NBA Draft Breakdown

The NBA draft was last night. In case you missed it, my boy Blake Griffin went first. He is going to be a great player...when he leaves the Clippers in 3 years. Its hard to praise the worst franchise in the NBA. I also have to talk about some of the blockbuster deals going down but that's after the draft. The 1st pick was a given but after that, there were some head scratchers. Time for a breakdown of the top 10 picks.

1. LA Clippers: Blake Griffin, PF. Oklahoma. Ok this was the easiest pick of the night. As I said, it is hard to give some props to Donald Sterling. All I can say is, great job not trading the pick away. Now if only they could find someone to take Zach Randolphs terrible contract, they might have a decent team. But I doubt that.

2. Memphis Grizz: Hasheem Thabeet, C. Connecticut. This pick makes sense. I don't care much for Thabeet because he has no offensive skills, yet. He is going to help out on the defensive side though. Thabeet reminds me of Diekembe or even Greg Oden. Thabeet is a work in process.

3. Oklahoma City Thunder: James Harden, SG. Arizona St. Here is where I start the 2nd guessing. James Harden had 19 points in two games in the NCAA tournament. Yes I know you cant judge a guy by 2 games. But that is when you must play your best ball. Oh and he only made 3 field goals in those 2 games. I understand why you don't pick Rubio because you have Westbrook. What about Tyreke Evans instead? OKC could not move up and get Blake but I did not understand Harden.

4. Sacramento Kings: Tyreke Evans, SG. Memphis. As I said I would have rather seen this guy go to OKC. To bad the Kings did not need this guy either. Here's how it went down in the board room. Scout Guy 1 "I think we should take Rubio. We need a franchise pg who can lead our young core." Maloofs "I don't think that is a good idea. We can not afford to buy out his contract. Plus we have Beno Udrith. I think we should take another shooting guard because Kevin Martin and Rashard McCants isn't enough. Lets go with Tyreke." Well something like that. Yeah Beno freakin Udrith. Hes a future all star with plenty of potential. Come on now!! Isn't there a pill to take for gas called Beno? I needed one after this pick.

5. Minnesota T'Wolves: Ricky Rubio, PG. Spain. I love this pick for the T'wolves. Ricky is going to cost them some money to get him over to the US. He has great potential. Sac will regret not taking him when they select in the top 10 again and pick a point guard.

6. Minnesota T'Wolves: Jonny Flynn, PG. Syracuse. I loved the pick they got from Washington at 5. Why would you take back to back point guards? They need some back up in the front court. They even took Lawson with the 18th pick. They ended up trading Ty Lawson away. The better choice would have been Jordan Hill. He would have been a nice addition at the power forward spot backing up Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. Right now, Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, and Shelden Williams are not getting it done off the bench.

7. Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry, PG. Davidson. Yes, yes, yes! He fits perfect in the Don Nelson fun and gun offense. I cant argue at all in this pick. The kid is a star in the making. Now hes in the perfect system to jump start his career.

8. New York Knicks: Jordan Hill, PF. Arizona. Hard to argue this as well. Hill is a solid addition to a team in dire need of depth at every position. I hope they keep David "double double" Lee. If they do, these 2 will make a nice combo. Hill is small but D'Antoni does not love size in centers. The Knicks finally do something right. I guess now with Isiah Thomas out of the way, the Knicks might start to get better.

9. Toronto Raptors: DeMar DeRozan, SG. USC. He isn't OJ Mayo but he has potential. The Raptors depth is terrible at shooting guard. Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono are not starting material. DeRozan can step in and play with Calderon, Bosh, and Bargnani. I do not see them resigning Marion Barber because they want to save cap for next year and give Bosh every penny he deserves. If they can keep Bosh, the Raptors can become a basement dweller to playoff picture.

10. Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings, PG. Italy. I have to say, I have not seen anything of this kid. He is young and raw from what I can tell. He is only 19 years old. The Bucks have Luke Ridnour and Ramon Sessions at the point right now. This pick makes sense if Jennings comes over right away. The Bucks need to resign Sessions as well.

Ok there were some big trades that happened right before the Draft and during it. Since I was just talking about the Bucks..

The Milwaukee Bucks traded away Richard Jefferson to the Spurs for Oberto, Kurt Thomas, and Bruce Bowen. I'm a Spurs fan so what do you think I did when I heard about this trade? I would have done cartwheels if I could do cartwheels. It hurts to lose Bowen but he might get bought out and come back to the Spurs. With Jefferson, Manu, Parker, and Duncan this team has opened the Championship window for another two years. Meanwhile, the Bucks start the rebuilding process.

The Washington Wizards traded the 5th pick plus 3 crappy players or as my brother would say a poo poo platter for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. The Wiz pass up a chance to land Rubio and elect to go with Foye as the back up plan to Agent 0 Gilbert Arenas. Mike Miller is an expiring contract so they will save money in next years free agent extravaganza. The T'Wolves get nobody worth mentioning and Rubio with that 5th pick.

Atl Hawks traded Acie Law and Speedy Claxton to Golden State for Jamal Crawford. Atlanta gets a good shooting guard without giving up anything. Acie Law is a nice backup pg with some potential. He will play well for Nelson. Speedy Claxton has not been relevant since 2003 when he was with the Spurs. As a whole trade I like it a lot more for Atlanta than Golden State.

BBSD already hit on the Shaq trade. Shaq is headed for Cleveland for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. Suns get rid of a monster 21 million off the cap. The Cavs get a big man they needed in the playoffs. Shaq is way past his prime. I would have rather seen Amare go to Cleveland than Shaq. But it does help Cleveland. Wallace is thinking about retiring which would save even more money for the Suns.

Last one, the Nets send Vince Carter to Orl for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee. Alston was only in Orlando while Jameer Nelson was hurt. He served a purpose and now he will do the same in New Jersey. Meanwhile, forget about Turkoglu coming back now. I don't see how they can afford to keep Nelson, Lewis, Howard and Turk. If they can, Orlando has a good chance of getting back to the Finals. Orlando should have kept Lee but I understand why the Nets wanted him part of the deal.

The draft was fun, exciting and had some big headlines. I look forward to the free agent market opening up in July. I can't see this is the end of the trades either. Looks like it is going to be a fun filled summer in the NBA.

J Call