I'm not going through every pick in the draft or even in the first round, but mostly what stood out to me.
Watch out for the Hornets. They now have a lineup of:
PG Austin Rivers/Eric Gordon (it depends which will play the point and the shooting guard position, but this is definitely their backcourt because Jarrett Jack is not better than either).
SG Rivers/Gordon
SF Al-Farouq Aminu (who isn't terrible)
PF Anthony Davis (major defensive presence, "wingspan wingspan wingspan"- Jay Bilas)
C Chris Kaman (they could re-sign him, but if not, they'll throw in Gustavo Ayon)
Obviously it's too early to expect much from them right now, but once they upgrade at the center position, they will be legitimate contenders. They have two young studs who will carry the franchise for years to come. Davis is expected to be a Kevin Garnett/Tim Duncan-like player, and Rivers can really create his own shot and get to the basket with ease. If they solidify the pieces around these two cornerstones, I see bright things in their future.
Well, the Charlotte Bobcats took the best player available in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Now to see if he fits in their system. But then again does anyone fit in Charlotte?
Washington took Bradley Beal to "fill to biggest position hole they have" (according to what I heard on ESPN before the draft). Their starting small forward is Trevor Ariza, that's a pretty big hole.
I correctly predicted Cleveland's pick of Dion Waiters. I expected them to swap with the Cats and get the #2 pick in order to steal Beal (nice rhyme eh?) from the Wizards. Once they knew Beal wasn't there, they stuck to the plan and got a shooter. Waiters has talent, give him a shot before you kill this move.
Joe Dumars violated the rule of drafting. Section 20 rule 1.09 in "Drafting for Dummies" clearly states, "Never shall thou select a center who cannot grab rebounds on the defensive end, never attempts to box out his opponent, and shoots TWENTY NINE PERCENT from the line at which one shoots free throws." Well, that's Andre Drummond. Everyone talks about his athleticism and potential, but look at this. Basically, he is a big, tall, athletic guy who doesn't know how to play basketball. Here's how he probably started playing in high school:
Math Teacher: Hey Andre, how tall are you?
Andre: I'm 6'8"
Math Teacher: I'm also the basketball coach here, you should try out!
Andre: What's basketball? I can't really, I'm on the raquetball team.
Math Teacher: You don't need to know what it is, just stand in that blue painted area, and swat the ball whenever you see it.
Andre: No problem!
Who shoots 29% from the free throw line? That's worse than Shaq's free throw numbers, who is regarded as a terrible free throw shooter, and even Diesel himself never shot less than 46.1% for a season. I know I mentioned Drummond as the best center prospect available earlier this week, but I'm totally recanting that mini-paragraph. I might even delete it from that post and wipe it from all of your minds. Okay, I'll just admit my lack of knowledge of how bad he is. The fact that he is from the same school as Hasheem Thabeet, is very troubling.
The Sixers added more depth with Maurice "Not Moe, Okay, Stop Calling Me Moe" Harkless and Arnett Moultrie. They keep adding productive players, but they really need to make a big trade to turn some of these guys into some star power. They will stay young and athletic, which will get them into the playoffs on a yearly basis, but that one star will put them over the top.
The Houston Rockets did well for themselves without getting Dwight Howard. They turned Samuel Dalembert and Chase Budinger into Jeremy Lamb (good shooter), Royce White (super athletic power forward who can play like an in-shape Boris Diaw, which by the way, is very good), and Terrence Jones (a great prospect at the PF position, and unlike Drummond, knows how to play). They'll be fun to watch next season.
Funny to see the Magic pick a center in Andre Nicholson. It looks like they want him to learn as much from Dwight as he can before Orlando rids themselves of Mr. Howard. Nicholson is a good shooter and he's Canadian, which means that Steve Nash is on his side. Okay, but in all seriousness, he plays a completely different style than Howard, so it will be interesting to see how these two work together during the season. Or at least over the next 5 days before Dwight goes to Brooklyn.
The Celtics were able to get Jared Sullinger after his free-fall. Sullinger is apparently undersized and unathletic. Whatever, he knows how to play the game of basketball. That basically means that if you combine Andre Drummond's body and Sullinger's knowledge, we would have a Hall of Famer here. He's always been able to overcome his physical limitations and dominate in the low post. His mid-range shooting is also good. He'll find a way to be productive. Fab Melo is also a big and tall guy who doesn't really know the game well. Though he still is more knowledgeable than Drummond. I've mentioned Drummond so many times, let's go ahead me fulfill my Drummond quota for the rest of this article. Drummond Drummond Drummond Drummond Drummond Drummond Drummond Drummond. I was allowed to say in 15 times max without getting myself into a legal mess. I'm just making stuff up. Okay, back to The Guy Named Melo Who Plays In The Same Divison As A Guy Commonly Referred To As Melo. He's a good shot blocker and with some development, I believe could be a decent starting center in this league.
The best part about the draft, by far, was David Stern. He successfully trolled the whole crowd last night. The Commish is great. I love him for that great performance. It was top notch stuff. I also have to applaud the crowd for continuing to boo him for all 30 picks. It was pretty entertaining.
No comments:
Post a Comment