2009 NBA Draft Preview

Tonight is absolutely one of my favorite nights of the year, NBA Draft Night! I know that I am one of 13 NBA fans left, but I don’t care. I absolutely love the NBA Draft, it gives me goose bumps. I love the ridiculous suits that these elongated humans wear in front of millions of people. I love Jay Bilas constantly talking about how long people are. I love the Knicks fans getting fired up about anything involving their team. I love it all. So in honor of this great day, here are my predictions for tonight.

1. Clippers – Blake Griffin – Sorry Blake the next 5 years of your life are going to stink, but at least you can be the feature of a bunch of career redemption stories in 5 years when you sign on with the San Antonio Spurs
2. Memphis – Trades Pick to Minnesota for #5 pick, # 18 pick, Craig Smith and some left over Garnett jerseys – Minnesota takes Ricky Rubio
3. OKC – Hasheem Thabeet – They rescinded the trade for Tyson Chandler, now they take Tyson – lite
4. Sacramento – Tyreke Evans – Desperate for a point guard they draft a pseudo- point guard who can’t really shoot or finish at the rim, but he have, wait for it, wait for it, length!
5. Minnesota – Traded to Memphis – Memphis takes James Harden, who unfortunately spends the next 5 years watching OJ Mayo throw up off balance jumpers from a foot inside the three point line
6. Minnesota – Stephen Curry – Minnesota pulls off their backcourt of the future by pairing a skinny 18 year old Spaniard with a skinny, looks 18 year old small college bomber
7. Golden State – Jordan Hill – This likely means the departure of Brandan Wright from GSW, so he should love this pick
8. Knicks – With Curry and Hill gone, the Knicks roll the dice with super skinny, super quick, a little too high on himself Brandon Jennings – this strangely will make two straight years the Knicks have drafted someone out of the Italian leagues
9. Raptors – reports have the Raptors high on USC swingman DeMarcus DeRozan, but I Dethink he is Debad shooter and Debad passer and Debad rebounder, oh well, Toronto is a mess anyways, let’s call it DeRozan
10. Bucks – With Ramon Sessions likely to leave via free agency the Buck need to draft someone good enough to make sure Luke Ridnour stays on the pine, Jonny Flynn, you are that man!
11. Nets – The Nets have been linked to a bunch of different players from Blair to Hansbrough to Williams, but I think Terrance Williams wins the day and brings his impressive and enigmatic game (along with his Barbie backpack, seriously read up on this guy) to exit 16 W off the turnpike
12. Charlotte – With Michael calling the shots you just have no idea how the Bobcats will blow this one, but logic says they try to get a 2 guard and Henderson from Duke is the best available. He is a crazy athlete and can really defend. I am not sure how Mike feels about drafting a Dookie, but he is probably playing golf somewhere and doesn’t even know the draft is tonight.
13. Pacers – TJ Ford, Jarret Jack, Jamall Tinsley – What do these three guys have in common? Well all of them are just good enough to get you in the lottery so Tinsley has been exiled, Jack will leave via free agency and TJ will be the place holder for a season or two for new point guard Jrue Holiday.
14. Suns – With trading away Shaq this morning, at least the Suns aren’t pretending they are contenders anymore. That way they can draft on potential. Earl Clark has more potential than anyone left and his ability to rebound and run the break with Steve Nash gives them a presence they haven’t had since they traded Shawn Marion away.
15. Pistons – Detroit is reloading and trying to find a frontcourt, so expect them to go big with this pick. They already have DeJuan Blair senior (Jason Maxwell) on their roster so expect them to go with more, wait for it, wait for it, length by drafting James Johnson from Wake Forest. Austin Day has more height, but the dude is skinnier than Tayshaun and that is saying something.
16. Bulls – The Bulls have length but no girth so look for the toughness pick here with DeJaun Blair. Put him next to Noah and his height isn’t an issue. Those two could really control the boards together.
17. Sixers – Uncertainty around Andre Miller will make them want a PG – they have to choose between the polished Eric Maynor and the erratic Jeff Teague. With Eddie Jordan on board I am betting Maynor gets the nod
18. Memphis– with this pick from Minnesota they go for more size here and the only big man with potential left on the board is BJ Mullens out of Ohio State.
19. ATL – For some reason Atlanta just traded for the most selfish player in the NBA Jamal Crawford. They also gave away draft bust Acie Law, so they need a pg to feed the rock to Crawford and Joe Johnson. Have fun with that Jeff Teague
20. Utah – We all know that Mormons love white people. Who is whiter than Tyler Hansbrough?
21. New Orleans – The Hornets need some major help, unfortunately, they won’t get it here. But they do get some great value for the 21^st pick with Austin Day from Gonzaga. Dude can really shoot; too bad he weighs the same as the average starting power forward on a middle school girls basketball team.
22. Portland – Portland trade three picks to move up two spots. The only reason to do that is to draft some foreign guy, so Omri Casspi, whoever you are, you are that man! But with Ty Lawson sliding down the draft board they go with the proven commodity.
23. Sacramento – The Kings are really bad, they need serious help, they don’t need a rookie. So they draft Sam Young from Pitt who is a real banger, but he is older than Andre Blatche of the Wizards who is starting his 6^th season in the league. When Rubio is his age he will have been playing professionally for 10 years. Awesome.
24. Dallas – Dallas gets a couple of free 2^nd rounders to move back two spots and draft a guy, Chase Bundinger, who would have been a lottery pick two years ago, so it all evens out
25. OKC – Doesn’t need another rookie, I think they move this pick to someone who wants to get their hands on the rights to Nick Calathes who will play in Greece for the next year or Omar Casspi. Portland perhaps? That seems like a Pritchard special and I think he goes with Calathes.
26. Chicago – This is the point of the first round where teams are trying to stash players in Europe or are selling their picks. The Bulls do neither, they grab a cheaper, less gifted Ben Gordon clone names Toney Douglas
27. Memphis – don’t need three rookies so they grab a foreign player to stash – Nick Calathes – You are that man!
28. Minnesota – Hey guess who doesn’t need anymore rookies? If you said Minnesota, you were wrong. They go for the best available here and nab Darren Collinson of UCLA, but wait others teams want him more and Dallas or Portland swoops in and trades for this pick
29. Lakers – Lakers aren’t going to play a rookie, so why pay a rookie. They sell this pick to someone, maybe San Antonio, and that team drafts PG Patrick Mills
30. Cleveland – The Cavs are excited that a steal in G-town big man Dejaun Summers who can really shoot the ball is waiting for them at the end of the first round. He is the kind of guy who could actually guard Rashard Lewis, imagine that!

    I won’t do a mock of the 2^nd Round, but since the Wiz traded out of the first round I have to talk about pick #32 with which they really need a back up power forward. Thankfully in this draft there is great value at the top of the second round and they can get their hands on either DeMarre Carroll, Derrick Brown, Taj Gibson or John Pendergraff. Couple this pick with a free agent signing of a serviceable big man, maybe Chris Wilcox or using the mid-level on one of the Celtics restricted guys in Big Baby or Leon Powe and the Wizards may actually win 45 – 50 games next year.

Happy NBA Draft everyone!