to the next draft pick but can't because he goes on and on and on. Pull the plug on him baby!
I just merged this from a thread I had in the draft forum. I could not agree more. Damn. Enough with your college ass kissing. "I think there is going to be a big backlash against all the globalization..." Yeah, right. Actually, Dickie V., you are witnessing the future. The United States represents only SIX PERCENT of the world population. What, you thought we'd corner the market forever on a sport that has been growing in popularity around the world over the past 20 years? This is what the NBA has been hoping for and dreaming of for the past decade. This is only the beginning. Stern even believes there will be a team in Europe in a decade. Suck on that, baaaayyyybeeeee!
I think if he was subjective, people would agree with itmore, but I'm one of those people who love the intenationals. I'm a african-american and i believe that the imports will really make everyone get off this AND 1 mix tape type of stuff that goes on. I grew up watching Magic,Jordan,Bird,Nique,Isiah,Dantley,Drexler,Hakeem and guys like that. Some of the guys were very good atheletes, but most importantly , they could hit a open jumper or make the extra pass. I even got to see a raw athelete like Drexler mold himself int a great scorer, good passer, and competent defender and rebounder. Its one of the reasons why guys like Peja, Dirk and Gasol takes 3 yrs or less to become very good players and guys like Swift,Miles and Griffin still hasn't got it yet. Vitale has gotten past the point of being non biased. Every time a international was chosen, he goes back to the household names. Just think if guys like Darko were to play college ball against some of the guys they have in college now. Imagine if Darko was playing against the lame comp James was. Vitale needs to shut his trap and get with the program.
leebigez: Tremendous post. I grew up with the same guys you did and loved them for the same reasons. As much as I hated Larry Bird for being a Celtic, I marveled at his skill. No matter how much I wanted to hate the Lakers, it was just hard not to watch Showtime with my jaw on the floor. But, they were so good because they were not only tremendous athletes but SKILLED BASKETBALL PLAYERS. They could shoot, pass, run plays and, hell yes, dunk. With all due respect to Vince Carter and J. Rich, there are few guys who ever dunked like Nique, Michyl Thompson or Dr. J (my personal hero). But, they could also shoot the rock.
I was tolerating him until he said that statement. I'm surprised he even said good things about LeBron. And I've never heard him say anything good about Yao. P.S. I think that Dick is jealous for two reasons. One, the natural athletic phenoms (H.S. players) are NOT going to college. And the foreign players are bringing a level of depth, skill and fundamentals that hasn't been seen since the 80's. Dick looses out on both counts. These two groups are stealing his thunder (air-time). I already wrote to ESPN to remove him from future draft air-time askespntv@espn.twdc.com
Yeah, I really got sick of his bleating about how great the college players were, blah, blah, blah. It's pretty damned obvious: A. he hates international players and B. he knows so little about what skills translate over into the pro game from the college one. These international players have these skills while a lot of players that go to college do not. Anyone here remember Rick Mount? One of the all-time greatest shooters, played at Purdue, got drafted into the ABA, didn't last that long. Why? His release was a tad slow and he couldn't create his own shot. Vitale doesn't notice these things because his bias against anyone who didn't go to college seeps into every comment. All he cares about is how the NBA is supposedly ruining his precious little college game by drafting these youngsters and internationals, thus taking roster spots away from former collegians and taking talented collegians out of the game. I swear, at one point, I could see the little flecks of spittle flying everywhere on the video conference screen as he whined and nearly jumped up and down like an organ grinder monkey because he didn't like the way the draft went. College isn't for everyone, babbbbbyyyyyy!!!! I say more power to Amare, Kobe, KG, J O'Neal and LeBron and all the internationals. If they can make it in this league without having to go to a school to play basketball under the guise of seeking a degree they don't care about getting anyway, let them do it. I used to like Dickie V, but after tonight, he really pisses me off now.
Vitale is a version of an "NCAA homer." He's not objective about any foreign players and I'm surprised he's not anti-Lebron. The strange thing is, he "seems" to be pro-NCAA, but at the same time he's the master of HYPE. He's a show-biz spokesman. Nothing more, nothing less. He might as well be the spokesman for lemon used-cars, or snake-oil salesman.
Guys, I was looking to post something similar about Dickey V. I can't stand when Dickey goes off on his college player rants especially tonight about T J Ford. I think he has complex because he always has to be right. His attitude is unprofessional especially last night when he was clearly so rude to Tom Tolbert who was disagreeing with him about the upcoming draft. Dickey said something like, "mediocre player, mediocre commentator now turns expert NBA draft analyst." Mike Tiricoe about dropped his pants he was so shocked. (As an aside, I think Tom T is boring but it works well next to Walton -it was getting too volatile with the combination of Walton and Jones the last few years).
And the funny thing is, is that no one will confuse Dickey for a "expert NBA draft analyst." Plus, Dickey was a bad NBA coach!
