Initial Thoughts on the ‘08 NBA Draft

The Bulls still need to make some moves for the Rose pick to work for them.  I still think Micheal Beasley made more sense from a need perspective.  They need to leverage Hinrich or Gordon to get some frontcourt help otherwise they will continue to be a fringe playoff team at best.  The frontcourt of Deng, Gooden, Nocioni, Noah, Aaron Gray, and Tyrus Thomas strikes fear in the hearts of nobody.  As it stands right now they are looking at their top 3 paid players being bench players and now have a logjam at the guard position with Hinrich, Larry Hughes, and Ben Gordon and unless they do something they will be counting on someone like Noah, Gray, Cedric Simmons, or Thomas to step their game up and be able to give them 30-35 productive minutes a game.

I am intrigued by the moves Boston made.  Ainge is either going to come away looking like a genius for grabbing J. R. Giddens and Bill Walker or a fool for taking a wildcard like Giddens in the first.  Giddens is an amazing talent but he comes with a ton of off-court baggage.  Walker comes as a second rounder so there is nothing to lose on him and I think he has the chops to be a quality player if he stays healthy.

I don’t understand Memphis’ thinking at all unless they are going to be flipping someone for a big man.  Kevin Love may never be anything special but he is probably, at the very least, an upgrade over Darko.  Darrell Arthur is a nice talent but he is not much of a rebounder and Memphis needs someone who is going to hang and bang under the basket for them and Arthur is not going to be that guy.  Between Gay and Miller the Grizz had plenty of perimeter scoring and with plenty of point guards in the fold already I am just not sure how Mayo significantly improves this team.  They basically gave up an elite 3-point shooter and low post help for another scorer.

On the flipside I love the move for the Wolves.  Sure neither Love or Jefferson is the ideal size for a center but it gives them the opportunity to let Jefferson play some at the PF slot where he is more suited to play and they pick up Mike Miller who gives them the elite perimeter shooter they have been lacking for a few years now.  Minnesota was going to have to figure out what to do with the 3-headed monster of Foye/McCants/Mayo so moving Mayo solves that problem as that may not have played out so well if McCants or Foye are healthy and losing minutes to Mayo.

NBA Draft: Some Early Thoughts on the Top 5

With the NBA pre-draft camp going on in Orlando this week and as we head into June it is that time of year to start looking at the NBA draft.  As we get closer to the draft the general consensus seems to be that Derrick Rose and Micheal Beasley are the top two players in the draft with O. J. Mayo and Brook Lopez fighting it out for the 3rd slot.

Rose seems to be gaining momentum as the #1 guy, but, based on who the Bulls currently have on their roster Beasley makes the most basketball sense because the most glaring need Chicago has is a guy who can hang and bang and provide scoring and rebounding in the low post.  Adding Rose to that roster makes the Bulls look more like the Knicks than anything else.  Chicago currently has oodles of talent that can score and handle the ball at the 1,2, and 3 positions right now. 

If Paxson decides Rose is the guy then he needs to move some other guys around to accomodate him and try to sure up the interior game that has been keeping them from making a serious playoff run the past few years. Rose makes sense from the standpoint that he is a local product and arguably the best talent in the draft this year and if the Bulls take him he will keep butts in the seats and sell merchandise.

NBA Draft: Is Rose the One?

Since the NCAA basketball tournament ended there has been a lot of talk about Derrick Rose being the top prospect in the draft.  But, is he the right guy to take if you think there is a dominant/elite big man in this year’s talent pool?

There is a reason why Greg Oden was drafted ahead of Kevin Durant as the top pick last year. You stand a better chance of winning with a dynamic/dominating big man than you do with a dynamic/dominating perimeter player. Just look at recent history. Who has won the lion’s share of the NBA Championships since Jordan hung them up? Of the last 9 NBA Champions 8 of them featured either Tim Duncan or Shaq in a prominent role. The last 3 Spurs Championship teams featured Tony Parker at the point who is a very good but not an elite player at PG and Avery Johnson captained the first championship run and he was just a facilitator for guys like Duncan and Robinson to do their thing.

Shaq’s teams have never featured an elite PG either. He has by-and-large won with teams featuring a dominant combo guard like Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant.

As one goes back over the history of the league really only Isiah and Jordan are the only two players to win multiple championships without the services of an All Star caliber low post player and of the two Isiah is the only PG and those Bulls teams merely had someone who could hit open jumpers at the point and help bring the ball up the floor.