2010 NBA Draft

Knicks

          Let’s start with my favorite team of all time, the New York Knicks. A team I have waited loyally for year after year to make any kind of splash. They may not have had a 1st round pick this year and may be living and dying on this year’s free agency, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have drafted decent players with their two consecutive 2nd round picks, but they blew it...BIG TIME. I waited 3.5 hours anticipating their pick, and they could not have let me down any more. There are 2 positions the Knicks desperately need, and it just so happens that those 2 positions are not available in free agency. They need a point guard and a center. Maybe Bosh and Amar’e can play center, but they are true power forwards, and the best point available is Raymond Felton, which isn’t much. Donnie could 
have picked both positions in this draft, but for some reason decided that he would draft positions that he absolutely didn’t need. With #38 the Knicks picked Syracuse sharp shooter Andy Rautins and with #39 they picked forward Landry Fields out of Stanford. Does Donnie not realize that he may only have 4 players under contract now, but 3 of those are shooting guards/small forwards? Rautins was a waste because they already have 3-point specialist Danilo Gallinari. Fields was a waste because, well he wasn’t even supposed to be drafted. He may have led the Pac-10 in scoring, but that means nothing in the NBA, especially when the Pac-10 was as bad as they were this year. The Knicks could have very easily signed him as an undrafted free agent if they really wanted him that badly, and the same probably goes for Rautins. Lastly, neither can play defense, period.

          If it were up to me, the Knicks should have taken New York native and Cincinnati guard Lance Stephenson and center Soloman Alabi out of Florida State. Let’s start with Stephenson. The problem with him is that he is immature, simply put: a punk. But with the 38th pick a team should be drafting on skill, not maturity. With such a young player, maturity may come with age, but skills are a lot harder to come by. Worse comes to worst, get him a baby sitter so he stays out of trouble. Now to Alabi, what I said about maturity goes the same with potential, and that’s what Alabi has. He is 7’1” with a 7’5” wingspan which means he is a shot blocker and presence in the paint, which is what the Knicks, last in the league in blocked shots, needs. It’s as if Donnie figured this draft wouldn’t mean anything because of the upcoming free agency, so he decided to draft 2 guys that would probably not be drafted otherwise, just so he could make their day. Donnie may be able to make trades, but when it comes to drafting for the Knicks he appears clueless, and that goes back to last year when not only did pass up on Brandon Jennings for Jordan Hill at #8, who he later traded anyway, but he had the ability to trade with Washington and receive the #5 pick for the opportunity to draft either Tyreke Evans or Ricky Rubio, but decided against it because he thought Rubio wouldn’t be available then. He would have DEFINITELY gotten 1 of the 2 with the #5 pick but decided against it because it seems like he didn’t want Evans. (For the record: Rubio DID go #5 and Evans, who went #4, won Rookie of the Year). Nice scouting job Donnie.

          Walsch has placed all of New York’s eggs in one basket and that basket is falling apart bit by bit. I just hope he doesn’t start spending money for the sake of spending money like his predecessor did. We’ve all seen what that results in.

Winners

Washington Wizards/Philadelphia 76ers

          These are the two obvious picks as winners so let’s get them out of the way now. These two were going to select John Wall and Evan Turner as 1 and 2 no matter what, and those were the right choices. They both got star college players who in a few years will be franchise players for their respective teams.

John Calipari

          The man is untouchable. Not only has he left 2 schools, UMass and Memphis, under NCAA recruiting investigation and had each of their Final 4 appearances vacated while not seeing any backlash himself, but on draft night he had 5 of his Kentucky players drafted in the 1st round: John Wall (1), DeMarcus Cousins (5), Patrick Patterson (14), Eric Bledsoe (18), and Daniel Orton (29). Calipari is officially the king of one and done players, choosing NBA success for his players over college education. Much like Michigan State coach Tom Izzo can go to a recruit and say that if you stay for 4 years at MSU, history says you will play in at least one Final 4, Calipari can say that if you come to Kentucky for 1 year and forget about school, he can make you a 1st round pick. It’s sad, but that seems to be the type of times we are living in. Side note: The first college senior picked in this year’s draft was Trevor Booker who went #23 to the Timberwolves. That’s the latest that the first senior has been drafted in the NBA. The previous record? #12.

Miami Heat

          In a year where most teams are looking more towards free agency than the draft, the Heat cleared a ton of cap space in preparation for July 1. Through draft day trades, they now only have 2 players under contract, Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers. That leaves them with about $43 million of salary cap space and if they can trade Beasley they will be able to go after 3 max. contract free agents.

Oklahoma City Thunder

          The youngest team in the league did a great job drafting and trading for what they needed. One of the biggest problems with the Thunder this season was their lack of an inside presence. They quickly fixed that by trading with the Hornets for their #11 pick, Kansas center Cole Aldrich who is a big body and a very solid defensive player, just what they need. They also traded for German player and #31 overall pick Tibor Pleiss. This is a nice, safe pick because as the first pick in the 2nd round, the Thunder does not have to guarantee the 7’1” 20 year old a contract, but if they need him they can sign him as another center. If they need to, they can stash him away in Europe for a year or two and them bring him over when he is ready.

Losers

Portland Trail Blazers

          They aren’t losers because of their picks. They actually had a pretty good draft after they traded for the #16 pick and possible sleeper Luke Babbitt out of Nevada and drafted arguably the 2nd best point guard in the draft at #34 when they selected Armon Johnson, also out of Nevada. No, they are losers because they fired one of the best GMs in the league in Kevin Pritchard. Pritchard had been making fantastic picks and great trades as GM of the Blazers and was surprisingly fired about an hour before the draft started, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he actually had to run the draft for the team. He was fired before the draft, but wasn’t relieved of his duties until after the draft. Portland pretty much said “Kevin we don’t want you around anymore, but before you go can you do this one last thing for us?” Pritchard made great draft day trades in the past when he acquired Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, as well as a mid-season trade for the very under-rated Marcus Camby. The only knock on Pritchard was that he selected Greg Oden #1 overall in 2007 over Kevin Durant. However, when the 29 other GMs in the league would have done the EXACT same thing if placed in his position, then I think you can give him a pass. Bottom line, his firing was beyond stupid and everyone, except the people in Portland, knows that any team would be lucky to have him.

Sleepers

James Anderson selected #20 by San Antonio

          San Antonio is passed its prime and needs to start rebuilding. They already have George Hill to replace Tony Parker. Now they have a dynamic shooting guard who can shoot the lights out. Anderson is a player who can make shots who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective.

Hassan Whiteside selected #33 by Sacramento

          This is a low risk, high reward pick by the Kings. Hassan Whiteside has one of the highest potentials of all the 2010 draftees. He is a 7’0” center with an astounding 7’6” wingspan. The knock on him is that because he played at Marshall, his competition was not top notch. His game is also still very raw as he clearly has the body for an NBA player, but not quite the talent or strength just yet. With a wingspan like that, blocking shots comes naturally, but he still has a lot of work to do on the offensive end. If his work ethic is there, he can become a dangerous player on both ends of the court. If it’s not, he can become the next DeAndre Jordan.

Lance Stephenson selected #34 by Indiana

          Stephenson is a 6-6 guard with a 6-11 wingspan. He can handle the ball and is quick like a point guard and his strong upper body helps him get to the rim relatively easily. He jumper isn’t bad either. Like I said before, really the only knock on Stephenson is his maturity. I believe that if it weren’t for questions of character, Stephenson would have gone mid to late 1st round.