OT: Thoughts about the NBA draft.

[Plainosooner]

The first thing is a bit strange. Got home tonight and remembered that the draft was tonight. So I flipped over to the NBA Network. ON THE NIGHT OF THE NBA DRAFT, the NBA Network is showing it's seventh repeat of the NBA finals game 6. Say what?!!

Seriously, they aren't televising their own draft, relying on ESPN to do it for them. I can't imagine a more important task for a league's own network, than broadcasting it's own draft.

I also think that the NBA's way of determining draft order is more absurd at the end than at it's very absurd beginning. And I still think they fix ping pong balls. That they don't show it .... SOMEHOW, the Lakers get the second pick. I know they fixed it so the Knicks could draft Patrick Ewing, back when they actually showed you how they did the lottery.

But at the end of the draft, should be the two teams that made the finals. Instead, the Cavs get to draft according to their mediocre regular season record, rather than making the finals.

Just curious. Did that Hunter kid, the coaches son who beat Baylor with the late heroics come out for the draft? I thought I read that he did, just finishing his freshman year? And if so, did he get drafted? I remember hearing talking heads projecting him as a first rounder and maybe a lottery pick. I guess they forgot that these days, half the guys in the lottery are from Europe, Asia or South America.

Tonight out of the top 13 picks, FOUR were from Kentucky, two were from Duke, three were from other US colleges and the rest were from out of the country. Ohio State, Arizona and yuk, UTexas.

One other thought. If somebody had to pay me ten grand, if they were on tv and some guy they told us was a lottery pick, who didn't even get drafted, I don't think I'd have to work. At least so long as the IRS didn't hear about it.

BTW, the Dukie who so many said would be the first pick, while telling us it was between Okafor and K A-T ... Okafor didn't go til third. The 76er's think they got a steal. But then they forgot how many Dukies flunk out in the NBA when they don't get every crucial call in a truly important game.

I'm sure he'll be great. Wink wink. But I truly hope he fails.

 

[Salt City Sooner]

I kind of have to hold my nose (HATE Duke) on Okafor; I've been a Philly fan for 30+ years. It does give me some pause as to Embiid's future though. Looks to me like they're going to be looking for guards in FA because that was a much more pressing need, & they didn't address it once tonight despite having 6 picks.

Oh, & R.J. Hunter went to Boston @ pick 28, fwiw.

 

[Plainosooner]

Thanks for that. I watched the scroll across the bottom of the screen and missed it. I wonder how much a part of the decision making in the draft was in the hands of Brad Stevens, the old Butler coach. I think the guy knows the game. We'll see if he can evaluate pro talent. Not an easy change.

 

[JConXtsy]

Okafor was overrated by ESPN and their "experts." Chad Forde was recently busted for revising his player predictions from years ago to make himself look like a prediction genius - yet he still has a job at ESPN and is still their basketball guru. Go figure.

If you paid attention to a lot of the news around the league and the team front offices, Okafor wasn't such a hot commodity. He's one of those college wonders that will be hard-pressed to transition into an NBA position. Is he a center? A power forward? Can he develop an outside shot to stretch the floor?

Plus, the NBA has been transitioning to a small-ball league lately (Warriors). Big men aren't the noise right now unless they are highly athletic big men that can shoot like Aldridge and Anthony Davis. Can Okafor turn into one of these guys?


And the lack of interest in the draft isn't too surprising. The NBA draft is one of the biggest ??? drafts in sports. If you run stats on history, you can maybe say the top 5 picks have really high success, the top 10 are maybe 50/50, and outside of the top 10, you're getting into slot machine-like success.