Did I call this one or what? Last night marked the 43rd edition of the NBA draft. There were actually very few surprises for me--just confirmation. I predicted this months ago, and have written about it twice. Most recently last week (http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/207179) In the unlikely event that Clay Bennett or another member of the Seattle Supersonics front office happens to drop into fannation, I would like to award them the 2008 NBA Draft Durrell Award. Congratulations guys, you've earned it. Who's driving this bus? Seattle has 3 centers averaging a COMBINED 6 points and 7 rebounds a game, and with the 4th pick in the draft, they take Russell Westbrook? Westbrook is solid, athletic, and smart, but Seattle needed a point guard like they need affordable housing. Even more amazing was the fact that Kevin Durrant stood and applauded the pick. The Sonics were 20-62 this year. It's my guess Durrant will stop applauding by the 1st week of November.
Honorable Mention for this award goes to none other than "his airness." Hall of Famer Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Bobcats. Emeka Okafor is a 6'10 power forward playing center by default. He recently turned down a huge contract extention to stay in Charlotte. You see Charlotte is in desperate need of a center to anchor their front line so that Okafor could move back to his natural position. While the commentators are trying to predict what the smart moves are, and saying "go big," the Bobcats select the smallest player in the draft, 5'11 DJ Augustine. It should be noted here that the Bobcats traded a future 1st round pick to Denver for their 20th pick in an effort to get Georgetown's Roy Hibbert or Ryder's Jason Thompson--only to have Sacramento take Hibbert at number 12 and Indiana grab Thompson, leaving The Bobcats holding the bag. Since the backcourt is the only thing solid on this team, with Raymond Felton and Jason Richardson, why not take Lopez at 9? Maybe Jordan is still smarting from the last big man he chose--Kwame Brown.
It should be interesting to see how the rest of the '08 draft pans out. My guess is that among all these guards, only Rose to Chicago, and Jerryd Bayless to Portland will have much of an impact at all. Time will tell. There will be some rude awakenings soon.
As always, we appreciate your stopping by. How did your team do? We'd like to know what you think
Daniella Sarahyba
Shanon Lersh
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Back in Time: November 24
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Nice blog, Hllywd. The Cats and Sonics sure made some questionable decisions last night, but I was also upset with the Cavs, who should have looked to get a scoring guard to complement LeBron and take some of the offensive load off him. Nope, they went and got a PF which basically showed Varejao the door.
G.O.A.T. is back?
Scranton, PA
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Jordan = Ignorant
BAYLESS was the Pick- turn him into Barbarossa 2. 0
Kneel Before…
Informative Sports.Com, NC
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Good blog Hllywd. The more questionable decision for me was the Bobcats, but I heard they are shopping Raymond Felton, so I guess that's why they drafted DJ Augustin.
Denis24
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I don't think Augustine is a bad player, but Lopez could have solved a lot of problems for this team.
Hllywd: Old…
Columbus , OH
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I figured the Sonics would take Westbrook . I think he'll be able to help the Sonics right away, but he also creates a major issue with incumbent Earl Watson. I fully expect another tiff between he and the team and that the result will be a trade.
The rest of the draft was interesting. I didn't expect that Kevin Love would be drafted as high as he was nor did I expect a subsequent trade involving he and Mayo. I think both got better with this swap.
As far as my Suns go, I'm none too pleased. Once POR selected Rush, I knew it was over and that PHX would settle. There were better players available who I feel could contribute better than the lesser Lopez, but I guess we'll have to see just how it goes. The Suns have a solid history of finding diamonds in the rough (Finley, Nash, Majerle, Hornacek, et al).. but I think this one is nothing more than a chunk of carbon. Bummer. :(
SkyBill40
Chandler, AZ
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Hllywd-
1) Didn't I tell you weeks ago that Lopez would not go as high as you think?
2) Westbrook @ 4 surprised and disappointed me, as I wanted Portland to grab him. I guess Seattle needs a new Gary Payton to cover for Durant's defensive prowess, right Skybill40??? Sorry man, had to throw that in. =)
3) DJ going to Bobcats also disappointed me, as he was target # 2 for Portland (after Westbrook).
4) As for Portland traded for Bayless, I guess it was a nice consolation price since I don't think anyone in Portland expected him to be available. They did not even invite Bayless to evaluate prior to the draft, so I hope it was because they thought Bayless was beyond their reach and not because they weren't high on Bayless. But I am just glad that our turn over machine Jarret Jack is gone.
Odenator...I'm…
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Good blog. I really didn't get the Augustin pick with Felton already there. I'm a little shocked that Jordan and Brown would put their fellow Tar Heel out to pasture like that. I thought those Carolina boys stick together.
J. HOVA: BROOKLYN
Brooklyn, NY
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nice blog
FoosBall
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1) Didn't I tell you weeks ago that Lopez would not go as high as you think?
Odenator...I'll be baack! | 06/27/08, 03:38 PM
Actually he should have gone higher to the Timberwolves at 3. I can't account for stupid. I'm not saying he should have been a consensus number 1. But to these teams...it should have been a no-brainer.
Hllywd: Old…
Columbus , OH
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Oden: Yeah. SEA needs someone like the Glove of old. As good as Westbrook may be, he's most certainly not on par with Payton. Durant's devense is very sieve like and that's no good. He needs to add 20 pounds and get tough. It's not always about shooting the rock.
I'm not elated with how our draft went (from either team). Guess we'll see how it all pans out. I will say this about Lopez in PHX: he'll play not that D'Antoni's gone. Not that he'll make much impact, but he'll play.
SkyBill40
Chandler, AZ
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The only name in the draft I recognized was Mayo. Can you tell I don't follow basketball? Good blog, though.
no name at all
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