Hurray! Live Blog! This draft could get absolutely crazy, or at least I hope so. Seems like most drafts that are supposed to be nuts end up being snoozers, but there's so much potential for the crazy here I can't believe nothing interesting will happen.
As with just about anything, you can bet on a ton of draft related stuff. Because you can bet on it, I did. Here's what I have tonight:
Joel Embiid draft position over 5 (small)
Tyler Ennis draft position over 18.5 (small)
Marcus Smart draft position over 5.5 (normal bet)
Shabazz Napier draft position under 25.5 (normal)
Total seniors taken in first round over 2.5 (extra super big bet)
I also have a combination of bets where I win a normal amount if Parker goes first but don't lose anything if Wiggins go first. It's from a combination of an early bet at great odds that suddenly looked like a bad bet but an opportunity to hedge out of a lot of it presented itself. It's complicated and you're definitely not smart enough to understand.
Anyway, hopefully something happens with Love tonight or soon at least. I think if they can get Golden State to include Harrison Barnes that's a pretty good trade. Remember Barnes averaged 16 points and 6 rebounds per game in 12 postseason games in 2012-2013. Then the Warriors traded for Andre Iguodala and his development was completely blocked. If you can get Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and David Lee you're acquiring three starters, two of whom could have significant upside and at a minimum you're getting a second tier star in Thompson, a solid starter in Lee, and at least a rotation guy in Barnes (though I think he'll be better than this). I dunno, I take it for sure, especially if you can shed either Kevin Martin or Chase Budinger's contract while you're at it.
Anyway, on to the draft.
- We got a new cat today. Murray. 3 years old and Orange and super mellow. Daughter (age 6) cried tears of joy when we brought him home. Took him less than three hours to get stuck in the crawl space in the basement and, despite being I assured that I would have to do zero work if we got a cat, guess who got to spend 40 minutes getting him out and then figuring out how to block it off so he couldn't get out. Yep.
- Does anyone ever pick in this draft?
- Cavs go with Andrew Wiggins. Kind of a mild surprise since Cleveland is Cleveland and I could see them doing something insane like picking Dante Exum.
- How fast does Milwaukee get this pick in? It should take about 4 seconds. Like you.
- Indeed it's Jabari. What are the odds going to be on him winning ROY? He's got to be an overwhelming favorite as the most NBA ready talent and going somewhere he'll immediately become the #1 option. He will be the top option there, right? I'll admit, I have trouble coming up with Bucks. I think they have Larry Sanders and maybe Brandon Jennings. Or is he on the Pistons now? Wow. This is embarrassing. Jon Leuer maybe? Probably some foreign guys. So yeah, ROY. For a lot of monies.
- Third pick here for Philly is the most interesting one. Go with Embiid and take that risk or take a safer player (or somewhere in between like Exum)? I'd go with Embiid as the Sixers since they aren't going to be anywhere near contending for at least another couple years, why not swing for the fences?
- Boom. It is Embiid. No doubt about, most talented guy in the draft. A seven footer with the athleticism of a swingman who keeps developing more offensive abilities, including a mid-range jumper mid-season. Unreal. IF he stays healthy, and yes that's clearly become a monster IF, he's going to be a monster.
- Magic go with Aaron Gordon at #4. Gross, and what horrid night for Orlando. First they trade Aaron Afflalo for some crappy guard with a frenchy name and almost the last pick of the draft, now they take a guy with absolutely no real basketball skills when there were two much better forwards (Vonleh and Randle) available. Gross.
- Utah travels back in time to when high school kids were drafted in the lottery despite having no real game tape against proper competition and takes Dante Exum. Look, maybe he'll work out - KG, Kobe, and Lebron certainly did, but thanks to Jon Bender, Kwame Brown, and Kovortney Barber I wouldn't touch him with so many semi-proven good players still on the board. And this means the Lakers will get either Vonleh or Randle. Stupid Lakers.
- Exum's accent makes him sound like a dandy.
- Celtics go with Marcus Smart, and this has to mean they're trading Rondo, right? They're practically the same player with the ball, in that their strength is their strength when it comes to getting to the rim to either score, get fouled, or dish. Both are good rebounders for guards, both are excellent defenders, and neither can shoot outside. I had heard earlier that Rondo might be on the move to Sacramento for #8, and now that sounds more likely to me than it did earlier today.
- Vonleh or Randle is one hell of a tough decision. It's like choosing between Knob Creek and Woodford Reserve. I LOVE YOU BOTH.
- I think how they can't stop talking about how Smart is so competitive. Sure, but he's kind of an asshole too and he still can't shoot.
- Randle is the choice. `If Sacramento goes Vonleh and that trade with the Celtics is real a Smart/Vonleh draft is a great one for Boston. Oh, and the cat's in the ceiling somehow. Time to visit my good friend liquor.
- Whoa, Nik Stauskas. Wasn't expecting this. Would Boston want to reload with Smart/Stauskas? Would the Kings really want Stauskas when they took Ben McLemore last year? Well nothing really fun has happened yet, but there are enough questions about this first round that there's got to be some wheels turning.
- Hornets, who have been basically been linked to Doug McDermott by everyone, do the smart thing with Vonleh having slipped and take him. He's going to be a star.
- Interviewer guy to Vonleh, "How important was Tom Crean in your development." Give Vonleh and incredible amount of credit for not just plain bursting out laughing.
- Philly goes Elfrid Payton at #10, which is a horrible pick and also doesn't make a whole lot of sense because he's a point guard and the Sixers have rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams and neither one of them can shoot. Both are good defenders, but neither has a whole lot of strength and they could both just get brutalized by stronger 2s. I feel like this is another trade waiting to be announced. And never, ever trust a player who shoots up draft boards late for no real reason. It never works. Probably.
- Here comes Denver, a pick that has been rumored to be heading to the Wolves along with Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried for Kevin Love and if that happened I would kill myself.
- Nugs take McDermott. Now I'll double kill myself if that trade happens. 1 senior off the board. I need three to go. That's seriously a really big bet.
- There you go, McDermott traded to Chicago for #16 and #19. Let the trade waters flow.
- The Magic take Dario Saric from Croatia to go with trading Afflalo for nothing and Aaron Gordon. Oof. This is like watching Dawger at a fantasy football draft.
- I suppose that means the Wolves are up. I have very little interest in anyone here. Gary Harris is probably the most ready. Adreian Payne is interesting. Zach LaVine is Bilas's best available and even though I think he has bust written all over him I suppose at this point he also has the most upside of anyone available. I dunno. I am strangely ambivalent, but that's probably because I know the Love trade is coming up at some point and that's way more interesting.
- Zach LaVine it is. Any time you can get a point guard who was a backup at UCLA and averaged more rebounds than assists you have to do it.
- Sixers and Magic trade Saric for Payton. One time I gave this bum a bag of trash and he gave me back his bag of trash.
- Suns go with T.J. Warren. This either going to be an absolute steal or a huge bust. Warren is a monster scorer, but he doesn't really look the part. He has a goofy looking jumper and he scores a ton of his points on weird shots that go in because he can just do it no matter how off balance or out of rhythm. He should actually do quite well in Phoenix.
- Atlanta takes Adreian Payne (senior #2), which means we get to hear that whole story about him and that little girl again. Yes, it's a great story, but does it make me a bad person if I'm bored hearing about it? Actually I don't care.
- The Magic should have their two picks, Aaron Gordon and Elfried Payton play horse. Could last until infinity.
- Denver takes some foreigner from Bosnia whose name I don't feel like typing, Celtics go with James Young (who I like a lot, mostly because he's a lefty, he got a lot better last season when he decided to be more than a jump shooter), and the Suns take Tyler Ennis to go with T.J. Warren. Tyler Ennis goes #18. I had the over 18.5. Dammit.
- Vance Worley with 7 innings of 1 run ball tonight, running his ERA to 1.74 in 3 starts with the Pirates. It's like the Twins coaches somehow actually wreck players. I know I've joked about it before, but I think maybe it's time to stop joking about it. They're doing something very wrong over there.
- I'm strangely super bored by this draft. Nuggets take Gary Harris, which means Denver has acquired both Aaron Afflalo and Gary Harris, which is redundant.
- Raptors select some buy from Brazil who nobody has ever heard of. I'm bailing on this draft as soon as Napier goes.
- Jesus Christ with this cat stuff. Now my son, who is kind of scared of everything, is freaking out if the cat goes in his room while he's trying to fall asleep. But he also cries if we shut his door because he likes to sleep with it open. Remember back when I started this blog and I was basically just a drunk stupid kid? Growing up and having to take care of things like kids sucks sometimes. I'm out boys. Pray for Shabazz Napier.
Showing posts with label Andrew Wiggins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrew Wiggins. Show all posts
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Sunday, July 7, 2013
NBA Free Agent Action is Hot!
Take a few days off to catch some fish at the cabin and you miss like, 1 million free agent signings in the NBA. I'm going to hit a few of the highlights. Or lowlights.
1. Might as well start with your precious T-Wolves, who signed Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger in a move to try to surround the Ricky Rubio/Kevin Love nucleus with as many poorly defending shooters as possible. You take those two, J.J. Barea, Rubio, Love, Luke Ridnour, and Derrick Williams and add Shabazz Muhammad to the mix and the Wolves might end up being the worst defensive team in the league next year, especially if Kirilenko isn't back. Nikola Pekovic, who it sounds like they're going to do everything to keep, is a decent post defender but not a rim protector in the slightest, which taken all together means that Giorgui Dieng is the only true paint defensive presence on the entire team. You know, the guy whose job it is to discourage guys like Lebron and Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook from driving past all those white guards over and over again. Sounds like a recipe for success!
2. Dwight Howard is going to Houston. Howard turned down more years and more money to stay with the Lakers and play with two (possibly 3) other future Hall-of-Famers, which is a stunningly good decision given Howard's track record the last three years.
Apparently the Howard signing isn't loved by everyone, as incumbent starting center Omer Asik has said he doesn't want Howard there, doesn't want to back him up, and doesn't want to play next to him and might want out of Houston. Well guess what Omer? I got news for you: I'm pretty sure they were exploring trades for you already. Outside of free throw shooting his entire skill set is Dwight Howard extra lite, he offers nothing complimentary to Howard's game, and he's good enough where they can get something nice back for him most likely. Sorry Omer, but you're not Dwight.
And make no mistake - Dwight Howard is still really, really good and it seems like everyone is forgetting that. Last year was horrible, yes, but
3. Sticking with the Rockets, they also traded your best friend Royce White to the 76ers. Clearly Philly succeeded so well with one troubled but talented young big man in Andrew Bynum that they were super excited to try it again. Since Royce is pretty much afraid of everything, he's started walking to Philly from Houston and expects to be there by time training camps begin. Also, I really think trading Jrue Holiday is going to end up being a mistake for Philly.
4. In what was, to me, the most shocking development of this period Brad Stevens (formerly of Butler) has agreed to become coach of the Celtics. I was up at the cabin with Snacks and news was on in the background because we only get one channel up there and when the banner "Stevens to Boston" came up we had to yell and shush everybody else up and do you know how hard it is to shush up three women and one old man who've been hammering wine since mid-day? It ain't Ninja Gaiden hard, but it's hard.
I'm just totally blown away because I assumed Stevens was going to be at Butler until he was lured away by Indiana or Duke or Kentucky or one of the other big-time college programs - I never ever thought he'd be going to the NBA for some reason. I think part of it is because I thought we were done poaching college coaches and trying to make them NBA coaches since basically everybody has been a failure (seriously who is the best coach to make the switch? I think it's P.J. Carlesimo which is like whoa). Also this surprises me because Stevens is only 36 and has zero NBA experience. People threw enough of a fit over Rich Pitino getting hired to coach kids at 30, but now Stevens is going to handle grown ass millionaires at 36? I know it's a young team after trading Garnett and Pierce, but their best player is a total head case in Rajon Rondo. There's almost no way Rondo spaz out by midseason. I'm not saying Stevens won't work out for sure, I'm just saying he won't with Rondo around. FACT.
5. The Hawks and Bucks got into a big fight over Kyle Korver. Looking at the teams involved, you'd probably guess that this was an idiotic fight to get in to, and as usual you're right. There were no winners in this fight, except of course Korver who ended up with a 4-year, $26 million contract which, considering he's going to be 37 at the end of that deal and he has exactly one discernible skill seems like a bit of an overpay, but then again J.J. Redick got 4/$27 and Jose Calderon got 4/$28 apparently that's the running rate for a one dimensional player who is really good at that one dimension and terrible at everything else. For some reason, this seems terribly unfair.
6. The Warriors are getting interesting. First, because Dawger will point it out anyway, despite all my misgivings Steph Curry has completely proven me wrong and is a very, very good NBA player. He's not as good as Bill Simmons thought he was during the play-offs, but he's an all-star, I will admit, and there's no doubt that he and Klay Thompson are a pretty dynamic duo. Next season Harrison Barnes will be a year older and a year better, and he started to show some pretty dramatic growth in the playoffs and he gives the Warriors three pretty good wing players who can score in bunches.
Now, via free agency, they've added Andre Iguodala, who doesn't score in bunches the way the other three do but is still averages 15 ppg for his carrer, is an absolutely outstanding defender, and can handle the ball and create well enough the Curry will get more chances to run off the ball, which will only help. The plan seems to be to go with all four in the lineup at a time quite often, which will work if Barnes can defend and rebound at the 4 (remains to be seen), but even if not that's a pretty potent lineup, and Andrew Bogut (if healthy) is a good enough interior defender to make up for some defensive mistakes. Really though, having four players who can all dribble, create, and shoot is something few teams have, and any time all four of those guys are on the floor it should be fun to watch. Possibly on both ends.
7. Milwaukee, oh Milwaukee. First they made a trade towards the end of last season to acquire J.J. Redick, giving Tobias Harris to Orlando. Harris, who averaged less than 12 minutes per game with the Bucks, was given starter's minutes in Orlando and went on to average 17 pts and 9 rebounds per game. The Bucks just traded Redick (in a sign and trade) and received two second-round picks in return. Then Monta Ellis opted out of his deal, which might actually be a good thing, but also means the Bucks have to find a way to replace some production all while with the handicap of selling Milwaukee to free agents.
Their big moves so far have been to sign O.J. Mayo, Zaza Pachulia, and Carlos Delfino - essentially a sixth man and two back-ups. Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis (he gone), and Mike Dunleavey (he gone) were the team's top 3 scorers last year and now all three may be gone depending on what Jennings ends up doing. Essentially the team is a bunch of so-so big men (John Henson is probably the best or at least has the most potential depending on what you think of Larry Sanders whose name does not actually have to be capitalized nerds) and Ish Smith. This is either completely pathetic, or a genius realization that they're never going to be able to build a contending team through free agency and are in full on tank mode. Given that we're talking Wisconsin, they're probably just drunk.
8. We all know that the Lakers are somehow going to end up with Andrew Wiggins in next year's draft, right? That's just how it happens. If their smart they'll amnesty Kobe (since he is taking up nearly half of their cap room) trade Nash to Dallas for the heart warming Dirk/Nash reunion, trade Gasol and World Peace for whatever they can get and completely bottom out and hope for Wiggins. What they will do is continue trotting out a lineup completely mismatched to D'Antoni's system which will be mismatched because Kobe will rush himself back by the season opener and they'll end up missing the playoffs by just a couple games and then win the lottery anyway because the NBA is rigged and everybody knows it. Fact.
1. Might as well start with your precious T-Wolves, who signed Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger in a move to try to surround the Ricky Rubio/Kevin Love nucleus with as many poorly defending shooters as possible. You take those two, J.J. Barea, Rubio, Love, Luke Ridnour, and Derrick Williams and add Shabazz Muhammad to the mix and the Wolves might end up being the worst defensive team in the league next year, especially if Kirilenko isn't back. Nikola Pekovic, who it sounds like they're going to do everything to keep, is a decent post defender but not a rim protector in the slightest, which taken all together means that Giorgui Dieng is the only true paint defensive presence on the entire team. You know, the guy whose job it is to discourage guys like Lebron and Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook from driving past all those white guards over and over again. Sounds like a recipe for success!
2. Dwight Howard is going to Houston. Howard turned down more years and more money to stay with the Lakers and play with two (possibly 3) other future Hall-of-Famers, which is a stunningly good decision given Howard's track record the last three years.
Apparently the Howard signing isn't loved by everyone, as incumbent starting center Omer Asik has said he doesn't want Howard there, doesn't want to back him up, and doesn't want to play next to him and might want out of Houston. Well guess what Omer? I got news for you: I'm pretty sure they were exploring trades for you already. Outside of free throw shooting his entire skill set is Dwight Howard extra lite, he offers nothing complimentary to Howard's game, and he's good enough where they can get something nice back for him most likely. Sorry Omer, but you're not Dwight.
And make no mistake - Dwight Howard is still really, really good and it seems like everyone is forgetting that. Last year was horrible, yes, but
- He was returning from a back injury, which for a player like him who relies on his athleticism and specifically his ability to jump quickly that is a tough one to play through.
- The system he was playing in last year sucked for him, and playing with Kobe Bryant made him miserable which, because he's an immature person, made him sulk and affected his play.
- People around the country hated, or at least had a strong dislike for Howard and the way he got Orlando's coach fired, then pushed his way out,then got Mike Brown fired with the Lakers. Dwight is an immature person, and being disliked made him extra miserable and see #2.
3. Sticking with the Rockets, they also traded your best friend Royce White to the 76ers. Clearly Philly succeeded so well with one troubled but talented young big man in Andrew Bynum that they were super excited to try it again. Since Royce is pretty much afraid of everything, he's started walking to Philly from Houston and expects to be there by time training camps begin. Also, I really think trading Jrue Holiday is going to end up being a mistake for Philly.
4. In what was, to me, the most shocking development of this period Brad Stevens (formerly of Butler) has agreed to become coach of the Celtics. I was up at the cabin with Snacks and news was on in the background because we only get one channel up there and when the banner "Stevens to Boston" came up we had to yell and shush everybody else up and do you know how hard it is to shush up three women and one old man who've been hammering wine since mid-day? It ain't Ninja Gaiden hard, but it's hard.
I'm just totally blown away because I assumed Stevens was going to be at Butler until he was lured away by Indiana or Duke or Kentucky or one of the other big-time college programs - I never ever thought he'd be going to the NBA for some reason. I think part of it is because I thought we were done poaching college coaches and trying to make them NBA coaches since basically everybody has been a failure (seriously who is the best coach to make the switch? I think it's P.J. Carlesimo which is like whoa). Also this surprises me because Stevens is only 36 and has zero NBA experience. People threw enough of a fit over Rich Pitino getting hired to coach kids at 30, but now Stevens is going to handle grown ass millionaires at 36? I know it's a young team after trading Garnett and Pierce, but their best player is a total head case in Rajon Rondo. There's almost no way Rondo spaz out by midseason. I'm not saying Stevens won't work out for sure, I'm just saying he won't with Rondo around. FACT.
5. The Hawks and Bucks got into a big fight over Kyle Korver. Looking at the teams involved, you'd probably guess that this was an idiotic fight to get in to, and as usual you're right. There were no winners in this fight, except of course Korver who ended up with a 4-year, $26 million contract which, considering he's going to be 37 at the end of that deal and he has exactly one discernible skill seems like a bit of an overpay, but then again J.J. Redick got 4/$27 and Jose Calderon got 4/$28 apparently that's the running rate for a one dimensional player who is really good at that one dimension and terrible at everything else. For some reason, this seems terribly unfair.
6. The Warriors are getting interesting. First, because Dawger will point it out anyway, despite all my misgivings Steph Curry has completely proven me wrong and is a very, very good NBA player. He's not as good as Bill Simmons thought he was during the play-offs, but he's an all-star, I will admit, and there's no doubt that he and Klay Thompson are a pretty dynamic duo. Next season Harrison Barnes will be a year older and a year better, and he started to show some pretty dramatic growth in the playoffs and he gives the Warriors three pretty good wing players who can score in bunches.
Now, via free agency, they've added Andre Iguodala, who doesn't score in bunches the way the other three do but is still averages 15 ppg for his carrer, is an absolutely outstanding defender, and can handle the ball and create well enough the Curry will get more chances to run off the ball, which will only help. The plan seems to be to go with all four in the lineup at a time quite often, which will work if Barnes can defend and rebound at the 4 (remains to be seen), but even if not that's a pretty potent lineup, and Andrew Bogut (if healthy) is a good enough interior defender to make up for some defensive mistakes. Really though, having four players who can all dribble, create, and shoot is something few teams have, and any time all four of those guys are on the floor it should be fun to watch. Possibly on both ends.
7. Milwaukee, oh Milwaukee. First they made a trade towards the end of last season to acquire J.J. Redick, giving Tobias Harris to Orlando. Harris, who averaged less than 12 minutes per game with the Bucks, was given starter's minutes in Orlando and went on to average 17 pts and 9 rebounds per game. The Bucks just traded Redick (in a sign and trade) and received two second-round picks in return. Then Monta Ellis opted out of his deal, which might actually be a good thing, but also means the Bucks have to find a way to replace some production all while with the handicap of selling Milwaukee to free agents.
Their big moves so far have been to sign O.J. Mayo, Zaza Pachulia, and Carlos Delfino - essentially a sixth man and two back-ups. Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis (he gone), and Mike Dunleavey (he gone) were the team's top 3 scorers last year and now all three may be gone depending on what Jennings ends up doing. Essentially the team is a bunch of so-so big men (John Henson is probably the best or at least has the most potential depending on what you think of Larry Sanders whose name does not actually have to be capitalized nerds) and Ish Smith. This is either completely pathetic, or a genius realization that they're never going to be able to build a contending team through free agency and are in full on tank mode. Given that we're talking Wisconsin, they're probably just drunk.
8. We all know that the Lakers are somehow going to end up with Andrew Wiggins in next year's draft, right? That's just how it happens. If their smart they'll amnesty Kobe (since he is taking up nearly half of their cap room) trade Nash to Dallas for the heart warming Dirk/Nash reunion, trade Gasol and World Peace for whatever they can get and completely bottom out and hope for Wiggins. What they will do is continue trotting out a lineup completely mismatched to D'Antoni's system which will be mismatched because Kobe will rush himself back by the season opener and they'll end up missing the playoffs by just a couple games and then win the lottery anyway because the NBA is rigged and everybody knows it. Fact.
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| Who could say no to this? |
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