Monthly Archive for June, 2006

So last night was the 2006 NBA Draft held as Madison Square Garden in NYC. While overall I thought that this was a relatively weak draft, there were quite a few surprises and a flurry of trades that kept the excitement level up. Unfortunately Nik Caner-Medley and Chris McCray were both undrafted so we might be hearing from them in tearing it up Europe with Drew Nicholas or in the Middle-East with John Gilchrist.

I thought that the New Jersey Nets got great value at picks 22 and 23 with Marcus Williams and Josh Boone. Both players fit well into the current roster and fill needs that the Nets were looking for considering the weaknesses they showed during the playoffs this year with a lack of depth at point guard and center/power forward. Marcus Williams was rated the top pure point guard in the draft and to nab him at 22 was the absolute steal of the draft. He can be an apprentice to Jason Kidd for a few years and could become a star. Josh Boone can become a defensive presence that can block shots and get rebounds while on the offensive end can get putbacks and finish it on the fast break. I think he really solidifies the Nets’ frontcourt. Both can come in and make a contribution right away and fill out the rotation with Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, Collins, Kristic, Robinson, and Wright.

On the other hand, the horrid New York Knicks had the worst draft picking Renaldo Balkman, easily a second-round talent, at number 20. I mean, what were the Knicks thinking? Any one of Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, or Marcus Williams would have been a better choice. If they wanted Balkman anyway, they could have picked him at 29 (even that would be a reach) or found a trade to get him in the mid-to-late 2nd round. Sure he can run, dunk the ball and play some defense, but he stinks at shooting and has no range on his shot (he didn’t even average over 10 points per game in college!). Awful pick. The Knicks’ pick at 29 with Mardy Collins wasn’t so bad though because he’s supposedly a good defender even though he’s neither a great shooter nor very athletic. They already have enough players to shoot the ball and none of them seem to play defense, so Collins is a pretty good fit. Only if they never traded for Eddy Curry, we could be talking about the Knicks getting LaMarcus Aldridge, Adam Morrison, or Tyrus Thomas instead of chanting “Fire Isiah!”.

As for the rest of the teams in the NBA, I’ll point out that the Rockets’ trade of Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift for Shane Battier is simply bad. Already probably one of the least athletic teams in the NBA, the Rockets needed to keep Swift and get someone like Gay. Battier is a nice blue-collar “Jeff Van Gundy”-type role player that plays defense and can shoot it a little, but Rudy Gay is a top talent that you can’t just give away. When he garners comparisons to a Hall of Fame player like Scottie Pippen and was also in consideration for the 1st pick in the draft this year, a “nice” player is not something you want in return. They did get a great shooter in Steve Novak in the 2nd round so they get a Kyle Korver-like player to help Yao when he gets double-teamed in the post.

Lastly, I was surprised that players like Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey, Taquan Dean, Allan Ray, or even our own Nik Caner-Medley weren’t drafted. These guys were some of the most important pieces to each of their team’s success during the season and throughout the past few NCAA tournaments.