Wednesday, June 25, 2008

NBA Draft: Who's good and Who ain't?

It's simple really: either a player is good or he ain't. Anthony Randolph, DeAndre Jordan, every foreign player in this draft....your not good, you won't make it in this league. Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo...you will be the two multi-time all-stars from this class. Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, The Lopez Twins (why do they both have girls names?)....we will be asking why your all too soft to have star impact in the league. And so on....here's my listings of the draft picks and where they fall in my pecking order. Every player falls into one of these categories.

-Future MVP Candidates: Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo
-Terribly Overrated but still could be an All-Star once or twice: Michael Beasley, Jerryd Bayless
-Much skills but not enough to be a star: Eric Gordon, Joe Alexander
-1st Round Sleepers: DJ Augustin, Donte Greene, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee
-No Chance to be Anything but a role player: Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Lopez Twins, All foreign players (including the clown from Italy), Kosta Koufos, Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur (these Jayhawks weren't stars in college, don't expect anything more of them in the NBA), Jason Thompson, Ryan Anderson
-BUST CITY: Anthony Randolph, Roy Hibbert, JJ Hickson, Marreesse Speights, JaVale McGee, DeAndre Jordan
-Ultimate 2nd Round sleepers (Two of them will become quality starters at some point in his career): Bill Walker (could go in first), Davon Jefferson, JR Giddens (the most talented former Jayhawk in this draft....just doesn't have a head on him), Sonny Weems, Shan Foster, Jamont Gordon (these 3 SEC products can ball but may not be more than an offensive spark off a bench...aka Eddie House)

A couple of comments to help understand my thinking here:
-Bill Walker and Davon Jefferson are top 1o picks next year if they come back to school for another year....now their 2nd round picks.
-All of the BUST CITY citizens are big men. I know this....they are all overrated (similar to the big foreign players in this draft)....This draft has an eerily bad smell about it once you get past the top 12-16 picks....these big men are all soft, young and have no chance to make a real impact in this league....now or anyday.
-Michael Beasley is good...I will admit that. But, I don't see him averaging more than 21-10 a game in his career....is that enough to pick him over a swingman, game changing offensive player like OJ Mayo? I don't think so but the top 3 teams should all get good players regardless.
-Those four names on the 1st round sleeper list are four guys any team can add to their roster and be better because of it. I especially like Augustin and Greene. CDR will be solid as well but probably can't start in this league. Lee is the type of player that just won't be denied...that's why I see him having a good career.

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