In case you missed it (not WAC-related)

Bill Simmons and crew took on that particular NBA gathering on Thursday with, just like the draft itself, some hits and misses.

A couple more thoughts

Just asking: nearing the end or right after the NBA draft concludes, will anyone in the national media make note that two WAC UNDERCLASSMEN went in the top 12 or 13 plus that three players -- ALL UNDERCLASSMEN -- from the little bitty league were selected?

This versus one second-rounder from the MWC.

Should we be holding our breath?

+++++

We are joking to a degree but waaaay too much credit is being given here -- c'mon, at worst PTW could have 'svengalied' John Wall into the #2 spot in LAST year's NBA draft (behind Blake Griffin) plus similar draft landings for fellow freshmen for DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton.

We're not knocking him (on this matter) but the meme that John-Calipari-gets-players-to-the-NBA as a major reason why kids sign on with Kentucky is a hollow and laughable one.

Chris Murray's NBA/WAC draft-a-palooza

Chris Murray is offering an NBA draft blowout as the date draws closer.

Here is a piece on the Green Room invitees.

Here is a breakdown of specific athletic and skill categories.

Here is Chris with his Top 10, Sleeper and Bust.

Here is an NBADraft.net interview with Armon Johnson.

Here is the New Orleans paper after a Luke Babbitt workout in the Crescent City.

Draft Express and the small forward prospects

Matt Kamalsky/Draft Express checks in with a look at the small forwards available in the NBA draft and we'll focus on Paul George and Luke Babbitt exclusively. The following are excerpts from analyses of George and Babbitt  -- go here for the complete article.

Situational Statistics: This Year’s Small Forward Crop
Matt Kamalsky - Director of Operations
Draft Express
June 12, 2010

...Paul George looks the part of a lanky athletic two-guard with immense promise, but his confidence ,the work he’s put in this summer, and his tremendous productivity as a freshman look much better than his situational statistics from last season.

The first thing that pops off the page when looking at George’s numbers is his high turnover percentage. The Fresno State product coughed the ball up on some 18.8% of his total possessions. He seldom gave the ball up in spot up situations, as he often just took the first available shot, but he turned the ball over on 30% of his one-on-one opportunities and 25% of his transition touches. Obviously, his ball-handling ability will be something that he needs to refine in order to reach his potential as a player...

and

...Luke Babbitt’s touch made him a highly capable scorer in almost every situation last season and speaks to his high skill level.

The highest usage player in our ranks at 20.6 possessions per-game, Babbitt’s 0.97 overall PPP isn’t terribly impressive. His lack of great overall efficiency stems from the fact that he ranks last in transition points per-possession at a dismal 0.90. His lack of great leaping ability is clear in that metric, but his 0.98 PPP in 18.1 half court touches per-game is highly impressive, as are his low 12.2 turnover percentage and his 8.4% shots fouled mark. ..

Chris Murray's first round predictions

Anyone jonesing for NBA basketball draft predictions needs to head over to Chris Murray's first-round selections. Go here.

Not commenting on his selections but about some of the available prospects: we actually saw Derrick Favors play as a junior in Las Vegas during one of those summer tourneys -- mobile, athletic, good shotblocker, nothing to get excited about offensively ... next to John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins has the highest ceiling but will he stay in shape and be a team first guy once dollars are falling out of his pockets? ... doesn't it seem that Hoya Greg Monroe should dominate more than he does? ... Utah's system and Kansas' Cole Aldrich are a match made in heaven ... North Carolina's Ed Davis can be breathtaking on the court but will his impact be any different than that of Golden State's Brandan Wright, another Tarheel big who can run and jump with the best? ... our gut tells us that Hassan Whiteside should be preferred over Daniel Orton (we faintly recall that Whiteside was on Mark Fox's Wolf Pack recruiting radar at some point -- we don't know if Whiteside-to-Reno was ever even a possibility ... we love him (and Butler) but you are really taking your chances with Gordon Hayward (Luke Babbitt will outscore Hayward in the pros) ... did Kentucky's Patrick Patterson ever take over a game? ...

The Bill Simmons Experience

The following will be of little or no interest if your eyes blur over and your hearing shuts down when the NBA or the NBA draft are the subjects of discourse. Plus furthering the insignificance, even for WAC hoops addicts, our conference received zero mention this year during the interminably long player grab Thursday night but that should change at least somewhat in the 2010 draft.

We typically avoid the ESPN site because it produces an instantaneous overload disorder in us what with its display of a multitude of gizmos and flashing items so a confession to not being familiar with Bill Simmons work is in order.

Also, Simmons can't resist going juvenile early on and again later in his article so consider yourself forewarned -- Bill, was that really necessary to share?

We're running a contest and the winner will receive the opportunity to interview with Bill Simmons minus a tape recorder while the runnerup gets two interviews sans recording devices. Okay, here we go: does Bill Simmons suffer from ADD or does he have a particularly nasty meth addiction? Who will be the respondent with the first correct answer... Actually, we enjoyed his massive take on the draft, at least most of it.

Welcome to NBA Draft Diary XIII
Bill Simmons
ESPN
June 26, 2009

The Virgin Megastore on Hollywood Boulevard had a "Going Out Of Business!" sale this month. For the first few days, everything in the store was 30 percent off. The discount jumped to 40 percent and, finally, 80 percent. I voyaged down down there one day too late, well after every desirable DVD and Blu-Ray disc had been snagged. One wall of DVDs featured only "Don't Mess with the Zohan" and "Meet Dave," to give you a sense of what was left.

I spent 20 minutes sifting through the Blu-Ray remains. It wasn't pretty. I talked myself into "Terminator 3," "The Shining" and "Superman Returns," then carried them for a few more minutes before realizing, "Wait a second, what am I doing?" I put the Blu-Rays back and walked out of the store.

Here's the point: The 2009 NBA draft is the equivalent of that 10 minutes when I nearly talked myself into three Blu-Rays I didn't even want. I have seen "The Shining" 10 million katrillion times. I don't need to own it on Blu-Ray. But when it's sitting on the same shelf with "Along Came Polly" and "Ocean's 12"? It starts looking good by default. That's the problem with this year's draft class -- too many "Terminator 3" Blu-Rays, only everyone else is so bad, you start talking yourself into them.

Maybe Tyreke Evans really is a point guard! Maybe DeMar DeRozan can put it together! Maybe Tyler Hansbrough isn't too slow! Maybe Jrue Holiday's college stats aren't a red flag!

Trust me: It's the worst draft class since the infamous Kenyon Martin Draft in 2000. If I had to bet my life on any 2009 prospect becoming a top-three player on a championship team, I'd bet on Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio and Stephen Curry. That's it. You'd remember this draft as Suckapalooza 2009 someday if it hadn't happened on the same day we lost Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Only the Clippers could have the No. 1 pick on a day like this, right?

Without further ado, Draft Diary XIII …

Go here for the remainder.

Pity poor Gary Wilkinson?

So should Gary Wilkinson be disappointed at not hearing his name called on national television during the NBA draft?

We offer a qualified 'no'.

If it ever was this situation for Wilkinson -- which seems extremely doubtful -- the NBA draft after the first round (thus the guaranteed contracts) is not about ego. It's more attuned to freedom -- at least from the player perspective.

If a player isn't to be a first-rounder then not being chosen after the second run through the league's teams allows the freedom to shop around for both the best roster fit and deal, within the NBA and elsewhere.

Sure, Gary Wilkinson will never be able to tell his future kids and grandkids that he was drafted by such-and-such team but the opportunity to maximize his possible earnings potential is actually the most important aspect of yesterday's events.

Wasn't it leapin' Patrick Henry who first uttered "give me the first round or leave me be" -- or something similar?

Thoughts and notes on last night's NBA draft

At the risk of coming off crotchety and cranky, does anyone besides us wish TNT (Ernie Johnson, Hubie Brown, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith) had the rights to televise and comment on the NBA draft rather than ESPN?

Stephen A. Smith looked like he was literally giving up after his third or so 'interview' with the top picks. Talk about a square peg/round hole positioning -- whose idea was it to have Smith, known for his unbridled opinions, as an interviewer?

Despite a load of on-line and in-print articles about who would be the first pick and hours of jabbering about it, was anyone surprised that Chicago nabbed Derrick Rose as the first pick in the draft? If so, please contact us immediately as we have exclusive selling rights to a number of bridges and we'll throw in some extra fine swampland for free.

We're still waiting for one of the middle first-round picks, while being interviewed, to say "What were those general managers thinking? I can take every one of those clowns chosen ahead of me with one hand tied behind my back, blindfolded and wearing those funky throwback short shorts.." Come to think of it, the Lopez brothers just may have a shot at their own reality show if their professional basketball careers don't flourish -- they were the most entertaining presences all night.

One pet peeve: can the term 'War Room" be retired? Such jargon has been outlandish and inappropriate from its first usage. How does adding a couple of new players to the roster of a sports team have any connection to military action? What's next? Dick Vitale is camouflage clothing saluting General Robert Montgomery Knight. Come to think of it, last night would have been so much better with just Bob Knight and Jay Bilas and a innocuous moderator.

Nobody actually knows how any of the selections are going to do so all the writers and bloggers providing an instant analysis today owe it to their readers to keep their predictions handy and revisit them a couple of years from now -- to claim credit and to seek forgiveness.

We wouldn't know Anthony Randolph from Zack Randolph but why did the Golden State Warriors choose 6-10 197 Anthony Randolph one season after trading Jason Richardson for draft pick Brandon Wright, who goes 6-10 205?

Congrats to Russell Westbrook, going from a relatively unheralded late signee by UCLA, to the fourth pick in the draft in two years. A marvelous physical talent and solid defender, he appears to be someone who is going to get better and better in the next few years or so but right now has limited ball skills and scoring ability. He is not currently a major difference maker but many NBA picks are not made for the 'right now' but rather the 'down the road.'

Ryan Anderson sure proved his doubters wrong -- at least as to where he would go in the draft.

DeVon Hardin being the 50th pick is not what he had planned. Let's hope the situation he has stepped into turns out to be a good one and both his wallet and skills set prosper.