Jesse: Draft in Review

In true blogger fashion I feel obligated to share my thoughts on the draft. Now in convenient bulletin format! To read Sam’s breakdown click here, or stop being lazy and scroll down.

• I love that Orlando-New Jersey trade . . . for the Celtics. Now the 5 best players for the Magic all fancy themselves as the number one option. I think it will be absolutely impossible to keep Vince, Dwight, Hedo (assuming they resign him), Lewis and Nelson happy. Nelson as the point guard especially is more of a scorer than a facilitator, and I think the Magic will struggle to integrate all of these ball hogs into their system. Courtney Lee was one of those glue guys that every championship team needs. A Derek Fisher type who defends, scraps and hits open shots. I think he will be missed in Orlando. But on the plus side for the Magic I would be very surprised if Ryan Anderson doesn’t develop into a poor man’s Dirk Nowitzki, I think that’s a good thing. Right?
• I completely disagree with Sam’s assessment of Minnesota’s draft. I don’t see how Flynn and Rubio can work in the same backcourt together. Both guys are true points who demand the ball and neither one of them can defend a shooting guard. It seemed like Kahn just hedged his bets that one of the two will develop. The gutsy thing to do would have been to draft the once a decade shooter in Stephen Curry. Curry plus Rubio would have brought some much needed flair and excitement to a franchise in need of some invigoration. With the trade of Miller and Foye there is no one left on that roster who can shoot well enough to keep opponents from doubling or tripling Big Al. This strikes me as a poor attempt to emulate Danny Ainge’s blue print of stockpiling assets and trading them for superstars. The Celtics situation was more about luck than careful planning. The Celts had missed out on Oden and Durant and were going to be stuck drafting Yi. Had Boston had the chance to take a serviceable player with that number five pick, I think they would have missed out on Ray Allen. Minnesota had a great shooting guard staring them in the face and turned it down.
• So the Cavaliers glide through the regular season, leaving a wake of destruction, then get upset in the Conference Finals because they can’t match up with Orlando’s size on the perimeter and they remedy this by trading for Shaquille O’Neal? Is the Big Aristotle going to guard Rashard Lewis? Sure the Cavs had trouble defending Dwight Howard, but their fatal flaw was that Delonte West and Mo Williams weren’t big enough to keep Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkgolu from raining three-point death down upon them. I think that the Finals against the Lakers proved that the Cavalier’s inability to stop Howard stemmed more from poor strategy than a lack of talent. Also LeBron is best when he’s barreling to the hoop with reckless abandon, but with Shaq clogging up the lane on offense those forays to the hoops might become farther and farther between.
• On the plus side for the Cavs all they lose is money, and Shaq’s $20 million comes off the books during the summer of LeBron. Plus the Diesel does have an impressive track record of winning when paired with a dominant wing player. But I’ll believe this one when I see it.
• Larry Bird loves him some white folks. Adding Hansbrough to a group that already includes Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Jeff Foster and Travis Diener means that if Danny Granger gets injured the Pacers could be throwing a complete white out on the floor in certain situations. Maybe the Legend can figure out a way to acquire Brian Cardinal and this guy. What? Too soon?

-Jesse