Well, here we are. June 26th. The NBA Draft has concluded, along with the NBA Finals, and everything else that is at all entertaining in the world of sports. That means that we have two months of baseball games along with a few US soccer international games. Yes, the soccer will be mildly entertaining (not as great as the shocking upset over Spain 2-0; USA USA!!!). However, I am always on suicide watch the last two months of the summer. I cannot wait until college football and for the new NBA season to begin.
With that being said, I have a few thoughts on the NBA Draft from last night.
1. LA Clippers did a wonderful job picking Blake Griffin. Whats that? Many of you are probably saying, "Of course they picked Griffin, Zach!" Well, the obvious and sure-fire decisions are not always made by the Clippers. This is the team that drafted Michael Olawokandi #1, "The only #1 pick ever worse than Kwame Brown." Griffin is not going to turn this franchise around, but he can be a missing piece that leads the Clippers to making the playoffs in a few years.
2. Memphis made an absolutely idiotic decision drafting Hasheem Thabeet #2. What is the deal with NBA GMs selecting seven footers so high. Yeah, Kareem and Chamberlain were awesome, but this is a completely different game nowadays. You need a big man that can face up and knock down a jumper, along with pound the glass (i.e. Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett). When was the last true big man, that was a number 1, 2, or 3 option, that won a title? Umm, Ill probably go with Kareem on that one, possibly Hakeem, but he could do so much more offensively than Oden or any of these over highly-coveted TRUE big men (such as Yao). This draft pick sets the Grizzlies back another 2-3 years. Will someone please help these guys? Not even Jerry West could.
3. Ricky Rubio. Jonny Flynn. Ty Lawson. All drafted within the first 20 picks. All point guards. All drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Okay, they did trade Lawson almost immediately, but that doesn't explain the fact that they are still left with two starting point guards. They must trade either Rubio or Flynn, sooner rather than later. Their hand will probably be forced by Rubio, who has now stated that he wants to stay in Spain for another year or two rather than go and freeze his ass off in Minnesota. Which brings me to another major problem that I have with the NBA Draft. I am getting sick of these teams drafting European guys, only to keep the guys in Europe. Be faithful to Americans, and draft college players who desperately want to be here, rather than guys like Rubio who only wants to be here if he plays in a big market. It is stupid. I hate seeing these guys get drafted and then never hearing from again, when guys like Kennedy Winston went undrafted as he sat crying along with his family when he saw his dream pass him by.
I will be back very soon with more thoughts on the Draft (who is getting better in the NBA, and which team should just give up and move to Vegas to start over).
