Post-Draft Miscellany
Some admittedly disjointed notes and thoughts the morning after:
- Maurice Evans has went to the dark side. There, he joins Jordan Farmar, who might not play much immediately according to Mitch Kupchak in the Los Angeles Times. Friend-of-Sactown-Royalty Kurt at Forum Blue and Gold has some thoughts.
- Best quote on the Douby pick? It's from his agent, Keith Glass: "He's 6-2 1/2 barefoot and weights 175ish, but I've watched a lot of games in the playoffs in past several years, and if Rip Hamilton made a three, they did not deduct a point because he's skinny."
- Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for the Portland Trailblazers. ESPN owes that franchise some ad revenue. Holy crap.
- Grant Napear was absolutely killing Chris Webber on the radio last night. And I don't know how I feel about it. Napear wasn't saying anything false - it was mostly about work ethic and defense. But it didn't seem like the time or the place. I don't know.
- We know/assume Douby is a hell of a player. He's also a hell of a kid.
- My heart stopped when Seattle picked Saer Sene. It stopped again when Phoenix selected Sergio Rodriguez. I had myself believing that Phoenix was going to end up with both the players I coveted so highly over the past few weeks. I still wouldn't bet against Sene going to the Suns, but at least Sergio won't be a Pacific division rival for years to come. Again, thank you Portland. You've been great.
- It doesn't appear to be up yet, but Bill Simmons' annual NBA draft running diary is easily one of the top pieces of infotainment journalism of the year. Be sure to read it.
- Henry Abbott at True Hoop went the distance and might be in a coma. I wouldn't blame him for not looking at a computer for a month. He seriously blogged like 12 straight hours (if not more) yesterday.
- Alright, here goes: Chad Ford gets a bad rap. Yeah, he gets a lot of picks wrong. He's still the best predictor out there, by far. Whether it's his sources, his intuition, or whatever, he still typically comes through better than most on Draft Day. HOWEVAH, I don't think he watches the NBA. I really think he spends little time actually watching NBA teams. Almost understandable, considering he probably watches more college and international ball than anyone on the planet. But he really needs to understand NBA teams and their needs better. He gives the Kings a C+ for their draft - fair enough, I guess. My problem is his reasoning: that the Kings have drafted skinny swingmen the past two years as well. In that same timespan, of course, the Kings have lost Maurice Evans and Cuttino Mobley to free agency, and are about to lose Bonzi Wells. So it's kind of an ongoing need. Ford neglects to mention that Douby will likely be asked to play some point guard, and neglects to realize Francisco Garcia served mostly as a point guard during the second half of last season (before the injury). He ignores that Jason Hart is still on the roster and is still likely untradeable by himself. He ignores that Ronnie Price is locked in for another season and could be an answer at the backup PG position. He ignores the best center left on the board at that point was probably freaking Ryan Hollins. He ignores the three power forwards on the roster. He ignores that either Garcia or Kevin Martin can play small forward just as easily as they can play shooting guard. He ignores that the by-far biggest problem for this team last season was bench scoring (followed by interior defense). If I'm Chad Ford, I think I defer to Geoff Petrie just a little more. He might know what he's doing.
- I'm as much in shock about Isiah Thomas as everyone else. I'm convinced this is some sort of late 1980s vengeance ploy against the city of New York.
- Can we open a Squeeze Burger franchise at the practice facility? It's off-limits to Vitaly Potapenko, though.
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Re: Post-Draft Miscellany
he gets a C- from me
Anyway, I've been looking at who new york picked and after seeing this video, i don't think it was a bad pick (especially if phoenix really wanted to nab him. Thank you isiah! i don't want this guy on a rival)
here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH3ylwIuhJU
you won't miss him
he's the guy with the long hair a la (brian grantt)
i'm gonna route for the guy
i'm just sorry he got drafted too high
hope he prove all those haters wrong
the same goes for isiah, he asembled this team
he better make it work this year or else he's gone
additional article
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/chris_ekstrand/06/09/orlando/
More Miscellany
I just don't get the fascination with Evans. Granted he provided a lot of excitement for people, but it would have been nice if he shot at least 75% on his dunk attempts. Oh, and speaking of shooting, quick - pick between Doug Christie and Maurice Evans for an open look from 18 ft. when it counts. Scary, huh? Anytime you pick a shooting Christie over anyone it is time to move on. Sooo...
If Quicy Douby's nickname ends up being something like "Q-Doob" that will be the only time the first-initial-of-first-name-first-syllable-of-last-name nicknaming system ended up being something remotely cool. Can we stop this FIOFNFSOLN naming soon? Please? This has to be the most pitiful era for nicknames and it has to stop. (But on a side note, why didn't we get M-Bib or B-Mill or F-Gar? What made these potential nicknames any worse than K-Mart, C-Webb, J-Will, B-Jax or any other equally unimaginative use of this system?)
Lastly, I like Bonzi Wells' game a lot. I liked the trade when it happened, when he was healthy he tore up my fantasy league and I think he will fit well with Artest. But, if he gets a contract with numbers greater than 4 years and/or $36 million, let him walk. And that is that...
Nicknames
http://www.bobcatsplanet.com/joomla/content/view/65/9/
(Play the video on the bottom)
I vote for "Sgt. Awesome"
Via Truehoop.com
Steve Kerr: Kings Get a "B".
Sacramento Kings: B - Critics will say that Geoff Petrie should have made a "need" pick and taken a point guard like Rajon Rondo or Marcus Williams. But Quincy Douby is one of the best shooters in the draft and is an explosive (albeit small) guard. He can score in bunches and I think he'll have a better career than any of the point guards taken behind him. Maybe the Kings didn't need him (they have Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia at his position), but Petrie has been ahead of the curve on most of his draft picks over the years. I'm guessing he was this time as well.
Grant Napear
Ok, that is not all. For some reason, he finds a few guys he dislikes and then beats on them incessantly. C-Webb, Bonds, McNabb, Kordell back in the day. Deserved or not, there's some obsession going on.
I kind of agreed with the Chad Ford analysis, except for the fact that nobody knows what else Petrie has up his sleeve. There could still be deals to be made. And one area we were very sorely lacking in the stretch last season was outside scoring - so Douby fills a need in that regard.
Too bad about Mo Evans, but I've always felt he's a bit overrated. If Mitch Kupchak really likes him, that probably doesn't bode well for his actual skill set.
Thanks for the heads-up on the Bill Simmons article TZ...going to check it out now. I'm sure there's some quality snark heading Isaiah's way.
Re: Grant Napear
Re: Post-Draft Miscellany
& then, who knows, maybe they'll hire Rick Adelman as their new head coach. If Goldenstate doesn't try to take him back 1st...
Irritated me that Chad Ford didn't notice Cisko's skill-set at P.G...I guess he really doesn't watch a lot of NBA ball...
& Detroit fans are pretty happy to see Mo' Evans leave...apparently he didn't help in the locker-room with 'team cohesion'; by talking to the press about the problems Flip Saunders was having with Wallace & Wallace & Co.He wasn't seen as a 'loyal'(read:"true")Piston.

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