Friday, June 26, 2009

Friday 06/26 A.M. Quickie:
Draft Hangover, Rubio, Blair, Carter, More

As everyone else is doing it: The first ever concert I went to? Jackson 5 "Victory" tour.

Tons in today's SN column, with some final analysis from last night's NBA Draft. I'll pick up some highlights here:

*What were the T'wolves thinking? Ricky Rubio doesn't want to play for them. Maybe they're thinking trade, which is the only reason they would then draft Jonny Flynn.

(Here's the thing -- what could the Knicks possibly offer the T'wolves that would return anything approaching the value of Rubio? David Lee: Another power forward? Nate Robinson? They just got Jonny Flynn. Wilson Chandler? Hardly a fair deal. I think Minnesota is stuck.)

*Jonny Flynn will be the 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year. He will start from Day 1, with tons of minutes and shots, plus assists to Love/Jefferson. The T'wolves should have gone Flynn/Curry.

*DeJuan Blair: If you followed the Twitter feed last night, you know that I was flabbergasted by Blair's drop into the 2nd round (past my Wiz, damn). The Spurs made the best pick of the draft.

*I think James Harden was the most solid pick -- the best pick -- for the Thunder, who can pair him with Westbrook in a long, active backcourt. Harden can't shoot the 3? So what: Durant can.

*I am not a Knicks fan, but I was bummed Stephen Curry didn't end up in New York. Golden State or Phoenix, it's just not the same as if he had played in the Garden.

*Terrence Williams is in an intriguing situation: Vince Carter is gone, so about 20 shots and starter's minutes are available to split with Courtney Lee. Williams-Harris in the backcourt is kind of awesome to think about.

*Here's a sleeper: Toney Douglas, who will thrive in Mike D'Antoni's system -- I thought of him as Arenas-Lite, but maybe he plays the Barbosa role for the Knicks. Or the Nate Robinson role, actually -- New York can let Robinson go, now.

*Don't cry for Jrue Holiday -- the last guy left in the Green Room. He goes to a young playoff team that has a need for precisely his skills.

*That Tyler Hansbrough would get jeered by the Garden crowd was inevitable. It wouldn't be so inviting if he hadn't spend Draft season promoting his inferiority complex about the NBA.

(By the way, UNC ruled: 3 1st-rounders and a 2nd. And that doesn't even count Ed Davis, who will be a Top 5 pick next year, and Deon Thompson, who will be a 1st-rounder, too. That's 6 NBA draftees off last year's title team; well, no duh they won it all. Perhaps I should have considered that.)

*Brandon Jennings was a douche to skip the Green Room because he was worried he would be the last guy there -- that's more of a red flag than anything else I have seen/heard/read about him. But he has a sense of showmanship by showing up at the Garden for his handshake. As the first prep-to-Euro, he HAD to do that.

(By the way, so much for Jennings being punished for going to Europe -- he wouldn't have gone higher than 10th if he had played for Arizona a year ago. If anything, his stock would have dipped.)

If you missed all my Twitter rantings, you can find them here.

Complete column here, with more on the draft. More on Vince Carter. More on Michael Jackson.

If you didn't see my newest unifying theory of the NBA, it's in the post directly below.

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Roscoe said...

It's Deon Thompson on UNC. And don't forget to watch out for Marcus Ginyard's comeback year.