My NBA draft predictions weren’t exactly Matt Millen-esque, actually far from it, however a couple of glaring mistakes certainly overshadowed the brilliant gems.

Like anyone is keeping score at home, besides me that is.

I keep score.

In previous posts I predicted

Shawn James, a shot blocker out of Duquesne, would be drafted.

I also was high on St. Joes forward Pat Calathes. He too was not drafted. However, I happened to notice that Jay Bilas had Pat Calathes on his list of 6 best remaining players not yet drafted, though that was after pick # 59.

My big monstrosity of an error was the George Hill prediction. Plain and simple I didn’t expect teams to have much respect for George, the little Summit League star from IUPUI.

I will say it again for whoever may have missed it: Seeing George Hill play in person, as I did late in the season last year, didn’t really allow me to gage his full repertoire and potential.

Obviously that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Now my opinion about the kid could have been swayed because of the complete beating Oakland U put on IUPUI that night, though I would have hoped it would not have because that’s not a sensible way to go about forming opinions on players. Thinking back I probably let the outcome of the game affect what I thought about George Hill.

Still doesn’t mean he will be any good but…

The guy was picked in the first round and by the San Antonio Spurs no less!

Victories

At least Sasha Kaun and Malik Hairston were drafted. And at least D.J. White was drafted in round one, even though the team who drafted him didn’t keep him.

Another little victory for me was Bill Walker. Yeah, he slipped a bit, but he’s on the best NBA team out there right now.

And finally I’d like to take credit and say I knew Jason Thompson would be a top #15 pick, but that would be a lie. Though I did say he was intriguing…

A morsel of my last post discussed Chris Douglas-Roberts’s draft night gag, and as expected, nothing much was accomplished. I guess the post was a good excuse to get Shawn Marion’s name out there, Kevin Martin’s as well, but of course I whiffed at the chance to link out to some frequently visited pro basketball blogs.

Lesson learned.

Mental note forwarded.

Will whore myself out more for the chance of getting more pv’s in the future.

So anyway, the whole story of why CDR’s stock dropped so excessively can be explained quite simply. It’s not as wondrous as a Harry Potter adventure… or an ominous kidney—but it will do for now, at least until Joe Dumars can escape the area so the steadfast anti-Tayshaun Prince portion of Metro Detroit doesn’t tear down his residence with him in it, or worse, leak out malicious, yet well meaning, trade proposals of a re-acquisition of Darko!

CDR apparently took the easy route during the draft workout period. It seems that CDR was extremely confident he would not be around at #20. Thus not only did he decline a workout with the Detroit Pistons, an organization’s fan base who is desperately wondering why Walter Sharpe was picked instead of CDR, he also most likely declined workout invitations from various other teams selecting after pick #20. If that assertion is valid, then shame on CDR for having a bigger head than Placido Polanco and for not putting himself out there to the best of his ability. After all, jobs are hard to come by in the NBA, very hard. There aren’t many openings, but when there are, there’s dozens and dozens of talented guys who would do anything to fill them.

Being picky about who you workout for not only sends a bad message to the teams he blew off, but the league as a whole. You can be sure other teams took note of his behavior.

So it seems that the “unorthodox” label was only part of the pie.

But being that CDR is from Detroit, there could be even more to the story.

Maybe a demon or two lurk in CDR’s Detroit past? Maybe he’s acutely aware of a leech like entourage waiting for him, waiting to engulf him, to suck from him the very strength and focus he had in order to make it out in the first place.

But that would only explain Detroit.

Everything aside,

CDR and I will still get paid.

Post from: EveryJoe

CDR and I: Licking our wounds, but still getting paid, probably

Memphis looks much more legit now with a Mayo-Gay combo.

Minnesota? Jefferson-McCants, Jefferson-Gomes.

Ouch.

Speaking of Memphis, Chris Douglas-Roberts did get chosen by a team on draft night. It might have been after most went to bed or stopped watching, but it did happen.

CDR got to the free throw line 63 times during last year’s tourney. He scored 20 + points in 5 out of the 6 games.

Those stout postseason numbers combined with an impressive 3 year career, in a logical world, would have meant a nice first round guaranteed contract.

Instead he went 40th.

He went AFTER college players such as D.J. White, Courtney Lee, the impervious George Hill, the literal sleepy man Walter Sharpe, household name Sonny Weems and even the next Bruce Bowen, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute.

During the draft the term “unorthodox” was thrown around every time CDR’s name came about.

News Flash

Shawn Marion
Manu Ginobili
Kevin Martin…

are just a couple off hand names that came to mind of unorthodox players.

East Coast Bias has this to add about CDR and fellow New Jersey draft pick Ryan Anderson #21

Additionally: the Nets drafted Ryan Anderson and Chris Douglas Roberts. I love Anderson’s ability to shoot the ball. Chris Douglas-Roberts has some ability as a slashing scorer, but he’s not NBA quick, and he never struck me as that strong. But he’s gotten it done on one of the best teams in the country, so he gets a second round look.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of CDR, yet his success during his college career cannot be overlooked. The stats are there.

West Virginia phenom Joe Alexander was drafted at #8.

Talk practice believes Joe Alexander is a Mandarin speaking, semi-athletic, solely mid-range jump shooting defensive liability. Well they got the Mandarin part right. Apparently Joe stole the walk-on spot at WVU of someone over at talkpractice—nobody would otherwise be able to come up with that conclusion. The guy has a go get’em attitude and all the skills to be a big time player in the NBA.

WBGV discusses Joe’s weaknesses and strengths with a little less vim and a little more sense.

Pac 10 Strong

12 Pac 10 players were taken, the most out of any conference. A few surprises, at least from my point of view

Maarty Luenen #54

Bayless slipped to #11

Moute was indeed drafted, much to the surprise of… well, probably just me.

Other suprises

Patrick Ewing Jr., all 6.1ppg of him, was drafted at #43.

Bill Walker #47, the guy I’ve compared to Paul Pierce, will actually get to suit with Paul this coming season. Not a bad guy to be mentored by. His reoccurring knee problems were really the red flag that kept many teams away.

Darrell Arthur was THE Surprise of draft night. The Kansas star, after being passes over selection by selection, sunk lower and lower into his chair, all the virility he held at the beginning of the night gone, but at #27 his wait was over. For a short time he had to think it was well worth it, because New Orleans picked him, meaning he would play with the best point guard in the world.

That was not to be. Memphis ended up receiving Arthur at the conclusion of the draft wheeling and dealing. What a find.

Some kind of supposed kidney problem really scared teams away from Arthur.

Was it all just a big misunderstanding? Did 15 or so teams really just pass on a future NBA starter? More info here at SI.com

Kansas was well represented on draft night. Not only did Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur get selected, but fellow starters Darnell Jackson and Mario Chalmers were selected in round two, as was super sub Sasha Kaun.

It didn’t stop there. Former Jayhawk J.R. Giddens (New Mexico) was the last player drafted in the first round.

Rider product Jason Thompson was drafted at #12. I had a good feeling about him going into the draft, but top 15 was beyond outstanding. Remember small school star Rodney Stuckey? Don’t sleep on those small school guys.

Some mentionable undrafted players

Chris Lofton- Will get his chance
Gary Forbes- A guy who could improve his craft overseas
Josh Duncan- A tweener who will have to take the tough route
DeMarcus Nelson- Could latch on somewhere as a lock down defender
Pat Calathes- His inability to out jump and run people really got him
Jamont Gordon- Should have returned to school and improved his stroke
Davon Jefferson- Came out way too early and didn’t play with enough passion in the Pre-Draft camps
David Padgett- Better off not drafted, he will get to choose which team is best for him to try out for. Good chance he’s on a roster within a couple of years. He’s still really cool either way.
Drew Neitzel- Spartan Weblog believes this was best for Drew. He, like Padgett, gets to choose the “best fit”

Here are all the draft picks with trades included

Round 1

Round 2

Post from: EveryJoe

NBA Draft offal: Where Minnesota Trades Mayo Happens

O.J. Mayo USC

O.J. has been talked about ad nauseam on this site as you probably already know (sorry Kevin).

Where will he go in the draft?

Talent wise, he’s right up there with Rose and Beasley, but NBA teams don’t always go for the most talented, sometimes they just go for need instead.

The T-Wolves need difference makers and Mayo would certainly fit that label. Al Jefferson and O.J. Mayo on the same team… now we’re talking.

Jonathan Givony’s blog from Draft Express.com has Mayo covered, as well as some other top names.

Lopez Twins Stanford

I don’t see either as eventual All-Stars, but I do see them both as down the road starters, maybe 15 and 8 guys at the best. Brook’s lack of quickness/agility might just be the downfall that keeps him from being an elite center. Robin will have no problem rebounding and playing defense at the NBA level.

Jon Wilner of Mercury News discusses the pros and cons of the Twins.

Joe Alexander WVU

The Melo Backpedal has very detailed write-ups on the top 25 players (in their eyes anyway) in this year’s draft.

Here’s a tidbit about Joe Alexander from The Melo Backpedal

Analysis: Alexander is a very hot name right now because of how he finished the season. He’s an athletic forward with good length, and has a fairly solid inside-outside game. He has good touch around the basket, knows how to finish, and can get to the line with ease. He has a very good post up game, passes well out of double-teams, and according to scouts, has good lateral quickness.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports wrote about Joe on Monday in “Who’s Joe Alexander”

Joe in New York?

Joe might be the right guy to go to New York. He could win over the fans with his hard work and smooth offensive skills. Let’s face it, besides Nate Robinson and David Lee, who really plays all out all the time there?

He might not contribute much his first year or two, but I think the team who’s willing to be patient will love the eventual outcome.

Overrated draft?

I’ve heard that this year’s draft is the strongest we’ve had in awhile, but I’ve also heard this draft could be a total laugher, though I’ve heard far fewer of the latter. Somebody on talk radio in Detroit on Monday said his whole reasoning on thinking this draft is poor is because of the possibility of Russell Westbrook going in the top 5. He said if Westbrook was slated as a 20 something pick, the draft would then be pretty strong—but not if he’s going so early, like top 5 early. Far from a valid explanation in my opinion (I agree though, Westbrook was nothing a year ago and now he’s top 5 material??), but that does beg the question, who’s overrated?

More specifically put, who will be drafted too high?

Kevin Love UCLA- His limited athleticism just might be an obstacle he cannot overcome. College style and pro style basketball are two very different worlds.

Eric Gordon Indiana- I’m not going to say he will not be a good scorer in this league, I’m just saying there will be many players picked behind him that would have been better choices. Ben Gordon’s game closely resembles Eric’s, though Eric can throw some rock down with the best of them.

Roy Hibbert Georgetown- Grotesquely getting too much attention. Take a 2nd round flyer on him but don’t waste your time or $ in the first round on a guy destined to be another Nazr Mohammed, at best. The folks over at hoyasaxa.com probably won’t agree with me.

Now I’ll rehash for you some of the guys being overlooked in this draft, especially the forgotten about seniors.

Malik Hairston is high on my list. The skill is all there. Can he just put it together and make consistent progress?

D.J. White could be a first round pick, but you wouldn’t know it the way his name has been kept essentially silent.

Sasha Kaun and Pat Calathes are still guys to keep tabs on as well.

Bill Walker, not of the senior variety, is most likely going to end up on an already strong team, a playoff contender you might say. So in terms of value for a good team late in the first round, Bill is a safe pick. He’s got a scorer’s mentality with a bit of attitude.

Jason Thompson, a senior from Rider, has an intriguing skill set. He has Tim Thomas like range for a big, but is he strong enough to guard the low post?

Hoopsaddict interviews Jason to see how draft preparation is coming along. It seems like he has a lot of faith in himself. Will a team drafting in the top 20 feel the same way?

One more senior to be aware of is Gary Forbes from Massachusetts. Back on the first of June I said he would crack the first round. I must have been a bad omen because I haven’t heard anything, good or bad, about him in recent days. I actually just read that Forbes has been having trouble playing against some of the more top notch players, you know, guys that decided not to participate in the Orlando camp. You’re letting me down Forbes.

Ever think of what it would be like if there was a 3rd round like there was prior to 1989?

Well if you click on just one link in this post, I recommend you try The Pyramid of Excess’s humorous picks for the 3rd round of the draft.

Quick blurb of what you can expect

92. Boston Celtics
Sebastian Telfair/6’0”, 183/Abraham Lincoln H.S.
With the last pick in the third round Danny Ainge finally reacquires the guy he gave up Brandon Roy for two years ago.

Anyways

Draft night should be a tight affair as it always is.

And when you hear Pat Calathes’s name called, or even Malik Hairston’s, don’t choke on your licorice… or whatever the hell people wasting their time watching the draft eat, because you did not hear they would be drafted from a draft expert like Chad Ford, you heard it from the undeniably clueless me instead. Believe it!

NBA dweebs and geeks unite!

Any thoughts, suggestions, beefs, and Wal-Mart references are appreciated. No compliments!

Post from: EveryJoe

NBA Draft garbage: Where Westbrook goes top 5 happens

After all, Darrell Arthur, Michael Beasley Joe Alexander, O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Donte Greene, Anthony Randolph, JaVale McGee, D.J. Augustin, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Jerryd Bayless, and DeAndre Jordan did not participate in the actual games. These guys were defined as “physical only players” during the duration of the camp.

Fatigue began to set in for many of the prospects and scouts in attendance here in day four, causing much of the attention to turn to the 15 physical-only players, who were here to participate in the combine and conduct light drills and skills-based workouts that drew quite a crowd of high-level NBA executives.

source

So the players in attendance were not exactly playing against the best the draft has to offer.

Of the 62 names on the participant list, only a handful – namely North Carolina’s Ty Lawson and Cal’s DeVon Hardin – are receiving significant mention as potential first-rounders.

source

So was the camp just a big waste of time and money? Should the NBA entice the more intriguing pro prospects to come and play instead of allowing them to sit back and be “physical only players?” Part of the dilemma is the uneasiness of guys like Beasley, Rose and Mayo to participate and take the chance of getting injured or playing poorly during the games. They would just assume lay low and let their past playing days speak for themselves, which if fine and dandy if they’re guaranteed to be a lottery pick, but overall it really waters down the competition at the camp.

A scout present at the camp had this to add

“In the past you’d have guys here trying to move up in the first round of the draft or trying to jump from the second round to the first,” one general manager said. “But now the kids don’t want to come any more. Some of them are so scared of hurting their stock that they end up not doing anything to help it.”

source

Even worse, many players who are supposed first rounder’s — yet aren’t exactly guaranteed anything — declined invitations to the camp.

Some of them included Mario Chalmers, Bill Walker, D.J. White, Ryan Anderson, Roy Hibbert, Chris Douglas- Roberts and Jason Thompson.

If I were a scout or GM, I would feel better about seeing more of Tywon Lawson, DeVon Hardin or Joey Dorsey than seeing nothing of a Bill Walker or Roy Hibbert kind of prospect. I think deciding to play in this camp, and basically showcasing your skills for all 30 teams to ponder, shows more about a guy’s character than a guy deciding to decline, therefore avoiding taking a chance either way.

Now for guys like Rose or Mayo, or basically all of the 15 players I mentioned at the beginning save McGee, Greene and Randolph, I can understand them not wanting to participate considering there’s not much else to prove. But for the other guys, shoot, take advantage of the situation, improve your stock and ensure that you actually get chosen in the area you want.

Take D.J. White for example…

He’s currently on that 1st round bubble. A couple good showings during the camp could have essentially put him comfortably into the 1st round. If at all else, teams will become more familiar with you and are much more likely to choose you instead of someone they’re less familiarized with.

Be sure to check out Day 4’s strong performances here.

Comments, questions and suggestions are always appreciated.

Post from: EveryJoe

Did Orlando really matter?