Random thoughts on the NBA draft

Got to say Portland did the best last night. Greg Oden will be a star by the end of his rookie year if not sooner and they picked up Taurean Green (#52 overall and I think he'll be as good as Mike Conley) and Josh McRoberts (a high school pal of Oden incidentally). I love ditching Zach Randolph (the ugliest good player in the league right now) for Channing Frye (a nice young player). If they can keep Stevie Franchise from hogging the rock could--keep the ball in the hands of Jarrett Jack and Brandon Roy--they could be good right away. And they picked up 2 European guys they might be able to use next year.

These guys are on fire. They've completely overhauled their team in the last 2 drafts and they've moved into the rich-get-richer plan* of storing away European talent for the future. (*) (That plan was used with some luck by Utah in the Stockton-Malone days, picked up rather sloppily by the Warriors (who don't have the stars to rely on until the talent is ready) and mastered by the Spurs who are crushing people with a collection of foreign players everybody missed) So they've rid themselves of past problems, vastly upgraded their current team and started to build for the future just in the last 12 months. Makes me wish I was a Blazer fan!

I thought the Bulls quietly added 3 useful players. Joakim Noah fits well with the Bulls, let him be the offensive complement to Tyrus Thomas and you've got two young bangers that can run and gun for years to come. And they got Aaron Gray (Pitt) and Jameson Curry (Okla St) in the 2nd round; I think both of those guys can play (though they might be practice players for 2 years before they really get on the floor) who will thicken that bench.

Minnesota didn't knock me out. Corey Brewer is a little overrated, I don't think he'll have the impact that Brandon Roy had, for example, and I don't mean to knock Roy, he's a nice player, but he didn't exactly re-invent basketball, did he? I like Chris Richard, the underrated additive on those Florida championship squads, but I wonder about his durability and his heart. He could be lightning in a bottle or he could be out of the league in 3 years.

I kept waiting for Milwaukee to trade Yi Jianlian. I suspect they fancy themselves players in the KG/Kobe sweepstakes but I don't see it. I fear the Bucks won't get what they want out of him: on the one hand the salary cap guarantees a minimum value for him but he's unproven trade bait so who's going to pull the trigger on that?

The Bobcats picked up Jason Richardson, a nice veteran player that can help a young team in a crappy conference, and Jermereo Davidson could be one of the great sleepers of the 2nd round--didn't it seem like the 2nd round was more interesting than the last half of the 1st?

The Pistons nabbed 3 guards: Rodney Stuckey, Aaron Aflalo and Sammy Mejia. I think Chauncey Billups is on his way out of town--look, he can get more money in a lot of other places and he can play for a better team in a lot of other places, he ain't coming back to fading Detroit--but these guys aren't PG's, they're SG's. They would make better replacements for Rip Hamilton, wouldn't they?

The Hawks got two nice new players in Al Horford and Acie Law, both of whom could be fine NBA players. But don't the Hawks 1 or 2 good looking young players every year and still pick in the top 5?

Suns picked up 2 nice players in Alando Tucker and DJ Strawberry. Both of those guys can play both ends of the floor and they should fit in nicely. (Or Tucker might make another add-on in the KG sweepstakes)

Ray Allen is probably the most underappreciated player in the league, he is a great player tucked away in basketball Siberia, so you probably haven't noticed. Putting him next to Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson should be good enough for 8th place in the east but not much better than that. I suppose Ray Allen is better than the 5th pick in this year's draft, though we'll see if the Celtics regret passing Yi Jianlian.

Getting rid of Steve Francis and bringing another high energy, low ego rookie might well be enough to bring forth the Knick renaissance. Zach Randolph is filler-upper inside which the Knicks can use but beware, he's horrible to watch and may be inconsistent. (As a Kentucky fan let me get in a shoot out to Randolph Morris, he can score points, he's better than you think, he's the reason Channing Frye was expendable) Hey, the east isn't that great and the Knicks have more good players than anyone has noticed. I think they'll satrt out strong and fade in the playoffs.