The names are becoming more unfamiliar as this draft rolls along. Stephane Lasme of UMass went 46th to Golden State.
Dominic McGuire goes to the Wizards. The Lakers take Pau Gasol's younger brother Marc. The Ray Allen trade is finally made official. Big Aaron Gray of Pitt is the Bulls pick at #49.
Stephen A. says MJ's Richardson trade is nearly as bad as taking Kwame Bown first overall. Renaldas Seibutus goes 50th to Dallas. JamesOn Curry goes to Chicago at #51. Taurean Green is now a Trail Blazer (who isn't?).
Demetris Nichols also goes to Portland. Portland changes nickname to Schick Rookies. Now that my 'Cuse guy has been drafted I can tune out. That's a wrap on the 2007 NBA Dlog.
MJ went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Richardson-for-Wright deal. The T-Wolves take Chris Richard from Florida, the fourth Gator to go. Stephen A. Smith looks beside himself.
The Blazers take Derek Byars at #42, he will actually go to Philly as part of the earlier deal. Adam Haluska of Iowa goes to Charlotte.
UNC's Reyshawn Terry lands with the Magic. Clips take Jared Jordan of Marist. Still no love for the Orange!
The Mavs take Nick Fazekas at #34. Big Baby Glen Davis goes to the Celtics at #35 (part of the Ray Allen trade). Bilas said he fluctuates in weight and "is a lot like Oprah in that regard." This prompted Tirico to admit he and Mark Jackson watched Oprah in the car on the way to the draft. Jackson looked less than thrilled.
Golden State takes Jermareo Davidson from Alabama, Portland takes Josh McRoberts and buys the rights to Petteri Koponen from Philly. The Sixers then take Kyrylo Fesenko from Ukraine. Stanko Barac goes 39th to Miami, first time the Heat have drafted from overseas. This was the compensation pick for Stan Van Gundy accepting the Magic position. Stan for Stanko seems fair. Sun Yue goes 40th to the Lakers. Tirico tells us Yue's "favorite rapper is Usher." Odd, I always thought of Ursh as a crooner, but who am I to question Mike Tirico.
Apparently MJ is entertaining the idea of trading draftee Brandan Wright to Jessica Alba for Jason Richardson. Stephen A. Smith was irate, although that had more to do with the fact that its a Thursday than the fact that a horrid trade was about to go down. Carl Landry is the 1st pick of the 2nd round, going to Seattle. Marcus Williams of Arizona went 32nd to the Spurs. The once-unfathomable teaming of Tiago Splitter and Marcus Williams has become a reality. Clear the record books.
Petteri Koponen is the last 1st-rounder of the 2007 NBA Draft, landing with the Sixers. Vitale and Stephen A. continue to scream at each other about the depth of the draft. Vitale thinks this draft is better than 2003. I'm sure Stephen A. made a compelling argument, but both of my ear drums blew three seconds into his rebuttal.
Andy Katz now says Milwaukee was told that if they picked Yi Jianlin he would not report. Mike Tirico just snorted on the air. Not just any kind of snort either. You expected to see Megan Fox laid out across his desk with a line of booger sugar on her backside when they cut back to him. She must have cleared out just in time.
The Suns sold their pick to Portland. The Blazers took Rudy Fernandez of Spain.
Utah then took Morris Almond and the Rockets took Aaron Brooks, hoping he will improve upon that TD-to-INT ratio he had with the Saints and Raiders.
The Pistons nabbed Arron Affalo.
The Spurs took Tiago Splitter at #28. They would have sprung for Curlin Changeup, but he lacked signability.
The Sixers took Daequan Cook and then traded him to Miami for newly-drafted Jason Smith. Jay Bilas said "he's been killin' it" in workouts. No doubt, Jay-Beezy.
MJ took Jared Dudley from BC at #22. Dante Calabria was shocked.
The Knicks took Wilson Chandler A.K.A. "The Brother From DePaul." He can thank Spike Lee for that monikor. Jim Paxson is looking at the fine print to see if he now owns the rights to Chandler.
Isiah Thomas managed to make some news on draft night afterall. He sent Channing Frye and Steve Francis to the Blazers for Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau and Fred Jones. Randolph was widely criticized in Portland for his poor work ethic and bad attitude. It will probably do him some good to get out of the bright media spotlight in Oregon.
The Wiz took Nick Young with the 16th pick. His mic went out while talking to Stu, so they had to get uncomfortably close to each other...not that Stu could tell (bad depth perception joke, sorry).
The Nets took Sean Williams out of Boston College and Marco Belinelli of Italy will now play for the admiration of Jessica Alba in Oakland.
Javaris Crittenton went 19th to the Lakers. I feel as though he may not be enough to satisfy Kobe's needs. Mitch Kupchak would neither confirm nor deny to Jim Gray that Kobe could be traded. Gray then got him to say that nobody on his team is untouchable. Jim Gray is a sneaky bastard.
The Heat took Jason Smith 20th. Sixers are on the clock, Glenn Sekunda eagerly awaits.
Rodney Stuckey is the newest member of the Detroit Pistons. Jay Bilas says he has trouble with the perimeter shot, is a weak defender and needs to increase his work ethic. In other words, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Chauncey! Joe Dumars has little use for you.
Al Thornton went just before that to the Clippers. J.B. Reafsnyder is still on the board.
Brandon Wright is the newest member of the Charlotte Jordanaires. Jay Bilas said Jordan "should have been wearing a mask when he made this pick because it is an absolute steal." How do you know he wasn't, Jay? Is it ethical for a journalist of your caliber to speculate on who is and is not wearing a mask at this moment?
Yi Jianlian is the newest member of the Milwaukee Bucks. The YouTube sensation also provided more material for his highlight reel at his post-pick sit-down with Stu Scott. I have never seen such a rape of the English language; Jianlian was also hard to understand.
Corey Brewer is the newest member of the T-Wolves. Minnesota made him the 2nd Gator taken with the #7 pick.
Georgetown's Jeff Green was taken with the 5th pick by the Seattle Sonics. You could be looking at a starting unit of Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant and Nick Collison next season. This is what you would call a youth movement, Isiah Thomas.
Greg Oden is now a Portland TrailBlazer. Also, Boston has sent their #5 pick, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Seattle in exchange for Ray Allen. The C's have finally addressed that glaring weakness at the 2-guard, too bad that Pierce kid never panned out. The Sonics then took Kevin Durant with the second pick. To recap: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, Kevin Durant and Dave Siock are now Seattle SuperSonics, assuming that Siock goes 5th. Atlanta proved to be as dumb as we all expected and took Al Horford 3rd. Mike Conley, Jr. went 4th to Memphis.
The 52nd annual NBA Draft is about to begin. Demetris Nichols could go anywhere from the early to late second round. Terrance Roberts and Daryl Watkins have an outside chance of being selected. I believe Elvir Ovcina also had some solid workouts.
Baseball is arguably the hardest sport to scout. Prospects that seem like a "can't miss" may not ever wear a major league uniform while guys like Mike Piazza are drafted in the 62nd round. To illustrate the degree of difficulty in scouting and drafting hardball prospects we have dissected drafts of the past by decade. Part four in this series of pointless, time-consuming blogs takes us back to the 1990's:
1990: Chipper Jones went first overall to the Braves. A rare solid choice. The White Sox, Pirates, Expos, Twins & A's were all going after right-handed pitchers. Respectively, they drafted Alex Fernandez, Kurt Miller, Darrell Andrews, Todd Ritchie and Todd Van Poppel. The Orioles took the leftover known as Michael Mussina at #20.
1991: The Yankees took much-celebrated LHP prospect Brien Taylor with the top pick. They offered him $350,000. "Consultant" Scott Boras (unsigned players weren't allowed to have agents) told Taylor's family that Oakland's Todd Van Poppel had signed for more than a million dollars after the prior year's draft. Taylor's high school grades prevented him from playing D-1 ball, therefore the family was missing leverage. They decided to enroll Brien in a local community college. Steinbrenner was serving his suspension from the Yankees at the time but gave the front office personal a not-so-subtle hint towards his wishes: "If the Yankees let Taylor slip away they should be shot." And with that, Brien Taylor was signed for $1.5 million dollars. Two years later he suffered a torn labrum while defending his brother in a bar fight. He retired in 2000 without ever playing a game in the majors. New York City prospect Manuel Ramirez went 13th to the Indians.
1992: The Astros select Phil Nevin. Michigan high school prospect Derek Jeter goes 6th to the Yankees.52 months later the Yankees were celebrating their first World Series title in 18 years.
1993: The Mariners take A-Rod with the top pick. Three years later he won the batting title. The major league batting title. The Royals needed a lefty for their bullpen so they grabbed Jeff Granger with the 5th pick. Billy Wagner went 12th to the Astros. Presntly, Wagner has a 337-save lead over Granger. We'll have to see how this one plays out.
1994: Mets take RHP Paul Wilson with the first pick. He goes 5-12 in his only season in New York. Marlins were looking for a shortstop, drafted Josh Booty 5th. Georgia Tech shortstop Nomar Garciaparra goes 12th to Boston.
1995: Angels take Darin Erstad with the top pick. Many teams went after RHP in the first round. Kerry Wood was the first to go (Cubs, 4th pick). Ariel Prato, Jonathan Johnson, Mike Drumright, Andy Yount and Joe Fontenot all have their names called before Roy Halladay goes to the Blue Jays at #17.
1996:Kris Benson goes first to the Pirates. Two years later he meets Anna while pitching in the Pittsburgh farm system. Seven years after that, her mouth results in the Mets trading Kris for John Maine, which means Anna Benson contributed far more to the greater good of the Mets organization than former #1 pick Tim "Crazy Horse" Fili.
1997: The Tigers pass on JD Drew, TroyGlaus, Vernon Wells and Jon Garland to take Matt Anderson, who retired in 2005 after posting a 12.60 career ERA.
1999: The Devil Rays take high school outfielder Josh Hamilton over Josh Beckett. Eight rehab stints and three suicide attempts later, Hamilton finally made his major league debut this past April for the Reds.
Pat Morgan: Spurs in 6 Game 1 is slated for Tonight in San Antonio. Lebron vs. Duncan is the matchup the NBA was hoping for. Had Detroit beaten Cleveland we would have been looking at another dreadful Spurs/Pistons series. It was like watching paint dry back in 2005, and that was with the series going seven games! First to 70 points wins! But because of the Eastern Conference Finals upset, the NBA will see its next legendary superstar pinned against its greatest champion since MJ. This couldn't have been a better matchup for the league. David Stern must be licking his chops, cause this series should spell good ratings (for NBA standards anyway, so looking at 5s).
However, the matchup couldn't be more lopsided than it is. It is hard to imagine Cleveland winning this series. I know back in 2004, no one gave Detroit a chance against the Lakers, but they shocked everyone dominating in 5. Should Cleveland win, this would be a bigger upset in my opinion. San Antonio doesn't carry the baggage that Los Angeles team did. All the Spurs do is win, and they have never had a fraction of the distraction that Kobe, Shaq, and Phil gave the Lakers. Robert Horry's tackle of Steve Nash is about the peak of anything that happens to them. Plus, this Cleveland team isn't nearly as good as that Larry Brown coached Pistons team in 2004. It is almost as if the Cavaliers need Lebron to score 40+, and get other players involved. A tall task to ask against the stellar Spurs defense, even for Lebron.
San Antonio in 6; I would say 5, but because of the NBA Finals' 2-3-2 format I think Cleveland will be able to get the series back to San Antonio. The Cavs are a vastly better team at home. Plus, San Antonio isn't known to sweep teams. It will be a quiet 6 games though, kind of like Chicago over Seattle back in 1996. The Spurs will win Games 1 & 2 at home, spilt Games 3 & 4, and have a shot to knock the Cavs out in Game 5. I'll give the Cavs that game in front of their home crowd, but the Spurs will forcefully lay the hammer down in Game 6. Tim Duncan will dominate down low. Lebron will have his moments, but be constantly frustrated by the Spurs' guards. Daniel "Boobie" Gibson won't have a 31 point night against this team. San Antonio in 5 or 6 seems to be the most common prediction, but to me this series is as straight forward as any series to predict. But that's why sports are great, the games could prove otherwise.
Ryan Maloney: Spurs in 6 The Cavs swept the regular season series 2-0, but the last match-up was more than six months ago. Cleveland may have exhausted most of their efforts in a tough Eastern Conference Final while the Spurs skated through a five-game dominance over Utah.
The odds-makers have the Spurs as a seven-and-a-half-point favorite for game one. I believe this series will give us much closer contests than predicted. Should the Cavs win, they will need an X-factor to step up. Drew Gooden has a great opportunity to prove his worth this series. He will be called upon to guard arguably the greatest power forward in history in Tim Duncan. Gooden seems like a good choice for X-factor, but I believe he will struggle. Enter Anderson Varejao. The curly-haired scrapper will pester the hell out of Duncan and perhaps even injure him with his reckless play.
Overall, I believe San Antonio is just too deep for even Anderson Varejao to overcome. They will take this in six. Basically my portion of this post should have been completed in one sentence..."What Pat said."
Benjamin Amey: Cavs in 5 That's right, you heard it here from the resident sophomore first. King James and the Cavs will beat the Spurs in five games. Why, you may ask? Simple. The retarded layout of the NBA Finals.
We have found that, during these playoffs, the home team has a 51-25 record (a .671 winning percentage). A nice edge, to be sure, but home teams have certainly not been invincible at home. The Spurs have been 7-2 at home, losing to the Nuggets and the Suns, and 5-2 on the road, losing at Phoenix and at Utah, these playoffs, while the Cavs have been 7-1 at home, losing only to the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and 5-3 on the road, losing twice at The Palace and once in East Rutherford.
Now, as strange as it may seem, while the first three rounds of the playoffs favor the higher seed, the NBA Finals actually favor the lower seed. In the first three rounds, it's a 2-2-1-1-1 format for games. Home team gets two, away team gets two, and then one back and forth. However, in the Finals, it's a 2-3-2 format. Two games for the higher seed (Spurs), three games for the lower seed (Cavs), and then two games for the higher seed again. Why does this favor the lower seed? If they can take one from the higher seed on the road, they have all the momentum with three games at home.
And that's exactly what the Cavs will do. They will win Game 1 tonight in San Antonio. The Spurs will come back, of course, with their usual Tim Duncan court rushing for no suspension and Bruce Bowen punching and "foot defense" and Robert Horry blasting smaller players into the scorers' table. The series will go to Cleavland tied 1-1, and then the Cavs will improve on their near-flawless home record at Quicken Loans Arena.
King James will hoist the trophy in Cleavland, mark my words. Tim Duncan will retire, and, maybe, just maybe, the Spurs won't be such a dirty team next season. Don't hold your breath though.
Andrew Brackman, a 6-10 pitcher out of NC State was taken as the 30th overall pick by the New York Yankees. Brackman was originally projected to be a top five pick, but suffered an elbow injury recently. Brackman was also a key member on the Wolfpack basketball team. He has yet to notify his coaches if he plans on returning for his senior season. The Yankees have until Aug. 15 to sign him. Outfielder Wendell Fairley went 29th to the Giants. That will do it for our first-ever MLB Dlog.
Now, poor first overall choices of the 1980's:
1981: Mariners take RHP Mike Moore. Cubs take Joe Carter at #2. Presumably much second-guessing with that one. Tony Gwynn & Sid Fernandez went in later rounds.
1982: Cubs select Shawon Dunston. Not bad, but the Blue Jays Padres and Twins took Augie JSchmidt, Jimmy Jones (Dipset!) and Bryan Oelkers respectively. Why does that suck? Doc Gooden went at #5 to the Mets.
1983: Twins draft Tim Belcher. He becomes the second top overall pick not to sign. Boston selects a RHP out of Texas named Roger Clemens with the 19th pick.
1984: Mets take high school outfielder Shawn Abner. A's take USC 1B Mark McGwire at #10.
1985: Brewers take UNC catcher BJ Surhoff. Will Clark goes second to the Giants while Arizona State outfielder Barry Bonds goes sixth to the Pirates.
1986: Could you imagine a lineup featuring Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield. Pittsburgh couldn't, so they made 3B Jeff King the top pick. Matt Williams and Kevin Brown went third and fourth respectively. Brewers took Sheff at #6.
1987: Griffey goes first to Seattle. Smart. Twins and Cubs bypass Jack McDowell for Willie Banks and Mike Harkey. Dumb.
1989: Ben McDonald went #1 to Baltimore. Frank Thomas went #7 to Chicago. Chuck Knoblauch went 25th to the Twins as a shortstop. Had he stayed there Mrs. Olbermann might have a prettier face.
Since 1998, the A's have taken college players with their first pick all but once. That trend just continued as Billy Beane took James Simmons, RHP from UC-Riverside. Peter Gammons is not well. He revealed that he used his one day away from the hospital after his unfortunate aneurysm to watch Simmons pitch in the Cape Cop summer league. Simmons finished the summer with a 1.18 ERA and apparently has some nasty command of his fastball. The Tigers then took high school pitcher Rick Procello, apparently the best high school pitching prospect since Josh Beckett. Ben Revere goes 28th to the Twins. Blah, blah, blah...let's get back to making GM's of the past feel inferior!
1970: The Padres grab catcher Mike Ivie, a career .269 hitter. Goose Gossage goes to the White Sox in the ninth round. These things really are a crap shoot.
1971: The White Sox make catcher Danny Goodwin the top pick and then fail to sign him. Jim Rice goes 15th to the Red Sox.
1972: This draft stunk, plain and simple. Dave Roberts went first to the Padres. Thirty-two years later his base running prowess helped the Red Sox to a World Series.
1973: This year made up for the previous year. The Rangers took David Clyde first. Clyde went on to have an all-time record of 18-33. Catcher John Stearns went second to the Phillies. They let him go after one season and he went on to make four all-star appearances with the Mets. Two guys named Robin Yount and Dave Winfield went third and fourth respectively. Fred Lynn and Eddie Murray went in the second and third rounds respectively. But seriously, David Clyde had tremendous signability at the time.
1974: Padres took Bill Almon. Dale Murphy goes fifth to the Braves. Almon blasts 36 career round-trippers, Murphy a respectable 398.
1975: The Angles make Danny Goodwin the first man to be the top pick twice. He hits .236 in a 252-game career. Andre Dawson goes in the 10th round.
1978: The Braves pass up the likes of Cal Ripken, Jr., Gaylor Perry and Kirk Gibson for Bob Horner.
1979: The Mariners grab Al Chamers, a Pennsylvania high school outfielder. Yanks go with an Indiana high school outfielder named Don Mattingly. Funny until you realize that 16 years later the Mariners will end Mattingly's career.
How many other drafts will you see where a player's status is lowered because of who his agent is? The Baltimore Orioles selected Matt Wieters, catcher out of Georgia Tech, with the fifth pick. He was projected as the second pick, but teams don't like dealing with Scott Boras. Seems as though his clients lack "signability", a word ESPN made up for today's coverage. Corner infielder Mike Moustakas went second overall to the Royals, Cubs took 3B Josh Vitters with the third pick and Pittsburgh took Dan Moskus with the fourth selection. Moustakas is straight out of high school where he hit 52 career home runs, 24 this season. Both are California state records. Bud Selig greeted him with a Kansas City cap and a urine cup.
With the top pick in the 2007 first-year player draft, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays nabbed David Price of Vanderbilt. Price was an impressive 11-0 with a 2.71 ERA as he led division 1 with 175 strikeouts.
This is the first MLB draft to be televised. Karl Ravech is the MC of events over on the deuce, he is joined by Steve Phillips and Peter Gammons. As we prepare to cover the rest of the opening round, let's take a look at former first overalls and how they have failed miserably when compared to those taken behind them:
1965: A's take Rick Monday as Johnny Bench goes 36th to the Reds. Nolan Ryan goes 226th to the Mets. John Olerud went 67th to the Angels, which is amazing because he had yet to be conceived. Not enough credit is given to the Angles for their insight that year
1966: Mets pass on Reggie Jackson to take Steve Chilcott, one of only two top picks never to make the show. They would later nab Tom Seaver, so I guess they made out pretty well. The Yankees drafted Kan Stabler, who won them a Super Bowl in 1977.
1967: Yanks take Ron Blomberg who would go on to bat an incredible .500 during his rookie campaign (3-for-6). Bloomberg also has the distinction of being the first guy on an MLB starting lineup card to be told, "Nah, you stay here, we'll go field. We don't need you f#@%ing this up for us." Vida Blue went 27th.
1968: Mets nab Tim "Crazy Horse" Foli. Yankees more than happy to settle for Thurman Munson with the fourth pick.
1969: Senators take Jeff Burroughs, let him go after two seasons and he becomes one of just four top picks to be named a league MVP (1974 - Rangers). Dave Winfield was selected as a high school pitcher in the 40th round by the Orioles.
That wraps up the 60's. We'll tell GM's of the 70's how dumb they were later on in the draft.
It had to have been the week off between the conference finals and Stanley Cup Finals that cooled off the red hot Senators. It may have been that the West was simply the better conference. Either way, the Anaheim Ducks have just won their first ever Stanley Cup Championship. They defeated the team that plays in the city that is the birth place of the Stanley Cup. Ottawa looked so impressive against Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Buffalo that it seemed as if that they would at least make this a long series. However, Anaheim's physical play won out, and they will be the owners of the most revered trophy in all of sports.
Scott Niedermayer, won his fourth championship (three with New Jersey), and his first Conn Smythe Trophy. I'm sure this championship is the most sweet for him, as he got to win it with his brother, Rob. Remember in 2003, the Devils defeated the Ducks in the championship. Scott denied his brother his first ever cup, and won his third. So you would think this is a nice present to his brother. Also, Jean Sebastian Giguere deserves much praise. Back in 2003, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy in a losing effort, but now with another stellar postseason he has earned that championship he deserved four years ago.
So, now it is reality. The Ducks are the champions of the NHL. They will no longer just have to look to Emilio Estevez to smile. Charlie Conway, Fulton Reed, and Goldberg the Goalie are no longer the best Mighty Ducks of all-time. Wait a minute, maybe there is some hope now for another team that looks to the motion pictures as their best sports memory. Remember Henry Rowengartner? He was the 12-year-old fire baller that led the Chicago Cubs to the World Series title in Rookie of the Year. Maybe the actual Cubs can pull a Mighty Ducks and win a title. How many days til Jets season?
Oswego State has a new vacancy in their athletics department. Josh Hines reports that Women's basketball coach Michelle Collins is returning to her alma mater, Siena, as an assistant:
In her seven years at Oswego State, Collins orchestrated a revival of a doormat program that had only one winning season in over a decade before her arrival.
Collins led the Lakers to 20-win seasons the past four years. In the process, the Lakers earned two NCAA Division III Tournament berths and won the program’s first SUNY Athletic Conference title in 2006.
She was named Women’s College Division III Coach of the Year for the 2006 season by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York.
Collins joins a coaching staff led by 17th-year coach Gina Castelli, under whom she began her coaching career as an assistant from 1994-1997. Coliins then joined the staff at Canisius College from 1998-2000 before taking over the Lakers program.
Last night's Cavs-Pistons game may have been the most entertaining thriller of the 2007 playoffs. LeBron James scored the last seven Cav points in regulation and all 18 in overtime. He finished with 48 to go along with his nine rebounds and seven assists in the 109-107 double-overtime win. Cleveland returns home with a 3-2 edge in their best-of-7 series with the Pistons.
So, uh, what were we discussing after game 1? Something along the lines of King James fearing the last shot? I think we'll call this his "shut the f#@% up" moment. Also known as a breakout performance in classier circles.
The names are becoming more unfamiliar as this draft rolls along. Stephane Lasme of UMass went 46th to Golden State.
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