NBA Draft Ramblings

So, the NBA Draft is tonight and I have to say, I didn't even really think about it until around yesterday afternoon. That'll happen when your team is in the NBA Finals and those don't wrap up until a week before the draft. Another reason for my lack of interest is because I have noticed that, unlike the NFL Draft where you can pick up a starter in almost any round, the later your team will be going on the clock in the NBA Draft the less you care about it. I mean, I used to be really into the NBA Draft, but then my team got good. This is because the later your team picks the less likely it is that they even finds a player to keep on their roster, let alone a starter. It's just the way the NBA Draft works because college players are so anxious to get to the pro level that they leave before they probably should. As a result, it's a steep and quick drop-off in talent. Every draft has one or two sure-fire good players, followed by a couple more kids who are really talented but projects, then come the talented kids with maturity issues, followed by the kids with talent but who very well could be head-cases. After that everyone is just guessing. Basically, if you don't pick in the top 10, you may as well trade the pick away and save some money. It's because of that I can honestly say I have no idea who the Celtics will be taking in the first round, if they even keep the pick to begin with.

If anything I'm more interested in the team's second round pick, because Danny Ainge has a much better track record of finding players that will contribute from that round than the first round. Ainge seems to hit the homeruns with the long shots, but then misses with the guys who should be contributors. Now, Danny uses a fairly simple formula to draft in the second round: four year college players who have been well coached and who played in big-time college basketball conferences. As finished products they are less likely to get any better, but at least you know what you are getting. So, while he might reach to take a great athlete who isn't a good basketball player with the hopes of turning him into one during the first round (Gerald Green), he's going to take a four-year starter in the second round to even it out (Ryan Gomes). Given that formula, plus the fact that we need a new guy to fill the Brian Scalabrine "Human Victory Cigar" role, I'm going to say the Celtics take Luke Harangody in the second round. And yes, that guess is mostly because that is what I want to happen.

-I think my favorite quote to come out of the pre-Draft interviews was from Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn, who said, "I don't think I can really screw this one up." He said this because this draft is widely considered to only be about four players deep and the Wolves pick fourth. Thus, no matter who is selected before their turn, the Wolves should still end up getting a good player. It's a fine notion in theory, but Mr. Kahn is also the same guy who drafted point guards back-to-back last year, which scared the higher of the two picks (Ricky Rubio) to sign with a team in Spain for two more years. Kahn then spent the rest of last year trying to deal at least one, if not both, of his young, talented power forwards, which resulted in the fact that neither of them really want to be in Minnesota much longer. Oh, and during all this the Wolves won 15 games. In other words, David, I wouldn't put anything passed you at this point. I bet you could find a way to screw this up without really even trying all that hard.