NBA season is over and everyone is talking about winners of draft, free agents and trades. I think the '07 draft was rich in talent, but there is no Lebron James or Wade in the bunch. Here are some of the winners and losers from the draft.
NEW YORK – With the green room empty, the heckling fans gone home and the newly minted NBA players wondering if they can return those suits, it’s time to take a look back on the winners and losers of Thursday’s NBA draft at Madison Square Garden.
WINNER: Portland Trail Blazers – They got Greg Oden. At the end of the day, that’s all that really mattered. At the team’s draft party, fans stormed the court in celebration of landing an athletic 7-footer who is a supreme defensive talent and an absolutely great guy. This is the start of a great run.
That said, the trade with the New York Knicks was a bit baffling, Portland giving up 20-and-10 machine Zach Randolph to take Stevie Franchise Killer and a sort of stalled-out Channing Frye. Opening things up for LaMarcus Aldridge and eliminating about the last of the Jail Blazers makes sense, but was this the best the Blazers could get? You really want Francis in that locker room?
Is what they have now up front – Oden, Aldridge, Travis Outlaw and Frye – better than if they had gone with Aldridge, Randolph, Outlaw and Kevin Durant? Yes, probably because it is a struggle to play Randolph and Aldridge at the same time, but it’s a fair question to ask.
Of course, in the end, it hardly matters. The Blazers are still big winners. Oden is Oden, the franchise is relevant again and Portland has an inside track on a second consecutive Rookie of the Year.
LOSER: Boston Celtics – The trade for Ray Allen was a head-scratcher, even by Danny Ainge standards. Can the Celtics ever trade for a guy not coming off of surgery? Does Ainge know that NBA statutes actually allow this?
Boston gave up the five pick, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak for another gunner with questionable ankles. Maybe his brain/personality profile fits into Ainge’s qualifications. (They also got Glen “Big Baby” Davis, which means buying stock in Bickford’s isn’t a bad idea right now.)
Perhaps Allen is the “veteran” that will keep Paul Pierce from going Kobe on the franchise and demanding a trade, but it can’t be seen as anything but a desperation move by a front office and coaching staff trying to hang onto their jobs.
The ultimate insult is the parade of players who refused to be traded to the winningest franchise in NBA history. The Celtics are the new Clippers, which is almost unbelievable to imagine.
**WINNER: Seattle SuperSonics – **Not only do they get Kevin Durant, the most exciting player to enter the league Thursday and a future 10-time all-star and highlight-making machine, they also shipped out Allen to get Jeff Green, the big-time scorer from Georgetown, an outside shooter in Szczerbiak and a rotation guard in West. Plus, with Allen gone, they have the money to re-sign Rashad Lewis.
That’s a heck of a night for a franchise starting a brand new era. Durant is such a thrilling talent that he may even be able to energize the city and help get an arena built. If not, he’ll be a mega-star in Las Vegas, the new-age Sinatra on the Strip. It’s a win-win for the Sonics.
LOSER: Los Angeles Lakers – Javaris Crittenton? Yep, that ought to do it. Kobe Bryant is currently wandering Orange County parking lots looking for rogue film crews to tape his latest rant against the franchise.
The Lakers couldn’t get Kevin Garnett or any other difference maker that Bryant wanted and if they thought he wanted out of L.A. before, heaven knows what is coming now. Is there really any way he would pull a 180 and show up at training camp as a productive leader eager to help mentor Andrew “Are you kidding me?” Bynum. Agree or not with Kobe, the Lakers needed to do something to solve this problem.
A young and erratic (if gifted) point guard out of Georgia Tech wasn’t it. Of course, they did pick up Marc Gasol in the second round. Maybe they can confuse Kobe and make him believe they got Marc’s brother, Pau.
At this point, the Lakers need to try something.
LOSER: Milwaukee Bucks – There were plenty of questions about Yi Jianlian – like, how old is he? 28? – even before the Milwaukee Bucks took him. But Yi’s handlers want no part of Wisconsin, preferring a big market with a huge Asian population for their guy. They wouldn’t even work out for Milwaukee, a city with just 27,500 Asian-Americans according to the Associated Press.
Yi has no choice, so he’ll probably play for the Bucks and learn to love beer, cheese and brats as much as the next guy. Heck, one tour of the Mars Cheese Castle ought to do it (get him the beer bottle-shaped salami or the “Cheddar Christmas Tree”). But taking a guy with so many question marks who may not want to be there to even some degree doesn’t seem like such a smart policy.
WINNER: Chicago Bulls – Always one of the most effective franchises on draft night (they never miss), the Bulls landed Joakim Noah who, with his energy and athletic ability, was born to play for Scott Skiles. No, he certainly doesn’t solve their low-post scoring issues, but he fits in and will help Chicago immediately by doing all of the little things you need to win games.
LOSER: Philadelphia 76ers – The Sixers had three first-round picks and wound up with Thaddeus Young, Jason Smith, Derrick Byars and some “cash considerations.” Not terrible but not overwhelming considering the potential of the night.