Sports Update
Idiot’s Guide to the NBA Draft
by Jacob Correll
Sandwiched in between intramural softball and volleyball games Tuesday night, I will once again be able to watch my favorite NBA spectacle: the NBA Draft. What does it say that I don’t even really care what the players do after they get to the pros? I just want to know what the pro teams think about players that I have watched religiously during the college basketball season.
If that isn’t enough, the TNT crew is back after being quarantined for the entire NBA Finals. If you still aren’t inspired to watch, just take this opportunity to expand your vocabulary with new terms for “greatness” and “potential” and new categories for rating players like “explosion ability.” Now, a few thoughts on the draft. 
Note to Milwaukee: Please do not select Marvin Williams.
I know many people think Marvin Williams is the best player available but think about the NBA viewers. Do you think Marvin will perform better if?
a) he has the tremendous pressure of being a number 1 pick (a la Kwame Brown) or
b) he is infuriated that a big (A)uss(ie) who played at Utah was taken AHEAD of him?
I mean, how can we, as a country, allow Utah to boast that they were the home of the #1 draft pick in the NFL and NBA in the same season. They would probably start their own religion out there…oh, wait a second.
Andrew Bogut #1? I think not!
Don’t think I’m hatin’ on Bogut because I know the kid can play, as I had to endure 40 grueling minutes of UK vs. Andrew Bogut in the Sweet Sixteen this year and my alma mater only won by 10. But there’s a problem. How good does Andrew Bogut have to be 5 years down the line to justify using a number one pick on him? Tim Duncanesque? Maybe he only has to be a better player than anyone else in this draft, but that’s probably not going to happen either…
Trade down you moron!
This draft is loaded! I don’t think I’d want the top pick. Super-stud PG’s are the key and nearly every contender has one. Deron Williams and Chris Paul are both can’t miss point guards who would never be taken with the first pick. It’s always better to bust with a 6’10 monster who can at least be traded to some sucker (also known as the Hawks) because he has potential… A 5’10 guard who can’t find the open man gets GM’s Fired.
But why not draft a PG this year? Draft boards have Deron Williams possibly overtaking Marvin for #2, but if Marvin should be #1 over Bogut and Deron is ahead of Marvin then why can’t you take Deron over Bogut? Don’t ask me to diagram that sentence.
Whoever gets Paul and D. Williams will be ecstatic and with a little luck, they could take a perennial loser to the playoffs; I’d even bet that their careers over the next five years combined will be better than Bogut and M. Williams. Then there’s the high school kids like Gerald Green who could always be the next McGrady or Kobe… Or they could end up “that guy” who no one remembers who now that pumps gas at Swifty. Or what about the Euros, who comprised half of the World Champion Spurs, yet offer as big of a risk as high school players.
College Exam
With all the early deflections, high school players, and foreign ballers, great college players who literally carried their teams like Ike Diogu are now on the borderline of the first round. Joe Lunardi actually had UK the number one overall seed for next year in his post-season Bracketology before Kelenna Azubuike went pro. When Buike went pro, Lunardi had to rework the entire bracket (he probably wasn’t too thrilled), and UK’s position fell. Where Buike scheduled to be drafted now? I don’t know because he’s not even on most of the draft boards anymore. So the player who could have lead a good team to being the best college team in the land next year went pro and can’t even crack the top 60 draft prospects.
Need vs. Potential? Bogus (or Bogut? I can’t remember)
When you watch this draft, you’re going to hear about teams drafting on need versus best player available. Need is overrated though. Everyone used to have to have a point guard and a center. Now there are very few good centers in the association (even Ilgauskas made an all-star team). Even though most teams start a center, how many of these guys are playing when it’s nutcrackin’ time? You didn’t see Nazr Mohammad in the game against the Spurs when Timmy could move over to Center and Big Shot Rob could play the 4.
As for point guards, they’re still important, but Allen Iverson is playing the position now. Damon Jones is technically Miami’s point guard, but Dwyane Wade is the primary ball handler, creator, and scoring threat. Basically, he’s the 1 and 2 guards and Damon Jones shoots 3’s and tries not to screw up.
The Suns played the whole season with a 4 playing the 5 (Stoudemire), a 3 playing the 4 (Marion), and 3 guards and had the NBA’s best record. Drafting on need is overrated in basketball, because the word need is being used to indicate, “what a team would like to have in the perfect situation to create a traditional NBA lineup.” What you really “need” are great players who can compete with the best in the world.
Other quick notes:
I have no idea who would want to draft Rashad McCants. A bad team would never want to build around a cancer. A good team would never draft a cancer who could infect everyone else. Can we bring in Hubie Brown for this draft so we could hear a sentence like “The upside to not drafting McCants is that he has tremendous downside.” I see him as a hired gun for a potential playoff team who needs extra offense to compete with the big boys.
Hear that sound? That’s Chris Taft’s draft stock still falling.
The Lakers are said to be interested in Randolph Morris, and they have the tenth pick. NBADraft.net even has Morris going to the Lakers…at #37. Good job Randolph. We hardly knew you…which may turn out to be a continuing trend in his career.
The UK vs. IU game is going to be on ESPN Classic. I started to ask which one, thinking it was the Mike Davis head-slap game. Then I realized it’s the football game next season. Aren’t they setting the bar just a little too high for this game? Shouldn’t ESPN at least rename the channel for these 3.5 hours?
Rex Chapman (from Owensboro, KY.) has joined the T’Wolves as a GM, joining Coach Casey (who used to coach where my family is from in Union Co., KY). Do I have to root for this team next year, or can I just wish them well?
Oh, I went with my gut and took the Spurs in game 7, ensuring the bet would end in a tie. Why do I feel like Bud Selig right now?
Other Stuff by JC?
