Big, Long, Tremendous Upside Potential

One thing the NBA draft lacks that the NFL provides in abundance is cliches. Mel Kiper has about 20 different ways apiece to describe someone who is fast, or powerful, or has a good arm.

Most of the comments on NBA prospects, though, use one of the words above. Or more, if you're Hubie Brown.

The draft tonight didn't feel as exciting or as interesting as previous years. It might be because there was no clear-cut #1, or the continued influx of foreign players I've never heard of, or college players I don't know. The names I did know didn't seem to get taken very often, or at all.
The Hawks did OK, getting Shelden Williams from Duke and Solomon Jones from South Florida, players who can both assist greatly with the Hawks' terrible frontcourt. Williams was a pretty good player, but I don't know much about Jones aside from numbers. Still, as a second-rounder, if it works, great.

What struck me the most were the approaches taken by two of the NBA's most woebegone franchises, the Portland (Jail) Trail Blazers and the New York Knicks.

New York, suffering from a bloated payroll, inept ownership and management, a coaching coup, and an overabundance of guards, decided to draft.......two more guards. Isiah Thomas must have illicit pistures of Jimmy Dolan and farm animals to continue to be allowed destroying this franchise. Even moreso, neither guard is really that acclaimed or would bring anything more to the table than several of the guards already on New York's roster - one from South Carolina, one from Temple, but neither squad was very good last year. Better guards were available - Taquan Dean, Dee Brown, Marcus Williams - I just don't get it. Inside help would have been better - Pittsnogle, anyone?

The drunk Knicks fans being interviewed were quite funny, though. One kept falling on the ESPN guy while talking. Apparently, not a significant ESPN guy, as I didn't recall ever seeing him before nor do I remember his name.

Portland, on the other hand, while suffering from a lot of the same problems, actually made moves that helped the team. They have made six trades as I write this post, with the potential for more. So far, they have gotten rid of Theo Ratliff, Viktor Khryapa, Sebastian Telfair and his camera crew, and picked up six new players - LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, the best in the draft at their positions, four other draft picks, and a couple veterans (Dickau and LaFrentz) who could be bit players. They'll have a much lower payroll though, and perhaps all the new blood will help calm down the team and their pitbulls. This is one quick overhaul - half the roster in just a few hours!

Well, that's it for the NBA until November. On to baseball, the World Cup, and very soon, the return of the NFL. Which reminds me - it's time to start thinking about a new fantasy football league!