The weather is hot and sticky... so I watched the NBA Draft instead
Okay, for my 1st real post, I decided to talk about the first round of the NBA draft.
I knew I had to do some blog coverage of the event when the night before the draft, I saw Jay Bilas describe Marvin Williams as "bouncy".
I don't know why, but I just thought that was hilarious.
As a whole, I would say that this class is overall pretty deep, but very unspectacular at the top. And after Bogut, there are absolutely no big men, unless you count Sean May and all of his chins and tits. Well, here are my thoughts and some of my favorite moments of the 1st round:
- Let's start with Bogut - Pretty low risk/medium reward guy. Perfect for the Bucks. But why was his eyesight an issue? Honestly. They've made incredible advances in the field of optometry lately and as much as I'd like to see a 7 foot Aussie/Croat wearing Kurt Rambis style glasses, I just don't think its gonna happen. And he's a fucking center for crying out loud. Its not like this guy's specialty is the 40 foot jumper
- With all the talk about historically ugly suits on the draftees, I think Greg Anthony was just getting into the mood of the draft when he decided to wear the hideous combination of a brown pinstriped suit, a white shirt, and a flourescent orange tie.
- There should be an NBA draft drinking game called "Bottoms Upside". Anytime the words "upside" or "potential" are uttered, take a shot. (If you survive past the lottery picks, you have an iron liver.)
- After I wrote the above sentence, Dick Vitale actually said this: "This guy's got great upside AND tremendous potential!"
- Okay, I grew up loving the Atlanta Hawks with every fiber of my being. Wilkins, Webb, Willis, Koncak. Those were my guys (inexplicably). I stopped rooting for them a long time ago, but I still feel really bad for their fans. What a nightmare of a franchise. I mean, they've totally overachieved the last few years and its killing them. I mean, on paper, they've been one of the worst 2 or 3 teams in the league for what seems like 10 years. Yet they almost never get a top 5 pick. And on top of that, they make the absolute worst selections in the entire league. And remember, the Clippers are still part of the NBA. Take a look at Atlanta's first round draft history of late:
2004 - (6) Josh Childress, (17) Josh Smith
2003 - (21) Boris Diaw-Riffiod
2002 - Don't have a 1st rd. pick - get Dan Dickau, the last pick in the 1st round for a future 1st round pick. Now I love the big Dickau, but think about the logic of that trade: 28th pick for a Hawks 1st round pick (which will NEVER be near 28th)
2001 - (3) Pau Gasol - immediately traded for S-A Rahim
2000 - (6) DerMarr Johnson
1999 - (10) Jason Terry, (17) Cal Bowdler, (20) Dion Glover, (27) Jumaine Jones (immediately traded for a future 1st rounder)
1998 - (20) Roshown McLeod
1997 - (22) Ed Gray
1996 - (28) Priest Lauderdale
1995 - (16) Alan Henderson
1994 - No 1st round picks
1993 - (15) Doug Edwards
1992 - (10) Adam Keefe
Whooa!!! Slow down!!! I'm having a hard time counting all the All-Star game appearances!
Now granted, there were some weak drafts in there, but you would think sooner or later, SOMEONE would have panned out for the Hocks. For their sake, lets hope Starvin Marvin is as bouncy as Bilas thinks he is.
- Martell Webster's grandmother wore what looked like half of a chef's hat. Even Tirico had to point it out.
- And speaking of Martell Webster, is there a worse environment for a rich 18 year old kid than the Portland Trail Blazers? "Oh no! my kid's in a gang! Oh no! My kid's on the Trail Blazers!" I mean, as a parent, which is worse?
- Everyone's head exploded when the Raptors picked Villanueva, and I kinda have to agree with them. I thought Stephen A. Smith was going to throw something. Speaking of Stephen A., anyone got the over/under on when exactly he's gonna have an on-camera meltdown? It's gonna happen, I'm just not sure when.
- Its official. Knicks fans are just booing their pick out of habit.
- Stern was hilarious, as always. For example, for the 3rd pick he paused for almost 10 seconds before calling Deron Williams' name. I thought sure he was about to butcher the pronunciation of some European guy's name. The highlight of the entire evening came when Rashad McCants was picked, went up onstage only to find the Commish staring off into space. McCants then proceeded to sneak up behind Stern and tap him on the shoulder so that they could get the requisite picture taken together. BEHIND YOU!!!
- I think after about the 12th pick ESPN just stopped showing Jay Bilas' BEST AVAILABLE LIST since it was painfully obvious that his rankings had nothing to do with what was going on in the draft.
- Hakim Warrick loves Cookie Crisp. Thank you, quality ESPN journalism.
- Jerry West thought Warrick was "awfully good at Princeton".
- Fran Vazquez looks like a miniature Gheorge Muresan. And he's 6' 10".
- For the record, every draft should have a 5 minute 1st round clock and a 2 minute 2nd round clock.
- Charlotte's GM called in sick so the Bobcats marketing and sales departments had to make their picks.
- I hate Dick Vitale.
- Jay Bilas described every single forward in the draft as "long". I'm serious.
- The most surprising moment in the 1st round: the Spurs drafting a European with the 28th pick.
- Now obviously, the NBA draft isn't the biggest basketball player allocation event of the week. (Its just the only one televised and the only one where I might get to hear Stephen A. Smith say "Slava Medvedenko".) That honor of course goes to today's announcement from Greg Oden & Mike Conley, Jr. regarding where they plan on attending college. Now all indications are that they're both choosing Ohio State, but I'm not gonna flip out until after they actually announce it. Hypothetically though, this COULD be the Bucks' greatest recruiting class of all time, and thus, fucking awesome. Oden, Cook, Lighty, and Conley, Jr. are ranked 1, 6, 12, and 20 in their class in the nation. But again. Eggs. Counting. Hatching.
posted by Anonymous @ 6/29/2005 09:11:00 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Yes, we definitely needed some hot (and sticky) Nipples action up in hee-yah. Or is it “herrr”? I’m always late to get the pop culture memos. Anywhoodle, thanks for the info, as I watched exactly none of the draft. But that doesn’t really matter to me, as the thing is such a damn crapshoot nowadays anyway. You check any team’s draft history over the past 10 or 15 years, and you’ll see 2 or 3 guys who panned out, and 8 or 9 guys who disappeared or flamed out. Unless you’re the Hawks, of course. But yeah, I didn’t watch any of it. I found out this morning that the Pistons drafted Jason Maxiell (somewhat surprising - with no one who can shoot straight and a front line of the Wallaces, McDyess, and Prince, I’m not sure a 6'7" power forward was quite what the roster needed) and two guys I’ve never heard of (completely unsurprising). And I feel for you on the Hawks stuff. No joke, about a half hour before I read your post, I saw a column devoted to the Hawks, written by Atlanta native “The Intern.” It’s available at:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=cott/050628
When the weather’s hot and sticky,
That’s no time to dip the dickie.
But when the frost is on the pumpkin,
That’s the time for dickie dunking!
-Yes, I saw the orange tie...it was awful.
-Bogut's favorite all-time player is drazen petrovich. They had footage of him at the grave. It was touching and bizarre all at once.
-If Ohio St. gets all those guys, it wouldn't just be the greatest recruiting class in OSU history, but in the history of college basketball. I'm not joking.
-The Hawks...What are they doing? Look at their roster. I'm just not sure what you do with a team with 10 small forwards. The most amazing thing is that Kevin Willis is on their roster. This season was his 20th...which means that his pro career started BEFORE not one, but TWO of his teammates were BORN. Mind boggling.
-Also, I don't think I could be more bored with sports right now. I stand by it.
Basketball sucks and so do you guys. What is more important is that Evan is yet to email the pictures from cuervo and I am getting anxious. Also, Jackson spoke earlier of a trip to Cedar Point " America's Roller Coast" at some time later this summer. I am thinking that's a great idea which should not be overlooked and we should should plan something concrete soon. Let me know what you think. Fags...Cave
Yes, I think a trip to Cedar Point would be fantasmagreat. From what I remember, the Cave can only go in like late July. Are you guys okay with that? We do need to put something concrete together. And Todd’s not invited, because his current vaginal condition doesn’t allow him to ride roller coasters.
Don't listen to the cave...he'll change his mind a week before an event happens. It's what he does. And yes, my vaginal condition is severe. Bleeds with visual of a roller coaster. Especially on the "roller-coast".
Eat the cave.
I need, need, need to head to America's Roller Coast. Went to Six Flags Magic Mountain last year and was SEVERLY let down. Though I doubt Cedar Point will be open Thanksgiving Weekend, which is the next time I'll be in the Midwest (though I might venture to the MICHIGAN/ohio st game) Too Bad. It should totally open for Thanksgiving. I can't think of anything that goes together better than Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce and The Blue Streak... Since the white man came together with the india...er, Native Americans. The combo worked out well, didnt it?
B of D
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