Chris Yuscavage

Where's My Ball

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My First NBA Draft

Posted 06/29/2007 at 6:33 PM | 2 comment/s

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So…last night was my first time catching the NBA Draft live from inside the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Which must mean two things. One, the NBA will let anyone into one of their events (kidding — shout outs to everybody with the league, because unlike a lot of music industry events I’ve been to, the NBA, despite its popularity, always makes sure press, fans, etc. get taken care of). And, two, we must be doing something right because little by little people are catching on to the fact that VIBE does cover things outside of the latest 50 Cent beef or Lil Wayne mixtape. We like sports, too, folks, and it's no coincidence that the players that we get excited about are the ones that other people get excited about, too.

That being said, it’s not really all that different watching the NBA Draft in-person and catching it on ESPN. You do a lot of waiting around and speculating over the next pick just like you do at home. And, by the end of the first round, you start wondering where the last three hours of your life went. But there were a bunch of cool things that went down during the draft that I wouldn’t have noticed if I were posted up at home. Here’s just some of ‘em:

* Stephen A. Smith is LOUD. You know that if you’re sitting on your couch, too, but to see this dude doing the ESPN broadcast and be able to hear his analysis in a theater filled with a couple thousand folks? It’s that serious.

* Maybe this is a New York thing, but people hate NBA Commissioner David Stern. Maybe hate is a strong word, but it says something when the crowd started off the Draft by booing him. Then again, they also broke out in a completely random “Boston sucks” chant midway through the first round, so what do you expect? (As an aside, last night proved that Boston does, in fact, suck)

* ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla called Yi Jianlian, selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth pick, a new school player compared to Yao Ming’s “old school” approach. Then he somehow managed to compare Yi to 50 Cent and hip hop. Weird. Yi then managed to walk through a crowd of kids — who were just begging for some kind of reaction — without changing his facial impression or shaking a single hand. Nice.

* Florida Gator fans made their presence known in the audience and cheered on as 3 of the top nine selections were from the University of Florida. When Chicago selected Joakim Noah at #9, the audience gave the biggest applause of the night. I’m a Bulls fan and wasn’t particularly excited at the thought of the offensively-challenged Noah joining the team, but the crowd might have convinced me.

* It’s funny to watch the picks exit stage left while Jay Bilas and Stephen A. tear them apart from behind the desk, which is set up right in front of said stage. Take Spencer Hawes, for instance. He’s drafted by the Sacramento Kings and then walks right behind Bilas as he rips Hawes apart for his lack of rebounds last season. Then, Stuart Scott asks him about the Bilas stuff when he comes through for his interview.

* Just an early (maybe stupid) prediction here: I don’t think the Hawks are any better today than they were 24 hours ago. They have made a habit out of bringing in lottery picks who never live up to their billing. Al Horford (#3) and Acie Law IV (#11) sound like two of those guys (‘cause check the history, most draft picks don’t live up to their hype). I liked ‘em both as college players, but I would have preferred to see the Hawks close in on Amare Stoudemire. At least they would have known what they were getting. Instead, they’ve got two more pieces to the most uninspiring puzzle in the NBA (uh, sans the Celts).

* Well, maybe Noah didn’t get the biggest ovation of the night. Contrary to what anyone outside on the Big Apple might say, New Yorkers still love their Knicks. And ESPN’s Ric Bucher didn’t get the words “Zach Randolph” out of his mouth before the place erupted. I didn’t know who the Knicks had traded for him until I got home. And it didn’t look like most of the people in attendance really cared who it was, either.

* By this point, I’m realizing that the people in the press box probably know about as much as I do about what’s going to happen next. That’s a good thing, though. In our constantly-on-the-internet-getting-updates kind of world, even media folks were reduced to guessing and rationalizing what was going down on the stage.

* I won’t even pretend like I know much about either of the guys the San Antonio Spurs drafted. The second guy was from Greece and was in the audience when his name was called as the #58 pick. Doesn’t it feel like the Spurs just know something we all don’t? Even their draft picks are boring.

The Blazers, Sonics and Knicks were the big winners of the night, no matter where you were watching the draft. And the Celtics (sigh, I feel bad for those Ray Allen fans out there), Bobcats and the Eastern Conference all took an L. Can you imagine next year's NBA Playoffs without the Lakers and Nuggets? I can. Let the debates start.