FanNation

The NBA draft. When it comes to sports scandals and urban legends one of the most famous involves the NBA lottery style draft that was instituted to prevent teams from dumping games and guaranteeing themselves the overall number one pick. In the very first NBA lottery a much younger commissioner Stern reached into a container and pulled out an envelope belonging to New York. The lottery was held in the city of Gotham and fans were elated. The team had been in a downward spiral and the future didn't look so great after yet another sub-par year but fortune shined on the NYC that year - - unless you believe the story that the envelope was tampered with either braille or even dry ice to ensure the salvation of the New York franchise handing their savior, mr. Patrick Ewing.

Pat didn't get them a ring, but he got them very close ... if just one of the 372 three pointers his teammate attempted against Houston in Game 7 had actually gone into the basket ... well, you know. For now, we'll blame the distraction of stopping the Finals to watch OJ drive down the I5 with AC at the wheel. "Go Juice Go"

Each year there is speculation throughout the college season as to who will go pro, where will they be drafted, what impact to the team will they have, and how good is this year in comparison to other years. Then the tournament rolls around and some players either play themselves into the draft (Wally Z's amazing scoring in the tournament as a senior led him from the Euro League / CBA to the NBA Draft) or can greatly raise their stock (D Rose went from a top 10, possible top 5 player prospect to no worse than # 2 and most likely # 1 overall selection).

This year will once again be dominated by underclassmen and the one-year-and-out stars. As a whole this draft looks stocked with better than role player quality athletes ranging from 2 or 3 potential all-stars to 5 o 6 other solid, ready to start rookies. Sadly in two years we'll look at the March Madness landscape and say, my God imagine if Player A and B were still on Team X facing Player C on Team Y. That's one of the reason for the growing parity in the NCAA, the big boys keep getting star players for 1 or 2 years while the mid-majors and smaller schools are left to pick up the scraps and get tough, well-schooled, cohesive teams that play together for 3 or 4 years.

There is a flaw with the NBA that is stretching out an ever increasing gap between the haves and have nots. Each year the worst teams (unless they trade away the draft rights) are allowed to pick up young players and sign them to pre-formatted contracts. Often, the teams are forced to toss these young players to the wolves and get them some playing time or else risk accusations of drafting a flop. Even worse are situations in which teams draft a player with great upside, teach him, coach him, develop him into a budding star and then WHAM! Rookie contract expires and it's time to overpay or else watch him walk away. For that reason one of my recommendations is for the NBA to institute an age limit of 21 (after all, we all know these kids will immediately be granted access to the best clubs in town) with the standard 3 gauranteed + 1 club option year contract ... but ... for every year under 21 the team (at its discretion) is allowed to bump up the contract by another gaurenteed year. This would discourage kids with superstar aspirations from jumping to the pros and encourage long-term player development.

On a similar vein rather than the recent expansion of two more roster spots, the NBA should have instead tweaked the minor league system to allow teams to bring up and send down players without the risk of losing that players rights.

Last year the decision was between Oden and Durant. Oden was a 40 year old masquerading as a 20 year old boy. He height allowed him to hover around the basket for easy put-backs and mild dunks at the offensive end and as a defender he was blocking shots as if the opponents were all 12 year old kids. On the downside, he came into college with shaky knees and academic issues which both led to missing games throughout his one season at Ohio St. Durant seemed to be from another world, inside, outside, it didn't matter for this Texas player as he was equally comfortable on a breakaway dunk or raining rainbow 3's against his Aggie rivals.

When the draft rolled around Portland sided with the mindset - you can't coach height - so they went with the player who was unable to complete his private workout. Meanwhile, one of the aforementioned 3 years and a whole lot of cash has come and gone with nothing but a goofy grinned too-tall cheerleader on the side to show for it ... thus far. With Brandon Roy alongside and another few picks coming (thanks to the billionaire owner's ability to buy another team's pick) Oden should develop into a quality player.

Seattle went with Durant and he's done as well as could be expected, especially given the bonehead move that sent Ray Allen (you may have heard of him, he's the man who just set the NBA record for most 3's in the Finals) in exchange for another young (undersized) power forward to join a roster filled with about 4 or 5 quality forwards. Cuckoo!!! Imagine the one-two punch Seattle would have had with Allen on the outside and Durant hovering between the paint and outside wings. Oh well, Sam 'Where's my pacifier' Presti made several questionable moves that destroyed any chance to compete now or next year but have really set this team up to be something truly special in another 2 years ... as the rest of the West ages and the team relocates? hmmm ...

This year there is once again a supposed 'can't miss duo' of D. Rose and M. Beasley with a third player knocking on the door begging to be let in; OJ "show me da money" Mayo. Chicago is playing coy about who they'll pick tonight but I wouldn't be shocked to see them trade spots with Miami. In Chicago's case they'd be fine with either Beasley or Rose; whereas Miami is in quite the quandry. Riley needs a point guard, is in love with Mayo, but would look like an idiot for passing up Beasley. He's working the phones trying to trade down to remove the pressure of drafting Chicago's left-overs. Come on Riles' if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I'm not sure what Miami could offer Chicago other than taking on some unattractive contract obligations but we'll see how it pans out tonight.

If all goes as planned and Chicago drafts for themselves at number one, I suspect they'd go with Derrick Rose. First, they'd be keeping him away from Conference rival Miami and second, the next top players are swingmen forwards. First, Wade came along and redefined the forward position and matured into a star. Then Durant came along with comparable skills at a much younger age ... at that point we all thought, 'wow we won't see a talent like this anytime soon.' We were all wrong, the very next year in comes Beasley and down go Durant's freshmen records. Amazing.

Ironically, that fact hurts Beasley's chances at being the number one pick because he's living proof that a crop of super forwards will continue to pop-up; whereas true bigs and high quality point guards continue to be rare finds. In this case, I don't think Rose is the best PG I've ever seen, but he's young, athletic, tall, and has excellent court vision with enough speed to push the ball up / down court. His professional defense skills may be a little lacking but since he's a scoring PG that should help offset that fact.

Michael 'the Beast' Beasley reminds me of that cheesy NBA JAM video game. He's like a living cartoon player who can jump high, dunk, rebound, shoot from the outside, defend and run for hours. This kid will probably throw up for an adrenaline overdose in his first televised game. Whereas Rose will be ready to come off the bench in week one, Beasley's individual game and size will allow him to actually start right away. I know what you're thinking, he'll have a ton of turnovers and fouls on the defensive end ... you're right ... but again, his offensive skills should more than compensate. In fact, his future coach would be wise to help him set up a money shot, maybe a tweener 12 or 15 foot basket that will allow him to draw the Bigs away from the basket and allow him to either shoot over an opponent or dish to the outside for an open shot from a teammate.

"Run OJ Run" Then there's Mayo. According to the Miami Press the reluctance of Riley to draft Beasley stems from his perception that he's an immature player. His evidence has nothing to do with his Kansas State days but is instead based upon his Prep-School issues. Is it just me or does that statement really age 'insta-black' hair Riles and make him sound like a grumpy old man coaching the Bad News Heat? Anyway, as a Pac-10 fan I saw OJ play a lot and what I saw was his amazing skill flexed against understaffed opponents. In other words, he simply imposed his will against weaker teams but correct me if I'm wrong, USC fared well but not great and OJ's teams tended to struggle against top-notch teams (including a head-to-head loss to K-State) mainly because they couldn't rely upon OJ to provide any consistent stats night in / night out. Still, Riley loves this guy which is odd since he's virtually another Wade in the making. Perhaps he wants to become the architect of something new offensive scheme involving two ball-handling forwards at the same time, confusing opponents and leaving the middle and arc wide open.

But if that's the case? What's wrong with Michael Beasley? Only the master architect Pat "Oops we're losing so I'm going to take a mid-season sabatical and scout Euros and College in person" Riley knows.

That's it for the NBA pre-draft news and notes. I'm sure you'll see a ton of interesting tidbits and head shaking trades this year. Not only are there tons of new GMs with something to prove out there, but the players themselves are cut from the 'I want him, but don't want to draft him that high' written all over them. One of the top 5 players will be considered a serviceable player but borderline bust in 3 years. One of the top 10 players will be out of the league in 5 years. One of the players drafted between 20 and 30 will be on the all-star ballot in 2 years and possibly a 6th man candidate in 1 year. And some Euro will be drafted in the 1st round, snub his nose at the franchise and tell the NBA to wait 2 or 3 years before he's ready to cross the pond.

No mas NBA. I hear your cries and pleas to stop blogging about the Association. No worries, the Thugmaster is on deck and ready to bring us back to the roots of this group, beer, babes, and sports. He covered beer last week and this is certainly a sports themed blog; so that only leaves us with one other topic for him to cover ... hmm ... ;-)

If the NBA draft has taught us anything; it is that despite all the workouts, discussions, game tapes, etc ... there are no guarantees. Drafting is becoming a huge leap of faith especially since most of the candidates only have two or less years of measurable competitive games under their belt. That said, I'll reiterate that this draft class looks to be well stocked with second squad athletes and more than a few ready to start by mid-season players.

PS Today we'll find out if the law supports the city of Seattle in it's demand to have the Sonics honor the 'special performance' clause and play out their contract, or let's Clay buy-out a 41 year tradition with a lousy one time payoff of 10 million dollars. If the Sonics win their right to break the contract due to financial constraints then be prepared for similar threats in other cities as more and more franchises begin to break leases due to lower than expected profits. Ah yes, Satan thy name is Stern.

Until the next time, take care and have a great weekend!

Golfing Bet

Steve and Bert head out to play 9 holes of golf. "Let's make the time worth the while, at least for one of us, and spot $5 on low score for the day," says Steve. "Sounds good to me," replies Bert.

After the 8th hole, Bert is ahead by one stroke but cuts his ball into the rough on the 9th.

"Help me find my ball, Steve," Bert says. "You look over there." After a few minutes of looking, neither of them has had any luck. Since a lost ball carries a penalty, Bert takes a ball from his pocket and tosses it into the rough. "It's ok, I found it," he announces.

Steve looks at him and says, "After all the years we've been friends, you'd risk a lifelong friendship and cheat me on golf for a lousy $5?"

"What are you talking about? I found my ball right here," replies Bert.

"You're a cheat and a liar too!" says Steve, with disappointment. "I'll have you know I've been standing on your ball for the past five minutes!"