NBA Draft 08 Running Thoughts

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Welcome to the second annual RCP live coverage of the NBA Draft. I know, the second one. Feels all super official. I hate watching the Draft preview show because it’s just added hype but I have no choice.

4:05 PT: The ‘whose going first’ drama dies. Andy Katz reports that the Bulls are going to pick Derrick Rose. Thanks for that Andy. What is this the NFL Draft now? Sheesh.

4:07 PT: I’m very curious to how smart Jay Bilas is going to sound this year without Stephen A’s stupidity around. Whoops I forgot Mark Jackson is still on the job.

4:09 PT: Yes Michael Beasley only scores from the perimeter Mark Jackson. Gosh he is just so bad during the Draft. No one wants to mention the fact that the Bulls need some low-post scoring? No one?

4:13 PT: We’re still holding out hope for the Blazers/Knicks deal that would snag us the #6 pick and David Lee.

4:16 PT: I really love Doris Burke..but she has to ditch the blonde hair. It’s too yellow. It just doesn’t work for me.. What’s scarier than that is the return of Quite Frankly w/ Stephen A. Smith. Oh crap. Also, OJ Mayo is rocking the glasses. Classy.

Coup: Does OJ Mayo look like Oden’s 2nd cousing a little bit to you?

Yes he does. I’m definitely getting antsy over here. I almost convinced Jay Bilas could make any basketball player sound good with some highlights in the background.

4:24 PT: New York apparently has their man…does that mean Westbrook? Bayless? Augustin? Danilo? What the hell kind of report was that!

4:27 PT: JVG and Mark Jackson lose me talking about how to rebuild the Knicks. You can’t have a culture of hard workers with chemistry with Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry around. It’s impossible and I wish one of you would have said that.

Coup: I have no idea why Chad Ford doesn’t sit at the desk like Mel Kiper gets to do.

Agreed…it’s funny he does so much pre-draft but when the actual draft goes down he disappears. Like ESPN is ashamed of him or something.

4:30 PT: Good job ESPN way to grab ‘Remember the Name’ that song wasn’t relevant 2-3 years ago or anything. Even TNT stopped using that as the playoff song. Way to stay up on your pop culture.

4:31 PT: After 25 years David Stern doesn’t have this intro down pat? Coup: “He’s so giddy”

4:32 PT: Bulls are on the clock…Derrick Rose looks like he is about to throw up. Literally he’s about as scared as a middle schooler playing spin the bottle.

4:34 PT: JVG finally says the Bulls need low post scoring!! Thank you! Thank you! Kudos. I’m buying you some polish for that dome of yours big guy.

4:37 PT: Pack your bags Kirk Hinrich or Ben Gordon there’s a new sheriff in town. Derrick Rose goes #1 to the Bulls. He hasn’t fainted yet so he’s a dirty liar. Holy crap his nickname is Pooh. Somewhere Pooh Richardson just threw something against the wall. By the way the reaction of the Bulls ‘War Room’ was terrible. “Hey guys let’s just sit here and clap” I mean come on get some hats out or something.

Coup’s thoughts on the pick: Shocking. Digging the sarcasm.

4:39 PT: So now this is where all hell is about to break loose. The Heat SHOULD take Beasley…but they might not. And it’s just going to be a trickle down effect.

Coup – I’m pretty sure Mark Jackson reads his lines from a book on every broadcast until Jeff Van Gundy makes fun of him and they have a lover’s spat. And I’m dragging him to a WNBA broadcast booth.

Please don’t. I don’t need hearing him tell Becky Hammon she’s better than that.

4:42 PT: Miami takes the obvious choice and snags Beasley. Thank goodness I was actually getting worried there for a second. I actually think they should keep him. D-Wade, Beasley and Marion. That’s a nice threesome they need some damn scoring.

Coup – Now we know Pat Riley does have a pulse.

4:44 PT: Coup – We are officially in Blazers trade territory from now on…or should I say Pritchslap territory.

4:46 PT: David Amber with John Paxson. Mr. Paxson says…”I’m a big idiot”. Not. He rationalizes with..PG’s are very hard to find. Then he rambles on for a while. From what Paxson just said it sounds like they might keep Hinrich around and let Rose develop.

Coup – David Amber looks like the kind of guy you want to fight at a frat party

He actually just looks like the kind of guy you would want to punch in the face in any situation.

Minnesota is on the clock next and well they should take OJ Mayo.

4:48 PT: Minnesota takes OJ Mayo as they should have. People making obvious choices and not overthinking? This isn’t the NBA Draft.

Coup – Damn I thought McHale would make a mistake.

Me too…I was thinking he would be a guaranteed blunder and we’d hear Kevin Love’s name. Oh well. OJ really has improved from the beginning of this year to the end of this year, he’s going to be dangerous in Minny.

4:51: Coup – I can just picture KP with about 8 cell phones making calls and Paul Allen just sitting back with a big smile on his face.

Also I’m tuning out the Quite Frankly segments they serve no purpose. Except OJ sounds extra nerdy with the glasses on.

4:52: Video interview with Pat Riley. He doesn’t answer the question at all and says due diligence 3 more times than any human being should normally say. Gotta love the GM Speak. Apparently every one had to tie Pat Riley down and convince him to take Beasley. Oh…my imagination went crazy with a senile Riley, half clothed saying they need to pick Joe Alexander at #3 before everyone ties him down, feeds him oatmeal and shows him film of Beasley. Followed by old Lakers tapes because they make him smile.

Coup – You could ask the GM ‘What did you eat for breakfast’ and they would reply “Well we went through our scouting process”

4:54 PT: And here we go with the shockers….Seattle takes Russell Westbrook. Um. Ok? Don’t they already have Jeff Green to play defense? Who knows. I guess they are moving Durant to the 3 if they keep Westbrook. At least Durant won’t have to pretend to play defense anymore.

Coup – Are they picking for LA? Are they picking for us? Ooooh intrigue.

4:57 PT: Kevin Durant (random cameo) is so happy he doesn’t have to play defense anymore. That’s literally the first thing he said about Westbrook.

5:00 PT: Memphis is on the clock…Kevin Love? Eric Gordon? Brook Lopez? Coup says this pick could be for the Blazers. I repond can’t wait until it’s K-Love…and then it’s Kevin Love. I don’t disagree with the pick at all. He’s an automatic upgrade over Kwame Brown and Collins #1. You know you want to see an outlet pass alley-oop to Rudy Gay.

5:03 PT: He’s the next Jon Koncak. Minus the huge contract. I had to get a dig in on K-Love, had to.

5:05 PT: All the fun of the Draft came to a screeching halt thanks to Kevin Love’s dad. You wouldn’t understand.

Up next…the Knicks. The moment the crowd has been waiting for. I really think they’ll snag Bayless….but who knows.

5:06 PT: The crowd is up and ready…first pick of the Donnie Walsh era…Danilo Gallinari and he gets showered with boos. Can’t wait until Zach Randolph corrupts him. Fran Fracshilla says Danilo is a guy you can build a program around. That would be good except this is the pros. It’s ok.

5:09 PT: Danilo says New York is the best city in the world. The boos continue. By the way I think Danilo is the opposite of Eddy Curry. Let’s hope he’s way better than Bargnani.

5:11 PT: 19th lottery pick in 23 years? Damn. Clippers go ahead and take Eric Gordon. Saw that coming.

A lot of players left. Bayless, Joe Alexander, Brook Lopez, DJ Augustin. Really interested in seeing who the Bucks take next. They don’t need Alexander anymore with the RJ trade. With all the talent we might just end up with DJ Augustin straight up.

Coup is more worried
about getting David Lee and trading Jarrett Jack.

5:15 PT: Donnie Walsh brings more GM speak to the table. Walsh thinks Danilo can bring a team together. Ha. Could you imagine him trying to huddle up Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry and Nate Robinson?

5:17 PT: Milwaukee sticks with Joe Alexander despite getting Richard Jefferson. Alexander gets to develop as RJ’s backup. Not a bad choice at all for Milwaukee he fits in with Scott Skiles and now he can take all of Yi’s endorsements in Milwaukee. Because he speaks Mandarin.

5:20 PT: Stuart Scott with dig of the draft: “Stephen A, how’s your English?” and then Stephen A actually stutters over his next sentence. Stephen A is completely useless right now.

Up next…the Bobcats. And they have a mini-dilemma. Do they go with their need and take Brook Lopez? Or do they take the best talent available aka Bayless. The age old debate in its purest form. Or MJ could so something random.

5:24 PT: Stu Scott just called Larry Brown a gypsy of coaching. Unreal. Bobcats select…DJ Augustin?!?! Are you kidding me? Classic MJ. Why on earth would they do that? They have Raymond Felton…I don’t get it. You need a big man, you need to slide Emeka to the 4 and Wallace to the 3. And you draft a PG.

5:27 PT: Brook Lopez….in tears. Is he that guy this year?

Coup – Robin goes before Brook?
If that happened…Brook would hurt himself. Or just burn Robin’s comic book collection.

5:28 PT: No trades? What is this? All those rumors and nothing?

Coup – Something is brewing…I can feel it…KP has an itchy trigger finger.

5:29 PT: The Nets pick Brook Lopez. Blazers.. definitely aren’t trading for that pick. What happened to all those rumors. Smokescreen? The best part was Robin Lopez clapping in a “so glad you stopped crying” type fashion. Brook Lopez is pretty dang good people. Almost averaged 20 and 10. Nice pick NJ.

Coup – According to Stephen A, everybody has the complete package.

5:33 PT: Best moment of the draft was the exchange between Brook Lopez and Stephen A Smith. The Lopez Twins voices do not fit their bodies at all. It’s like a combination of Andre the Giant and a typical guy from California.

5:34 PT: Indy takes Bayless. That was an easy pick…except…

Coup – Didn’t they just get TJ Ford?

I know…I have to imagine Larry Bird has been cussing for the last 8 minutes. I’m sure he didn’t see Bayless falling in their laps. The Pacers are going to be able to score in bunches.

5:38 PT: Kings on the clock…and well…I got no clue what they are gonna do. Sacramento takes Jason Thompson. I’ll give you Coup’s reaction:

“WOW…..WHAT! He’s not no. 12 good…this wasn’t just stupid, that was idiotarded”

I told y’all someone was going to do something stupid in the draft. This is it. You just picked Spencer Hawes. You are adding another big man…whose ceiling can’t be much better than Shareef or Kenny Thomas. Sure he could be a beast like Paul Milsap…but damn. #12?!?!

Portland up next…I’m smelling Brandon Rush and I like it. Coup meanwhile just wants us to get rid of Jarrett Jack. Can’t say I disagree.

5:46 PT: Portland picks Brandon Rush. I can’t celebrate this with a fist pump as Coup told me that there’s a rumor the Pacers picked Bayless for us. Man. Anyways if we keep Rush I am happy with him taking James Jones’ slot.

5:51 PT: The Warriors pick Anthony Randolph. Even though they just picked Brandan Wright last year. Umm…redundancy? He can play but knowing Nellie he won’t be playing anytime soon!

5:53 PT: Coup is saying that the Blazers are getting Bayless and Jack will be part of the trade. The rumored deal from Brian Wheeler and Jason Quick is Rush and Jack for Bayless. Coup wishes we could keep Rush, as do I.

Coup – Isn’t it a little odd that Bayless was the one guard we didn’t work out?

5:56 PT: Phoenix with their first draft pick in what feels like forever….Robin Lopez. Hmm. Intriguing. They got a post defender so Shaq can stop pretending and Amare won’t even have to think about it.

Coup – Why are no trades being announced?

Because everyone is full of crap.

6:00 PT: I for one am getting tired of Stephen A’s mini-interviews. He always asks ‘what are you going to bring the table’ and the typical rookie response. I know I make fun of Stuart but at least he made those interesting.

6:04 PT: Chad Ford reports that the Portland/Indy trade is Rush and Jarrett Jack for Bayless and Ike Diogu. I love this trade. I love it so much I missed Philly taking Mareese Speights. He’s a low post scorer something they need…good to see his supposedly bad workout didn’t scare them off.

6:07 PT: Toronto picking for Indiana and they take Roy Hibbert. Well…he’s replacing Jermaine and Ike. I like it.

6:10 PT: By the way I’m still grinning from the news of that trade.

6:12 PT: Brook Lopez hands down had the best NBA Wired segment of the year. “Robin Lopez is going to be someone who can defend on the defensive end” I love you Terry Porter but you have to work on your coach speak. And try not to say the word big every 3 seconds.

6:13 PT: Washington is up next. They take JaVale McGee. Question mark. Coup states this is an awful pick and I’d have to agree. Why not take Arthur? No offense to McGee but you know you’re in trouble when your first fact is that your mom played in the WNBA and not about your game.

6:16 PT: Ric Bucher states the trade is proposed and I’m hyped.

6:17 PT: I’m not sure I like Stuart Scott’s new humor. He’s toned down the catchphrases which is appropriate but his new thing is to just be overly sarcastic like saying LeBron James needs seasoning to be decent and such.

6:20 PT: Coup said Larry Legend just got Pritchslapped. Coup also will be getting struck by lightning shortly.

6:21 PT: Cleveland takes JJ Hickson. Why? I would have gone with CDR, they need someone who can create their own basket not named LeBron. But that’s just me. Darrell Arthur continues to be that guy in the green room.

6:26 PT: The Bobcats take Alexis Ajinca as their big man to compliment Okafor. I don’t like it. The guy averaged 5 points a game in France….I don’t see it. Fran and Coup both suggest they should keep him overseas. I’ll buy that. But MJ is messing up. Please don’t beat me up Charles Oakley.

6:28 PT: Coup’s reaction to losing Josh McRoberts….whatever.

Coup’s happy that Rudy is happy that he doesn’t have to compete with Brandon Rush.

6:32 PT: Coup’s is Burning: “Before today I didn’t think we had a white person’s chance in LA circa 1993 of getting Bayless.” I’d agree. Except I would have said Rodney King.

6:33 PT: New Jersey loves the Pac-10, they picked Ryan Anderson. That’s…a steal. He can shoot the lights out and he can only help that team.

6:35 PT: Coup chimes in with the following from a Pacers fan “This is karma for the Dale Davis/Jermaine O’Neal trade.” Yes it is damnit.

6:38 PT: Orlando takes Courtney Lee. Lights out shooter and scorer. He kind of reminds me of a skinny Keith Bogans.

6:40 PT: Stuart Scott says all the wheeling and dealing. Yes…all two trades. Kiki continues the GM Speak as I just tune it out.

6:41 PT: Coup with a quote from a Portland fan. “This really isn’t fair. Pritchard is like that guy that does franchise mode on 2K8, turns trade override on and ends up with this amazing team while all the other players are getting their trades rejected. “

That’s actually really funny. That guy is so annoying. You know you go to his house and he mysteriously wants to play you. But only in his Franchise mode. And then we you look up and see Nash, Kobe, KG, Duncan and Shaq and you just stare at him like WTF.

6:43 PT: Utah goes with Kosta Koufos. Well that’s a match made in heaven. And I don’t jus
t mean that because he’s white. Actually I kind of do but still. He’s an upgrade over Collins #2 but he’s no Paul Milsap.

6:44 PT: Me and Coup just had this exchange after the last pick:

Coup: I feel bad for Darrell Arthur
Me: ….I forgot about him.

6:45 PT: Coup: Best part of today so far…we didn’t trade Martell or Travis.
Amen brotha.

6:47 PT: There are some things I just didn’t need to see…and the whole behind the scenes of how a pick goes down was one of them. I learned absolutely nothing and it killed my imagination of what I thought it was.

Coup’s shocked Arthur and Donte Greene are still on the board.

6:48 PT: Seattloklahoma is on the board. They take Serge Ibaka. Horrid pick. Remember all those things I said about Sam Presti being smart? I take them all back. Ibaka? Really? Coup correctly points out that his agent TOLD people not to take him in the first round. Yet they took him. Coup drops about 5 awful, awful, awful picks.

6:51 PT: Awww crap they sent Doris Burke to go interview Darrell Arthur. Tear.

Coup: Doris doing a nice job of cheering him up.

Agreed. Way to drop the Boozer and Rashard Lewis bombs. I love Doris Burke.

6:53 PT: Anyone else feel like there is always an awkward silence right after Stuart Scott says something?

6:55 PT: Jeff Van Gundy gives Yao a triple for about 5 minutes and we finally get to Houston’s pick. The Rockets snag Nicolas Batum from France. Chad Ford called it. I would have rather they gone with CDR but oh well. I’m not sure he can help them next year and he needs help.

6:57 PT: Both Coup and I are giddy at the fact that Darrell Arthur who could drop right to us. And then Ric Bucher drops that he might have a bum kidney. Nice.

6:58 PT: D’Antoni on Danilo: “We know I can get him to play defense” Ha. Hahah. Ha.

7:01 PT: San Antonio takes George Hill. Jay Bilas he has D and a good all around game. And 3% body fat thanks for that Stu!! I’m guessing that’s why San Antonio picked him.

7:02 PT: Coup – Wow we can just take our pick of whoever. DeAndre Jordan, Arthur, Donte Greene, CDR….damn.

We’re getting a steal.

7:06 PT: And then Coup goes ahead and says that if this is an American guy it’s probably a signal for a trade. You and Stan Love really know how to bring me down.

Timeout….are they gushing over the Blazers??? Music to my ears.

7:08 PT: And we get Darrell Arthur. Not only a steal but we do the right thing and we look like nice guys.

Coup – Awwwwwww….this is probably a trade though.

I’m telling you the guy is a moment killer.

Coup – If we keep Arthur he is seriously going to have something to prove. Couldn’t have worked out better for us.

7:15 PT: Memphis takes Donte’ Greene. And that my friends is a steal. He should develop into a monster.

7:18 PT: My brain is starting to tune the talking heads out. Kind of like the last 5 minutes of class. You hear what they’re saying but the words don’t process.

7:22 PT: Detroit takes DJ White. Meh. Stuart Scott (for the 18th time) goes with his ‘the last time X team did X they drafted (insert really good player’s name)’ except it had to do with Isiah Thomas. Who got booed by the remaining fans there. That was just awesome. By the way I can’t believe they are still talking about the Pistons.

7:25 PT: Jeff Van Gundy continues his love affair with James Posey. I seriously want to see what would happen if those two were stuck in an elevator, I swear JVG would make a move after a while.

7:32 PT: Coup says we could possibly have traded Arthur for Batum. Which makes sense because a) we can stash Batum overseas and b) KP loves to make unnecessary trades with people who are two picks above us. How do you think we got LMA?

7:34 PT: Dick Vitale with a drug-induced rant.

8:00 PT: MJ finally makes a good pick with Kyle Weaver at #38. Way to go Mike.