You know the Wolves, Kings, and Grizzlies have to be hoping
this kid doesn't turn into Steve Nash 2.0
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
- I was surprised to see Memphis take Hasheem Thabeet so high. Then again, maybe “surprised” is the wrong word considering I’m talking about Chris Wallace of Pau Gasol fame. Don’t the Grizzlies already have a center in Marc Gasol? Why draft another one? So they weren’t drafting for need and they clearly didn’t take the best player available, what exactly were they doing? Do you know? Does anyone? Leave it to Wallace to draft a rail-thin beanpole of a center whose ceiling is Marcus Camby at best, but will probably end up being a Samuel Dalembert clone. While he is a tremendous shot blocker, it’s the only thing he brings to the table. I could see this pick haunting the franchise in the future, considering that they knowingly passed up on players with much higher ceilings.
- I like Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti a lot, but I can’t say I see eye to eye with his decision to draft Arizona State shooting guard, James Harden, when he could have had Ricky Rubio or Stephen Curry. I guess they’re set on Russell Westbrook as their point guard of the future. I don’t know, I see him more as a Dwyane Wade type, a guy who played point guard as a rookie but ultimately became a guy who thrived as a shooting guard. Westbrook only averaged four assists-per-game in college and five assists-per-game as a rookie last year.
I know a true point guard when I see one, and they tend to be guys that have played the position their whole basketball life. Westbrook is more of a shooting guard trying to play the point, simply because he has the ability to get to the rim at will and is decent at creating shots for teammates. I would have loved to see the Thunder draft Rubio, a pure point guard, and slide Westbrook to the two, or draft Curry and use Westbrook interchangeably with him at both guard positions. I feel like the Thunder made a bit of a miscalculation by selecting a guy that is more NBA-ready in Harden, when they can afford to wait a couple of years for a guy like Rubio who could wind up being something really special.
- Not to harp on about Rubio, but I also think Sacramento will regret passing him up for Memphis shooting guard, Tyreke Evans. Don’t the Kings have a starting shooting guard in Kevin Martin? Isn’t their starting point guard Beno “I can’t believe I got a team to pay me $32 million to be mediocre” Udrih? And they passed up a point guard-heavy draft to get a shooting guard. And people wonder why this franchise is going to be moving soon.
- The same goes for the Timberwolves. While they did draft Rubio, for some reason they decided to also draft their second favorite point guard, Johnny Flynn. If they end up keeping both picks as they said they would last night, then that would give them two guys who are strictly point guards, neither of whom can play the two. So the Kings need a point guard and draft a shooting guard, while the Timberwolves draft two point guards when they badly need a shooting guard. It’s no coincidence that the same teams continually find themselves in the lottery.
I was hoping the Wolves would draft both Curry and Rubio. It would take a few years, but I think that backcourt combination could grow into something formidable.
- Brandon Jennings reminds me of Sebastain Telfair. And not in a good way. On second thought I don’t think there is a good way. He definitely has potential, I just wouldn’t bank on him living up to it.
- I have to give props to the Bobcats for drafting Gerald Henderson. I’ve heard a lot of people compare him to Raja Bell, but I see him potentially being a more athletic Shane Battier. Henderson seems to posses all the tools necessary to be a very solid defender in this league for a while. All he needs to do is work on his outside shooting.
- Does anyone else find it funny hearing the ESPN guys go on about how great of a fit Tyler Hansborough is for Indiana? The whitest team in the NBA just couldn’t resist, could they?
- Once again the Spurs made something out of nothing with their two second round picks. They were able to get a steal in Dejuan Blair, a rebounding animal who was supposed to be a lottery to mid-first round pick. Then they also grabbed Jack McClinton, an undersized sharp shooter who will likely turn out to be a rich man's Eddie House at worse. I’ve watched a lot of McClinton’s games while he played at UM and I definitely see potential in the guy. Going to a first class organization like the Spurs will be very beneficial to him as I'm sure he'll be well utilized there.
- From a Miami perspective, it wasn’t easy watching Minnesota use the pick they acquired in that terrible Ricky Davis/Mark Blount for Antoine Walker deal. That was easily one of Riley’s worst trades; Miami basically gave away a first round pick just to get rid of Antoine Walker and instead got back just as bad of a cap figure in Blount. It’s even harder to watch when that pick turned out to be Ty Lawson, one of the best point guards in the draft and a guy that I think is very underrated at the moment. Hey, at least the Heat ended getting a point guard who starred in the Ukraine. What more could you ask for?
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Comments
Well, if you know a point guard when you see one, what is Chauncey Billups? Look up his rookie numbers and compare them with Westbrooks and tell me if the similarities don't jump off the page. Westbrook was actually superior in most ways other than Turns. You advocate taking a project that may or may not be "all that", over the sure thing, and the best sg in the draft. Ok....but your logic is shaky. Don't you think the team has any desire to begin winning games. You suggest that it's ok if we just continue to lose because Rubio will be gaining experience and he will be special. What about winning some games now?
I don't agree with your fuzzy logic.
First off, I’m not saying Westbrook would be terrible at the point, I just think that he is more effective as a shooting guard and that the team as a whole would be better suited with a pass-first point guard.
Moving on, how is taking the more talented player, flawed logic? So you think Harden is the best shooting guard in the draft? Awesome. But any scout will tell you that this is one of the weakest drafts from top to bottom, and the shooting guards are not exception. Wouldn’t you rather have the best point guard in a draft when that is by far the most stacked position? Maybe that’s just me. Rubio is as close to a sure thing as you get with an international player. His passing has been compared to everyone from Bird to Maravich and he started for a Silver Medal Spain team at 17. His two biggest weaknesses (his slight frame and outside shooting) can both be developed relatively easily. (Continued)
The bottom line is this: As “NBA-ready” as Harden supposedly is, does his addition put the Thunder in the playoffs next year? I doubt it. The team is clearly trying to build around a young core so I don’t think “winning right now” is their prerogative. The only time you even think of taking the more NBA-ready player over the better talent is when you have an older team and therefore a closing window (e.g. the Spurs), not when you’re building for the future. Besides, drafting Rubio would have been the smarter business move. Rubio has far more value and they could have always traded him to a team that really wanted him and picked up another asset in the deal.
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