I’m not going to go into all the details of the draft. Chad Ford has a pretty good, if overly positive, rundown here. These are just the ones that popped out at me.
The Good
Derrick Rose to Chicago
The obvious pick. They have a lot of talented forwards and scoring guards. Now they have a point guard to go with that.
Michael Beasley to Miami
I know the Heat need a point guard, but I think they need some inside scoring more. Marion has limitations and Haslem is no scorer. Plus if, as it looks right now, Beasley is more suited to playing the 3 than the 4, then Marion becomes expendable.
Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal to Minnesota
The T’wolves actually played this pretty smart. Instead of getting another combo guard to compete with Rashad McCants and Randy Foye for PT, they got a sweet passing big man. Minny has perhaps the perfect set-up for Kevin Love to shine with athletic wing players like McCants, Foye and Gerald Green more than capable of finishing on the break. Plus they get a shooter in Mike Miller and a decent defensive presence in Jason Collins…or was that Jarron Collins? I can never remember. As an added bonus, they got rid of Antoine Walker.
Joe Alexander and Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee
I initially thought the drafting was brilliant because of the fact that Alexander, while intriguing in a Travis Outlaw kind of way, speaks Mandarin. How can you go wrong with a super athletic swingman who gives Yi Jianlian someone to talk to? However, in light of the Yi and Bobby Simmons for Jefferson trade, that aspect of his drafting becomes redundant. However, with Jefferson as the go-to guy, Michael Redd can go back to doing what he does best and Alexander can back them up off the bench. Not too shabby.
Jerryd Bayless to Portland
It’ll be interesting to see how he develops in Portland. There won’t be too much pressure for him to run the team seeing as how Roy is their de facto point guard, so he’ll be free to continue being a scorer.
The Bad
OJ Mayo, Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric and Greg Buckner to Memphis
My initial reaction to this trade was, “WHAT THE F*CK IS CHRIS WALLACE SMOKING?!” With a little bit of time to reflect this has been upgraded to merely, “Ew.” The Mayo deal kind of makes sense. They do need some offense and having a big name like Mayo on the roster will hopefully keep their fans from rioting. However, I’m skeptical about Mayo’s prospects in the pros. Yeah he’s a good scorer and playing for the Grizz will mean he won’t have to run the point. But his lack of size and quickness are going to hinder his effectiveness. Plus Memphis now has 5 pointguards and a frontcourt that includes Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown and Antoine Walker.
Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons to New Jersey
So the Nets got rid of their best player for what again? They’re officialy in rebuilding mode and I kind of like Yi’s long term potential, but does this trade make any kind of sense? Somebody help me figure this out.
The Ugly
Anthony Randolph to Golden State
He’s listed at 6’10, 197 and is projected as a Power Forward. This should be interesting. One thing’s for sure. Nellie-ball ain’t dead.
DJ Augustin and Alexis Ajinca to Charlotte
Augustin is an upgrade over Raymond Felton how, exactly? And who the heck is Alexis Ajinca? Oh, he’s a big young PF with no real achievements thus far but drafted in the first round by Michael Jordan on potential alone? Am I the only person having a déjà vu attack?*
Roy Hibbert to Indiana
The guy’s a stiff. The only thing that kept him in the first round was his size. I don’t see him doing any better in the pros than the Collins twins.
*Disclaimer: I once thought that Nikoloz Tskitishvili was a "can't miss" pro. So I could be wrong about this, as well as everything else.
4 comments:
Jordan is on his way to the "Chris Wallace Worst GM's" Hall of Fame. There is no way Augistine is an upgrade over Felton. I watched Rose destroy him in the Elite 8, and the big man they picked up averged 5 ppg.
What about the sonics?
I liked that the Sonics got a PG. I was hoping that they would pick up Gordon or Bayless instead of Westbrook to take some of the scoring load off Durant. Long term, Westbrook should become a solid starting point guard, but I don't know if he'll make much of an immediate impact. Still an improvement over Earl Watson though.
Jordan's First Round History:
'07 - DJ Augustin, Alexis Ajinca
'06 - Brandan Wright (traded for Jason Richardson)
'05 - Adam Morrison (with Roy, Foye and Gay still available)
'04 - Kwame Brown
The resume is short, but distinguished. Is there some sort of inverse correlation between how good a player you were and how good a GM you are? (also see; Thomas, Isiah and Bird, Larry)
Typo alert! Kwame was drafted in '01. My bad.
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