July 6th- There is only one truly great way to build a franchise, and that’s through the draft. Even the teams that are launched into that elite stratosphere by a trade (think: Celtics) are able to do that by swapping out young potential for proven commodities. Talent acquirement, salary balance, and best-possible coaching should be the three main focuses of any front office. But talent – above all – is king.
This is why the NBA Draft is so much fun. It is why entire careers are made and broken at the end of June. The correct choices and decisions can inform two or three years of work. The wrong ones get your ‘personal belongings’ moved from an office to a box. Before we start the “Fix Your Franchise” series, we're going to have to evaluate the current talent and salary of the teams in most dire need of saving. What better way to lead into that than discussing the most recent influx of players and strategy?
-It goes without saying that Blake Griffin is going to beast, but we hear people comparing him to Beasley – Stop. Griffin is stronger, more explosive, and better on the block. He also has great hands, both in catching passes and finishing around the hoop. The best test? Miami would offer Beasley for Blake… and the Clippers would laugh.
- One can imagine drafting Hasheem Thabeet must be like banging an ugly chick sober. Even when you’re in the middle of doing it, you’re trying to convince yourself that “its not so bad,” you should just sack up and say no thanks – even if it fulfills a need.
- James Harden hasn’t impressed us yet, but he could not have landed in a better position. Westbrook is a freak athlete who surprised many with his play at point, and Kevin Durant is hall of fame talent. Harden can come in, shoot, defend, Manu Ginobli his way to the top with the next big thing (sorry Portland) in the West.
-Tyreke Evans is a good player. He has an outrageous wingspan. He doesn’t use it enough on defense, granted, but he can take you off the bounce and muscle guards up on the drive. But he’ll never truly run the point, and the 2 position is LOCKED in Sacramento. First rule of Fixing Your Franchise: If you don’t have enough talent to win, you take risks to get the kind of talent that can turn it around.
You don’t stockpile “solid-to-good” players (McHale). Ricky Rubio is one of the few if not the only player in this draft that is potentially franchise-altering. You already have one of the most inexplicably unguardable players in the NBA (Kev Martin quietly increased his ppg to 25 and his 3pt% to 42) why not try to pair him with one of the better passers we’ve seen enter the draft in years?
- What can you say about the Timberwolves that hasn’t already been said about the Clippers, Pirates, Lions, and well… the Timberwolves. Love the Ricky Rubio pick, hate the Johnny Flynn pick. We think Flynn is a 25th pick living off one six-OT game. He never displayed the kind of court vision that you need from a diminutive point guard, he’s a liability on defense, and 31% from the college three pointer just doesn’t cut it. What they needed to do here was roll the dice again, you need big talent to take a big risk: Bring in Ricky Rubio, and Demar Derozan and let them streak up and down the court.
We know how raw Derozan is, and that Rubio poses all types of risks… but your team stinks, shoot for the stars! If neither pan out, then at least you went down doing everything you could to make the team better.
And save that “you don’t get the strategy” talking point, as well as that “It’s the T-Wolves! What did you expect?” rhetoric – because this is a new GM with a new regime. We understand the idea behind possibly getting a look at Flynn for a year before Rubio shows up, or rocking out with them both to evaluate, create some mismatches (to frustrate teams and steal wins), and generate some ticket sales. We just don’t like it. No matter what line of propaganda comes out of the office, it still feels like (to me, at least), “We couldn’t decide, so we took both.” It’s a shame too, because the deal they flipped for that pick was outstanding work, would have been nice to see the a team like New York do something there, and put Young Ricky in their desperate, large market.
- You know the scene in the last season of “The Wire” where Snoop takes Michael out on what amounts to their last ‘mission?’ Michael realizes what’s going on, and gets the jump on her. That moment, where she realizes it’s over; glances in the mirror and ask how she looks? She’s been essentially a walking gun for her entire existence, and regardless – in that fleeting moment part of you feels bad for her. For some reason the Curry pick and Monta Ellis had us thinking about this scene.
They drafted a young looking, light skinned, undersized scoring guard with questionable pg skills. This is going to end badly. Shame on Golden State for the way they’ve ran this team over the last three years.
- Back-to-back we got to, again, watch exactly what we're talking about: The Knicks take Jordan Hill who is slotted to replace David Lee, and if not fills a need – and will be good. They pass on Brandon Jennings who also would have filled a need, and could be great. Right after them Toronto takes Derozan, the kid with the highest ceiling left in the draft.
- The Bucks essentially banish Brandon Jennings with the 10th pick, wasting a potential All-Star in their toilet of an organization, and then it gets boring for a little while. Aside from Jennings showing up a few picks later (probably thanks to his agent driving on the sidewalk to get him to the arena after his phone rang) it got pretty boring for a while.
- Earl Clark is a great fit for the new Suns, he’ll get a chance to prove that he wants to play out there, hopefully his heart starts. The Pistons prepare to trade their lone asset (Prince) by drafting Austin Daye, and the Bulls selected another light-in-the-ass ‘power’ forward.
- Jrue Holiday’s lack of position slides him down to the 76ers, who stumble onto a kid that (one year ago) was ranked higer than the fourth pick in the draft… not bad. If he does what Westbrook does, then somebody is going to have to reevaluate what’s going on in the practice facilities and coaching meetings of UCLA.
- Jeff Teague is gutless, not sure how you could take him over Maynor or Collison. We like Ty Lawson better than all of them.
- Victor Claver and Omri Casspi are the two best players in the second half of the first round. Versatile, athletic, and played at a high level for good teams – plus both have shown noted mean streaks.
- After that? The Cavs stashed a wildly athletic wing away in Eyenga, and then grabbed Danny Green (pick 46) who might be able to fill a role player spot right away. The Spurs got Blair (voodoo magic luck). The Bobcats made a smart pick with Derrick Brown; Buddinger and Calathes sank like big white rocks, AJ Price fell into a good situation with the Pacers who always have question marks at their point guard spot (injuries and lack of talent), Patty Mills felt the full effects of his mid-season injury and subsequent lack of rhythm, and the Lakers grabbed a project shot-blocker in Elonu who should have probably stayed in school, but is talented enough for the NBA (just like Ariza???). Quick shout to Lester Hudson, who’s been one of the best scorers in college basketball for what seems like 20 years – the 24 year old pg (kind of) is built like a house, jumps out of the gym, and can shoot the lights out. Can he run the point? Ehhhhh, but its good to see him get an honest shot. I have a feeling he’ll do huge numbers in summer league and push for a roster spot somewhere. His game is Eddie House-ish with more handle, and a stronger frame. He's our bottom of the barrel pick to make a roster, our other sleeper is Ben Woodside (white boys w/handle stand up!)
Wednesday- “Fix My Franchise” reviews the Los Angeles Clippers
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