If you are into baseball, the upcoming College World Series will be great as always but a HUGE upset occurred tonight. For more on this story, read the story below by clicking on the link.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/asu/articles/2008/06/09/20080609asubase0610.html
Here is the breakdown of the 2008 picks who will go where and why, I’ll continue to re-post Mock’s as things change leading up to draft.
1. Chicago Bulls~ Derrick Rose, PG, Memphis; I posted yesterday that Beasley was the pick here as the Bulls needed low post scoring but things change scouts love Rose ” a combo of Chris Paul and Deron Williams” one scout told me “a better combo of decision making and scoring than Deron”. He’s en vogue right now because teams, like fans have fallen for CP3 and Deron, who have had instant success very early in their careers.
2. Miami Heat~ Michael Beasley, PF, Kansas State; explosive scorer, immediate impact, Gives the Heat a nice trio of Wade, Marion, Beasley but probably makes Haslem expendable. My early favorite for “ROY”
3. Minnesota T-Wolves ~ Brooks Lopez, C, Stanford; Minnesota need front court help for Jefferson, this pick fills the need plus this team has a ton of young guards.
4. Seattle Supersonics~ Jerryd Bayless, PG, Arizona; again fills the need gives them a nice young trio of Bayless, Durant, Green plus allows them to deal one of their current pg’s Watson, Ridnour who still have value to teams looking for an experienced backup.
5. Memphis Grizzlies~ Eric “Air” Gordon G, Indiana; this pick is problematic for Memphis as they need a big man they have drafted the ‘best player available’ almost to a fault, but their are too many potential superstar guards left to pass one up, the pick here is Gordon or Mayo I flipped a coin but I like Gordon here as the youth & size of Conley, Gordon, Gay makes a nice back-court to build on.
6.New York Knicks~ Danilo Galliarni SF, Italy; Is a point forward, think Toni Kukoc at 6-9 can handle and shoot the ball, a perfect fit for what Dantoni wants to do; that being said with Mayo left on the board I might expect boos here.
7. La Clippers~ Oj Mayo G, Usc; perfect marriage OJ stays in Cali, team has a need at PG will fit in nicely with this teams Run ‘n’ gun style.
8. Milwaukee Bucks~ Deandre Jordan C, Texas; Prediciting the first shocker here the Bucks have a lot of questions, Redd, Villanueva may both be available for trade, so this pick could really be at any position but they locked up Mo Williams PG last year and Bogut has been a nice suprise and Deandre has the best risk reward here; he reminds scouts of Dwight Howard but has a questionable work ethic, 7′0 255 a front court of him and Bogut would be something.
9. Charlotte Bobcats~ Kevin Love PF, Ucla; this team needs a PG as they don’t have anyone signed behind Felton but Love will be to good to pass up here, Sean May is coming off a scary surgery and Okeafor isn’t yet signed but assuming all three are healthy great young rotation for Larry Brown to start with.
10. New Jersey Nets~ Anthony Randolph F, Lsu; Athletic, can score inside, outside but has a Chris Bosh like body and skill set, will need to bulk up to compete at the Nba level certainly fills need.
11. Indiana Pacers~ Russell Westbrook PG, Ucla; people will be surprised Russell fell this far the thinking has been the 7th or 8th but I’m prediciting he’ll fall, that being said Indiana will finally get a permanent replacement for Jamal Tinsley and this is a perfect fit Russell like Tinsley is a natural scorer, but does so more with his jumper than the drive.
12. Sacramento Kings~ DJ Augustine PG, Texas; The Kings will be holding their breath to get DJ or Russell and DJ will be available with the exodus of Mike Bibby they have a need at PG, and DJ is the best PG left nice pickup.
13. Portland Trailblazers~ Joe Alexander F, West Virginia; Scary pickup here Joe is a 6′8 Peja Stojakovic type shooter, with athleticism and finishing ability maybe the steal of the draft.
14. Golden State~ Darrell Arthur PF, Kansas; Mullin may look to trade this pick as Gstate needs maybe one more piece to make some kind of run and are not getting any younger, otherwise Darrell’s the pick as he can score from the low post but will need some time to develop.
15. Phoenix Suns (Atlanta) ~ Roy Hibbert C, Georgetown; shot in the dark here predicting a shocker Roy cannot really run the floor, PS neither can Shaq, but if you are going to slow the game down and play possession type BBall having a young & HUGE front court under Shaq’s tutelage is a good way to go. If Duncan and Robinson were the “Twin Towers” Shaq, Amare and Roy are the “Three Powers”
Post is getting a little big so I’ll post the rest up later in the week…
Quick note among the Surprises I posted people should note their are none bigger than: Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, Tyler Hansbrough who may have gone in the top 15 had they chosen to enter the draft, their decision to stay is a breath of fresh air in today’s collegiate Basketball culture as far to many players leave for the promised land before they are mentally or physically ready, one can only hope that these players are rewarded for their loyalty to their schools with career years and lottery name callings next year.
I haven’t even had the opportunity to digest the fact that Reggie Bush allegedly accepted more than $300,000 worth of gifts while playing at USC, and this weekend it was revealed that OJ Mayo is accused of doing the same. According to ESPN, one of Mayo’s former associates revealed that the FORMER Trojan (I stress the word former because the prissy prima donna left Troy early for the NBA) accepted $30,000 worth of gifts from a runner for the sports agency that Mayo just recently signed on with.
I’m starting to become embarassed to be a USC fan, seeing as our biggest stars are proving to be the biggest delinquents………allegedly (Jim Rome). Mayo and Bush, two collegiate superstars with more combined talent than 80 per cent of all NCAA football and basketball athletes, couldn’t resist temptation and knowingly broke rules……allegedly (ibid).
So once again, the media are poking fun at USC and rightfully so. ESPN’s Pat Forde even went as far as saying that USC deserves the NCAA’s equivalent of the death penalty in his column.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3390757&sportCat=ncb
Look, Forde is clearly exaggerating because only one former USC star’s name should ever be linked to deserving the death penalty (and whaddya know, his name’s OJ too), but even I think the Trojans need some sort of punishment and soon. The first time a recruit goes bad, the school can reasonably get off with a warning. The second time, the NCAA can’t be so nice, especially with the overwhelming evidence that is likely to come.
With that being said, I still think OJ Mayo is a despicable young man and I only wish the worst for him in the NBA. If there’s a positive that can come of this, then maybe scouts will be less likely to draft him and maybe his life will be ruined, the same way he hurt USC’s reputation.
Well then again, at least he’s not Rae Carruth!
DC
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