Ok, I’ve had some time to get my thoughts together and read all of the draft stories and all of the grades from the different publications. The consensus opinion, and I happen to agree, is that the Miami Heat had an excellent draft. Though you wouldn’t know it by Pat Riley’s reaction after drafting the most talented kid in the entire draft. Pat looked like he had just dropped his ice cream cone in a pile of shit.
Maybe dude was tired from all of the phone calls, listening to trade proposals, who knows. But in his interview right after they selected B-Easy, he made it seem like Randy Pfund and the rest of the Heat front office had to hold him down and slap him up until he green-lighted the Beasley pick.
In my eyes, Michael Beasley is the real damn deal. I’d call him the ‘Da Truth’ if Paul Pierce hadn’t already had it. Us Heat fans here are ecstatic right now! Yeah we have a logjam at forward, but damn it you make it work when you have someone as talented as Beasley.
As hyped as I am about Beasley, I think I might be even more excited that we got Mario Chalmers in the 2nd round! Are you f*cking kidding me? Chalmers? The same kid who hit the miracle shot against Memphis in the NCAA title game? The same kid who was D’ing top pick Derek Rose’s ass up in that same game? That Mario Chalmers? You daaaaamn right!
I love this kid’s game and thought he should have been a 1st rounder. I think he’s the perfect compliment to D-Wade in the backcourt. He’s about 6′3″, long arms, great defender, can shoot from deep, and is tough. Also, you don’t have all of the question marks with what position he plays. With OJ Mayo, he’s spent the the last year trying to convince people he can play the point. Same with Jarred Bayless. With Chalmers, you don’t have those questions, you KNOW you got yourself a true pointguard and I cannot wait to see this kid in a Heat uniform!
Speaking of Mayo, what the f*ck was buddy wearing at the draft?
Why ya boy looking like Bill Cosby pre-Fat Albert?
Besides his taste in clothing, I like Mayo’s game a lot, but I do not believe he can be a full time PG. I think he’ll shine in Memphis where he can play his natural position on the wing and be a playmaker from there. Memphis now has Mike Conley, Jr. and Rudy Gay to go along with Mayo. Hopefully, Pau Gasol’s brother Marc has some type of toughness to help them inside. But I believe Mayo has a good chance to be rookie of the year.
I like what Minnesota did, even though I’m not a huge fan of Kevin Love’s game. But if you pair him with Al Jefferson inside, that gives you a real nice Hi-Low option in the paint. Plus Love is going to be a great pick-n-pop big man who’ll knock down those midrange jumpers ala Horace Grant.
The one pick that surprised me was Seattle taking Westbrook at #4. Here’s another player who you really don’t know if he can play the point in the NBA. Kid is an awesome athlete who will dunk on your ass in a minute: That dude need to give his damn scholarship back!!!Not too many NBA pg’s puttin they nuts on a defender’s forehead, but is he really going to be able to run a team? That’s the question and at pick #4, you shoudn’t have that question. Obviously, Seattle IS NOT looking to win anytime soon.
Another pick I had a little bit of a problem with was Charlotte taking DJ Augustin at #9. They used a top 5 pick on Raymond Felton not too long ago, have they given up on the kid already? We’ll see, but I think they would have been better served taking a big guy, unless you really do feel that Felton sucks. If so, then yeah I guess you take the “best” pg available. My problem with Augustin is that when he went up against Derek Rose in the NCAA’s, he got his ass handed to him. Rose just physically dominated dude. If an 18 year old freshmen is killing you, what’s going to happen when one of these grown ass nba guards(Billups/B. Davis) get up on you? I really like his game and think he’ll be better than Felton, but that aint really saying a whole lot is it.
I really like what Portland is doing out west! They have a great young core of players there now and now you have Greg Oden and Bayless coming into the mix. I think the Brandon Roy/Bayless backcourt can be deadly. Roy is already one of the best young players in the league and Bayless will be able to get open shots all day off of Roy’s drives. Also, with Oden inside, that should open the floor for everyone. Watch out for the Trailblazers to make some noise out west next season!
Finally, I had thought that whole trend of drafting these foreign cats, who average 2 points a game in these foreign leagues and can’t play in the NBA for at least 3 years was over. But I guess I was wrong. If you’re a team that’s built to win right now, I can see you drafting a super athletic, young kid that you can allow to get better overseas. But if you’re the Charlotte Bobcats, you don’t have time to wait on some dude who might not ever leave Europe to come to the NBA. The Euro Clubs are able to hang on to their elite youngsters because the US Dollar is so damn weak. Yep, the economy is effecting the damn draft. If the Bobcats are offering a contract worth 5 million usd and my Spanish club is offering me 5 million euro per season, I’m staying in Spain. That 5 mill usd ends up being like 3 million euro when I go back across that water.
All in all, it was fun draft to watch with surprise picks and surprise drops. Next up is when the real fun begins, free agency. Some big names have opted out and I’m looking for teams to make some big moves this offseason…
