The Rich Gets Richer
Last night, the Portland Trail Blazers — who already have last year’s Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy on their roster — won the lottery for the rights to the first pick in next month’s NBA Draft. The Seattle Supersonics won the rights to the second pick. Meaning? Well, I, for one, haven’t seen a Sonics game since Shawn Kemp (these dunks are crazy!) left the building and managed to catch a single Blazers game this year, but only because I had a free one-week trial of NBA League Pass going at the time. Expect that to change next season.
The real story here, though, might be that the results of the Draft indicate that Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, far and away the two best players in this year’s Draft, are going to be heading to the Western Conference. They’ll join (let’s list ‘em): Dirk, Nash, Kobe, Duncan, T-Mac, Yao, A.I., and Carmelo. Not to mention: Amare, Boozer, Parker, Ginobili, Howard, and Baron. Oh, and Garnett, Artest, Paul, Brand, Bibby and Gasol. Meaning? The rich just got richer.
I’m not sure how many of you saw…er, made it through Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons, but if arguing over whether LeBron James should have passed or shot (and he was right to pass) on the last possession of the game is the biggest story coming out of the Eastern Finals, us fans out East are in trouble. And, while some Eastern Conference owners have to be happy about Oden and Durant heading out West, the NBA Draft lottery certainly didn’t do anything to make us fans feel any better…
1. Portland Trail Blazers. Lucky? Yeah. But, despite minimal national coverage, the Blazers didn’t give up on their ’06-’07 season and I love the idea of Brandon Roy becoming an NBA superstar. Portland selects Oden here and one of the League’s most underrated franchises returns to the top.
2. Seattle Supersonics. No one is happier this morning than Ray Allen. The Sonics have absolutely stunk for a few years now. And while I don’t know anything about the politics or business behind the talks of the Sonics trying to relocate the team, I’m sure it’s nothing Kevin Durant couldn’t help out with.
3. Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks notoriously screw up with their draft choices. Uh, yeah…I wouldn’t expect ‘em to change now.
4. Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizz should be a lot less devastated by falling to number four than the Celtics should be about falling to five. Get Pau Gasol back healthy, find a steady point guard and pick up a Corey Brewer-type here and they’re a .500 team at worst.
5. Boston Celtics. HAHAHAHA. Boston tanked games on purpose this season. They’ve got David Stern talking about changing the Draft. And they still end up at five. Karma, anyone? HA!
6. Milwaukee Bucks. Bad things do happen to good people. Like the Grizzlies and Celtics, Milwaukee had the best shot to get a top-three pick. I genuinely like this team and Michael Redd but when do they get over the hump at the bottom of the East?
7. Minnesota Timberwolves. Minus Garnett, can the average fan name another player on the T-Wolves? If they’re going to keep K.G. (Full disclosure: I'm a Bulls fan and want a trade), they need to make a move and make a move fast.
8. Charlotte Bobcats. Adding more youth to a young team. The ‘Cats are still a few years away from being any sort of contender out East but they’re better than people give them credit for.
9. Chicago Bulls. Amare Stoudemire to the Bulls in a three-way trade with the Suns and Timberwolves? Say it is so. Otherwise, the Bulls need to go big here.
10. Sacramento Kings. With Oden headed out to Portland, the West is becoming the land of the big man once again. Like the Bulls, the Kings need to revamp their front line.
11. Atlanta Hawks. Uh, yeah…I still wouldn’t expect ‘em to change here either.
12. Philadelphia 76ers. Doesn’t seem fair that the Sixers, who actually played their best ball of the season after A.I. left, get dropped this low in the draft. Still, they've got three first-round picks to help turn things around.
13. New Orleans Hornets. Injuries decimated the Hornets this season and they still almost managed to make the playoffs. With a permanent return to New Orleans next season, they won’t be in the lottery in ’08.
14. Los Angeles Clippers. They were one win away.
de.licio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Comments
1.
J. Kennedy says:
Transactions of the past continue to haunt the Knicks. Enjoy that No. 9 pick, Chicago...
05/23/2007 at 8:05 PM