It's Getting Drafty

Time for my latest explanation as to why I've taken such a long time between posts, and this one is elaborate. After hearing that the NHL finals set a record for lowest ratings ever in prime-time for NBC. I thought back to all the awful things that were ever on in prime time for NBC and it hit me. Me and Mrs C! A young Black Female moves in with an old white woman, the black girl has a checkered past but wants to straighten out her life by living with this old white women who has taken her in as a boarder. It must have been pitched as the Golden Girls meets Diff'rent Strokes. The pilot featured this odd couple bonding over the song Just a Gigolo which was both a classic, and a new hit by David Lee Roth. Anyway, the show was total crap, but I fell into a deep depression when I realized that a million times as many people wanted to watch that crap compared to the number of people who wanted read my blog. The only thing that pulled me out of my depression was this NBA draft.

For a long time The NBA draft has been my favorite sporting event, aside from the Super Bowl. In High School I used to write up my little mock drafts, trying to come up with ways that the Celtics could get the great Terry Dehere out of Seton Hall and then in subsequent years I predicted many scenarios to help out my beloved Celtics. One year I doctored my mock draft to get Ray Allen with the sixth pick overall, and now ten short years later after Ray Ray is all washed up, the Celts have gone out and acquired Ray Allen. This to me is the straw that broke the Camel's back. Danny Ainge has got to go. Ray just doesn;t quite fit with the Celtics, they needed defensive help, and he doesn;t play defense. But the biggest problem with this deal is the Celtics are giving up their future just so they can make it to the second round of the playoffs next Spring. This is the type of deal that has kept the Celtics from competing for a title for at least the last seventeen years. I can see their future clearly, The Celtics will win a playoff series next spring and then take their second round opponent to the brink before bowing out, in the 2009 playoffs the Celtics will be narrowly beaten in the first round. After that season Allen will leave as a free Agent, the Celtics will miss the playoffs, they'll slink back into utter mediocrity. And then the organization will ask us to be patient while the prime of Al Jefferson's career slips away similar to the way that Paul Pierce's did before him. The Celtics have become the laughing stock of draft day for the second straight year.

The deal was extra painful because the C's had to give up Delonte West, the only player on their entire roster who has any heart. But enough with the negative, lets move onto the positive. The Celtics were able to draft Gabe Pruitt and Glen Davis early in the second round. Pruitt was being talked about as a mid-first round pick just a couple weeks ago so I have to feel good about them grabbing him at this point. As for Davis, I'd have much rather the Celtics selected Josh McRoberts, I've been very critical of Davis in the past, mostly because I understand fat people being one myself, and I have a hunch that Davis will never get his weight under control. But now that he's a Celtic I'm going to put a positive spin on this one, he has an amazing upside for a second round pick, plus Jay Bilas delivered the line of the night about Big Baby, comparing his weight loss ability to that of Oprah.

The next big positive of the draft for me was that both Boston College players were drafted in the first round. Sean Williams could be the biggest steal of this draft if everything works out, and he'll fit in very well with the Nets, he may even be a double digit scorer as long as Jason Kidd is there. As for Jared Dudley, I think he'll work out all right with the Bobcats, but I'm still not sure about the Bobcats plan of drafting the most polished products they can find with every pick. I think this method will lead to them battling for the eighth spot in the playoffs every year. This is the first time in NBA draft history that BC has had two players drafted in the first round. BC may not be a dynasty but they're a proud franchise, and this is a special moment for them.

As for the big winners around the league, first and foremost is the Portland Trailblazers. The Oden thing was obvious, but the trade of Zach Randolph to the Knicks is a great move as well. Randolph was a ticking time bomb, and you don;t want him so much as talking to Greg Oden. Also I liked their pick of Josh McRoberts in the second round. I think he could be a good back-up for them, which is more than you can expect with a second round pick. With Oden, Channing Frye, LaMarcus Aldridge and McRoberts they could have their front court rotation set for years. They just need to find a point guard and they'll be ready to compete for a title in 2010. They also just bought a pick from Phoenix, where they received Rudy Fernandez, not a bad thing when your owner just buys a pick from another team, kinda makes me wish the Celtics had bought the pick for Rajon Rondo last year.


The other big trade during the draft was Charlotte acquiring Jason Richardson in exchange for Brandan Wright. I really don;t like this trade for either team. The Bobcats are now counting on J-Rich to be their go to guy, but he's really not good enough to lead them anywhere, and now Golden State is counting on Stephen Jackson to be their two guard next year. Brandan Wright has a tremendous upside and he could be the top power forward to lead them into the future, but thats a couple years off and Baron Davis' career could be over by then. I just don;t think That Charlotte will ever get anywhere without taking some chances on guys like Brandan Wright. I was pleasantly surprised when they took him, even a little bit shocked, but it was too good to be true.

Another team who will end up disappointed is the Sonics. They made a nice move dealing Allen for the fifth pick even if they did have to take on Wally's contract, but then they drafted a guy who plays the same position as their future franchise player. I would've liked Jeff Green for a team picking around ten or twelve, but I don;t think he has the upside of a top five pick, especially not in this loaded draft. The other thing that will be disappointing for the Seattle fans is the over-hyping of Durant. He'll probably be an all-star a couple years from now, but never will he live up to the billing he's gotten coming into this draft.

The three top ten picks out of Florida will all be letdowns in the NBA. Horford will lack the athleticism to compete in the NBA, Brewer will be too inconsistent and Noah's lack of skills will catch up to him. The team was so much more talented than other college teams that their flaws could be covered by the teams dominance as a whole.

In a few years when analysts look back at this draft the strength will definitely be in the depth, but not in the stars it produces. Oden will become the superstar franchise center and Durant will be an all-star but none of the other high picks will pan out as superstars. With maybe the exceptions of Yi or Brandan Wright who could become anything from total busts all the way up perennial all-stars and maybe even MVP candidates.

Anyway, I've put out all my predictions and analysis so that I can be ridiculed for years to come. Until then...

-Bender Out

The Revolution Will Be Televised

Has the Lebron James era officially begun? For the last five years I've had an ongoing debate as to whether or not the hype has been too high for King James. I waffle back and forth because I'm a huge Lebron fan, but no one his age could possibly perform up to the incredible expectations and hype he's had since first gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated as a High School junior. But after his domination of the Pistons over the last two weeks I think Lebron is finally performing as the next true elite superstar of the NBA. Culminating with the incredible performance in Game Five, Lebron was completely dominant and electric, especially in the way he silenced every one of his critics who were trying to crucify him after his pass off in game one and his missed game winner while being mugged by Rip Hamilton in Game Two. The critics were as loud as they'd ever been and Lebron completely dominated Game Three which was only a prelude to his greatness in Game Five. His 29 out of Cleveland's last 30 points to end the game has to rank as one of the all-time greatest performances in NBA history. So finally he has delivered on all the promise that he showed on his way to the top. I don;t think he's quite ready to knock Tim Duncan off his throne and declare himself the best in the world, but it does just seem to be a matter of time until he takes his place where only Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Hakeem, Magic and Larry have stood in the last 25 years, and no one else.

As far as the elimination of the Pistons goes, I'm always torn when it comes to them. I love the fact that they one a championship without one single elite superstar, and I love that they never had to win the lottery to get to the top, and they gradually built themselves up over the years without having to bottom out, but I hate them as a team. Aside from Antonio McDyess, I find them all to be more and more unlikeable every time I watch them. Rip Hamilton is a good player who thinks he is great, same goes for Chauncey Billups. Neither should really be a lock to be an all-star every season but because they're part of a really strong team they get greatly overrated. Rasheed Wallace had the skills to be a superstar but his head got in the way. In his opinion he's never actually committed a foul, and he's never missed a shot without being fouled. When 'Sheed was a freshman at UNC, coming in from Philly as the top High Schooler in the country, the sky was the limit, and there have been times when he's shown flashes of being a top ten NBA player, but he just never made it happen, mostly because he has the temprament of a petulant child. Tayshaun Prince is a very good role player, but for some reason he was being hyped as an all-star. All-Star? I don't think so. I heard Reggie Miller openly complain about Paul Pierce being named an all-star in '06 over Prince, the whole idea was ludicrous. If Prince were a Celtic there would never have been any tanking controversy this year. The Celtics could have finished in last without ever having to lose any game intentionally. You take all these overrated players and combine them with an annoying PA guy shouting "De-Troooit, Bas-Ket-Baaaaallllll" and you have a thouroughly unlikeable squad, and it also pissed me off that they got away with one of the worst draft day blunders in recent history, but the straw that broke the Camel's back for me was the night that one of they were helped out immensely by the Ron artest incident. Ben Wallace attacks Ron Artest to start the whole thing, then a drunken idiot throws a drink at Artest and the next thing ya know, The Pistons could punch their ticket to the Finals. As far as I'm concerned this group can't fall aprt fast enough, they more than have it coming.

In the rest of the sports spectrum I wanted to give a quick take on a couple of mini-controversies swirling these days. Gary Sheffield's reasoning for why there aren't more African-American players in Major League Baseball was ridiculous. To me the people who he was insulting most with his comments were African Americans. To say that they don;t make it to the majors because they can't be controlled the way latin ballplayers can strikes me as stupid. The sad truth is that in most other fields you're going to be controlled if you want to be succesful. We all have bosses to answer to on our way up to the top, and 99% have to fall in line, it's a sad truth of being an adult in this country. I can't just go around bad-mouthing my employer and doing whatever I want. If anything professional baseball players have a lot more leeway when it comes to being controlled and these comments by Sheffield are exhibit A. If he was a normal american and came out and said that his employers were members of a racist organization he'd probably be looking for a new job, but instead he's making about 15 mil this year. If I can make fifteen mil but it means I need to be controlled, just tell me where to sign up, I'm ready to take orders.

The second little controversy has mroe or less come and gone, but I wanted to comment about the aftermath of A-Rod and his stripper friend. He was wronged to be singled out, similar to the way that Barry bonds has been wronged by being singled out as the only juicer. Yes A-Rod ommitted the crime, but he's not the only one and it definitely shouldn;t be on the cover of any newspaper. I did enjoy the aftermath where we got a profile of his blonde stripper friend, she's apparently kinda jacked, leading one jealous stripper to claim that A-Rod likes the muscular shemale type (which has been blown out of proportion.) A lot of very phyically fit people go for the muscular type women, it doesn;t lend any creedance to the theories of him and Jeter although all us Boston fans would like think it does. Anyway, this whole thing does come down to jealousy. Jealousy that this guy does what he wants, jealousy that he can bang strippers, jealousy that this stripper is getting to play with Alex's money. The A-rod hating should stop, especially when a lot of the people are hating for the wrong reasons.

Just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that the Red Sox are awesome. That's all I've got for now, Til next time...

-Bender Out