Archive for June, 2009
Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry Unfairly Criticized by ESPN’s Chad Ford
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in NBA on June 30th, 2009
Last week Chad Ford of ESPN.com stated that the strategy used by GM Danny Ferry to build a team around Lebron James was wrong. Ford goes on to expound on this statement by saying that Ferry chose to put veterans around Lebron James whereas, GM Sam Presti of the OKC Thunder has done the correct thing in surrounding Kevin Durant with a young nucleus around him that will grow and develop together.
If any Cleveland GM is at fault for not putting together any semblance of a talented nucleus around Lebron James, then Ferry’s predecessor, Jim Paxson is certainly the man to look at.
In 2002 he drafted Dajuan Wagner with No. 6 overall pick while, Nene Hilario, Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler and Tayshaun Prince were still on the board. Wagner averaged 13.4 points his rookie season on 36.9% shooting from the field, suffered from injuries the following two years and was out of the league. He is currently playing for the Polish team, Prokom Trefl Sopot, not exactly even a European powerhouse.
I could go back to his previous 3 drafts, but needless to say even with picks all in the top-10 of the draft, Paxson was unable to unearth one above average NBA player. In fact the only player Paxson drafted before he drafted Lebron James, was Carlos Boozer in the second round of the 2002 NBA Draft at No. 34 overall.
Boozer could have been the perfect career-long complement to James if the Cavs had re-signed him
Boozer would average a double-double his second year before he became a restricted free agent. Instead of excersizing their qualifiying offer on Boozer, Paxson allowed him to enter free agency with a handshake agreement to re-sign with the Cavaliers for the full mid-level exception.
The only problem was the the Utah Jazz swooped in and signed the emerging power forward to a 6-year, $68 million dollar contract. Boozer was 22 when he was signed by Utah and would provided a perfect complement to Lebron James.
From the beginning of his tenure in Cleveland, Danny Ferry was working with a team that other than Lebron James had little in the way of talented players or tradeable assets.
Ferry took over a squad that finished 9th in the Eastern Conference with 35 wins. In fact after taking a look at the roster of 2004-2005 Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s amazing they even got 35 wins. They had Desagana Diop, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Lucious Harris, Luke Jackson, Jeff Mcinnis, Jerome Moiso, Ira Newble, Sasha Pavlovic, Eric Snow, Anderson Varejao, Dajuan Wagner, Jiri Welsch(traded an 07′ first round pick to get him), Scott Williams and last but certainly not least the immortal Robert Traylor.
The 2004-2005 Cavaliers (Paxson’s last year as GM) were a one-man show with role players that have had lackluster careers. On the roster there 10 players that are no longer in the NBA, with Pavlovic, Gooden and Diop having left via trades or free agency from Cleveland. Ilgauskas and Vareajao are the only players left on the current roster other than James.
The summer Ferry took over he had ample cap space to sign a free agent, which he did. He signed Larry Hughes, 25 year-old at the time, who was coming off a career year with the Wizards, averaging 22.0 points a game and being voted first-team All NBA Defense. The signing however was questioned due to Hughes’ style of play as a slasher, which many thought would not complement James well and also his well documented injury problems.
The signing was a disappointment with Hughes’ production significantly dropping and with injuries propping up again, limiting him to 36 games. It was obvious that the pairing was not working out as expected, but James had taken his game to the next level leading his team to the No. 4 seed in the conference that year, boosting the team from 35 wins the year before to 50 wins that year, most of this in Hughes’ absence. Lebron carried the team into a second round series against the Pistons and took the defending Eastern Conference Champions to seven before bowing out.
Ferry, hoping that Hughes could stay healthy and develop betetr chemistry with James gave the partnership another chance in 2006-2007. During the season Lebron, now in his fourth year, led the Cavaliers to another 50-win season in which they advanced to the NBA Finals, beating Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals before getting swept in the Finals by the Spurs. However, it was obvious by this point that Hughes could not play alongside Lebron James.
Delonte West has been a solid addition to the Cavaliers backcourt and is only 25 years old.
The following season Hughes was traded at the deadline for Delonte West, Ben Wallace, Wally Sczerbiak and Joe Smith. West, currently 25, was the key to the trade and is now a fixture in the backcourt for the Cavaliers. James led this version of the Cavaliers into the playoffs, taking the eventual champion Boston Celtics, a full seven games in the second round and nearly winning Game 7 in Boston.
Ferry then made a move to solidify the backcourt by trading for point guard Mo Williams, currently 26, and only giving up little used and againg guard Damon Jones and Joe Smith (later resigned after being bough out by the OKC Thunder this past season).
Ferry has also used draft picks he has had on Shannon Brown, Daniel “Boobie” Gibson and J.J. Hickson. Brown did not find success with the Cavaliers but after bouncing around the league became a part of the point guard rotation during the Lakers’ championship run this season. Gibson, now 23, has provided an effective shooter for the Cavaliers and has helped to provide excellent floor spacing and benefited from James’ kick outs. Hickson, 20, has shown promise and could become a key part of the rotation for the Cavs next year.
In his time in Cleveland, Ferry has taken a collection of non-distinguished talent and traded for an All-Star point guard in Mo Williams and an effective shooting guard who can hit shots and play great on-the-ball defense, Delonte West. He also has drafted an effective shooter and a promising young big man in Hickson.
Of all these players not one is over the age of 27 and Gibson and Hickson are younger than James. Ferry also has kept Varejao, who is 26 years old and has provided a good complement to James’ passing abilities as one of the best big men in the game in his movement off the ball. Other than Ilgauskas, who should remain with the team and Shaq who they recently traded for, only giving up little used swingman Sasha Pavlovic, an aging Ben Wallace, a second round pick and cash, not one player in the Cavs’ rotation is over 30.
Not only this but Ford’s statement makes it seem as if the “veterans” around James have pushed the team into immediate championship contention and not James’ own development. Without James on the floor, the team had the worst plus/minus ratio in the league. James has stated he wants to win a championship and to do that Ferry has made the best moves available to him, while not sacrificing the future, by not trading 1st round picks and young rotation players, for established aging stars.
GM Sam Presti’s situation in Seattle/OKC has been completely different. He had a trade asset in Ray Allen, which he traded for the No. 5 pick in the 2007 draft to Boston. He used that pick to draft Jeff Green. He received two first round picks from Phoenix for merely giving up a trade exception worth $8 million and a second pick, and taking on Kurt Thomas’ remaining contract.
GM Danny Ferry has done the best job possible adding young role players to help James win a championship.
He then traded Thomas to the San Antonio Spurs, who were desperate for frontcourt help and in return received the expiring contracts of Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and another first round pick.
Presti has done a fantastic job and I agree with Ford is assessment there, but his situation in comparison to Ferry’s was completely different. Presti was walking into a situation tailor-made to start from scratch, armed with the No. 2 pick, which ended up being Kevin Durant and tradeable assets. He has made trades in order to acquire talent on this team the draft while using the team’s over high-draft picks because the Thunder have been awful during rebuilding, something to be expected.
The Cavaliers since Ferry has been GM and with James have never been in a situation to rebuild. In fact James’ impending free agency, desire to win a championship and ability to nearly single-handedly make this team a playoff contender have not allowed them to draft lottery talent to pair with him. As such Ferry has made the best moves possible to put players that fill roles and are young enough to be part of an extended championship run.
Ford without taking any consideration of the situation both GM’s have faced made an analysis that is false. To criticize Ferry for failing to take advantage of the cap space he had would be fair, but certainly not for a flawed method in putting a team together.
American Defeat in Confederations Cup Highlights Weaknesses
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in Uncategorized on June 28th, 2009
First off the U.S. was amazing in completely reversing its fortunes in the Confederations Cup after they lost the first two games to Italy and Brazil by a combined score of 6-1. To beat Spain in the semi-finals and really step up and challenge Brazil in the finals was remarkable and certainly shows that this team has more talent than it is given credit for. Landon Donovan had positive touches on the ball and was aggressive in attacking the defense as opposed to his play in the 2006 World Cup. Clint Dempsey was also fantastic, making the most of his opportunities and the U.S. looks like they have found an effective centerback pairing in Oguchi Onyewu and Jay Demerit.
Claudio Reyna and the rest of the U.S. squad set a new standard for American soccer after they advanced to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup.
Now with all that being said the U.S. is once again at a crossroads that was supposed to have been crossed back in their unexpected and highly succesful 2002 World Cup run. That year the Americans led by captain Claudio Reyna exuded a confidence that U.S. Soccer had sorely needed and advanced all the way to the quarterfinals where they gave eventual runner-up Germany all they could handle, losing 1-0. Along the way the U.S. beat a world power in Portugal, tied hosts and semi-finalist South Korea and thoroughly dominated CONCACAF foe, Mexico in the round of 16.
At the time we heard that now U.S. Soccer had established itself on the international stage and from now on could be expected to at the least be competitive against the top competition. Since that point American soccer however has really gone nowhere. The 2006 World Cup preceded with much hype an increased expectations, ended in great disappointment with the U.S. losing their first game 3-0 to Czech Republic, tied Italy and then fell to the Ivory Coast 2-1 in their final group game. The U.S. would have advanced with a win in that final group game, but failed to capitalize on a number of chances in that game.
Now fast forward to the Confederations Cup 2009 and the U.S. seems to once again be on the verge of becoming a team not to be taken lightly, but certainly not by learning lessons that should have been learned in 2002. To make the next step we cannot be content to simply believe that this is the best this team can put forward and that minor tweaks should fix all the problems. In fact some of the weakness of this team may only be able to answered by taking some risks and that’s what Sunil Gulatil, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation and national team coach, Bob Bradley are going to have to do over the course of the next year, leading up to the World Cup.
Now fundamentally as is the general feeling among many is that the U.S. played great soccer against Spain in defeating them 2-0 and nearly beat Brazil in the final 2-3. This evaluation is wrong in that while these two games are certainly good results, the problems that have plagued American soccer still remain, though to a lesser extent.
Let’s start from the U.S. performance in the second half of each of these games. Heading out of haltime with a 1-0 lead against Spain, the U.S. came out with the intent of defending that lead and to do this they were going to keep players back, which led to a complete imbalance of possession in the second half. The U.S. defended great in that game and the Spaniard could not unlock the key to the U.S. defense, which eventually lead to a succeful counterattack that made the game 2-0, the margin the American would go on to win by.
Luckily the Americans were not punished for this transgression in the semi-final, but against Brazil it came back to haunt them. The Americans played extremely well in the first half of the game, defending and pressuring the Brazilians, not allowing them to find their flow in the attack with disruptive play in the midfield and on the wings, in particular to Jonathan Spector, who was spectacular in tracking Kaka on the left wing the entire game.
However after gaining a 2-0 lead after Donovan’s strike in the 26th minute, the U.S. played uptight the rest of the half and understandably so. It was their first final in a FIFA competition, against a team they had a record of 13-1 against going into the game.
Now coming out halftime, Brazil struck quickly on a fantastic goal by Louis Fabiano who managed to turn and shoot with Jay Demerit who was all over him. A genuinely brilliant goal the U.S. could do little about other than to tip their hat and continue playing. However what was disappointing was the Americans’ negative play the entire second half.
Charlie Davies often found himself as part of a one man U.S. attack in the second half of the Confederations Cup Final against Brazil.
The U.S. was unable to sustain possession of any substance due to a combination of a few things. The lack of technical ability and creativity of a number of players on the American team as well as their continued reluctance on getting numbers into the attack. The attack generally consisted of Charlie Davies made forays forward with no support at all coming from Altidore, who looked spent in the second half or either from the American midfield. Even Donovan and Dempsey who had played brilliantly throughout the entire tournament seemed content to sit back and defend against the Brazilians.
To compound their general disinterest in offensive possession, the U.S. defensive strategy was also questionable. The American played low pressure defense, allowing Brazil to advance the ball easily, particularly on the wings where Maicon, Kaka and Robinho where allowed space with which to operate. They lack of on the ball pressure allowed the Brazilians to get numbers up and carefully choose whether they wanted to play the ball in the box, switch the point of attack and/or take players on in one-on-one situations.
To allow a team with as much talent as Brazil that much freedom to operate was a poor gameplan and was exposed in the second half, particularly later on as the constant pressure took a tool on the U.S. defenders and Brazil increasingly able to make successful runs to get behind the U.S. defense. In particular Louis Fabiano’s second goal was an example with Kaka crossing the ball from the left side and after an initial stop, was carromed in by Fabiano.
If the American are serious about becoming a real player on the internation stage in FIFA tournaments this needs to change. They need to believe that they can take some chances and get more players involved on the attack. I did not see any overlapping runs from the outside fullbacks, something Brazil used to great affect. More disappointing was how little confidence U.S. players had in holding the ball for possession, it almost seemed like a rush to play a number of fruitless balls into the box from midfield, rather any patience in building up an attack. These are qualities that the 2002 World Cup team possessed that have not been shown in international play by the U.S. since.
If you look back at the loss to the Germans in the 2002 World Cup, the American really dominated that game, creating a number of opportunities and deserved to win. If the U.S. is to take the next step they need to develop players that not only can be solid, but at times spectacular particulary the strikers and midfielders. Dempsey’s a natural goal scorer that should be utilized at striker more often and the U.S. need to be patient in developing Jozy Altidore who has the potential to be a world-class striker.
Fullback Dani Alves made runs and got involved in the attack, something the Americans lacked
Another thing the U.S. has lacked since 2002 and Tony Sanneh’s retirement is a fullback that has the ability to get involved in the attack and can make long runs from the back. Sanneh’s play in that tournament has been forgotten by many, but his ability to make overlapping runs, service balls into the box and also ability in the air truly gave the Americans a weapon few knew they possessed. Looking at their last two opponents in Spain and Brazil, the value of having fullbacks that can attack is apparent. Brazil possesses a number of these like Dani Alves, whose deadly free kick in the semi-final against South Africa, sent the Salecao into the finals.
Being satisfied with these results are not an option and seeing some of the U.S. players’ reaction after the game it may be a sign that they will be willing and able to take the next step. Donovan talked about how at this point they don’t just want respect, but they want to win. Dempsey was in devastated and was in tears even when he received the Bronze Ball award for his play.
The way it plays, the American have two options heading to the World Cup. They could choose to be satisfied with a team that’s solid and may advance to the elimination rounds, but lacks the firepower, creativity and technical flair to be a real threat. On other hand, they have the opportunity to take a look at some young players like Freddy Adu and Maurice Edu among others, while challenging the current members on the team to be better than they are currently and take the real necessary steps to become a real contender.
Draft Analysis 1-10
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in NBA on June 26th, 2009
1. Clippers – Blake Griffin PF, Oklahoma
Griffin going No.1 overall to the Clippers is no shock to anybody. Griffin was the consensus overall top prospect in this year’s draft among NBA teams who felt that he was as close to a sure thing as you were going to get. Griffin has good size, is strong, athletic and can finish around the basket with ease. He is going to need to refine his post game and work on getting moves and countermoves to be effective in the NBA.
The Clippers didn’t need a power forward but when the best player in a draft is gift wrapped to you and you are as bad as the Clippers you take him. They need to make sure now that they put Griffin in position to be succesful and clear out space for him. Their frontcourt is packed with Chris Kaman, Zach Randolph, Al Thornton, and Marcus Camby already in place. I would expect Camby to be traded and they are going to need to trade Randolph, their current starting power forward as well. Randolph is a malcontent and if they relegate him to the bench he could become a distraction for team and for Griffin.
2. Memphis Grizzlies – Hasheem Thabeet C, Connecticut
Memphis really needed to swing for the fences and their attempts to find a trade partner to get out of the No. 2 position tells me that they weren’t really sold on Thabeet. While Thabeet will certainly be a presence defensively and on the boards, he is not a player that they can really build around. The question that Thabeet will have to answer is whether or not he can develop a decent offensive game other than easyy putbacks around the hoop. You don’t draft somebody No.2 overall to simply block shots and rebound unless you think they are as good as Bill Russell.
He also plays center which Marc Gasol played for them last year effectively. Do they now move him to the bench and start Thabeet or are they plannning on stickingThabeet from the bench? Memphis needed to trade down and their inability to find a trade they liked led them taking a player that doesn’t really answer too many questions for a club that desperately needs some.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder – James Harden SG, Arizona State
This to me is the perfect fit alongside Russell Westbrook in the backcourt. Harden will also be a good compliment to Durant and Green. Harden’s going to have to develop a better perimeter game, but he is an effective slasher, has great court vision, a good defender and should have no problems fitting in to OKC’s young nucleus.
There was a lot of talk about the Thunder taking Rubio but to me that pick would have been redundant after taking Westbrook had an outstanding rookie season, where he just got better and better every month. Westbrook is still learning how to play point guard and picking Rubio would have forced him back into the role of playing off-guard and set back his development another year. Harden fits in nicely alongside him to form a backcourt that should be one of the best in the NBA in a few years, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
4. Sacramento Kings – Tyreke Evans PG/SG, Memphis
I love Tyreke Evans. I am not a big fan of taking him while Rubio was still on the board however. Both players are going to need a little time to learn how to play the position with the big boys and while Rubio is a natural point guard, Evans projects as more of a combo guard rather than a true point guard or a shooting guard. Pairing Kevin Martin in the backcourt with a natural point like Rubio would have really solidified the backcourt for them. Instead you could have a scenario where Evans and Martin may be competing a bit for shots.
Evans has all the potential and tools to be a fantastic point guard and may even have a higher ceiling than Rubio, but he has more point guard skills that he has to work on than his counterpart. Evans has to develop better shot mechanics to become a more complete offensive player. Evans also needs to become more of a passing point, rather than a scoring point. If Evans can become an effective passer with his ability to get in to the paint at will, the Kings will have picked a stud. He also needs to work harder defensively and may struggle on that end of the court because he is not the greatest athlete.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves – Ricky Rubio PG, Spain
Minnesota gets a player a number of teams had pegged as the No. 2 overall prospect and arguably the best point guard in the draft all the way down at No. 5. I think Rubio can be special with his passing ability and court awareness. He really fit a need for the T’Wolves and I thought this was the greatest pick until I saw the rest of Minnesota’s draft, but more on that a little later. Rubio has to work on getting a consistent jumper as well as working on his offensive game in the paint with runners and pull-up jumpers.
Minnesota finds a point guard that can run the floor with the rest of this young, athletic team and get the ball to their young studs in Al Jefferson and Kevin Love for eas baskets. If they could have complimented him with a backcourt mate that fit, this would have been an ideal pick, but as the draft developed Minnesota really seemed to miss their opportunity to solidify an area of need.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves – Jonny Flynn PG, Syracuse
Once again I think Jonny Flynn can be special and every night he is going to compete and give you all he has, so you got to love that in a player. Flynn has a good perimeter game, is explosive going to the hoop and really has no fear. He’s got to slow down sometimes instead of going as fast as he can at all times, and he needs to develop into more of a mature, composed floor leader.
To me Minnesota really didn’t do enough at this spot. You already have a point guard, why take another one? Stephen Curry was still on the board and would have been perfect to pair alongside Rubio, Jefferson and Love to stretch the floor offensively for them T’Wolves. Unless Minnesota trades on these two, which is certainly a possibility especially with indications that Rubio isn’t to keen on Minnesota as a destination, they really lost out on a great opportunity to fill a need with a player that fell to them perfectly.
7. Golden State Warriors – Stephen Curry PG, Davidson
This is could be a pick the Warriors made in order to send as part of a package for Amare Stoudemire. In that case I understand it, but if they don’t get that deal done and passed up Jordan Hill to take another scoring point guard then I’m fairly stunned. The Warriors gave Monta Ellis a vote of confidence saying they were not going to address the point guard position and of course Don Nelson goes ahead and gives new GM Larry Riley the go ahead to draft Curry. The Warriors absolutely need to get a deal for Amare Stoudemire done at this point.
Stephen Curry should be a really solid player in the NBA for years. He has unlimited range and is a gifted natural scorer who while not the most athletic, certainly is crafty in finding ways to score be it from the perimeter or on drives to the hoop. He’s got to work harder defensively and he will struggle on that side of the ball if he plays shooting guard for a while. He could use to still gain add some more muscle to his frame as well. He should flourish in either Golden State, Phoenix or wherever he ends up.
8. New York Knicks – Jordan Hill PF, Arizona
I like this pick by the Knicks a lot. They followed their board and once Rubio, Evans and Curry were gone they knew they were going to take Hill. Hill has a lot of potential and is going to really develop his game offensively since he is very raw right now and still learning the game, not playing organized ball until his junior year of high school and then playing for three coaches in three years at Arizona. He is strong, is a really good rebounder and also gives the Knicks some shotblocking that they desperately need. D’Antoni said that Hill reminded him a lot of Amare, us Knicks fans can only hope that he turns out to be prophetic.
The Knicks had another pick at No. 29, but did not address the need there and still need to find a point guard of the future through free agency or trades. The Knicks may be able to get Ramon Sessions in a trade this offseason, especially with the Bucks selecting Brandon Jennings, or even perhaps being able to pry Rubio from Minnesota. As of now though this area remains unanswered.
9. Toronto Raptors – Demar Derozan SG, USC
This was a foregone conclusion unless James Harden somehow miraculously fell all they way to No. 9. The Raptors look to the future with this pick choosing Derozan who has as much potential as anybody in the draft. Derozan is maybe the best athlete out of all the prospects and he can really fly. However he is extremely raw and he is going to have work hard to be successful. He needs to work on his perimeter shot to great affect and also needs to develop a better ability to handle the ball.
Toronto fills an area of need as their lack of quality production from the shooting guard spot has really hurt them in the past few years. Derozan may take time to develop, but if the Raptors are patient he could develop into a really special kind of player with all the natural ability he has. The fact that Derozan is a project could signal that Toronto has moved into rebuilding mode, and has resigned itself to losing Chris Bosh next summer.
10. Milwaukee Bucks – Brandon Jennings PG, Italy
I haven’t seen too much of Jennings play, but he has a lot of talent. Jennings is quick enough to blow past anybody and is almost impossible to defend in one-on-one situations. He needs to improve his overall understanding of the game and get a better grasp on how to lead an offense. Jennings also is going to have work on his perimeter game, which at this point is nearly non-existant.
Milwaukee might now be willing to trade Ramon Sessions after drafting Jennings, though they may also choose to re-sign him and allow Jennings time to develop underneath him. The Bucks certainly need more backcourt depth and addressed that need while also giving themselves a chance at a player that coming out of high school was rated as an elite-level prospect.
Quick Notes Leading Up To Draft
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in Uncategorized on June 25th, 2009
Shaq Traded to Cleveland to Pair Up With Lebron
The big news so far today is that Shaquille O’Neal has been traded to the Cavs in exchange for Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace and a 2nd round pick. This trade was a salary dump for Phoenix and should signal the end of a long successful run for the Suns. Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash are likely to leave in the summer of 2010 if they aren’t traded before then.
This trade for the Cavs doesn’t hurt them, but I’m not sure how much it actually helps them in matching up with Orlando. Shaq has never been particularly good at defending the pick and roll, which is what the Magic burned them with throughout their conference finals series. Shaq will also clog the lane offensively which will reduce the effectiveness of James’ drives into the lane. This makes it more imperative that Lebron gets a consistent jumper this offseason and that the cavs front office add a versatile, athletic big man that can stretch the floor from the four spot.
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Ainge Blasts Rondo in Morning Radio Interview
The other big player in the news in the past few days has been Rajon Rondo. The Celtics have been rumored to have offered up Rondo in trades to a number of teams. GM Danny Ainge just added more fuel to the fire this morning during a radio interview on WEEI where he criticized Rondo saying that he had to “grow up” and that his presence hurt the Celtics in their series against the Magic. He also went on to say that Rondo was not a “max contract player”.
Danny Ainge so far in his time as Celtics GM has done an excellent job, but I think he has really botched this situation up a lot. First off the Celtics seeming desperation to move Rondo puts them now in a situation gives them less leverage in trade talks. The Celtics are not dealing from a position of strength for a player who is now a top-5 point guard in the league.
Generally speaking, it’s also not a good idea to trade a player who is coming into his own as one of the premier players at his position. More importantly, it’s not good basketball sense to trade somebody of that caliber. Now if the case is that Rondo is spreading some kind of negative energy in the locker room then I can understand why you are looking to trade him, but by airing their dirty laundry in the media all they have succeeded in doing is to hurt Rondo’s market value.
Now Ainge may just be trying to get under Rondo’s skin and motivate him to become a better teammate and a different player by criticizing him and puttin him up in trade offers. If that’s the case then I can slight understand what he’s doing, but I still don’t agree with making a difference between a player and management news open for the media to speculate on.
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Memphis, OKC Could Look to Trade Picks
Memphis is still hanging onto the No. 2 pick in tonight’s draft but are still definitely listening to trade offers. The main suitors are the Minnesota Timberwolves who can dangle the No.5 and No.6 pick and the New York Knicks. Both teams are looking to land Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio.
The Knicks and the Grizzlies have already agreed on a trade that will send Darko Milicic to the Knicks in exchange for Quentin Richardson. While the Knicks are not willing to give up Wilson Chandler, they may be able to offer up David Lee, a restricted free agent in a sign and trade to Memphis. This seems unlikely as Lee has stated previously that he does not wish to play for Memphis amid rumors last year that the Knicks were trying to move up to draft O.J. Mayo.
A more likely trade partner may be Oklahoma City who has interest in Lee and were rumored to be making a possible run at him in free agency this summer. Lee would add to a promising nucleus of Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green. The Knicks would likely have to give up the No. 8 pick as well in order to secure the No. 3 pick. Not sure if there are any talks going right now, but the Knicks may explore this option as the day progresses. A deal involving Lee could not be finalized until July 8, the first day teams can sign free agents.
The Knicks are also looking to buy a pick at the end of the first round.
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Bulls, Blazers Looking to Move Up in Draft
There could be a number of trades during tonight’s draft with a lot of rumors of the Bulls trying to move up and secure the No. 13 pick from Indiana or the No. 14 pick from Phoenix in order to draft BJ Mullens who the Pistons are targeting at No. 15. The Bulls would probably have to trade their No. 16 and their No. 26 pick.
The Blazers are also reportedly aggressively trying to move up in the draft and they have some picks as well as a number of their own excess of talented players that they could look to trade.
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Basketball Prospectus’ Kevin Pelton has an excellent write-up today on the backcourt prospects in this year’s NBA Draft and how their games project to the NBA.
Immediate Draft Evaluations Lack Real Value
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in Uncategorized on June 24th, 2009
The NBA Draft for many fans is a time during the offseason where your team has the opportunity to fix areas of need. It’s also the most exciting time for fans of teams that are perpetually in the lottery as its the only time during the year where they take center stage. However with all the hype and hoopla that surrounds the draft it isn’t clear whether or not your team is likely to have succeeded in improving itself or not. In fact its nearly impossible to determine the success of a team’s draft until three or four years in the future.
That doesn’t mean that you should sit there without any reaction to your team’s picks. It is clear that there are often times that a team makes a mistake and it is apparent from the get go, such as Atlanta taking Marvin Williams over Chris Paul and Deron Williams. However the idea of grading a team’s draft in comprehensive fashion the day after the draft is utterly ridiculous looking at the past.
Carlos Delfino and Darko Milicic were supposed to help the Pistons continue their championship success for years to come.
In the 2003 NBA Draft the Detroit Pistons had the No. 2 overall pick and as we all know passed on Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and a number of other to take, at the time, the European superprospect Darko Milicic. At the time all the analysts and writers were praising the Pistons calling this a great move for the future with Milicic expected to develop into a power forward who was athletic, could run the floor and spread the defense with his perimeter shooting. However what few people remember is the Pistons were also lauded in that draft for the next pick they made at No. 25 in the first round, Carlos Delfino.
At the time many experts were calling this a double steal. Many were saying that if Delfino had come out a year later with more exposure to the draft process he would have easily been at the least a top-10 pick and more likely gone in the top-5. While Delfino has had his moments for Argentina’s men’s basketball team, his NBA career developed into something far less than what draft prognosticators envisioned. After two years in Detroit, Delfino was traded to Toronto for a second round pick. He played one more season with the Raptors and now is playing for the Khimki Moscow Region in the Russian Superleague.
Needless to say the draft evaluations the day after in which the Pistons were praised were within three years proven worthless. Neither player remained on the Pistons roster and Milicic is often mentioned among the biggest draft busts of all time in the same vein as Sam Bowie.
The team that perfectly illustrates how unimportant the immediate draft reactions and evaluations are have been the San Antonio Spurs over the years. In the 1999 NBA Draft, the Spurs drafted high schooler Leon Smith at No. 30, who they then immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Gordan Giricek and a secound round pick in 2000. With their second round pick at No. 57 the Spurs, without much fanfare took Manu Ginobili a shooting guard from Argentina who was playing in Italy at the time.
Two years later the Spurs drafted Frenchman, William Anthony “Tony” Parker No. 28 overall, the last pick in the first round. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich though still questioning Parker’s toughness took a chance on the speedy point guard hoping that with a few year’s coaching Parker would develop into a solid playmaker for the Spurs. Needless to say at the time, this pick garnered little attention.
Parker immediately began playing for the Spurs during the 2001-2002 season, became the starting point guard and by the end of the year had turned heads being voted to All-Rookie First Team. Though the Spurs would go on to be eliminated by the Lakers that year in the playoffs Parker’s play turned some heads.
Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, both late draft picks, have became integral players that helped the Spurs win championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007
The following year Parker continued his development and was joined by 1999 draft pick Manu Ginobili. During the 2002-2003 NBA season Parker continued his growth as a player, while Ginobili was a key reserve and made All-Rookie Second Team. During the playoffs both players continued their growth and helped the Spurs past the favorited Lakers team and into the NBA Finals, where the Spurs captured their second NBA championship over the New Jersey Nets.
The two players became integral parts of the team and helped lead the Spurs to championships in 2005 (over the Pistons with Delfino and Milicic) and 2007 as well. San Antonio is now consistently mentioned as a team that other franchises attempt to model themselves after due to their ability to find extremely effective players deep into the draft and their history of sustained success.
None of this means that when your team makes a pick that puzzles you that you shouldn’t react poorly or that we should not critically evaluate a team’s draft day performance. It does however suggest that perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to throw a team under the bus for a draft selection and at the same time we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and crown one team a winner in the year’s draft. The history of the NBA is littered with too many players that never panned out as expected and draft classes that turned into nothing but cautionary tales (take a look at the the 2000 NBA Draft).
The NBA Draft is based on potential and rather than rushing to crown winners and losers it’s important to be patient in evaluating the players from that year’s draft to see if they develop as expected. More than not it takes three years to truly look back at a draft and be able to determine who drafted well and who has nothing to show for it.
NBA Draft Coverage Lacks Real Knowledge
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in NBA on June 23rd, 2009
So after being out of the blogging scene for a month and with the extremely limited access I had to NBA news and updates in India I came back to find that the first round of the NBA Draft remains as unknown to most as when I left.
So far I’ve read that Ricky Rubio could go as high as two and also read that Knicks’ GM Donnie Walsh though that there was a chance he could drop to the Knicks at No. 8. I’ve read Stephen Curry’s stock has risen from the late lottery, where many teams pegged him early on in the process, to know rumors he could go as high as No. 4 to the Kings. So what is actually going on, who’s picking who and why is there so much varying information out there?
To answer I’ll start by saying that outside of Blake Griffin going No.1 to the Clippers nobody has any idea what is going to happen Thursday night. As a Knicks fan and as I’ve stated before I would love for the Knicks to take advantage of the sudden drop in Rubio’s value and move up to pick him. There are rumors (though reported by Peter Vecsey so most likely not true) that they may be able to move up to No.2, by trading for the No,5 and then packaging their No.5 and No.8 to get there. Seems unlikely considering their lack of tradeable assets.
Now the reason for all this information out there and rumors of teams looking at various prospects is because as I said earlier nobody knows what is going on and most basketball writers are paid to know. In a situation they don’t much like this year’s draft it’s easier to simply provide a laundry list of players a team is interested in and say you knew all along. I won’t do that because I tend to believe that if an NBA franchise is still undecided well then I probably don’t have the best idea of what they are going to do.
This is James Harden, who most know nothing about and could go as high as No. 3 to the OKC Thunder.
Since ESPN can’t seem to talk about Stephen Curry enough it doesn’t surprise me he received the most votes. The problem here is that the other three prospects have received less coverage and in Harden’s case I can’t remember any at all. Harden has been rumored to be going as high as No.3 to the Thunder. Harden also received the least votes in the SportsNation poll, only getting 12% of the nation’s votes. To give you an idea of how good James Harden is he led his Arizona State Sun Devils team to an 11-7 record in the PAC-10 last year when it was stacked with quality teams up and down. Harden did this without any other discernible standout NBA-level talent on the roster with the second best player being Jeff Pendergraph, projected currently to go No. 40 on NBADraft.net.
Harden’s game has developed well in his two years at Arizona State. Harden has added the ability to knock down perimeter jumpers and continued work on this part of his game will certainly add another layer to his game. He has great vision and is highly capable passer due to his ability to see the court and make the correct read on the defense. On a team where night in and night out defenses were focused on him Harden was still able to average 20.1 points a game in additon 4.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds. The biggest knock on Harden is that he is not a great athlete, but he has an NBA ready body and skill set and his basketball IQ is among the highest in this year’s draft.
It’s not that I don;t like Stephen Curry, because I think that he will be an extremely solid NBA player and will contrubute right away, but there needs to be an even-handed method in how players are covered and evaluated. All we know about Ricky Rubio is that he has good vision, is not a great athlete and he looks like Pete Maravich. If ESPN is the worldwide leader in sports they should be able to be interviewing European scouts who have watched Rubio, can tell you his strengths and weakness, what he needs to work on, what he has worked on and how they think he projects to the NBA level.
This isn’t limited to ESPN however. Any leading sports reporting service should be doing a better job of talking to scouts who have watched the prospects live and can provide better analysis of these players’ game. Instead we are subjected to a lack of information of players in a draft that receives more and more hype every year. In a year where there is no consensus of where players are going, you would think that writers around the nation would be doing a better job of finding out more about each players’ skill set and what team’s needs match those, instead of reporting half baked rumors that are unlikely to come to fruition.
However, here we are two days before the NBA draft and journalists, analysts and writers around the country inability to adapt to a situation leaves most basketball fans with a lack of knowledge about this year’s prospects. Then again I could tell you that according to the Indianapolis Star, the Pacers are looking at four players, though we still aren’t sure who they are, but a number’s a good start too.
Back From Vacation
Posted by Ashwin Ramnath in Uncategorized on June 22nd, 2009
After a 3 week vacation to India where most of the NBA Finals games I was able to watch at 6AM were interrupted by power cuts I am back and plan to start blogging within the next couple of days once I get caught up with the world of sports. I’ll be up soon with some semblance of a look at this year’s NBA Draft as well as a log of some interesting finals experiences I had while in India.