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Thursday, June 28
Updated: July 9, 6:33 PM ET
Who did well, who didn't on draft night
By David Aldridge
Special to ESPN.com
Finally, a moment to relax, and think.
|  | | Does getting Battier mean the Grizzlies will be better than last season? |
You just don't know what it's like to be lied to, consistently, for
three months.
In the weeks before an NBA draft, no one is honest. No coaches, no GMs.
The scouts are fairly honest early, but when their teams have a chance to
take a guy, the candor is replaced by political correctness crap. This is
why I hate mock drafts. Seriously, what's the point of predicting picks when
you and I both know a) teams are not being truthful about who they really
like, and b) there are deals afoot, and not usually until the last 48 hours,
that will completely wreck all draft scenarios.
So it's better to just wait, and keep score after player 58 is chosen
(this year, of course, it was player 57, because of the Wolves getting
stripped of their first and all). And so we do ...
Draft Day Ups
Atlanta. A year ago, the Hawks were planning to have $20 million in
cap room this summer, in order to be able to make a run at Chris Webber. But
give GM Pete Babcock credit. After watching the Bulls and other teams with
big cap room flounder last summer in futile attempts to sign free agents,
Babcock changed course. And in the space of a year, the Hawks have rebuilt
their team. They did so with every team in the league knowing they had to
move the only asset they had, Dikembe Mutombo. That normally kills any shot
at getting equal value. But Babcock managed to get Toni Kukoc, Theo Ratliff
and Nazr Mohammed -- probably a better deal than Marcus Camby and Glen Rice,
wouldn't you say? -- for Mutombo. Then, when everyone expected them to deal
Kukoc, they opted to keep him. Now, they add an all-star caliber forward in
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and, seriously, is there a better frontcourt in the
east? Plus, they get rid of almost $48 million worth of future contracts in
Brevin Knight and Lorenzen Wright.
The Hawks' young guys played hard almost every game last
season. Lon Kruger gets credit for that. And they've nearly completed an
astonishing remake in almost no time. Babcock and team president Stan Kasten
get credit for that. I've been critical of them in the past. Time to give
them some props.
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| Knight |
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| Walker |
Boston. The Celtics looked at what Dallas and Sacramento did and
decided, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So forget Rick Pitino's diatribes
about his team's defense. It's Go Time in Beantown. The Celtics will throw
Joe Johnson and Kedrick Brown (not going to Portland, as rumor had it) and
Joe Forte out there to provide scoring punch in back of Antoine Walker and
Paul Pierce. GM Chris Wallace told us on ESPN Radio Wednesday that the
Celtics' dropoff from their second-leading scorer (Walker, at 22 per game)
to their third (Bryant Stith, just eight per) was one of the biggest in the
league. That should no longer be the case.
But don't the Cs still need a point guard? I still think
they'll make a run at Alvin Williams -- who they had acquired last year for
Danny Fortson, only to have the trade voided -- or another playmaker before the
summer is done. In the interim, they'll frequently give the rock to Walker
to bring up the floor. No kidding. Boston's not going to win the east next
year, but it has a lot more talent on its roster than it did 48 hours ago.
Houston. Getting one potentially great player in Eddie Griffin beats
three okay first-rounders any day.
Portland. The picks were fine -- Zach Randolph and Ruben Boumtje
Boumtje are both young, athletic bigs. And there's no doubt the Blazers will
be making a lot of deals this summer, starting with Dale Davis, and ending
with, who knows? Gary Payton, maybe? But the Blazers' best move was falling
into Maurice Cheeks as head coach. He certainly wasn't their first
choice -- Flip Saunders got offered $30 million, after all -- but I think he'll
turn out great. Some coaches spend a lot of time trying to tell you and show
you how smart they are. Cheeks is from a different wing of the coaching
fraternity. His style is no style -- just teaching the game the way it should
be played. Lord knows if he'll be able to reach Rasheed Wallace, but if
Cheeks can't, no one can.
Lakers. Didn't have one pick in the entire draft. Doesn't matter.
Draft Day Downs
New Jersey. I'm sorry; I just don't understand the reasoning here.
Maybe Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong will be better
than most people think. But my guess is they won't. I know the Nets'
argument is they needed to add to their talent pool, and with all the
injuries around Secaucus, it isn't a surprising (or necessarily wrong) one.
But you don't win in this league with good, you win with great. And Griffin
could be -- could be -- a great one. Of course, a lot depends on whether New
Jersey moves Stephon Marbury, and what the Nets can get for him. The
scuttlebutt on Wednesday was that the long-rumored Marbury-Jason Kidd trade
talks, thought dead, were moving back toward the front burner, with a July
18 birth date.
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| Doleac |
Cleveland. Taking a huge gamble on DeSagana Diop, the high schooler
from Oak Hill Academy, with UNC-Charlotte forward Rodney White or Notre
Dame's Troy Murphy available. Even if he improves and loses weight, Diop's
got a long way to go, and bringing in Michael Doleac from Orlando doesn't
help a whole lot. Basically, with Zydrunas Ilgauskas not likely to overcome
his foot injuries, the Cavs are a mess.
Jury's Out
Chicago. Bulls wind up with two high schoolers, Tyson Chandler and
Eddy Curry, to surround new-old power forward Marcus Fizer up front. Or
Chandler may come off the bench. Whatever the result, the trading of Elton
Brand makes you think Tim Floyd might have a little more juice than we
thought. (And by the way, second-rounder Trenton Hassell could be a steal,
if he gets over the jitters of playing in the Second City.) It's not a good
frontcourt now, but check back in three years. Of course, by then, Jerry
Krause and Floyd might both be cashiered.
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| Brand |
L.A. Clippers. Brand's a good player, don't get me wrong. But he put
up his 20 and 10 numbers in the east, where power forwards are often of the
Tim Thomas/Keith Van Horn/Bo Outlaw variety. In the west, Brand will face a steady
diet of bigger fours: Tim Duncan, Wallace, Karl Malone, Antonio McDyess,
Kevin Garnett. Will he be as solid? Will he have to be, with the Clips'
other young guns around? LA was determined not to take another kid player,
though.
Grizzlies. I have to call them "the Grizzlies" until the move to
Memphis is complete. And I'm not sure what to make of all their moves,
either. But they took a blowtorch to their roster, that's for sure. Mike
Bibby and Abdur-Rahim, the leaders of the old crew, are toast. In their
place come Jason Williams, Shane Battier and Pau Gasol. Williams and Battier
are the sizzle and the steak, respectively. Let's be real: JWill is in
Graceland to sell tickets to the working folks; Battier to the corporate types.
It's an interesting idea. I have no idea how it's going to sell on the
floor. The Grizz have three pretty interesting frontcourt players now, but
does Stromile Swift play in the hole now, or stay at the four? And if he
stays, will Gasol come off the bench? And will Williams pay attention to
Sidney Lowe, or tune him out like he did Rick Adelman? Doubt it.
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ALDRIDGE ARCHIVE
High school star goes first in NBA draft
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Undrafted Early Entries
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First round agents
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