So we finally got done with the NBA playoffs after nearly two months of stretched-out play, and tomorrow's the draft.
I really couldn't care less. I'm so burned out on the sport.
Sadly, there's nothing else going on worth mentioning, so we might as well get into it. (Yes, baseball, Pugs, but I haven't really started following that this year yet, sorry.)
Would the NFL hold its draft five days after the Super Bowl? Of course not, and not just because the league doesn't want to distract from the highlight of its annual calendar, the Pro Bowl.
Of course, the NBA's situation is a little different. College play ended two and a half months ago, and the teams want to get draftees ready for the all-important summer league play (because the kind of guys that need the summer league always end up players).
Not that when college basketball is over is relevant, anyway-the league is overrun by a bunch of high school players "just months removed from their prom" (I'm not quoting anyone in particular, but for some reason saying a player is just out of high school is more impressive if the prom is mentioned) and foreign America-haters who just want to steal our women and destory our freedom. (Come on, Alex, am I right?)
Of course, we won't be seeing high school players going anywhere in the draft after this year, now that the league has a minimum age of 19 in its new collective bargaining agreement, a development that was years too late and, therefore, completely pointless.
I used to agree with the idea of a minimum age on the basis that the influx of high schoolers really was ruining the league, as well as college ball, an overcoached game which needs little help making itself look bad. But now that we've seen high schoolers like LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire come in and not only play but produce big numbers, it's starting to look like teams' natural distrust for young players was the biggest reason none of the youngsters contributed out of the gate. (And a few one-and-done players, like Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh, could well have had a similar impact had they been rookies a year earlier.) Or maybe, with all the money at stake, youth leagues and development programs have improved. I won't pretend to know all the reasons, nor do I care.
So I guess was a simplistic fool, just like those who think the growing number of international players ruins the game, or that international players are a bigger risk then Americans. Yes, Nikoloz Tskitishvili was a spectacular bust, but that kind of anecdotal evidence doesn't mean every foreign player has been a failure. In fact, a ton have become stars, at least for league marketing purposes. Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Yao Ming, Tony Parker, and near Finals-MVP The Amazing Ginobili!, among others, have developed into outstanding players.
(Each of these players has well-documented flaws-except for Ginobili, who receives only glorious praise for his creativity (I gotta admit, I loved his right-handed dunk down the lane late in Game Seven)-but every player has flaws. Kevin Garnett isn't quite the go-to guy his numbers suggest, Allen Iverson shoots too much, and Tim Duncan isn't immortal. Et cetera.)
But back to the original problem, why does the draft have to be right now? I guess baseball holds its draft in the middle of the season, but no one cares about that one. The basketball season is clearly way too long. Granted, basketball doesn't have the advantage of the huge television contract football does, but part of the reason football games are so cherished is because there aren't so many of them. The cat's kind of out of the bag here, but the NBA could at least try to fight overkill by moving the draft and playing postseason games a little more often.
Wouldn't all those playoff series be more compelling if there were more back-to-back games? I mean, by the end of the Finals I was just watching so I could argue with my friend the CEO, not because I cared at that point. It's not like baseball, where there's a huge and obvious benefit to moving games farther apart (better pitching).
(Baseball kind of suffers from the same endless season problem, but if MLB cut it down a lot, you'd have guys hitting .400 every year. Which isn't that big of a deal, I guess, it would just feel really cheap. And we all know how sacred that record book is.)
Anyway, since the draft is tomorrow, I suppose I should give my thoughts on a few of the biggest debates:
The No. 1 Pick: For who knows what predetermined reason, this is down to Marvin Williams of North Carolina and Andrew Bogut of Utah. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was much more impressed with Bogut in the limited time I saw him than with Williams. I'm not about to endorse a center from the Mountain West as the best player in the draft, however. Bogut has impressive low-post skills, passing ability, and ball-handling for a center, but like just about every young big man, he could use an epic increase in strength. And he didn't play against a lot of people his size.
Williams, on the other hand, is a mystery. If he was really the best player at Carolina last year, why wasn't he starting? One point in his favor, according to Sports Illustrated, is that he beat Sean May in a game of one-on-one at a recent workout. Congratulations. I can think of a number of players who would probably destroy Tim Duncan in a game of one-on-one, none of whom I'd rather have on my team. (Seriously, Duncan ought to be taken by Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter if he's just been traded-but so what? It's a team sport. Or did you miss the Olympics?)
But then, I'm the one who thought any team that took Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor was insane; yet Howard looks to be headed for a great career at this early stage (so does Okafor; who knows how they'll measure up in ten years). We'll see. I'd rather take someone like Chris Paul of Wake Forest, who seems to be more of a sure thing, but I guess I'm a wuss at this draft thing. I guess I'd take Williams out of these two, but only 'cause I'm a Tar Heels fan, not because I really know.
Point Guards: I would have never thought it, but somehow some have decided that Deron Williams of Illinois is a better pro prospect than Paul. I can't find the link but I swear I read Jay Bilas saying that earlier this morning. Anyway, even if he didn't, this is a no-brainer. Not only is Paul better, so is Raymond Felton of North Carolina. You can't get away with being a slow spot-up shooter in the NBA. Sorry, Darrin!
Two picks for the Nuggets: Even under Kiki Vandeweghe, who's supposedly the best executive since...well, in this town, a really long time, Denver's local ballers have a proud tradition of horrific drafts. And the consensus is that we'll trade up, hoping our two okay selections (20th and 22nd) will turn into one good one. I don't think we can move high enough for it to matter. I'd feel better keeping both picks if we draft players with a chance (I like Rashad McCants as an outside shooter if not as a 10-year two guard, and maybe Jarrett Jack at the other pick), but rest assured we'll screw it up anyway.
12 comments:
"destroy our freedom"
damn ginobli and the like, coming into our nation and eating "french fries." They are freedom fries you sons a...
i too echo the skepticism about willaims. For the aforementioned reasons... he has a good tourney as a 6 man and all of the sudden he's the #1?
on espn.com they seemed to think that you often draft more for potential than you do actual tools. This seems somewhat ludicrous as... it seem to be akin to "drafting based on our magic 8 ball"
"it is decidedly so"
"ask again later"
I think that's why i was such a fan of okafor. You go with the safest bet, the surest think. I think okafor is a world class guy, and will be another duncan in terms of citizenship and professional decorum.
In this case... i'd go with bogut even though he'll certainly get pushed around more than rick rogers in an arapahoe stake basketball game.
There's something really satisfying about watching shaq level some greenhorn.
good read mikey/john.
Oh, yes, Annika Sorenstam is the most dominant athlete in the world today, don't get me wrong. In the tradition of overpromoted female athletes like Danica Patrick, they talk about them just enough to convince you they might be on to something...right before they lose. Oh, and by the way I didn't Danica was that hot, either. (However, I'm tempted to call auto racing more of a sport than golf.)
I forgot about Bruce's jacket, or thought I had. Thanks for nothing. The only Bruce I want to be thinking about these days is Wayne...man, that movie rocks.
Bogut definitely has an advantage on position-Williams seems like kind of a tweener for now, and forward seems to be the hardest position to make a real impact from. I guess I don't get why it has to be definitely one of those two, sort of like how Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers were the default top choices in the NFL, even though they definitely weren't the best two players.
Good old Rick...I got thrown out of the building once for gently directing him to the floor with my shoulder...thrown out by my own coach.
Okafor's a total stud, I agree. The SI sidebar/article also tried to make the case that Williams was a top-notch character guy because he didn't throw a fit when he found out he wasn't starting, which seemed like a stretch to me, though a bunch of scouts were actually concerned about his competitive drive. I would like to read their reports: Decent mid-range jumper...athletic around the basket...no felony convinctions...must learn to move feet more on defense, but has quickness to become a force...needs to increase sense of entitlement.
Here's my prediction for the nugs:
they draft some diamond in the rough international player. Ship him off to play with the dutch in wooden shoes league and the limey's all under 6'5"
after two years of developmental mediocrity, they bring him back to the NBA where the diamond in the rough turns out to me more along the lines of cubic zirconia.
Skeeta anyone??? I'm so tired of this route. Darko - huge bust. It didn't work for the nuggets, and newsflash... there's only one Dirk in the world. Stop looking for the next. I suppose it worked for the jazz (to a much smaller extent) with AK-47, but i just see the international developmental route working out less than taking the best college player available.
I was freaking out last night when I saw that show, too...the draft is today?!? I was going to have to print a retraction. Or just change the post and not tell anyone.
All right...it was my senior year, and I think Rob and Pab were already long gone. I might be getting my games confused, but there was this gangly dweeb who flopped like no one's business. They ended up blowing us out because Jonesy and I sought out opportunities to knock the guy on his butt rather than to play ball. Which eventually resulted in gangly dweeb blowing several dunk attempts.
Anyway, I box the tool out and take a couple steps backward...slowly...and he collapses to the floor like he's been shot in the gut. Of course, I get whistled for who-knows-what. Next time up, I get the ball on the left block, spin into Rogers, who soars backwards onto his butt, and I'm in foul trouble like a minute into the game. Seriously, it was impressive hops for him to jump backwards that far. It looked like I had lowered my shoulder into him, and I guess I kind of did, but I didn't expect the jerk to be playing that close, I was just trying to gather myself for the move. Anyway, he took it on his glass chin. I walk to the sideline, and Bro. Haas is telling me I need to learn to calm down and that I'm out of control. I don't think I've ever been so confused, though I never should have expected a young men's leader to have my back if there was even the appearance of-gasp!-unkindness. (The loyalty was touching, yet somehow I was responsible for everyone's inactivity...anyway...) I hadn't actually done anything yet but bodies were flying and I was beyond confused, so I give the chair a Condie-style kick and he tells me to take it outside. Which I did.
Kendall's doing more than trying-didn't he win his first match? My favorite Kendall Gill moment (I know how weird that sounds) had to come in the first round of the '98 playoffs, when the Nets took the Bulls to overtime in the first game of their series. Anyway, Jordan decided to stop screwing around, he steals the ball, heads up court, and dunks and draws a half-hearted foul from Gill. On the replay, you could clearly see the Jumpman Air Jordan logo on the bottom of Gill's shoes. Or, in other words, when he got dressed for the game, he was willing to walk out there making a statement that he was way overmatched.
I think international players can work just fine, it's just that teams don't bother to gather nearly enough information on them. When Vandeweghe came from Dallas, which enjoyed a pretty solid competitive edge for a little while being one of the only teams to look overseas, it was like he felt drafting international players gave us an automatic advantage over other teams that didn't try. I mean, it seemed like we drafted Nene and Skita mainly because they were foreigners-though Nene actually looked decent in GAMES at that age, whereas Skita looked pretty good shooting in an empty gym.
I think there's a great chance we draft a foreign player or two, or trade up to get one. However, I agree that the pendulum has swung to the point that college players are underrated (even stars like Okafor and Wade who didn't exactly slide in the draft, but went lower than they should have), and we'd be better off going that route, where the team-and its fanbase-has a better idea of what we'd get. Though, considering where we draft, it might not matter.
Oh, and you know what, I think I've changed my mind, I would go with Bogut out of those two, but I fully admit I have no idea who will turn out.
i'm so glad the nugs didn't go the euro-trash route.
until the second round that is...
mikey,
remember when i blew up at rog. condie in seminary?
man... i wish i had his life right now
*swallows sarcasm
the post/news both say hodge can be a 1-3... although most likely a 2. I doubt he'll compete for a spot, as karl is a tough guy on the youngin's unless your name starts with a c, ends with an o, and has a armell in the middle. He pretended to be tough at first, but he knows as well as everyone else does, that mello drives the ticket sales up and the revenue up. Not to mention, when your most talented player is also your youngest, tradition gets thrown overboard and you suck it up.
I hope hodge works out, as VO has never really done that much for me personally.
I wish we would've kept jack as well... he has great capacity as displayed in the tourney.
i too prefer the traditional collegiate route, as i think it churns out more consistent, competent, and competitive prospects (see that alexis, it's called alliteration).
i'm sure we'll never hear another mouse fart about that kid from puerto rico...
i meant to start that off with johnny, not mikey.
I'm sorry to hear that. What happened with you and Roge-pad?
well roger condom and i grappled on several occasions.
there was the time in stake basketball when i elbowed him in the kidney as hard as i could...
and then once in seminary he called me a "momma's boy" or something like that. I think i told him that if he didn't apologize i'd make sure he had two glass eyes.
rog never figured out that just because you were taller, didn't mean you were intimidating, nor tougher.
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