Lonely Thursday Nights
by Rob
You want to start here The 2004 NBA Draft is about to start and I'm going to be keeping you up to date all night on how things are panning out. I could do a running diary like Bill Simmons, but let's be serious, I'm not as funny as him. Instead, I'm going to keep updating the Blah to make sure that you understand the impact of these picks. Stay tuned folks, this should be an interesting night.
Who would you have taken? As I predicted, the Orlando Magic are in full rebuilding mode. With the first pick of the draft, they grabbed Howard and have what could be a star. This is going to take a while and we have to see f the Magic have the patience for this. The other two #1 picks (Shaq and Penny) were ready to step in right away. For Howard’s sake, I hope that they understand its going to be three years before this guy turns into a stud. This also just made Bernie Bickerstaff the happiest man in the NBA right now. Emeka Okafor is the building block that an expansion team really needs. With Okafor roaming the middle and helping the other young players learn how to win and work hard, the Bobcats have just made sure that they are not going to improve and really develop a solid young core.
The Bobcats do not want to start this franchise with a losing mentality and atmosphere and Okafor is going to make sure that these guys fight to win. The other brilliant part about what Bickerstaff is doing is filling his roster with young cheap players that haven’t had enough playing time to show their stuff is that these guys are going to be cheap for a few more years. This is important because the Bobcats do not have their complete salary cap right now, but they will by the time Okafor is ready to be resigned. This allows them to save that cap space until these guys are ready to make a real playoff push and then bring in a top flight free agent.
Even I'm a little confused
The Bulls did something that I really didn’t think they would and I don’t really understand at this point. In the last three drafts, the Bulls have taken a point guard with their first pick. Obviously, Jay Williams didn’t suit up next year and may never again. Kirk Hinrich really came on last year though and he looked like the point guard of the future for them. I thought for sure that they would have gone with a swing man like Igoudala or Deng. This would have made a lot more sense, but I assume that they decided to take the best player available. Maybe John Paxson is loading up for a trade. There has to be more to this than meets the eye. I just don’t see Kirk and Gordon being a dominant back court in the Association.
The Clippers have finally made a good decision. They took the 6’7 point guard from Peoria, IL, Shaun Livingston. This guy isn’t necessarily going to be incredible right away, but you have to remember that Donald Sterling finally opened his wallet and signed Brand and Maggette to long term deals. That means that by the time this kid is ready to lead a team, the core will still be together and will be ready to keep the other LA out of the Lottery.
ESPN has explained to us repeatedly that while Washington officially is making this pick, it is being made for Dallas as part of Antawn Jamison deal. The pick is Devin Harris and I’m not sure what this means. Conventional wisdom was that the Mavs were gonna go big because Cuban is not going to get outbid for Nash. This could be part of a trade with the Lakers who have GP around for another year but Derek Fisher just opted out. This is another pick that may not make sense for another day or two.
And rounding out the top 10... Josh Childress?? Are you kidding me? What in the world did the Hawks think they were doing? I mean this is better than Josh Smith, but I don’t understand how this kid is really going to help my woeful team. The Hawks are desperate for a franchise player and Childress just doesn’t strike me as that guy. I believe that this guy could be a fantastic player on a team with a couple of good players already (think Scottie Pippen), but he is not going to carry the ATL out of the Lottery. Crap.
So the Bulls got lucky and Luol Deng fell to the Suns pick at number 7. This is the complementary player that they are desperate for. He is going to do all the little things that the Baby Bulls don’t want to. This is turning into a young team that could be dominant if Curry and Chandler finally figure it out. With the two of them and the back court of Gordon and Hinrich playing along with Deng, this team should have some new fire and hopefully they will get the bigs working harder.
Just as an update, David Aldridge is reporting that the Mavs are NOT going to trade Devin Harris which could mean that they are going to sign and trade Steve Nash as part of a bigger deal…for Shaq?
Rafael Araujo went to Toronto and this is a little surprising. The best part of this pick was Tom Tolbert audibly shouting “WHAT?” I understand that the Raptors really want to win and need a center to put down low along with a developing Chris Bosh, but are they really that afraid that Vince Carter is going demand a trade? Vince is not happy being stuck in the Lottery, but this seems like a serious stretch. They must have tried to trade down, but you have to imagine that they could have done something. At least the Hawks won’t be known as the team with the worst pick in the top 10.
Iverson’s boys have decided to take Andre Igoudala. This guy can defend and I love this pick. The offense on this team is going to come from AI and on the inside from Dalembert. The real weak spot on this team has been in the swing and the Wildcat is going to be the great compliment on this team.
The other Paxson had to pick after his brother and took a player that I’ve been praising for a long time. Luke Jackson is really going to help King James bring this franchise to the promise land. With Jackson and Boozer doing the dirty work and some of the pretty things, Lebron is free to make everyone better. This team is going to be serious real quick. I love this pick. Barely Legal Andris Bierdins is the first truly international player to be drafted this year. I’m not going to pretend like I have seen this guy play that much. I’ve seen highlights and read a lot about him, but everything that I’ve heard is real positive. Unlike most Euros that around seven feet he is willing to go inside and bang a little. I like this pick because the Warriors are going to be losing their two best big men (that doesn’t mean they were actually good, just Mullin’s best) and they have spent a lot of money on their back court already. Maybe they’re getting smarter in Golden State. Probably not though. Poor Danny Ainge. The Sonics took his boy Robert Swift and now the C’s are going to be scrambling. This is another high school kid that needs time to develop and we aren’t real sure how much because he hasn’t worked out for anyone. Seattle has seen enough on tape to think that this guy is going to be their center of the future. I think this is interesting because I don’t remember the last 7’0 white guy from the US that was really good. Maybe this really does mean that the Sonics are going to trade Ray Allen because this kid isn’t going to help them right away. The Blazers were apparently afraid that someone else was going to take Sebastian Telfair before their other first round picks because they took him up at 13. This kid is at least going to be exciting right away if not steady. He reminds me of Jason Williams (the one that is still in the NBA) when he first came out. I guess we are going to have to see if he can learn to keep things under control and run a team. This is going to be a little different than putting up big numbers against high schoolers and on the playground, even in New York. Portland is going to be exciting to watch and I still expect them to move up from where they are to get Pavel Podkolzine, but I’ve been wrong before. Another player that I’ve loved is Kris Humphries. Utah is going to pair him with Andrei Kirilenko as one of the best pair of forwards in the NBA. The analysts think that he doesn’t care enough about his teammates, but how are you supposed to be a team player if you didn’t have anyone that was as talented as you? This kid is physically ready to play and I think it’s a great pick. When I first started talking to you about the NBA, I was bemoaning the idea of the Lakers getting this guy at the end of the round, so this makes me really happy. The Celtics are officially in rebuilding mode as well. Their first pick is Al Jefferson and everyone has started to love this guy over the last few weeks. He’s a physical power forward that immediately replaces Brandon Hunter as the project at the 4 for Doc Rivers. I tell you what, I can’t wait to see this guy in the Summer League. He’s supposed to be super athletic and at least LOOKS like he could be the next sidekick for Pierce. Kirk Snyder is another guy who has skyrocketed over the last few weeks. Utah is building a franchise and I like the way they are doing it. They have taken two guys that are ready to contribute and I believe that the next pick for them will stay in Europe for a year or two. I am a little surprised that they didn’t take Sergei Monya here, but Snyder is apparently just too much of an athlete to pass on. Before we move on to the next pick, I want to make an observation. I complain all the time that teams decide they should take these high school and international players that have a ton of upside because we haven’t seen their faults. These college guys that have proven they can win don’t seem to fall and move up because the other guys start to slide. I love it. I’m sure you’ll hear more about it from me later. I said earlier that I was glad the Hawks didn’t take Josh Smith with the sixth pick. I think he’s an okay gamble at this point in the draft because Hawks picks never seem to pan out. Early in the draft they needed to take a guy that could really help the franchise and they can afford to try something here. This kid played with Dwight Howard on the AAU Atlanta Celtics and he gets to stay home. He is the best athlete in draft but lacks the polish that he’s going to need. He’s going to be exciting but he may not help. Another high school player. JR Smith is a great shooter that is going to eventually going to create the most dynamic back court in the NBA alongside Baron Davis. With Mash looking like he might have to retire, the Hornets were in need of someone that could add some scoring. Dorrell Wright just went to Miami and this is the second guy that Danny Ainge was praying for that was snatched away. Jameer Nelson made a lot of sense for Miami because they could use some help at the point. Instead, they take another small forward that may have the advantage studying under Caron Butler, but all the rumors say that he won’t. I just don’t understand this pick. Who was the last man at MSG? The Denver Nuggets have just made one of the best picks of the night. Jameer Nelson may not stay here because Kiki already signed Andre Miller and Earl Boykins, but I think they really should consider trying to move Earl instead of Jameer. Within minutes, we find out that the Orlando Magic are trading for Jameer for a future first. Great trade by the Magic. I bet they wish they had taken Emeka now because if they had, they would have a pretty decent cast around Tracy. I really thought that Pavel Podkolzine would have been flip-flopped with Rafael Araujo. I was convinced people were going to move up to get the 7’5 freak. Instead, the Jazz get another great prospect. This guy was going to be in the first round last year because of his size but he hasn’t gotten a lot of experience in his European league. He is probably going to take a few years to really learn how to play this style of basketball but he should be more than Manute Bol in the end. The Nets picked for the Blazers and took Viktor Khryapa. This is the teammate of Sergei Monya who was supposed to go much earlier to Utah. I don’t know a whole lot about this guy because I didn’t expect him to go until much later and I had really concentrated more on Monya because he sounded like the better prospect. I half expect him to stay in Europe for another year. Sergei Monya has been drafted! Poor bastard has been touted as the better player for weeks and his teammate got to go before him. I thought for sure that this guy would start getting some time in Utah this year, but I don’t know anymore. This one threw me for a loop. Delonte West and Tony Allen were just picked by the Celtics. This doesn’t make any sense to me. Ainge has been preaching patience and that he is rebuilding this team but then he goes and takes two guys that should have gone in the second round and don’t have a real position. West is too small to play off guard and didn’t get to play the point in school because that guy Jameer Nelson was in the way. Allen really showed up during the Cowboys run but he isn’t very big either. Both have a lot of athleticism and fit into the running C’s that Ainge is looking for, but I don’t like these picks. Kevin Martin is another surprise. Everyone assumed that Donta Smith was going to come in and replace Gerald Wallace in Sac-town, but they decided to get the second leading scorer in the NCAA’s last year. This guy can be instant offense off the bench along with Bobby Jackson. The Lakers decided to do the nice thing and pick the player that we all thought they would: Sasha Vujacic. This guy is really an undersized shooting guard but he has some handle and is going to try and run the point some for them as well. Depending on what happens with Derek Fisher, he may spend another year getting seasoning in Europe. Beno Udrih is the guy that propelled himself into the first round in Chicago. I can’t pretend that I know a lot because he came out of nowhere on me. Sorry guys, check back in the near future. The Pacers made a great pick at the end of the first round in David Harrison. They need a big man because Scott Pollard and Jeff Foster aren’t going to cut it in the middle. Another banger down low that can some of the pressure Jermaine O’Neil is going to make life easier.