NBA Draft Recap

Before I get into how I feel about the Celtics and what the did during the 2007 draft I have a few key points I would like to make about the draft as a whole and how I think it all panned out.

- First and foremost Yi Jianlian maybe my least favorite player in the entire NBA and he hasn't even played a game yet. I hated Eli Manning when he said he would never play for the San Diego Chargers and I actually laughed outloud when Yi got drafted by the Bucks despite his best efforts to make the Bucks think he didn't even exist. This is a guy who refused to work out in Milwaukee because his handlers (what is he some kind of racehorse?) didn't like the city and because the people close to him felt that Milwaukee didn't have enough of an Asian population for him to feel comfortable. This is a guy who has never worked out against an American player, claims to be 19 when there are plenty of reports who say he is at least 3 years older and who parties with celebrities because his agent gets him on the guest list at Hollywood premieres. I am glad he is in Milwaukee, he may never play for them, but at least he won't see any lush private parties out in beer country. He is going to have to learn how to work a keg tap and mingle with bar folk or else he will be lost and he better bring a translator because he looked awful trying to do an interview for the draft.

- I hate how former athletes get the analyst jobs that I so desperately covet. Now I would understand that former athletes have a far more intimate knowledge of their respective sport than men, but if you are going to hire former athletes at least make them personable, intelligent and literate former athletes. Fernando Vina uses the same cliche catch phrases every night on Baseball Tonight, Shannon Sharpe sounds like Big Black from Rob and Big, and now Mark Jackson gets the job at the NBA Draft and he sounds like he looked up the 10 most common catch phrases used by analysts and just used cue cards to make sure he used at least half of them every time he tried to break something down. People like Orel Hershiser, John Kruk, Jay Bilas and Keyshawn Johnson are all terrific at being an analyst, but please someone hire a knowledgeable sports fan who speaks well on camera rather than a former middling athlete. Pretty Please?

- I hate spoiled athletes, for example Kobe Bryant, but for once I agree with him. Javaris Crittenton? How about someone ready to produce right away. Jared Dudley, Arron Afflalo or Alando Tucker were all seasoned college players who could have stepped in and contributed right away for a Lakers team in search of a man to be sandwiched in between Kobe and Lamar Odom at the 3. Instead they select a point guard for the second consecutive year. Granted Crittenton will be a far better player in years to come that Jordan Farmar who reached his peak when he scored 25 in his first NBDL game. But still, you have a star player who went behind everyone's back and ruined team chemistry and probably injured the psyche of your best young player (Bynum) forever demanding that Mitch Kupchak and the man they call Buss bring him some veteran help. But they refuse to part with Bynum and Odom for a really good player and instead bring in a point guard who is still legally underage and turns the ball over more than Rashaan Salaam used to for the Chicago Bears. That earthquake in L.A.? That was Kobe's head exploding.

- Nobody is talking about the Warriors and how they seemed to make away like bandits with Charlotte. They dumped Jason Richardson because of financial reasons, but they had a glut of guys that could run and shoot and jump anyway, and the reason they failed against Utah was because they really were unable to rebound or play anybody tough inside. Now they got a guy in Brandan Wright who not only can develop into a legitimate post and rebounding threat but also has the unique ability to run the floor and score in transition. If I am correct they now have a starting lineup of Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Brandan Wright, and Andris Biedrins with Matt Barnes, Monta Ellis and this guy Marco Bellini all filling in right where Richardson left off. Watch the Warriors. There are not a lot of Western Conference playoff teams who made significant improvements but I think Golden State is one.

- Philadelphia fans have to be screaming at themselves and of course at Billy King as well. They traded Iverson and had visions of Durant and Oden floating through their heads and then Andre Igoudala turned out to be the player everyone thought he would be and he and Andre Miller, the travelling gypsy that Philly got for Iverson, stood on their heads and helped Philadelphia earn the 11th pick instead of a top 5 selection. Now I applaud the Philly players for refusing to really tank the season and play like every game still meant something but when you have a GM like Billy King you need to make sure that you get a really high pick so that no matter who he takes it will probably be ok. Thaddeus Young is very talented but almost more erratic than Crittenton, his former teammate, and I am pretty sure he is not the immediate help Philly fans were thinking of when Billy King said they were going to turn the team around right away. Then with their second top 20 pick they took Jason Smith, a 7 foot stiff from Colorado State. Please will someone enlighten me on when the last time a 7 foot white center became a key contributor to any team let alone the 76ers? No Chris Kaman doesn't count, and no neither does Andrew Bogut. Billy, I know a few really dangerous guys who you might want to hire to put in your posse to make sure you stay safe. Here lemme give you the number of their current employer, thats Pacman P-A-C-M-A-N. Just call him I am sure he won't be busy.

Now on to Boston, and what they managed to do with their basketball team. I maybe the only person in Boston who actually likes this trade for Boston. Yes, Ray Allen is old, and yes he is also coming over ankle surgery and will probably need to work hard in order to play up to par this season. But that being said, his last two seasons were his most productive of his entire career, and ankle surgery is better than say knee surgery or the shoulder surgery that Dwayne Wade is having. Bill Simmons did scare me by saying it would be the newest version of the Mitch Richmond trade because their stats are very similar but I am still very optimistic.

First of all we gave up nothing. In the Mitch Richmond deal the Bullets gave up Chris Webber who went on to play his best basketball with Sacramento. I highly doubt Wally Szczerbiak, who played in all of 33 games for Boston last year is really going to be ressurected in Seattle, and while Delonte West is a nice player, Rajon Rondo really came on strong at the end and while he still maybe a few years away he will be able to fill West's role. Most importantly this trade prevented Danny Ainge from drafting Yi Jianlian and therefore committing suicide. The city of Boston would have rioted if Yi was the Celtic's pick in that draft. I am pretty sure everyone in the city wanted Corey Brewer and I was one of them and now we have Ray Allen instead of either one of them which I can certainly live with.

Second of all please name a team in the Eastern Conference outside of Chicago and a fading Detroit who really has more talent and potential than a healthy, non-tanking Celtics team. Al Jefferson was one of the best big men in basketball in the 2nd half of the season and he barely got to play in crunch time because the Celtics were so blatantly trying to lose basketball games. Paul Pierce played in exactly half of those games and he was intentionally shut down at the end of the year for fear that he would do something rash and play hard. Now we have potentially 3 20 plus scorers in our starting line up, a solid number of veterans instead of a epic number of guys who still get carded when they go out to bars and two guys, Pierce and Allen, who have both been to the playoffs more than once and have both put up terrific numbers with almost no supporting cast in those playoff times. Say what you want about losing West, Yi Jianlian and Wally's World but I am happy where we stand. At least we won't have Pierce making any video tapes about Al Jefferson and bashing Danny Ainge