NBA Draft Thoughts

By Craig Kwasniewski

Whew! The draft is over, was there 60 picks or 60 trades?

So what did we learn from the draft? Here's what I got from the 2006 NBA Draft:

-Isiah Thomas is going down in a blaze of glory! I set the over-under on Renaldo Balkman/Rolando Blackmon jokes at 2,371. I TIVO'ed the draft and watched the crowd reaction to the Knicks 20th pick 5 times and it hasn't gotten old yet.

-I'm loving the effect the NBA dress code has had on Adam Morrison. Wednesday he looked like he came straight from his summer job at Blockbuster. Today's introductory press conference he broke out a pin-striped suit. He's got the WNBA player-in-high-heels awkwardness about him. I may start a Adam Morrison Fashion blog site. It cracks me up.

-Portland made the whole night fun. We've all had that one guy in our fantasy leagues that just likes to make trades all season, even if it's 2 dimes for a quarter. He'll fuck up his season eventually trading too much... that was Portland last night.

-I learned that I sucked when it comes to draft predictions. I got a whopping 5 out of 30 correct! Still, slamonline.com asked for me to participate in a mock draft and it was fun to get into it.

-Utah shocked me the most. Given they have the whitest fan base in all of professional sports, not one cracker? Evidently modesty is not a Mormon virtue as they linked all the draft grades to their website.

-With all the trades, it'll take me a few days just to see if there are any major repercussions. I am giddy at the rumored A.I. trade to Boston. It's worth it to see A.I. and Paul Pierce grow to hate each other's ball-demanding games.

-David Stern likes England to win over those cheating Portuguese (see photo).

-Now let me put away "unbiased guy" and put on my Laker fan persona...

Mitch Kupchak is a (earmuffs please)... fucking, cocksucking, shitbagging, ballbusting asshole of a General Manager!

Why oh why did he have to take Jordan Farmar? Here's a few reasons why Farmar was a poor pick:

1. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever take a local kid. Family, friends, posse and alumni obligations are all huge distractions to a young player coming into the league. Besides LeBron there's not too many local-kid success stories. That alone is a very pre-2005 Clipper-like move. All I have to say is Bo Kimble.

2. Unknown to people outside of Los Angeles, but UCLA basketball is ranks up there with Entourage as highly overrated. I've always joked with my friends that the newspaper is the UCLA Times. Every season (especially during the Steve Lavin era) the media hailed UCLA's "Final Four talent!" How many lottery picks in the past 10 years? One in Barron Davis.

3. Never let the bandwagon element influence your draft pick. Local media are claiming that the Lakers "lucked-out" when Farmar fell down to the 26th spot. Just who the hell was making Farmar a lottery pick? Four weeks ago Farmar was a rumored late 1st-early 2nd round pick. He was considering returning to UCLA for another season (with "Final Four talent!!!"). Being the most visible star on Final Four bound UCLA obviously clouded the local media's vision.

4. Lets look at the numbers... being rather small at 6-2 you would hope that Farmar's a good outside shooter. Nope, he shot a Devean George-like 41% from the field. At least he's quick, right? Not really, he doesn't have the type of lateral speed to keep with Nash or Parker. And at 19, he's a good 2 or three seasons from developing into a regular on the team.

5. Instead of drafting a more experienced player who's ready to contribute immediately, the Lakers drafted with their future in mind, continuing to neglect Kobe in his prime. So I guess the plan is to squeeze everything out of Kobe for 3 seasons while losing in the first round every year with ZERO talent...good stuff.

Anyway, enough of Laker talk. What did y'all think about the draft? Any surprises? Were there any trades? REACTION!

Comments

[Dean Wermer]

Don't be hating the Kupchak. Seriously, who would you have taken at that spot? You know the Lakers were praying Marcus would slide four more slots down the board to them. Crap, it almost happened! And they got Maurice Evans for nothing. Drafting that low, not a bad outing even if the odds are Farmar doesn't develop into a starter.

[Craig]

Good point, Dean! I just can't trust anything that Mitch does these days. The Farmar pick was just so easy to predict, verrrry safe and a quick fix to win over the fanbase.

Now go fix that Delta House "problem"!

[coach]

i think i saw spike lee mumbling ' he's a sleeper ' right after stern announced the knicks' pick.

spike should have mumbled , he'll go to sleep instead.

[Dean Wermer]

You are on triple secret probation, mister!

I know it's not a Lakers blog, but any thoughts on free agent role players that might be slotted in around kobe & lamar (terrible tragedy about his newest child)?

[J.E. Skeets]

"I'm loving the effect the NBA dress code has had on Adam Morrison. Wednesday he looked like he came straight from his summer job at Blockbuster."

You know how brilliant that is, right? Well done...

[Craig]

I saw the photo I of Morrison and felt like I owed late fees.

Thanks Skeets!

[Craig]

"but any thoughts on free agent role players"

Just look at Mitch Kupchak's free agent track record. Since West left in 2001 Kupchak has signed a broken Mitch Richmond, a broken Vlade Divac, a broken Aaron McKie.

I liked the Jim Jackson signing, but he sat on the pine way too long. Shaq was really responsible for Malone and Payton in '04.

I just think they'll try to convince Laker fans to wait till cap space clears in 2008... and the fans will buy it like they did in accepting Brian Grant's B.R.U.T.A.L. contract that the Lakers are still paying next season.

Two things happened last season that may cause Kupchak to wake up: the Clippers became the best team in LA and Miami won the NBA title. The Laker front office can only ask Laker fans for patience for so long. I'm shocked so many people bought the cool-aid after the Shaq trade and the abominable 2004-05 season.

Cassell's agent is spreading rumors that the Lakers are pursuing Sam. I think it's a bullshit rumor. I'm not expecting anything outside a 1-year offer to a low level free-agent.

[Mike Prada]

I don't think LA could really have done much better in that spot. And I do believe you have to look at Farmar's stats this year with a grain of salt. He was hurt all year with a really bad nagging foot injury and still improved on his freshman numbers. When he gets his explosivness back, he should pay off as a decent backup PG in this league.