Wednesday, June 24, 2009

JOCKEYING FOR POSITION

JOCKEYING FOR POSITION
It's been a very interesting 24 hours in the NBA. Teams are making moves and jockeying for position to get in the first five spots of this race we call the NBA draft.   It is a frantic race to the finish with a little more than 24 hours left until teams are on the clock.  The Minnesota Timberwolves have already made news by trading former Villanova star Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Wizards for Etan Thomas, Darius Songalia, Oleksiy Pecherov and most importantly the #5 pick.  Minnesota now has the 5th, 6th, 18th and 28th pick all in the first round.  That is a lot of leverage and the Wolves are in love with Ricky Rubio as well as Hasheem Thabeet.  Both may be gone by the time the Wolves pick at 5, but the wolves could trade a few of those picks and try to move up to #2.  24 hours is a lot of time.  I guarantee that the Wolves will do something.  

DIME A DOZEN
All I want to know is what is really up with this situation? Rajon Rondo's name has come up more than Bret Favre's over the past few days.   Despite Danny Ainge's attempt to come on television and quell the situation I am not fooled.  Something is going on in that locker room and it's serious.  Why would the Celtics be even mentioning one of the up-and-coming point guards in the league being on the trading blocks?  Rondo has already helped the Celtics win a ring and was a KG away from possibly bringing them back.   The "KID" gets triple doubles like Jason Kidd and is one of the best rebounding point guards I've ever seen since...... well Jason Kidd.  This has to be a joke right?  I think not.  Rumor has it that Rondo is not a great teammate in the locker room and has a huge ego.  Doc Rivers is having problems reeling the kid in and if that is the case, then the Celtics are not kidding.  Ray Allen is a great shooter at 6-5, Kevin Garnett is a defensive force, Paul Pierce is one of the most crafty scoring veterans in the league.  But Rondo, with all his bravado, ability and athleticism is a 6-1 point guard.  Sorry to say, he is replaceable. Point guards come a dime a dozen.  If you need evidence look at this year's draft.  


DECISIONS
It seems like all the pieces are starting to fall into place with the first three picks of the draft if the positions stay as they are now.   Blake Griffin will go #1 to the Clippers, Hasheem Thabeet #2 to the Grizzlies, and Ricky Rubio #3 to the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Now is when things get interesting.  The Sacramento Kings own the #4 pick and are in real need of a point guard to run the show.  Most people have the Kings leaning towards the freshman phenom Tyreke Evans.  But I'm not sure about this pick.  The Kings are the worst team in the league.  Their best players are Kevin Martin and the young talent out of Rider, Jason Thompson.  Not sure if Evans, who is a combo guard, is a good fit here.  Although I love Curry, I would go with Flynn.  He can start from day 1 and will bring some fire to a organization that is in desperate need of some flair.  Sacramento is one of the most boring cities in the NBA.  Ask any veteran for his top 5 least favorite cities and I bet you Sacramento will be in there.   Go with Flynn.  His smile and energy can light up a gym.



NO NEW YORK, NO NEW YORK, NOOOOOO! 
Since Celevision resides in the New York metropolitan area and the draft is taking place at Madison Square Garden, we have to talk a little New York Knicks.  A lot of the Celevision fans are Knicks fans.  So who are you going to end up with?  The Knicks have been notorious for bad draft picks for a long time now.  And I have to say that they may be at it again.  The Knicks, with the #8 pick are rumored to now be leaning towards Jrue Holiday from UCLA.  Not sure if he is ready for the bright lights of New York City.  He didn't perform that well out in Hollywood.  He is 6-4, 200 lbs, but this is New York City, home of the point guard and you have to have some major game to get it done here.  If Steph Curry is still on the board the Knicks will go with him.   But he'll be gone says Celevision and that's a fact.  They still have a chance at picking the exciting but erratic Brandon Jennings.  I'd take him over the flavorless Holiday.  Jennings is the type of point guard New York City likes.  At least he'd throw a no look pass and get me on the train to the Garden.


SLOW DOWN YOUNG BUCK
Most #1 picks ooze confidence and they should.  Being selected #1 in the NBA draft means you're the best available player in the World!  That means something.  What it doesn't mean is that you can change things for the Clippers. If the Clippers drafted God, the world would end tomorrow! Nothing can change the fate of this cursed franchise, yes I said it.  I don't care how confident Blake feels about turning around the franchise, it won't happen.  The Clippers have messed up every big time draft pick they've ever had.  Quentin Richardson, Darius Miles, Shaun Livingston, Terry Dehere, Bo Kimble, Danny Ferry.  Most times after a player leaves the franchise he's never the same, meaning he becomes an even worse player.  As if he can't get the Clipper stench off of him.  The only guy I can ever remember leaving there and being a factor somewhere else is Lamar Odom.  I hear you Blake, I know your supposed to say the right things. But in my opinion, Griffin will be changing that tune like a DJ soon enough.   

STILL CAN MOVE
Shaq is on the move again as last night while we all slept he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Shaq who avg. 17.8 points, 8.4 rpg and shot 60.9% from the field this season can still be a potent force on offense.  The Diesel is still a very adept passer and teamed with Lebron James gives the Cavaliers two distributers that can pick your team apart.  This is a good move for the Cavs as they aren't giving up much in Sasha Pavlovic the non-existent Ben Wallce and the 46th over pick which wouldn't really land them much.  The question is how much can Shaq give the Cavs on the defensive end?  Can he guard in the pick-and-roll?  Obviously they have acquired him so they can get past Orlando and I think that now this makes the Cavs the favorite in the eastern conference.  


CELEVISION TOP FIVE WORST DRAFT PICKS EVER


#1 SAM BOWIE  1984 PORTLAND TRAIBLAZERS
First of all look at the shorts on this guy.  People always say you go with size but obviously he didn't with the shorts.  Ok, so that's how the shorts looked back then.   But I remember a guy named Michael Jordan being in this draft as well as Charles Barkley.  Trailblazer fans will never forgive management for this.  Not sure I or Sam Bowie will ever either.  




#2 KWAME BROWN 2002 WASHINGTON WIZARDS
They selected him with the #1 pick that year.  Brown hasn't even come close to resembling a player in his career.  He's been on three teams in the NBA  and has yet to play to his potential.  And now some are beginning to question what that even is.  The worst part is that the greatest player to ever play the game was responsible for the pick.  That guy is Michael Jordan. He, on the management side, has never seemed to recover either.


#3 Darko Milicic 2003 Detroit  
He was dubbed the best thing out of Europe since Tony Kucoc.  Boy were we all hoodwinked.  Hasn't developed into even a player that can come in and contribute off the bench.   Milicic was the start of the decline of the effective European player.  For a few years the players out of Europe were hot.  NBA execs were saying that they understood the game better than our home grown boys.  They were saying the the league was going to change.  Milicic was the red flag for our mass European flirtation.  And now everyone is singing the right song again.  



#4 MICHAEL OLOWOKANDI 1998 Clippers
Maybe the worst.......no, it is the worst #1 draft pick ever. First and foremost the kid went to Pacific University, a basketball powerhouse by no means.  But hey, what did we expect from the Clippers?  He even had a nickname, "The Kandy Man."  How could you?  This is another mistake by one of the most mistake prone franchises in sports.  In the NBA they always talk about size.  The great question in life is "Does size matter?"  Obviously for the Kandi man and the Clippers it didn't.  He is now out of the league. 


  
Leon Smith, 1999 San Antonio Spurs
So you're wondering who this is?  Well let me tell you.  This is the guy who was drafted directly before me.  I was so desperate to get into the 1st round of the 1999 NBA draft as it offered security, a minimum 3 year deal and time to develop in the NBA.  It would never be.  The Spurs would draft Leon Smith and I would be the 30th pick, 1st pick of the second round.  Much less longevity on the contract and more importantly much less money!  Leon Smith would never suit up that year as he was traded to the Mavericks on draft day and released soon after.  Before being drafted, Smith had been committed to a psychiatric ward a month earlier for throwing a rock through a car window and swallowing about 250 aspirin tablets.  The Spurs must have really not liked my game.  Damn! 


2 comments:

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  2. Whenever I see a Sam Bowie bashing comment or blog, I just have to comment.
    The picking of Sam Bowie by the Portland Trailblazers, from a BASKETBALL LOGISITICS point of view, was NOT a bad choice. When teams pick early in the first round, they make their picks according to TEAM NEED first, then going deeper in the first round and into the second round as the "perceived" talent pool diminishes, teams choose the "best player available". Some will argue that you draft according to a player’s "potential”. Even if you follow that premise...who knew Jordan would become the player that he did? No one could have foreseen THAT much dominance. Sam Bowie was arguably the best big man in the draft, considered better than Hakeem Olajuwon by some....he was taller with more length & wingspan. Houston NEEDED another big man to help Ralph Sampson, and Portland had Clyde Drexler, who was the Michael Jordan of the NBA before the real Mike got there....they certainly weren't going to draft Jordan, if for no oher reason loyalty to Drexler. The only logical and sensible choice for Portland was Sam Bowie. And just as you could not forecast the greatness of Michael Jordan’s future, u very well could not forecast the chronic injuries that would plague Sam Bowie. For had it not been for those injuries, anyone who knows basketball would have bet their last dollar that Sam Bowie would have been a dominant force in the league.

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