As much as Bill Simmons loves to point to his Durant over Oden pick, he has had some horrible blunders over the time. If anyone shared their thoughts about every draft I am sure you would find mistakes too, but Simmons being so sure of himself, having horrible predictions year after year, and his reasons sounding like something you would read at tmz get to me. Please ignore the random order. Here are some of his highlights.
7:37 --The Magic are on the clock with the first pick. If they're smart, they take Emeka Okafor. If they're dumb, they take Howard. It's that simple.
7:39 -- They go with Howard. Of course they do. He's the third high schooler taken overall in the past four years, as well as the first top pick with braces since Pervis Ellison. Not a good sign. "Praise the Lord!" screams Dwight Howard Sr., who didn't realize that the Lord had Okafor going first in his mock draft.
Braces are always the first thing a scout should look at when deciding who to pick.
5:31: I present two athletic perimeter guys for you, both freshmen:
• Xavier Henry (born March 1991), 2-guard: a top-3 college recruit in 2009, started on the No. 1 college team (regular season), averaged 13.4 ppg (27.5 mpg), shot 45.5 percent and 41.8 percent on 3s, didn't get a ton of touches on a veteran team, did everything he could to fit in.
• Paul George (born May 1990), small forward: not a top-100 college recruit, best player on a 15-18 team in the WAC, averaged 16.8 ppg (33.2 mpg), shot 42 percent and 35 percent on 3s, played inferior competition.
Whom did the Pacers take? Naturally, George. Did I mention that their best player (Danny Granger) is a small forward? I love the NBA.
Great research again. Pacers must really regret getting George. Henry now averages 16 minutes per a game with the Hornets. When you struggle to get playing time for the Hornets, there is a problem.
5:44: Memphis happily takes Henry at No. 12. That was like last year's Hasheem Thabeet pick, only the complete opposite.
Memphis lucked out that Pacers let Xaver Henry slip...
7:49 -- Charlotte takes Adam Morrison. Love that pick.
So did we all. So did we all.
8:00 -- Atlanta keeps its promise and drafts Shelden Williams fifth. Another solid pick, even if his nickname is "The Landlord" (sounds like a bad WWE gimmick).
The landlord nickname was definitely the thing Atlanta should of been worried about.
5:39: Our long national nightmare is over: The Hawks finally drafted a quality point guard (Acie Law IV). It's like Billy Knight just pooped in our fridge and ate a whole wheel of cheese, isn't it? Mark Jackson celebrates the occasion by making a midget joke.
Am I happy Acie Law ended that nightmare. I forget, why didn't the Hawks build around Shelden Williams and Acie Law again?
8:29 -- The Warriors take Patrick O'Bryant, a mortal lock for the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars who has the most Irish-sounding name of any black athlete since Troy O'Leary. Not a bad pick. Let's cancel the scheduled Chris Mullin intervention for tomorrow.
After being trip to D league O'Bryant now plays pro in Puerto Rico. Solid 9th pick.
5:59: Our last two blue-chippers get taken: Julian Wright (Hornets) and Al Thornton (Clippers). Love both of those picks -- not just the players, but the fits with the teams.
Where do they both play now? You guessed it, one in D league the other in Puerto Rico.
9:40 -- Just when this draft couldn't get any crazier, my beloved Celtics just bought the 21st pick from Phoenix to take Rajon Rondo, the Kentucky guard who Chad Ford touted all summer because he mistakenly thought Rondo was foreign. Unfortunately, Rondo can't shoot. This is an understatement. As Bilas says, "Teams in the SEC didn't even guard him." Put it this way: The list of NBA teams that won an NBA title with a point guard who couldn't shoot looks like this:
1. (empty)
2. (empty)
3. (empty)
What a horrible pick by Celtics.
6:16: Bledsoe's off the board. Damn. OKC just took him. Typically smart move by them. I'm starting to hate Sam Presti. Make a mistake already, Sam. If there were 30 GMs like you, I'd have nothing to write about.
6:30: Buch reports on another trade: OKC traded the rights to Bledsoe to the Clippers for a future No. 1 because of the "any time you can trade for a future No. 1 from the Clips, you have to do it" rule. It's just the rule. Perfect third guard for the Clips. I'm a fan.
Great move by Clippers. Bledose for his career has averaged 2.9 assists per a game and 2 TOs a game.
7:39 -- Our no. 1 pick? Yup … Kyrie Irving. You know, because any time you can grab a freshman point guard who missed two-thirds of the season when you have $20 million of point guards on your roster, you have to do it. We'll see how this goes: I see him settling somewhere between an extremely poor man's Chris Paul and a rich man's Mike Conley. Will he ever make an All-Star team? It's possible … maybe one or two.
Irving has only put together one of the better rookie PG seasons ever.
8:29 -- Ladies and gentleman, it's Jimmer Time! Sacramento just grabbed him with the 10th pick. I see him becoming a more consistently explosive version of JJ Barea, only with deeper range. That's a guy you'd want on your team, right?
No.
9:12 -- The Knicks take 2-guard Iman Shumpert at no. 17 (huh?), followed by lusty boos from the Knicks fans in Newark, the obligatory shot of a confused Spike Lee, and David Stern blessing the pick by saying, "Iman is not with us tonight." Ooooof.
Shumpert and Faried ended up being steals of the draft.
8:30 – Apparently the Lakers are trading Kobe this summer – they just took 17-year-old, 290-pound center Andrew Bynum with the 10th pick. I'm speechless. The best high schooler in the draft (Green) and the best perimeter player (Granger) just inexplicably dropped out of the top 10. You figure it out.
I can't figure it out either. Bynum? Imagine Lakers with Gerald Green!
4:54: Andy Katz tells us Seattle is keeping the No. 4 pick. Unfortunately, Seattle isn't keeping its team. Anyway, the Sonics pull a minor shocker by taking Russell Westbrook. Loved his potential, loved him all season ... but even I can't defend that one. "Who would have thought last year at this time that Russell Westbrook would have been the fourth pick in this draft?" Bilas asks. Last year? What about last week? What about five minutes ago?
No one can defend picking Westbrook. Unforgivable.
5:10: So much for Minnesota doing the right thing. The Wolves just took Syracuse's Jonny Flynn … whom I really like … but … well … he's a point guard.
I agree drafting two PG was dumb, but he did say he really liked Flynn..
7:42 -- Heather Cox interviews Kyrie's dad, Drederick, under the NBA's little-known rule, "Any time a lottery pick's father is in the audience, you have to interview him." Uh-oh, guess who's on the clock ….
KAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHN!!!!!!!!!!!!
A quick recap of Kahn's 24 months in charge: his Timberwolves lost 132 of 164 games; he used the fifth and sixth picks in the 2009 draft to take a Spanish guard who couldn't come over for two years and a point guard who bombed so badly that he's probably getting traded tonight;
What happened Simmons? I thought you really liked the guy?
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