Ellen who? For those of you who have had pubic hair for less than a decade, you won’t know to whom I refer to. A quick description: 5’7",Blonde, nice looking enough, a bit of a crooked face, eyes are kinda small, but for some reason, and you don’t see it in still pictures – the lady oozes sexy. Watch Sea of Love or The Big Easy and she will hard boil your heuvos. Descriptons and jpegs just don’t convey the personality. Back in the day, if you wanted pretty you said Jaclyn Smith. Gorgeous, but if you ever saw her act she had all the charm of a mannequin. You wanted to be seen with Jaclyn Smith, you wanted to be with Ellen Barkin. I see MKG as the Barkin equivalent of the 2012 NBA Draft.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, even an unsexy name. His ace qualities are defense and drive. Sorry, Defense ain't sexy if you are under 6'9" (I will draw the floor at Russel and DHoward). Can you name the best defensive non-Centers (who lack offensive stardom)? Do you immediately conjure up Shane Battier, Tony Allen and Thabo Sefolosha? About as alluring as Bruce Bowen in a bowtie. Don't throw me MJ, LeBron and Kobe - they are two way players. Let's add Ron Artest/MWP and Scottie Pippen who were two way players at times, just for the sake of discussion. If we stick with the defensive specialists (Battier and Co.) we see that they are less than titillating names. In fact, they are role players/starters.

So why all the drool over a guy who plays hard and defends well? I mean, here’s your dime, give me 12. Because playing basketball is an art, not a science. Drafting and scouting is the same way. But give people a chance to think and doubt creeps in. I know what I saw, I know what I think but let me look at those combine numbers again. Hmmm, you know, now I am not so sure.

It is for this reason I predict that MKG has the greatest likelihood of being a future King. You have to sell yourself on any of these guys to some extent. I don’t see where MKG will shine in a workout. Defense isn’t a “come to my gym and impress me” skill. Not against other draftees. Maybe against a current player. But that’s a tough sell. When push comes to shove, these GMs (the guys making the picks) are going to be judged by team wins/improvements/playoff runs and player notoriety. MKG is a safe pick for a GM if the kid(d) develops into an All-Star, for instance. The chance of that is not likely given his position and his limited offense. Best to hope for All-Defense as his ceiling. Flaccidly unsexy.

So, why want him? Because the ball games are not played on paper. Maybe we should nickname MKG (his abbreviation doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue) “Hardwood”. He is tough, strong and he leaves it all out on the floor. IMO, he can transform this odd mix of players called the Sacramento Kings into a playoff contender. They need more talent (hello, next year’s lottery) but they are starved for leadership and direction on the defensive end. Now, how does a line up of DMC, JT, MKG, MT and IT sound? Government Agency unsexy. I think I am going to watch Sea of Love again.