There were many surprises announced by both the commissioner and the deputy commissioner last night in New York at the NBA Draft. From Russell Westbrook going at #4 to Brook Lopez dropping to #10 and from Jason Thompson being chosen at #12 to DeAndre Jordan and Mario Chalmers having to wait until the second round to hear their names called. No one could have predicted such a thing for one of the deepest draft class's in recent memory. But it was also one of the youngest in recent memory as twelve freshmen were drafted last night.
No surprise was the fact that Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, and OJ Mayo went 1-2-3 to kick off the draft. Surprising at #4 was Russ Westbrook, the combo guard out of UCLA who was considered by many to be the best defensive guard in the draft. Another surprising selection in the top ten was Danilo Gallinari, whose dad roomed with Coach D'Antoni while Mr. Gallinari played professionally in Italy. However, D'Antoni claims that Danilo has the tools to become a great player in the League, and if you're a Knicks fan, you have to at least be happy with that.
I was also somewhat shocked to see Joe Alexander's and DJ Augustin's names off the board before Jerryd Bayless's and Anthony Randolph's. It was also surprising to see Brook Lopez fall to #10, where the Nets scooped up the second-best center in the draft. What a night for Nets fans! The two biggest winners of the draft has to be them and Portland, both of which were helped tremendously in their aspirations to reach the postseason. Another thing I don't get is why Sacramento didn't trade down a few picks, possibly with Phoenix. Jason Thompson, maybe the biggest surprise pick of the draft, would have still been available and the Suns would have been able to grab Brandon Rush, the one they've been showing the most interest in all along.
Let me know sound off on Roy Hibbert. This guy has bust written all over him and he will be just another benchwarming seven-footer in the NBA. Athleticism is so much more crucial in the League than in college, and Hibbert lacks in that department tremendously. Once he has to guard guys his own size or be guarded by guys as tall as him, he'll be ineffective and useless out on the court.
Next are the Suns. What the hell do they think they're doing? Grant Hill was someone I could live with. Shaq was pushing the envelope with me. Robin Lopez just puts me over the top. They are slowly but surely becoming a half-court walk-it-up team like the Spurs. Now I understand why they got rid of D'Antoni, but I don't understand the reason. They were in contention to win it almost every year so why change? I'm making a bold prediction: Phoenix won't make the playoffs next season.
There were two surprises, in my mind, at the end of the first round. One of them was Donte Greene, someone I had going in the mid-lottery. He dropped all the way down to 28, where has was drafted by the Grizzlies. The second surprise was JR Giddens going in the first round. I saw him as a great pick in the early to mid-second round, but why the first? Why gamble like that when you're the defending world champions? However, Boston redeemed themselves when they traded for Bill Walker, a phenomenal talent who has the potential to be great.
The second round saw seven foreign players drafted, which brings me to another point. Foreign players have the highest chance of being a bust (i.e. Darko Milicic) yet they also have the highest chance of being a steal (i.e. Manu Ginobili). My point? Wait until the second round to draft your European players. You never know; you may get lucky. Also, this shows how weak foreign scouting is even in this modern age.
The second round also featured four players that I could see easily going in the first round: Mario Chalmers at 34, DeAndre Jordan at 35, Chris Douglas-Roberts at 40, and Bill Walker at 47. Walker and CDR are the two that are most puzzling to me. Obviously, the scouts were scared away by the unorthodox methods and injury problems, respectively. However, I would think that at least one scout would see past that and see that one or both of these players has the chance to be a future all-star, if not a solid starter for years to come.
That concludes my breakdown of the deepest and yougest draft class I've ever seen. Good luck to them wherever they play next year whether it be overseas, in the NBA, or in the D-League. Also, a congrats goes out to Semih Erden of Turkey, who had the honor of being drafted last at pick #60.
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Showing posts with label Brandon Rush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brandon Rush. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Jayhawks Cut Down the Nets
As all of you know, Kansas defeated Memphis 75-68 in overtime last night. If you did not know that, where the hell have you been? At any rate, we got to see a nice little collapsing done by the Tigers in the last 2:12 of regulation. They were up by nine points and just needed to make their free throws to win the National Championship and go 39-1. After making all four free throws in the first two times they were fouled, Memphis shot themselves in the foot. They went 1-5 on free throws in the end of regulation and gave Kansas a chance at the end only being down by three. The Jayhawks came down and got the ball to the Most Outstanding Player, Mario Chalmers, who sank a tough three-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime.
In the extra session, Kansas made sure they took advantage of Joey Dorsey not being in the game. Their first eight points of overtime were scored on either dunks or layups. The momentum shifted and the Kansas Jayhawks were National Champions. Now I'm about to tell you the little reasons as to why Memphis lost and why Kansas won this game.
I know Kansas was playing pretty good defense, but Derrick Rose needed to assert himself on the offensive end much earlier in the game than midway through the second half. For awhile, Rose looked as if he didn't want any part of playing in the game. He was passing up shots left and right and wasn't even attempting to drive on his man. Their somewhat large lead in the last two or three minutes was credit to his stepping up on offense when Kansas went box-and-one on Chris Douglas-Roberts.
One of Kansas's goals for the second half was to get the big guys for Memphis in serious foul trouble. They accomplished that goal. Joey Dorsey fouled out with 3:36 to go in the game. Kansas outrebounded the Tigers 11-4 for the rest of the game. I can't help but think that wouldn't have happened had Dorsey still been in there.
Next I would like to take the time to credit the Jayhawks with fantastic defense. When the shot clock was dwindling down they put enormous pressure on Memphis's offense. This caused tough shot attempts that usually did not go in. In transition, Kansas recorded a lot of steals by picking the Memphis guards' pockets. Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins had four and three steals in the game, respectively.
The announcers kept mentioning how terrible Kansas was shooting from deep. What about Memphis? They were only two percent better. The difference, however, is that the Tigers shot TEN MORE three-pointers than the Jayhawks. Not it looks as if Kansas didn't shoot that bad considering what Memphis was doing, right? I thought Coach Cal could have gone to his bench a little more though. Only six players logged more than five minutes in the game. Last time I checked, Memphis goes a whole hell of a lot deeper than that. Mack and Kemp were the two, especially, that could have been very useful down the stretch.
Bottom line is this: the game was won and lost on coaching decisions. In my opinion, Bill Self outcoached John Calipari and that was the difference in the game. Two big things down the stretch made this clear. The first was when Memphis was up three right before Chalmers hit the game-tying three-pointer. Calipari should have had his team fouling so Kansas could only get two points. He had three timeouts; he could have used one to make it very clear to his players (Derrick Rose, I'm looking at you) that they needed to foul in that particular situation. The second thing was the strategy for the last play in regulation after Kansas tied it up with two seconds to go. They could have thrown the ball to halfcourt, which they did, AND CALLED A TIMEOUT! This would give them the chance to draw up a game-winning play from 45 feet, instead of 90.
It's not all bad for Memphis though. Derrick Rose proved that he is a freshman and will make mistakes in huge games like this. All that aside, he had a pretty fantastic end to regulation. He finished the game with a MOP-worthy 18 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. Chris Douglas-Roberts was also sensational with a game-high 22 points. On the opposite side of this, Darrell Arthur was fantastic scoring 20 points for the winners. Chalmers, Brandon Rush, and Sherron Collins all finished in double figures for scoring.
So congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks and to Bill Self for coaching a great game and having his players ready to go. Congratulations to the Memphis Tigers on a successful season. 38-2 is nothing to be ashamed of. I'll have a blog coming out later this week with team and player ranking to finish the season. Have a good week!
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Poll Results: When asked who would win the Charlotte Regional, 50% of voters were right in saying North Carolina would come out victorious. The other 50% said Tennessee would win it. They were, in fact, wrong.
In the extra session, Kansas made sure they took advantage of Joey Dorsey not being in the game. Their first eight points of overtime were scored on either dunks or layups. The momentum shifted and the Kansas Jayhawks were National Champions. Now I'm about to tell you the little reasons as to why Memphis lost and why Kansas won this game.
I know Kansas was playing pretty good defense, but Derrick Rose needed to assert himself on the offensive end much earlier in the game than midway through the second half. For awhile, Rose looked as if he didn't want any part of playing in the game. He was passing up shots left and right and wasn't even attempting to drive on his man. Their somewhat large lead in the last two or three minutes was credit to his stepping up on offense when Kansas went box-and-one on Chris Douglas-Roberts.
One of Kansas's goals for the second half was to get the big guys for Memphis in serious foul trouble. They accomplished that goal. Joey Dorsey fouled out with 3:36 to go in the game. Kansas outrebounded the Tigers 11-4 for the rest of the game. I can't help but think that wouldn't have happened had Dorsey still been in there.
Next I would like to take the time to credit the Jayhawks with fantastic defense. When the shot clock was dwindling down they put enormous pressure on Memphis's offense. This caused tough shot attempts that usually did not go in. In transition, Kansas recorded a lot of steals by picking the Memphis guards' pockets. Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins had four and three steals in the game, respectively.
The announcers kept mentioning how terrible Kansas was shooting from deep. What about Memphis? They were only two percent better. The difference, however, is that the Tigers shot TEN MORE three-pointers than the Jayhawks. Not it looks as if Kansas didn't shoot that bad considering what Memphis was doing, right? I thought Coach Cal could have gone to his bench a little more though. Only six players logged more than five minutes in the game. Last time I checked, Memphis goes a whole hell of a lot deeper than that. Mack and Kemp were the two, especially, that could have been very useful down the stretch.
Bottom line is this: the game was won and lost on coaching decisions. In my opinion, Bill Self outcoached John Calipari and that was the difference in the game. Two big things down the stretch made this clear. The first was when Memphis was up three right before Chalmers hit the game-tying three-pointer. Calipari should have had his team fouling so Kansas could only get two points. He had three timeouts; he could have used one to make it very clear to his players (Derrick Rose, I'm looking at you) that they needed to foul in that particular situation. The second thing was the strategy for the last play in regulation after Kansas tied it up with two seconds to go. They could have thrown the ball to halfcourt, which they did, AND CALLED A TIMEOUT! This would give them the chance to draw up a game-winning play from 45 feet, instead of 90.
It's not all bad for Memphis though. Derrick Rose proved that he is a freshman and will make mistakes in huge games like this. All that aside, he had a pretty fantastic end to regulation. He finished the game with a MOP-worthy 18 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. Chris Douglas-Roberts was also sensational with a game-high 22 points. On the opposite side of this, Darrell Arthur was fantastic scoring 20 points for the winners. Chalmers, Brandon Rush, and Sherron Collins all finished in double figures for scoring.
So congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks and to Bill Self for coaching a great game and having his players ready to go. Congratulations to the Memphis Tigers on a successful season. 38-2 is nothing to be ashamed of. I'll have a blog coming out later this week with team and player ranking to finish the season. Have a good week!
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Poll Results: When asked who would win the Charlotte Regional, 50% of voters were right in saying North Carolina would come out victorious. The other 50% said Tennessee would win it. They were, in fact, wrong.
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