Your Spur-prise Draft Winners Are... (oops, I gave it away)
By Matt Kolsky posted on Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 10:15 PM - (General)
I never thought I'd be saying this, but after three-plus hours of the plodding NBA draft, I think I can confidently say that the big winner is... The San Antonio Spurs. Yes, the Spurs the same Spurs without a first-round pick. The same Spurs who, a matter of days ago, looked like an aging bunch of has-beens whose championship window had closed and was in the process of being glued, painted and nailed shut.
But then they pulled off a surprising trade, acquiring Richard Jefferson for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas. In other words, they get a relatively young, incredibly athletic wing who can score with a jump shot or great driving ability and also defends, while giving up two mediocre veteran big men and a defensive specialist who is too old and slow to stay in front of me, much less an NBA 2-guard.
But that steal of a trade looks like a rip-off when compared to the deal they got in the draft when Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair fell all the way to 37th if you're counting, that's the seventh pick in the second round, and puts Blair (who was the best offensive rebounder in college basketball by far, has as solid low-post moves as anyone in the draft and flat-out dominated the #2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet repeatedly) behind such luminaries as Victor Claver out of Spain, Rodrigue Beaubois from Guadaloupe, Christian Eyenga out of Congo, and of course the great Spanish point guard Ricky Ru--- oh wait, he was also behind the not-so-great Spanish point guard Sergio Llull (don't worry, I never heard of him either).
And as if that weren't enough, the Spurs also add Miami's Jack McClinton, who is a dead-eye shooter and has the kind of quick scoring ability that can change games over a two- or three-minute span, albeit in a point guard's body. I'm not saying he'll be a star, but he's a guy that can give them some good shooting off the bench.
Call me crazy and I know you will but as far as I am concerned the Spurs just put themselves on even ground with the Los Angeles Lakers in contention for next year's NBA Championship. DeJuan Blair is ready to play now, and can take a lot of rebounding pressure away from Tim Duncan right away, not to mention easily replace whatever low-post scoring they lost with Thomas and Oberto. Jefferson gives them a legit scoring threat who can take a ton of pressure off of Manu Ginobili, and probably let the mad Argentine play in the neighborhood of 25 minutes per game throughout the season (which would theoretically increase his chances of being healthy and strong come playoff time).
These two additions, plus a healthy Tim Duncan and another year's worth of improvement for Tony Parker, add up to championship possibilities in my book.
I'm Kolsky, and I've said enough...
But since this is a special NBA draft edition of my blog, I thought I'd say a little more anyway. Here are some additional draft notes for you:
First, to all my fellow Jews I know we've been disappointed for a long time at our peoples' failure to represent in the NBA, but today Israeli-born Omri Casspi (who I have to assume is Jewish) was drafted with the 23rd pick in the draft. Exciting! Also, I think those of us who watched the second round can agree that Adam Silver is Jew enough for the whole damn league.......
Besides the Spurs, I look at just a couple of teams who I really think did well today: (1) The Memphis Grizzlies I'm not a huge Thabeet fan, but there's no doubt he has the size, timing and commitment to be a defensive force in the league, and that is certainly an element that Memphis lacked on the interior. Then they grab two very versatile forwards in DeMarre Carroll out of Missouri (who is an energy PF who runs the floor, plays defense and has a surprising offensive skill set) and Sam Young (another Pitt player who fell inexplicably far into the second round despite the fact that he looks to me like a pretty clear NBA talent)... (2) The L.A. Clippers So what if it was a no-brainer, they got their guy, and he's the best guy there is. Blake Griffin will be a star in the NBA, I have very little doubt in my mind about that (barring injury or some unforeseen disaster, of course). Again, this wasn't difficult for them, but I think a lot of us expected them to screw it up somehow and they didn't... (3) The Denver Nuggets Another case of a one-player draft that looks good to me; I think Ty Lawson has the potential to be a very good NBA point guard despite his height, and Denver has the luxury of being able to put him behind Chauncey Billups for a few years to make sure he learns the right way to be an NBA point. Plus, they gave up very little to acquire him... And that's really it as far as drafts I loved a few other teams did okay (like my Bulls drafting James Johnson and Taj Gibson, or the Knicks grabbing Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas) but in general I found a lot of the picks strange.......
On the other side of the coin are the teams who basically blew it: (1) The Sacramento Kings took Tyreke Evans over Ricky Rubio a strange choice when you need a point and Evans really is not one. Then they proceeded to grab the aforementioned (assumed) Jew and Washington's Jon Brockman when the two Pitt guys (Young and Blair) were both still on the board. Maybe I'm missing something, but I would take Young over Casspi and Blair over Brockman any day of the week, and Sacto could have done just that... (2) The Minnesota Timberwolves were the beneficiary of the Kings' Evans pick and get Rubio, but then follow that up with picking the frighteningly undersized Syracuse point Jonny Flynn and then Ty Lawson (who they give away for very little). The thing is, I like both of those players, and I also think they got decent value on Wayne Ellington, but to draft two PG's with the 5th and 6th picks in the draft is just stupid. And if they think they can play Rubio and Flynn at the same time, that's even stupider.......
Finally, I think this draft may go down as the most value-filled second-round in draft history. Just so I have it on paper somewhere, here is a list of guys taken in Round 2 that I think have a chance to become solid-to-good NBA players: Jeff Pendergraph (31st by Sac, traded to Por), Dante Cunningham (33/Por), DaJuan Summers (35/Det), Sam Young (36/Mem), DeJuan Blair (37/SA), Derrick Brown (40/Cha), Patrick Beverly (42/LAL to Mia), Marcus Thornton (43/Mia to NO), Chase Budinger (44/Det to Hou), Danny Green (46/Cle), Jack McClinton (51/SA), A.J. Price (52/Ind), Patrick Mills (55/Por). It's just rare that you see so many guys that have been so productive throughout their careers available this late...
And now I've really said more than enough, so I'll see you later!
But then they pulled off a surprising trade, acquiring Richard Jefferson for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas. In other words, they get a relatively young, incredibly athletic wing who can score with a jump shot or great driving ability and also defends, while giving up two mediocre veteran big men and a defensive specialist who is too old and slow to stay in front of me, much less an NBA 2-guard.
But that steal of a trade looks like a rip-off when compared to the deal they got in the draft when Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair fell all the way to 37th if you're counting, that's the seventh pick in the second round, and puts Blair (who was the best offensive rebounder in college basketball by far, has as solid low-post moves as anyone in the draft and flat-out dominated the #2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet repeatedly) behind such luminaries as Victor Claver out of Spain, Rodrigue Beaubois from Guadaloupe, Christian Eyenga out of Congo, and of course the great Spanish point guard Ricky Ru--- oh wait, he was also behind the not-so-great Spanish point guard Sergio Llull (don't worry, I never heard of him either).
And as if that weren't enough, the Spurs also add Miami's Jack McClinton, who is a dead-eye shooter and has the kind of quick scoring ability that can change games over a two- or three-minute span, albeit in a point guard's body. I'm not saying he'll be a star, but he's a guy that can give them some good shooting off the bench.
Call me crazy and I know you will but as far as I am concerned the Spurs just put themselves on even ground with the Los Angeles Lakers in contention for next year's NBA Championship. DeJuan Blair is ready to play now, and can take a lot of rebounding pressure away from Tim Duncan right away, not to mention easily replace whatever low-post scoring they lost with Thomas and Oberto. Jefferson gives them a legit scoring threat who can take a ton of pressure off of Manu Ginobili, and probably let the mad Argentine play in the neighborhood of 25 minutes per game throughout the season (which would theoretically increase his chances of being healthy and strong come playoff time).
These two additions, plus a healthy Tim Duncan and another year's worth of improvement for Tony Parker, add up to championship possibilities in my book.
I'm Kolsky, and I've said enough...
But since this is a special NBA draft edition of my blog, I thought I'd say a little more anyway. Here are some additional draft notes for you:
First, to all my fellow Jews I know we've been disappointed for a long time at our peoples' failure to represent in the NBA, but today Israeli-born Omri Casspi (who I have to assume is Jewish) was drafted with the 23rd pick in the draft. Exciting! Also, I think those of us who watched the second round can agree that Adam Silver is Jew enough for the whole damn league.......
Besides the Spurs, I look at just a couple of teams who I really think did well today: (1) The Memphis Grizzlies I'm not a huge Thabeet fan, but there's no doubt he has the size, timing and commitment to be a defensive force in the league, and that is certainly an element that Memphis lacked on the interior. Then they grab two very versatile forwards in DeMarre Carroll out of Missouri (who is an energy PF who runs the floor, plays defense and has a surprising offensive skill set) and Sam Young (another Pitt player who fell inexplicably far into the second round despite the fact that he looks to me like a pretty clear NBA talent)... (2) The L.A. Clippers So what if it was a no-brainer, they got their guy, and he's the best guy there is. Blake Griffin will be a star in the NBA, I have very little doubt in my mind about that (barring injury or some unforeseen disaster, of course). Again, this wasn't difficult for them, but I think a lot of us expected them to screw it up somehow and they didn't... (3) The Denver Nuggets Another case of a one-player draft that looks good to me; I think Ty Lawson has the potential to be a very good NBA point guard despite his height, and Denver has the luxury of being able to put him behind Chauncey Billups for a few years to make sure he learns the right way to be an NBA point. Plus, they gave up very little to acquire him... And that's really it as far as drafts I loved a few other teams did okay (like my Bulls drafting James Johnson and Taj Gibson, or the Knicks grabbing Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas) but in general I found a lot of the picks strange.......
On the other side of the coin are the teams who basically blew it: (1) The Sacramento Kings took Tyreke Evans over Ricky Rubio a strange choice when you need a point and Evans really is not one. Then they proceeded to grab the aforementioned (assumed) Jew and Washington's Jon Brockman when the two Pitt guys (Young and Blair) were both still on the board. Maybe I'm missing something, but I would take Young over Casspi and Blair over Brockman any day of the week, and Sacto could have done just that... (2) The Minnesota Timberwolves were the beneficiary of the Kings' Evans pick and get Rubio, but then follow that up with picking the frighteningly undersized Syracuse point Jonny Flynn and then Ty Lawson (who they give away for very little). The thing is, I like both of those players, and I also think they got decent value on Wayne Ellington, but to draft two PG's with the 5th and 6th picks in the draft is just stupid. And if they think they can play Rubio and Flynn at the same time, that's even stupider.......
Finally, I think this draft may go down as the most value-filled second-round in draft history. Just so I have it on paper somewhere, here is a list of guys taken in Round 2 that I think have a chance to become solid-to-good NBA players: Jeff Pendergraph (31st by Sac, traded to Por), Dante Cunningham (33/Por), DaJuan Summers (35/Det), Sam Young (36/Mem), DeJuan Blair (37/SA), Derrick Brown (40/Cha), Patrick Beverly (42/LAL to Mia), Marcus Thornton (43/Mia to NO), Chase Budinger (44/Det to Hou), Danny Green (46/Cle), Jack McClinton (51/SA), A.J. Price (52/Ind), Patrick Mills (55/Por). It's just rare that you see so many guys that have been so productive throughout their careers available this late...
And now I've really said more than enough, so I'll see you later!
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By hi lo counting posted on Saturday, July 11, 2009 @ 4:05 PM
I hope the spurs do well, they are my favorite team!
By Matteo posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 @ 3:14 AM
I like it. And agree with most of the analysis but sincerely hope the spurs somehow suck permanently. I hate those bastards. How much worse would tim Duncan be if he couldn't look at refs? Our if Bowen had stopped judo And stuck too ball? Enough from me, keep it up Kolsky.
By Kolsky posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 @ 5:11 PM
I've been a Spurs fan for about 7 years now, since I spent an entire semester of college camped out on the couch of some friends who had the NBA package and were from San Antonio... I get all the complaints about them, but I have to say they play great basketball, and from top to bottom it's an organization that has done things the right way. Their continuing success is just proof of the surprising and arguably disproportionate value of doing good business in a league where most teams don't. And as far as Duncan, I hope you're not suggesting that he is good for any other reason than his incredible ability and a ton of hard work, because the guy has been a super-stud from day one and glaring at referees has very little, if anything, to do with it.
