The draft came and went without any of the major rumored trades going down. Kobe, KG, Marion and Jermaine O'Neal stayed put. Lakers, Suns, T-Wolves, Atlanta and the Pacers were not involved in any major trades. But there were trades and deals done that involved other teams, players and stars. Boston, which couldn't get Marion, KG or O'Neal made a desperate move. They drafted Jeff Green at 5 and traded him away for Ray Allen. I did not know Danny Ainge was this desperate to save his job, Doc Rivers' job and to convince Paul Pierce to stay. They got a big name alright, but what's the point? They got another scorer at the guard position to duplicate Paul Pierce's only skill and neither of them can play defense or make team-mates better or do anything other than score. He also gave up Delonte West, the one guy who can set up his team-mates. Luckily, Ainge didn't trade Al Jefferson. Thats about the only good news for the Celtics fan. In the horrible East, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce probably will score enough to get to the playoffs, but where is the vision and what's the long-term strategy here? Where is Ainge going with this?
Jeff Green is an awesome talent and the Sonics got 2 of the top 5 picks. Durant and Green should be a great tandem for the future. Position wise, the Sonics could have actually used Ray Allen at guard to play along Durant and let Rashard Lewis go, but I guess they saved some money and got younger by trading Ray Allen. They might still let Lewis walk as well and thus start a complete rebuild.
The other big trade was Portland sending Zach Randolph, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau to the Knicks for Steve Francis and Channing Frye. Great trade for the Blazers and not a bad one for the Knicks either. Blazers get rid of their last Jail-blazer in Zach and open up the paint for Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. They get younger and save money. Channing Frye will fit well in that front-line as well. Francis is just a short-term move and there's even talk that the Blazers will buyout his contract instead of letting him get anywhere near Oden, Roy and that young core. How low Stevie Franchise has fallen! For the Knicks, Randolph is a talented big body who definitely upgrades the talent level. My only question is, Eddie Curry had a good season last year and is there enough space in that paint for both these guys? How will they play together? The chemistry could be a problem. But Zach does rebound and defend better than Curry. Knicks at least move hundreds of millions of dollars in bad salaries from their back-court to the front-court.
The other surprising trade of the day was the Warriors sending J-Rich to the Bobcats for the 8-Th pick Brandan Wright. This is a real tough one for the Warriors. I like Brandan Wright a lot, but J-Rich is a very good player. One of the few guys in the league who has gotten better every year in his first 6 years in the NBA. A hard-working professional who does not fit the NBA image of punk athletes. On the court, he is also probably the Warriors best 3-point shooter and his athleticism fits Nellie's style pretty well. But the Warriors dumped salary and got a athletic big guy and that can't be all that bad. I think J-Rich will also help Charlotte, especially if they re-sign Gerald Wallace. Poor J-Rich! After years of suffering through losing with the W's, he now goes to another perennial loser in the Bobcats just when the Warriors seem to be turning it around.
As for my Suns, not an eventful draft day. Seems like the Warriors got the top 10 pick that the Suns were hoping to trade for. So they stayed put. I love Alando Tucker and even the guy they drafted at 24. But they traded Rudy Fernandez to Portland for cash. This is the second straight year the Suns have traded a foreign PG to Portland for cash. They also got D.J.Strawberry in the second round. Alando will help, if D'Antoni lets him play that is, but not enough to achieve the Suns ultimate goal of surpassing the Spurs.
All in all, here are the big winners and losers this draft day.
Winners - Portland, Seattle, New York
Losers - Boston, LA Lakers, Philadelphia
Round 1
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1 Portland Greg Oden C
2 Seattle Kevin Durant F
3 Atlanta Al Horford F
4 Memphis Mike Conley Jr. G
5 Boston Jeff Green F
6 Milwaukee Yi Jianlian PF
7 Minnesota Corey Brewer F
8 Charlotte Brandan Wright F
9 Chicago Joakim Noah F
10 Sacramento Spencer Hawes C
11 Atlanta Acie Law G
12 Philadelphia Thaddeus Young F
13 New Orl/OKC Julian Wright F
14 LA Clippers Al Thornton F
15 Detroit Rodney Stuckey G
16 Washington Nick Young F
17 New Jersey Sean Williams F
18 Golden State Marco Belinelli SG
19 LA Lakers Javaris Crittenton G
20 Miami Jason Smith F
21 Philadelphia Daequan Cook G
22 Charlotte Jared Dudley F
23 New York Wilson Chandler F
24 Phoenix Rudy Fernandez G
25 Utah Morris Almond F
26 Houston Aaron Brooks G
27 Detroit Arron Afflalo G
28 San Antonio Tiago Splitter C
29 Phoenix Alando Tucker SF
30 Philadelphia Petteri Koponen PG
Round 2
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Pk Team Player Position
1 Seattle Carl Landry F
2 Boston Gabe Pruitt G
3 San Antonio Marcus Williams G
4 Dallas Nick Fazekas F
5 Seattle Glen Davis F
6 Golden State Jermareo Davidson F
7 Portland Josh McRoberts F
8 Philadelphia Kyrylo Fesenko C
9 Miami Stanko Barac C
10 LA Lakers Sun Yue G
11 Minnesota Chris Richard F
12 Portland Derrick Byars G
13 New Orl/OKC Adam Haluska G
14 Orlando Reyshawn Terry F
15 LA Clippers Jared Jordan G
16 Golden State Stephane Lasme F
17 Washington Dominic McGuire G
18 LA Lakers Marc Gasol C
19 Chicago Aaron Gray C
20 Dallas Renaldas Seibutis G
21 Chicago JamesOn Curry G
22 Portland Taurean Green G
23 Portland Demetris Nichols F
24 Houston Brad Newley G
25 Utah Herbert Hill F
26 Milwaukee Ramon Sessions G
27 Detroit Sammy Mejia G
28 San Antonio Giorgos Printezis F
29 Phoenix D.J. Strawberry G
30 Dallas Milovan Rakovic PF
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