Thursday night’s draft was, in a word, eventful. Although we didn’t see quite as many trades in the early going as were expected, there was not a shortage of picks that elicited some kind of reaction when they were announced. The depth charts page has been updated to include drafted players. In the days to follow, I will break down the fantasy prospects of this year’s rookie crop and also the fantasy implications of the major trades leading up to the draft. For now, here’s a sampling of reaction from the draft from all over the web.
• Chad Ford’s team grades
• RealGM draft review
• NBADraft.net pick-by-pick analysis and team grades
• Ball Don’t Lie best and worst dressed and team grades
• Ricky Rubio (not) in Minnesota: Ball Don’t Lie, TrueHoop, and CBSSports
• Dan Wetzel’s winners and losers
• Spurs “never dreamed” they’d get Blair at 37
• Bill Simmons draft diary
Looks like Rubio may be playing ball in another country next year, and it ain’t Canada.
wolves will own his rights for as long as he stays over there plus one year. he’s a valuable ‘asset’ even if he doesn’t want to play for them (trade), so i guess you can’t really fault them for drafting who they thought was BAP(?)
Nuggets got a lot better but they should’ve kept their 2nd round pick and taken Blair
I like the Lawson pick alot. Great for the future and he has the speed to pull the aaron brooks effect on the lakers next WCF
there really couldn’t be a better mentor for lawson than billups
If the Magic sign Rasheed, does that vault them ahead of Cleveland and Boston in the East? Bron and Shaq will be tough to beat, but Nelson, Carter, Lewis, Wallace, and Howard is probably better I think. Or, could Sheed help the Celtics enough to make one last run?
What a great fit Turk would be in Toronto though, for more international flavor. Calderon, Bargnani, Turkoglu, Delfino, Ukic, come on BC, that’s worth 4-5 years $10 million to me. Then trade Bosh for Rubio!
KG and Sheed together…that would be fun. Just add Ron-Ron from FAgency and we’ll have the Boston Mad-Hatter’s Tea Party.
Yeah! Tea parties rock!
Go one lumps or two!!!
As a Marquette basketball fan, I am shocked that Jerel McNeal didn’t get drafted. He is a phenominal defensive player who really showed that he improved his shot this season. Most mock drafts I saw had him around 40-45 and I didn’t see any where he was undrafted. His numbers fell once his point guard broke his foot, but when he actually had a PG he was an excellent offensive player against some good Big East competition.
Is there some glaring reason he didn’t get drafted that I’m missing? I’m hoping he’ll wind up on a summer league team and got a shot somewhere though.
well, as a four-year player he falls because he won’t be seen as having a high ceiling. he was pretty productive as a senior, but his numbers overall don’t stand out (particularly the %s), and then you consider that he’s a 190-lb SG. that said, he’s definitely the type of player that should “get a look” even though he wasn’t drafted, particularly given his rep as a good defender
I guess, I just find it odd how a guy can be a former Big East defensive player of the year and a second team all-american (AP and Sporting News) and not get drafted. But I just heard he’ll be playing for the Kings in the Las Vegas Summer league so hopefully he can show something there.
yeah i can’t say i see the logic either. what i find particularly confounding is that a guy like this – a very productive player in one of the NCAA’s top conferences – goes undrafted but teams spend draft picks on 21-year-old euros who play 8 minutes per game in their league and “need a few more years overseas to develop” but are considered upside picks. seems a bit contradictory