Chad Ford and Draft Express updated their mocks, so it’s a good time to take another look at the consensus. I also added Rotoworld’s most recent mock to the equation, and added a column (“consensus”) that makes a pick if two or more of the mocks agree on a player.
A few random thoughts…
Bill Simmons isn’t too keen on all the talk about how Kobe Bryant went through a metamorphosis this season.
They had the second-best player in the league (Kobe), the second-best center (Pau Gasol), a talented forward with a unique set of skills (Lamar Odom), a breakout swingman (Trevor Ariza), a terrific leader and character guy at point (Derek Fisher), and that’s about it. They caught three breaks from February on — Kevin Garnett’s knee injury killing Boston’s season, Cleveland stupidly opting not to move Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract for one more piece, and Yao Ming breaking his foot in Round 2 — and cruised from there. You would not call them great, just very good. I would compare them to the 2003 Spurs, 2005 Spurs or 2006 Heat — the cream of a flawed crop of contenders.
Did they deserve to win the title? Of course. But they didn’t win because Kobe “really wanted this” and “trusted his teammates” and “finally figured it out” and all that revisionist crap.
If you’re playing the “Shut up, Kobe was better this spring!” card, your only real evidence is two signature Kick-Butt Kobe Finals Games (Games 1 and 5). But if you’re selling the “Kobe finally gets it” angle, then why was he gunning for 40 points at the tail end of a Game 1 blowout when he had already taken 30-plus shots? In Game 2, why did he go one-on-four for the winning basket (and miss) and ignore three wide-open teammates? Why did everyone so willingly gloss over the fact that, from the second quarter of Game 3 through overtime of Game 4, he missed 31 of 46 shots and kept shooting, anyway? Or that, near the tail end of Game 5, Kobe was so desperate to drain the clinching dagger that he clanged two 27-footers and allowed Orlando to climb within 12? Or that he didn’t have a single clutch moment in the Finals other than his sweet dish to Gasol during their frantic Game 4 comeback.
The entire piece is worth a read, especially for all of the Kobe apologists and Kobe haters out there. Simmons is quite complimentary towards the end.
I think Bryant altered his game somewhat, but it had as much (or more) to do with a much improved supporting cast as it did with any substantive changes to his mentality as the Lakers’ best player. He still took a number of bad shots, but he passed the ball more. The mentality to take over is still there and he doesn’t have complete trust in his teammates, but I’d say he has an appropriate trust in his teammates.
Simmons focuses on the change between last year and this year and, honestly, I don’t think Kobe changed much in that span. In the instant the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol, Kobe went from unhappy to happy. It was that acquisition that made Kobe believe that the Lakers really had the roster that could go the distance. His outlook was more positive and it (usually) translated to his on-court demeanor.
With the Finals behind us and the draft and free agency looming, the rumors are flying fast and furious. Here’s a rundown of the latest scuttlebutt…
Things are rumored to be getting worse in Golden State.
The talk is that Monta Ellis is unhappy with the direction the organization is heading in, and still holds a bit of grief over the way they held his contract status in limbo for months following his moped injury. For weeks we’ve heard that Ellis is no longer interested in playing for Golden State, and apparently it had reached a point where it was “close to popping off” in the words of one NBA executive—meaning going to the media and publicly demanding a trade.
Let me get this straight — the franchise gives Ellis $66 million over six years and he rewards them by tearing up his ankle in a moped accident, missing 57 games this season. I’m sure he wasn’t happy about the 30-game suspension he served with no pay, but he wasn’t going to play in those games anyway. Shouldn’t he be punished for being boneheaded enough to tool around on a moped?
It sounds like the team has promised Ellis that he’ll be running the point next season and may have promised that they wouldn’t take a point guard at #7, prompting several prospects — Stephen Curry, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Ricky Rubio — to refuse to work out for Golden State. Suddenly, Jordan Hill looks like a stronger possibility if he’s still on the board when the Warriors pick.
According to Chad Ford, the answer is yes, he is.
The big trade rumor flying around (if you’re already tired of the Shaq-to-Cleveland talk) centers on the Hawks’ Josh Smith. Several league sources told ESPN.com that the Hawks have been working hard the past few weeks to see whether they can find a taker for Smith.
The Hawks have some financial issues coming into the summer. Two key players, Mike Bibby and Marvin Williams, are free agents. So are a few others on the roster — Josh Childress, Zaza Pachulia and Ronald Murray. Although the Hawks would like to keep those players, they can’t afford to pay all of them. That has opened the door to the possibility of trading Smith, who, although talented, has a reputation as a difficult player to coach.
The Hawks have had no problem finding teams interested in Smith. The issue is the whopping $6 million trade kicker attached to his contract. The trade kicker essentially would require the team that trades for Smith to pay him the $6 million immediately. In this economic climate, many owners will balk at the payment.
It seems shortsighted (or maybe blind is the better word) for the Hawks to trade away their second best player so they can re-sign their middle-of-the-road point guard and their middle-of-the-road small forward. I think Marvin Williams has some yet untapped upside, but Smith is a key cog to what the Hawks have built over the last few years, and he’s locked into a fairly reasonable contract given his production. He’s just 23, and he’s already a 16/8 type of a guy. He did a much better job this season of taking better shots (though he’s still not there yet), upping his FG% from 46% to 49%.
Maybe he’s a tough guy to coach, but he’s still one of the best young players in the NBA. If the Hawks can find someone that can get through to him, he has the skills to be a perennial All-Star for years to come.
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