NBA Draft Analysis, Part I
Uncategorized June 29th. 2007, 2:25pm
Our look at the first round. We’re too exasperated to do the second round. More on the draft throughout the day. Caption Yi: “When does the plane leave to go back to China?”
1. Greg Oden, Portland – Kevin Pritchard made great picks and great trades and vaulted himself into the ‘very, very good’ class of GMs. Oden will wear the No. 52.
2. Kevin Durant, Seattle – Centerpiece to an amazing night that hopefully will keep these guys in one of our favorite cities in America.
3. Al Horford, Atlanta – Though Hawks fans are nonplussed, where else could Billy Knight have gone?
4. Mike Conley, Memphis – Poor Kyle Lowry. Poor Pau Gasol.
5. Jeff Green, Seattle (from Boston via trade) – Like it, but isn’t he the same position, SF, as Durant and Wally? Surprisingly, Celtics fans don’t seem crushed but Bill Simmons is.
6. Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee – It’s like having first pick in the neighborhood football game and selecting the guy you don’t get along with who doesn’t want to play with you. Confounding.
7. Corey Brewer, Minnesota – He’s already praying KG stays.
8. Brandan Wright, Golden State (from Charlotte via trade) – Hated him in Charlotte, love him with the Warriors. Was he jettisoned for what he said about Michael Jordan? Nah.
9. Joakim Noah, Chicago – That hair is going to be the end of Scott Skiles. A curious pick, indeed. See, now Spencer Hawes would have been nice here …
10. Spencer Hawes, Sacramento – … but not here. Kings fan reaction is priceless.
11. Acie Law, Atlanta – Stud.
12. Thaddeus Young, Philadelphia – Billy King is the new Billy Knight. Draft positions where we don’t need help! Outstanding analysis here.
13. Julian Wright, New Orleans – Wake us when he gets a handle or a consistent jumper. Regrettable.
14. Al Thornton, Clippers – Surprisingly, Clippers fans aren’t all that upset about this, even though Nick Young or a point guard may have been a better fit.
15. Rodney Stuckey, Detroit – Don’t see how he contributes with Rip and Prince in town, but whatever.
16. Nick Young, Washington – It’ll be an offensive orgy in Washington next year.
17. Sean Williams, New Jersey – We’ve got to get this guy the digits for the weed delivery service in NYC. Yes, they deliver to your apartment. Should he room with New York’s Zach Randolph?
18. Marco Belinelli, Golden State – Best foreign player in the draft will step into J Rich’s role, minus the ego. Oh, and the J Rich trade is not going over well with fans.
19. Javaris Crittenton, Lakers – When Kobe walks in a couple years, this kid should be able to run the team nicely. All-around terrible draft for the Lakers, though.
20. Jason Smith, Philadelphia (from Miami via trade) – Those rabid fans in Philly are going to eat this kid alive. After they tar and feather Billy Knight.
21. Daequan Cook, Miami (from Philadelphia via trade) – Pat Riley’s lost it; Cook should familiarize himself with the D-League bus schedules.
22. Jared Dudley, Charlotte – You know, he could end up starting over Adam Morrison.
23. Wilson Chandler, New York – Promise was kept. Leave it to the ornery old man to find fault with the addition of Zach Randolph.
24. Rudy Fernandez, Portland (trade from Phoenix) – Three foreign point guards walk into Portland …
25. Morris Almond, Utah – So AK 47 gets moved, right? Because he’s a small forward, so is Almond, and so is last year’s top pick, Ronnie Brewer.
26. Aaron Brooks, Houston – Back to streetball, Rafer Alston.
27. Arron Afflalo, Detroit – Your frontline of C-Webb, McDyess and ‘Sheed on the verge of collecting social security … so you draft two guards?
28. Tiago Splitter, San Antonio – Spurs drafts are like our visits to Taco Bell – same order everytime (steak baja gorditas, baby!).
29. Alando Tucker, Phoenix – Perhaps a sign Shawn Marion is still on the block?
30. Petteri Koponen, Portland (trade from Philly) – Might as well give ever foreign point guard a chance, right?
2007 Sports Agent Draft (Sports Agent Blog)
Rating the Mock Drafts (Vegas Watch)
21 Responses to “NBA Draft Analysis, Part I”
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June 29th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
ATL – I think they did great. The addressed their needs. Amare wouldn’t have saved them. They are a few years away no matter what they did. I think their picks. I still think Law will be much better than Connelly.
Seattle – Ray Allen may be an all-star, but he’s old and can’t play D. West is improving, Wally is, well he’s Wally. Still good for a few minutes. But again, what do they do with the SF’s they have?
Bucks – Who cares where Yi wants to play or where China wants him to play. The Bucks want a championship, which they won’t get with Yi because the guy is a bust; but the point is, we can’t always get what we want. I think Yi is overrated, why they drafted him when they have Bogut and Charlie V is beyond me.
Knicks – Portland trade – It’s ok. I think Fry will return to his rookie form and be a contributor. The main thing is they get rid of Randolph who will get in trouble by the end of the weekend. They are cleaning up the organization, which is good. Now NY has Randolph and Curry. Some say playoffs, I say two over paid, over hyped, over weight players: Perfect for NY. How Isiah keeps a job is beyond me. Portland can buy out Francis and let him go elsewhere.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
last night after the bucks picked Yi, did you catch when Fran Fraschilla (i think that’s who it was) said that in comparison to Yao, “Yi is hip-hop, Yi is 50 cent.”
wha?? a very valid comparison i’m sure
he probably stole that line from stu scott or something
June 29th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
1.This is two years in a row the Hawks have gotten a pseudo point guard (see Salim Stoudamire) after drafting a position they already had two of.
2. Stephen A. ripping Jordan just cost him some valuable GM contacts around the league.
3. Spike Lee’s “The Brother From DePaul comment? Instant YouTube classic. Why would ESPN go to him in such a tense situation? You knew either he or the crowd would’ve made it bad.
4. Tirico’s “Do The Right Thing” allusion, only worse the Stu Scott’s non-sensical comment about Durant liking Beyonce’. Why make that skinny kid feel bad in Jay-Z’s town?
June 29th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
“After they tar and father Billy Knight.”
That sounds like something Philly fans might do.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
27. Arron Afflalo, Detroit – Your frontline of C-Webb, McDyess and ‘Sheed on the verge of collecting social security … so you draft two guards?
To quote Joe Dumars in a Detroit News article, “Our struggles in the playoffs have been on the perimeter,” he said.
“Either we didn’t make shots or we didn’t defend well from the perimeter like we needed to. I have never felt we were outplayed in the paint in the playoffs.”
I agree with TBL. Why wasn’t front line player drafted??? Jason Maxiell is only 6”7″, and we keep hearing about Amir Johnson being a stud everytime he heads to the D League, but C Webb (and sometimes Rasheed) certainly looked a step slow during the playoffs.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I love Dallas’s first pick (Fazekas): another slow, unathletic, white big man who would rather settle for an outside shot than bang down low. Because we all know how well that worked out there before (see LaFrentz, VanHorn, Croshere). But he’s probably easier to control than Big Baby, so we have that going for us.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
TBL, I think you have your mediocre-to-atrocious GMs mixed up. Billy King is the Sixers’ GM, and Billy Knight runs the Hawks. So Philly fans will probably tar and feather King, not Knight, unless they have a sudden and inexplicable interest in Al Horford and Acie Law IV.
As a Wizards fan, I was hoping Hawes might fall far enough that we could take him to replace Brenda Haywood, but I like the Nick Young pick…gives us another scorer off the bench, potentially in a Ben Gordon-type role?
June 29th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
HBCU – Acie Law is the most NBA-ready PG in the draft. Many consider him the best overall PG in the draft. Nice try though on the ATL grade.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The line of the night was by Jay Bilas comparing someone to Oprah’s weight! Classic!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Mozatta, Law is a scoring PG on a team of scorers. Let’s see how he does for them. I have my doubts. Nice try on the HBCU analysis, though.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
And lest I forget: Cherokee Parks, Chris Anstey, Eric Montross, Martin Muursepp, Evan Eschmeyer, Shawn Bradley and Popeye Jones go on Dallas’s list of white stiffs in the past 10 years too.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Leave it to the ornery old man to find fault with the addition of Zach Randolph.
Agreed. There’s really just no way you can slam this trade. Calling it a “No brainer” for the Knicksdoes this deal a disservice
June 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
As a Bucks fan (there are a few left), I really can’t get excited about this. I also hate that Larry Harris reportedly took the pick primarily based on the recommendation of his dad. Since when has it been a good idea to get draft advice from Del Harris? He already dicked the franchise once in the late 80s/early 90s. Anyway…big series for the Brew Crew against the Cubs…
June 29th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Andrew: I wouldn’t necessarily call ATL a team of scorers. They have Joe Johnson, that’s about it. Atlanta was #30 in the league for scoring at home. Outside of JJ, who was #11 in the league, they don’t have anyone in the top 50. Josh Smith was next with 16, then Marvin Williams with 13. So I wouldn’t say they were a team of scorers.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
The Randolph trade was a fleecing by New York. I’m not sure if they’re THAT much better…(though in the east they’re definitely playoffs with that starting five), but to give up only Channing Frye? He had a decent couple of months his rookie year, but he hasn’t shown nearly as much as Lee/Balkman and is just too frail for NBA play. Portland got too excited with the “changing its culture” and GAVE away Randolph. They could’ve AT LEAST got a Kurt Hinrich/Luke Walton/Nocioni type player that could really help that team defensively, but they get a soft player like Frye.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Billy Knight = Atlanta GM.
Billy King = (Soon to be tarred and feathered) Sixer GM.
I understand, they’re easy to mix up, with all the similarly crappy team management.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Whoa- Acie Law is most definitely not a scoring point guard..If you watched any of the last two seasons at A&M, he only took the big shots down the stretch. Look at his numbers for the first 35 minutes of the game you will definitely see a guy who gets his team involved and runs the offense. He doesnt come down and look for his shot first. He shot the ball down the stretch because he was ALSO the best scorer on the team..Conley comes off as a more “pure” PG because down the stretch he didnt have to shoot, the offense went through Oden and Ron Lewis
I dont know where the analysis that he was a scoring point guard came from. If you get that from NBA draft analysis, then thats just not watching these guys actually play..
June 29th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
and Popeye Jones go on Dallas’s list of white stiffs
Popeye Jones is white? Huh, you learn something new everyday…
Player Page
June 29th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
It was a joke Greg.
He was light skinned and played like a stiff. Better?
June 29th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Why is it ‘E’? He needs a nickname fast, like the Pu Pu Platter…
June 29th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Speaking of nicknames, anyone else think that Berman’s name for him will be “Walk Like an” Yi Jianlian?