Category: NBA Draft (Page 31 of 55)

      How much better off would the Blazers be had they drafted Durant instead of Oden?

      March 12, 2009 /

      No one can fault the job that Portland GM Kevin Pritchard has done so far. In 2005, when he was the Blazers’ interim coach, he reportedly advised then-GM John Nash and Steve Patterson to draft Chris Paul at #3, but the duo instead decided to trade the pick and ended up with Martell Webster at #6. He was promoted to assistant GM in 2006, and was involved in a series of deals that resulted in the acquisition of the draft rights of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. In 2007, he was promoted to general manager. That summer, in addition to drafting Greg Oden, he turned Zach Randolph into a trade exception that he used to steal Rudy Fernandez from the Phoenix Suns.

      Other than an ill-advised threat to sue anyone that tried to sign Darius Miles, it’s tough to second-guess anything that Pritchard has done in Portland.

      But what if he had drafted Kevin Durant instead of Greg Oden? How much better off would the franchise be with Durant on the roster?

      Continue reading »

      Fantasy Football, NBA, NBA Draft, Rumors & Gossip

      Pistons’ struggles can be traced back to 2003

      February 27, 2009 /

      With the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select…

      Darko Milicic.

      This is the blackest mark on GM Joe Dumars’ otherwise solid record guiding the Pistons, but six years later, the Milicic pick is having a domino effect on the franchise. While Dumars did successfully dupe the Magic into trading a first round pick for Milicic in 2006 (which resulted in the selection of Rodney Stuckey in the 2007 draft) the Milicic pick still haunts this franchise. Just take a look at the next few selections in that 2003 draft…

      3. Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony
      4. Raptors: Chris Bosh
      5. Heat: Dwyane Wade
      6. Clippers: Chris Kaman
      7. Bulls: Kirk Hinrich
      8. Bucks: T.J. Ford

      Granted, guys like Kaman, Hinrich and Ford are solid starter types, but ‘Melo, Bosh and Wade are superstars. The Pistons would have been better off with anyone on this list, but had they drafted one of the next three guys, they’d have a player to build around right now.

      I understand why Dumars passed on Anthony. He had just drafted Tayshaun Prince and the team was happy with his progress. The word in 2003 was that Detroit was worried about Carmelo coming in and screwing with the Pistons’ vaunted chemistry. Fine.

      I understand why Dumars passed on Wade. The Pistons already had a very solid shooting guard in Richard Hamilton who averaged almost 20 points per game the previous season. In 2003, Rip was just 25 and entering his prime. Plus, Wade surprised a lot of people with how good of a pro he became. His jumper wasn’t up to snuff and he hadn’t yet revealed just how good he was at taking the ball to hole. Fine.

      But I have no Earthly clue why Joe Dumars passed on Chris Bosh. At the time, he was a one-and-done, 6’10”, 19 year-old who played at Georgia Tech. He averaged 15.6 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in the best collegiate conference in the country, earning All-ACC 2nd Team honors. Moreover, he led the conference with 56% field goal shooting, becoming only the second freshman (Antawn Jamison) ever to do so.

      That’s not the longest resume, but it’s damn impressive. It’s certainly better than anything Milicic brought to the table. Dumars fell in love with Milicic’s international mystique and it cost him. Big time.

      In 2003, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace were the Pistons’ post players. Both guys were getting older and the franchise needed a big man. Bosh would have been a perfect fit. Had the Pistons gone that route, they would have been serious contenders heading into this season and wouldn’t have had to trade their best player — Chauncey Billups — away to clear cap space for a free agent run this summer or next.

      Everyone knows that the Milicic pick was a huge mistake, but Dumars gets a pass because he built a great team that went on to win the 2004 NBA championship. He also managed to turn Milicic into Stuckey, who looks like a solid player.

      But he’s no Chris Bosh. How many championships would the Pistons have won with Bosh in tow? They lost in seven games to the Spurs in 2005, and the 2006 Finals featured two flawed teams in the Heat and the Mavs. They probably would have represented the East in the 2007 Finals as well. (The Cavs were swept by the Spurs that year.)

      Detroit could have won one, two, or maybe even three (or more) titles. They might have been a dynasty.

      The Pistons are currently 25-27 and have lost eight straight games. Dumars has cap space to use this summer or next, so he could conceivably land a big man like Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire or…(gulp)…Chris Bosh.

      Keep your fingers crossed, Pistons fans.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft

      UConn tops Marquette, Duke survives

      February 26, 2009 /

      – Jim Calhoun became just the seventh coach in Division I hoops to win 800 games as his #2-ranked Huskies beat #11 Marquette in Milwaukee, 93-82. (Apparently, Calhoun is worth his big salary.) A.J. Price scored a career high 36 points in the win. Marquette’s Dominic James is going to miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot. His college career is over. UConn is likely to be ranked #1 next week.

      – #7 Duke survived a tough College Park environment to beat a streaking Maryland team, 78-67. Gerald Henderson’s draft stock continues to shoot up the charts. He scored 19 points in a variety of ways, but none of his buckets were as spectacular as his down-the-lane jam in the second half. Check out the video below. (It’s at the 0:39 mark.)

      Video

      College Basketball, NBA Draft, Television, Video

      What kind of rookie season is Michael Beasley having?

      February 24, 2009 /

      One thing that struck me about Bill Simmons’ trade value column was his unabashed hatred for Michael Beasley’s game. He made three separate references to the rookie:

      Jason Thompson: I mocked him on draft day and he shoved it in my face like a cream pie. Top-notch energy guy, good defender, lots to like. You know, if Michael Beasley wasn’t such a colossal disappointment and semi-fraud, the 2008 draft could have ranked among the best ever (and certainly superior to the more ballyhooed ’07 class).

      Colossal disappointment? Semi-fraud? Ouch.

      Jeff Green: Great teammate, tough as nails, gives a crap, does whatever you need. He’s the anti-Beasley.

      So Simmons is saying that Beasley is not a good teammate, isn’t tough, doesn’t give a crap and won’t do whatever you need? Ouch.

      You have to love a country where Love’s best rookie card (Upper Deck’s ’09 SPX set, the signed autographed jersey card) goes for one-eighth the money of Beasley’s card … and yet, Miami could offer Beasley for Love right now and Minnesota would make a face and hang up. Whatever.

      Ouch.

      All right, so how is Beasley faring this season? Here are his numbers:

      24.2 mpg, 13.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 0.9 apg, 45% FG%, 39% 3PT

      All of that combines for a PER of 15.34, which is #36 amongst power fowards. Not great, but since 15.00 is average, at least he’s above average.

      Simmons looooooooooves Durant, and for good reason. The guy is playing great in his second season. But how did he fare in his rookie season?

      34.6 mpg, 20.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.4 apg, 43% FG%, 29% 3PT

      Hmm. That adds up to a PER of 15.87.

      All right, so I think it’s fairly clear that statistically speaking, Beasley’s rookie year, on a per-minute basis, is comparable with Durant’s. It’s unfair to write him off as a “colossal disappointment” — he still projects to be a very good player. Had he been thrown to the wolves (like Durant was) and allowed to take 17.1 shots per game (instead of his current average of 11.6), I really think Beasley would be able to score 20+ a game too.

      Since he can’t be speaking in quantitative terms, Simmons hatred must be qualitative. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen enough of Beasley in the NBA to say that he isn’t tough, is a poor teammate and doesn’t care. Are there any Heat fans out there who want to chime in about how they feel about their rookie right now?

      Humor, NBA, NBA Draft

      What went wrong in Washington?

      February 18, 2009 /

      The Washington Wizards are involved in some trade rumors as tomorrow’s deadline approaches.

      The Wizards, sources said, quickly rebuffed Cleveland’s offer of Wally Szczerbiak’s $13.8 million expiring contract for former All-Star forward Antawn Jamison.

      One source with knowledge of the Wizards’ thinking said Tuesday that team president Ernie Grunfeld is determined to continue resisting interest in Jamison and Caron Butler because the club has renewed hope that injured starters Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood will play in a small handful of games before the season ends, affording the Wiz an opportunity to evaluate the full team they hoped to field this season.

      Looking at Washington’s payroll, the team is in a really bad way. They owe the injury-prone Arenas a mind-boggling $96 million over the next five years and they owe the 32-year-old Jamison around $40 million over the next three seasons.

      I watched Ernie Grunfeld run my beloved Bucks for four seasons and he did a poor job. He picked a few first round busts — Joe Pryzbilla, Marcus Haislip — and was responsible for breaking up Milwaukee’s big three — Ray Alllen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell. Combined, he traded those three players away for Toni Kukoc, Leon Smith, Desmond Mason, Anthony Peeler, Joe Smith and the about-to-be-a-free-agent Gary Payton. Ridiculous. His only saving grace was that he found a gem in he second round of the 2000 NBA Draft when he selected Michael Redd with the 43rd overall pick.

      Now, after almost six years of running the Wizards, the team is in last place in the Eastern Conference and has one of the ugliest payroll situations in the league. And he doesn’t want to make a move because he wants to “evaluate” the core of Arenas, Butler, Jamison and Haywood? Wasn’t it that same core that failed to get out of the East the past few years? What is there to evaluate? The East is better now and that core isn’t going to get it done.

      At 32, Jamison isn’t going to get any better, so they should trade him while they can. At least they can get some salary cap flexibility if they move him. They should build around Arenas (his contract is virtually unmovable unless he comes back strong) and Butler (one of the league’s best bargains) and hope they can get competitive before those two guys get too old. Arenas is 27 and Butler turns 29 next month, so they have a three- or four-year window in which to make another run.

      NBA, NBA Draft, Rumors & Gossip

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