Before I get to those though, why is everyone suddenly jumping on the ‘Ray Allen sucks’ bandwagon. Do you people know how lights out Ray Allen is? The man has averaged 20+ for what seems like forever. He is one of the best shooters to ever play the game. I don’t want to hear about age…if MJ could play the game at 40, if Chris Webber can still jog up and down, if Sabonis, Parish, Cartwright, Joe Dumars all of those guys could play old why can’t Ray Allen? He’s coming off a 55-game season and he got both his ankles cleaned up. At the end of the day, Ray Allen is still Ray Allen. He is a top 10 scorer, and people forget this ‘broken down man’ still managed to average 40 minutes a game. He has been a seven time All-Star for a reason and will be able to do wonders in the East. Plus like I said Boston was able to dump Wally’s contract and get two quality rookies in Gabe Pruitt and Big Baby. So get off the C’s back for a second.
Now. Moving on.
To me the theme of the 07 Draft was safety. This was one of the safest drafts in recent memory. Seniors who have actually proven themselves were *gasp* actually being drafted? I mean nearly ever pick was either a good pick, a steal or somewhat explainable. The most questionable ones in the first round to me were the following.
- Noah to Chicago at 9
- Spencer Hawes to the Kings at 10
- Javaris Crittenton to the Lakers at 19
Those are the only three that really made me go ‘wait what?’ I mean sure there were a couple other where I was a little surprised. For example, Alondo Tucker going to the Suns but he is a veteran, athletic and he can put the ball in the bucket. People are going to say ‘ohhh he can’t shoot, why the hell did the Suns take him?’ Tucker can put the ball in the bucket, you don’t average almost 20 accidently.
My gut reaction to the three picks above were ‘waiiiit what? How the bleep does this make them better?’ But I will give Paxson the benefit of the doubt. He went on TV at the Draft during that interview and let it be known they still need a low-post scoring presence and that will be addressed later. Now if he doesn’t do it then that is on him. But, why take a Spencer Hawes when you could have a proven winner and an energizer bunny in Noah? If the Bulls need anything they need someone who is going to go out there and show some damn passion. I mean during that Pistons series, look at the faces of Gordon, Hinrich, Deng, etc. Ben Wallace was the only fiery guy out there. With an energetic duo of Noah and Tyrus Thomas, maybe the Bulls will have some passion next year.
Spencer Hawes may be unathletic, overhyped and a little overrated but he still has a solid skillset. I think this was one of the worst draft picks of the night to be honest. It is hard to explain this one especially when Reggie Theus and co. could have had Al Thronton, a freak athlete who can score and board like crazy. I’m thinking they either wanna run high-low with Miller and Hawes, have a low-post insurance policy for Miller or they just really wanted to have two white posts like when they had Divac and Pollard. Don’t think the Maloofs were sipping mojitos in the Playboy Club at the Palms and saying “Ya know..we were really good when we had those two big white guys. Let’s do it again.” The Lakers drafting another PG…I think they should have drafted a senior. They needed to grab an experienced player not someone who may not be mentally ready for the league or the abuse that a Phil Jackson can throw around. It is never good when you are drafting the same position three years in a row. I did like the Lakers second round though with Sun Yue. For some reason that guy just seemed bad-ass to me. Quality analysis only at the Project baby.
As I was saying about the draft, everything was safe.