Since I had today off from work, I had the bright idea to … work.
My brother and I decided to watch the NBA Draft, and in between the pizza and heat and cute dog pictures, I kept this diary of the draft. I started at around two o’clock, and I wrote these entries at the exact time I list. We all know the results of the draft by now; what follows is my account of the moves as they happened, all the way to the end of the first round.
Here goes.
2:06 PM: Watching NBATV, talking heads talking about the Golden State Warriors and their small-ball tactics. They neglect to mention that Andrew Bogut, the Warriors’ 7-foot center, was a crucial part of their success, and that the strategy to go small worked against Cleveland because the Cavaliers lacked depth. Bogut is still very valuable.
2:09 PM: Over on the NBATV Kiddie Table (the small table they have their extra talent sit at), former Denver Nuggets coach Brian Shaw pontificates about the value of Jahlil Okafor. He believes Okafor, an old-school post player, should go number one overall.
He and Stu Jackson are two old-school guys, and it’s worth noting that Shaw is a former Los Angeles Laker, is friends with current Laker coach, and former Laker player, Byron Scott, and is chummy with Laker icon Kobe Bryant. Jackson is infamous for mismanaging the Vancouver Grizzlies, contributing to the obliteration of Northwest pro basketball except in Portland.
Take anything former coaches and executives say on TV with a whole bottle of salt. There are good reasons why these guys are on TV instead of in the NBA.
2:16 PM: Interview with Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, California:
On his roster: “We don’t have a whole lot. We really need help.” Uhhhh…yeah.
On the second overall draft pick he owns: “We need a big.” #LakersgonnaLake
On the state of the game today: “Game’s changed a little bit.” It’s changed a great deal, actually. Mitch probably thinks a post beast is the predominant way to win today, despite rules changes that make it very easy to defend all but the very best post players.
On the Lakers’ history: “We’ve had great success stealing other team’s centers”–whoops, that wasn’t his quote!
Here it is: “We’ve had great success with big men…just look at the wall behind me.” Kupchak points at the 16 championship banners hanging on the wall behind him. I call him a douchebag.
On his other draft picks: “27 and 34 (the positions where the Lakers also pick from this year) really don’t play A LOT…” They sure can play in place of the flaming piles of garbage you charged people thousands of dollars to watch last year, Mitch.
I think they’ll take Okafor for sure.
2:28 PM: So, I’m picking between Providence and Kaiser Permanente for the health plan I’ll get due to my new job being a union job. Stephen Curry appears in a commercial at this time for Kaiser.
I pick Kaiser because Steph Curry.
2:32 PM: Emmanuel Mudiay might one day become a jerk, but his story is amazing. He said, “To succeed, you gotta take risks.” Seems like this teenager understands what it takes to succeed in the NBA.
If his shooting doesn’t improve, Mudiay’s ceiling is likely a bigger Rajon Rondo. His floor is New Orleans-era Tyreke Evans.
2:39 PM: The goobers at the NBATV Kiddie Table compare D’Angelo Russell to Curry. I ignore their blatant idiocy. Russell AS A ROOKIE might be better than Curry AS A ROOKIE, but the draft isn’t about what a guy’s going to give a team his rookie year. It’s about what he’ll give you for four, seven, or 11 years. Curry’s living proof of that.
2:42 PM: I don’t care how talented he may be, a guy with the name “Kristaps Porzingis” cannot and will not be a successful NBA athlete, just because his name is clunky. The ESPN crew’s attempts to shorten the first name to Kris makes it sound better, but he just looks soft.
It’s the same principle that will cause Blake Bortles to fail utterly as an NFL quarterback. If you were an NFL player, would you go to battle with a leader named Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, or Blake Bortles? The first three are names befitting leaders of men. The fourth one just makes me laugh saying it.
The name Blake Bortles portends total haplessness as an NFL quarterback, just like an odd Eastern European name like Kristaps Porzingis means failure as an NBA player. And by the way: there have been 19 international players drafted in the lottery since Yao Ming went first overall in 2002. The latest foreign lottery pick to make the All-Star team? Yao.
Not a good omen for our man Kris Porzingis.
2:49 PM: Seth Davis over at the Kiddie Table is an insufferable college basketball snob. He barely disguises a sneer as he talks about Mario Hezonja and his experience in the Spanish ACB League, the second-best basketball league in the world. He ignores the plain truth, that the vast majority of college teams would get destroyed by a decent ACB team nowadays. Even Mudiay, who disdained college to play overseas, chose to go to China instead of the ACB so he could look better.
Also, it appears Davis doesn’t grasp the fact that NBA teams employ full-time international scouts that watch the best foreign players 24/7.
3:03 PM: The guys at the Kiddie Table all have hard-ons for Frank Kaminsky, the college Player of the Year. While I agree that the 22-year-old Kaminsky still has potential to tap, it’s going too far to suggest, as Davis did, that Frank the Tank is the fourth-best player in the 2015 draft.
Again, the draft isn’t about next season, it’s about the seasons afterward. The college snobs, including Davis, just don’t see that.
3:10 PM: Feeding dogs. Getting my brother to crawl down from his air-conditioned hole upstairs and suffer with me in the living room.
3:32 PM: On NBATV, a discussion is going on about the NCAA allowing players with eligibility to come back to school after declaring for the draft. The idea is excellent, as there are many underclassmen (including callow freshmen) who declare too early, forever lose their free education, and have to scratch out a living playing in the D-League or overseas if they aren’t picked up by the team that drafted them, or even if they go undrafted altogether.
Unfortunately for those players, the college coaches wield too much power, and are unwilling to bend their precious recruiting schedules to accommodate the players that might want to come back and either get better, or finish their education. Also, the NCAA, like all amateur sports organizations, is a collection of tone-deaf, stuffed-shirt douche bags.
3:51 PM: Wouldn’t be surprised one bit to see Sam Dekker get drafted by the Boston Celtics. Dekker strongly resembles Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward, and Celtics Coach Brad Stevens was Hayward’s college coach at Butler.
3:57 PM: During a discussion on NBATV about Kelly Oubre, Jr., they talk about his lack of consistency. Um, have these guys met any 19-year-olds, ever? What 19-year-old is consistent, other than those few special freaks like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and the true superstars of basketball?
If Oubre is drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Atlanta Hawks, or the Celtics, he should do fine.
4:00 PM: Switching to ESPN, where theater and blowhards tend to dominate the coverage. I’m still a fan of Jay Bilas (even though he has Okafor first instead of Karl-Anthony Towns), but Jalen Rose is missing Bill Simmons.
4:07 PM: ESPN breaks the “news” that the owners of the first pick, the Minnesota Timberwolves, are taking Towns. There were whispers that T-Wolves President of Basketball Ops Flip Saunders would take Okafor and his prodigious post game, but somehow that obsession didn’t capsize his common sense.
Also, Bilas is very high on Kaminsky as well, rating him above defensive ace Willie Cauley-Stein. Again, the draft is about five years from now, not next season. Frank’s better than WCS right now, but in five years, that will likely change barring unforeseen circumstances.
4:14 PM: I’m right now having wet dreams about Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio running the break, with highlight machines Zach Levine and Andrew Wiggins flanking him, and Towns trailing behind.
Then I remember that Saunders is the coach, and that he is a notorious slowpoke that would clip the wings of these players before they could have the chance to fly. I start to cry.
4:19 PM: Given the failures of the Lakers to attract or keep big free agents lately, it’s a little startling to hear rumors that they’ll pass on drafting Jahlil Okafor due to their confidence in their ability to lure a free-agent big man to LA. Taking D’Angelo Russell, like they’re rumored to do, would still be a great pick, but if they strike out on Kevin Love and LaMarcus Aldridge this summer, where else will they go?
With Russell, a healthy Kobe Bryant, a healthy Julius Randle, and whatever else Kupchak can cobble together, the Lakers might not be bad enough to retain their pick next year, which is only top-three protected. It would be a pointless way to waste what could be Bryant’s last season
If I were the Lakers’ GM, I would rather take a teenage stud like Okafor rather than sign a second-tier free agent like Greg Monroe…and pay Monroe more than twice what I would have to pay Okafor.
4:26 PM: ESPN advertising: calling Cardinals-Cubs a “rivalry” is like saying there’s a rivalry between cats and mice. Oh, and some of the cats are also hackers.
4:30 PM: Yeah, five teams really did pass on Stephen Curry in 2009. The Timberwolves passed on him TWICE, in fact. They had consecutive picks, at five and six, before the Warriors picked at seven.
The Wolves picked Rubio fifth, and let him stay in Spain for several years before he finally came over to these shores, where he‘s had an injury-plagued time of it in the NBA. They then picked Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn sixth; he washed out of the league three years later. TWO POINT GUARDS IN A ROW, AND NEITHER OF THEM WERE STEPH CURRY.
Dumbass decisions like that are a big reason why Minnesota’s picking first today.
4:37 PM: T-Wolves take Towns.
4:40 PM: Now the fun begins. Lakers on the clock.
4:43 PM: Lakers put their frontcourt eggs in the free agency basket, taking Russell second overall. They are set at point guard for a long time, but for Kobe’s sake, they better get a good big in free agency this summer.
4:54 PM: In their annual tradition of giving no f**** about fit, the Philadelphia 76ers select Okafor, despite having Nerlens Noel, the injured Joel Embiid, and the stashed Euro Dario Saric earmarked for the big man positions.
The guess here is that the Sixers will punt yet another year, try to trade the frail Embiid for yet another draft pick, and rebuild with a frontcourt in Noel and Okafor that can’t shoot beyond 10 feet.
5:01 PM: I thought the New York Knicks would take Justise Winslow or Emmanuel Mudiay fourth overall, but to the extreme chagrin of their fans in the stands, the Knicks take Porzingis instead. If they do indeed keep him instead of trading him, my opinion is that the Zinger will be more Darko Milicic than Dirk Nowitzki.
5:09 PM: Mario Hezonja is going to the Orlando Magic as the fifth pick. I’m a fan of the pick; he could be the offensive yin to Elfrid Payton’s and Victor Oladipo’s defensive yang. At 6-8, Mario can also play the 3 alongside Payton and Oladipo. The Magic drafted for offense! There’s hope for them yet!
5:16 PM: The Sacramento Kings go with defense, and maybe a replacement for disgruntled center DeMarcus Cousins, by taking Willie Cauley-Stein sixth overall. WCS projects as a great defender, but the Kings are in considerable turmoil right now. Their upper management is dead-set against trading Cousins, coach George Karl is trying to strong-arm them into trading Cousins, and Cousins himself either wants to get out of town or force Karl out.
It’s an incredible mess for Cauley-Stein to walk into, and I really do feel sorry for the kid. Karl will love his speed and activity, if he’s even still the coach next season.
5:18 PM: ESPN’s Jeff Goodman says the Nuggets will take Mudiay seventh overall, and put incumbent starting point guard Ty Lawson on the trading block.
5:23 PM: Nuggets draft Mudiay. Their rebuilding phase starts now.
5:25 PM: My brother raises a good question: just what the hell are the Charlotte Hornets going to do with the ninth pick? They just traded for Nicolas Batum by giving up their big man prospect Noah Vonleh, yet they desperately need shooting on the perimeter to unclog that offense.
We decide that the Hornets will pick either Kaminsky to fill their big man hole, or sharpshooter Devin Booker to provide three-point shooting. We think the Detroit Pistons, who have the eighth selection, will take Justise Winslow.
5:28 PM: The Pistons reach for Stanley Johnson over Winslow, who’s a superior three-point shooter. Detroit’s another team that has a stilted offense, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been inconsistent for them.
My brother derisively quips that the Pistons obviously aren’t trying to score next year.
5:32 PM: Winslow is available for Charlotte. The choice they make here, whether it’s going big with Kaminsky, going with Booker’s shooting, or taking the best available player in Winslow, will shape the rest of the lottery portion of this draft. One thing’s for sure: either the Miami Heat, picking tenth, or the Indiana Pacers, who sit 11th, will be very happy.
5:36 PM: Charlotte drafts Kaminsky. The Hornets were blowing smoke about drafting Frank, even though they never worked him out. While it’s very strange how they conducted their pre-draft business, they do fill a need not just in their frontcourt, but with spacing as well; as a seven-footer that can shoot, Kaminsky will get a chance to help stretch defenses.
His progress on defense and rebounding will determine whether he’s another Steve Novak (who is a useless NBA player), or another Ryan Anderson (who’s basically Kevin Love Lite).
5:42 PM: Miami happily snaps up Winslow, getting a ready-made replacement for Luol Deng. This guy shot 40% from three in college (including an insane 57% in the NCAA Tournament), loves to run in transition, and is a dogged defender.
Why the hell did Detroit pass on him again?
5:50 PM: The Pacers get frontcourt depth and that scary word, potential, by picking Myles Turner 11th overall. While his selection might mean the beginning of the end for Roy Hibbert as the Pacers’ center, Turner isn’t the most athletic guy himself.
Bill Simmons says there’s an easy way to tell if a guy’s going to be a good player: look at the way he moves on the court. Turner runs awkwardly, and not very swiftly. If he had Hibbert’s 7-2 frame, that would be understandable, but Turner stands 6-10.
I should point out, however, that Hibbert went from a total stiff to a guy that moves well enough to be able to leverage his huge frame in rim protection. If Hibbert can be turned into a serviceable athlete, Turner can become one as well, which would allow his shooting skills to come into play.
5:55 PM: ESPN’s Andy Katz reporting that Indiana will keep Turner. Derp derp. If anyone’s going to be traded, it’s going to be Hibbert.
5:57 PM: The Utah Jazz, picking 12th, make a slight reach by selecting Trey Lyles, a backup power forward from Kentucky. Either a trade is in the offing, or Utah really believes enough in Rodney Hood and Alec Burks to avoid selecting Devin Booker.
5:59 PM: The Jazz confirm that they are keeping Lyles. Way to waste your pick, Utah.
6:03 PM: The Phoenix Suns go with the best player available theory, selecting Booker 13th overall. He joins a crowded group of young Phoenix wings, including Reggie Bullock, Archie Goodwin, and P.J. Tucker. The Suns better hope one or more of those guys separates themselves, and soon.
6:10 PM: Cameron Payne was rumored to be one of the two guys the Oklahoma City Thunder were deliberating about selecting 14th overall, along with Kelly Oubre, Jr. Rather than take on yet another young guy with potential, the Thunder decide to replace Reggie Jackson by selecting Payne to backup Russell Westbrook.
6:17 PM: The Atlanta Hawks take a flier on Oubre. Potential is the key word here, and like I said up top, the team that takes Oubre needs a good team structure and a good amount of patience. The Hawks have both, so things look good for Oubre.
UPDATE: Oubre is headed to the Washington Wizards for the 19th pick and two future second-round picks. Washington isn’t as well-run or savvy as the Hawks are (with the witless Randy Wittman as coach), and they already have their small forward of the future in Otto Porter. I’m not as optimistic about Oubre’s NBA future with the Wizards.
Those shoes though…wow.
6:25 PM: BOSTON REACH!!! Their selection with the 16th pick, Terry Rozier, had an end-of-the-first-round to second-round grade from pretty much everybody that did a mock draft, so this is a massive reach for a player they stood a good chance of getting with their 28th pick later on.
Rozier’s defining NBA skill is defense, but the problem here is that the Celtics have two guys at guard who do that already. Avery Bradley is a very good defender, and Marcus Smart (assuming Boston doesn’t trade him) has the potential to be one as well.
The Celtics have tons of draft picks coming up in the next few years, so this isn’t a crippling move. It’s just puzzling and unnecessary.
6:31 PM: The Milwaukee Bucks get a decent shooting guard in Rashad Vaughn with the 17th pick. He has a slight build, but is only 18 years old. He seems like yet another project on a team full of them, but the Bucks aren’t particularly in the business of winning now, so Vaughn fits with their plans.
6:38 PM: The Houston Rockets finally replace departed forward Chandler Parsons with Sam Dekker. Since Trevor Ariza is a 3-and-D wing without a dribble-drive game or any kind of passing ability, having a guy with Dekker’s creativity, for good or ill, could help out the James Harden-dependent Rockets defense.
As long as Dekker’s NCAA Tournament performance wasn’t a fluke, Houston should be relatively happy with this pick.
6:42 PM: Wizards now on the clock at 19, picking for the Hawks.
6:44 PM: Washington selects Jerian Grant, and I have to erase half a page of notes since things get screwy here. Grant was shipped to New York, while Knicks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. is being sent to Atlanta, and Kelly Oubre and two second-round picks go to the Wizards.
As for Grant’s fit with the Knicks, he’s a big point guard who can shoot a bit, so he should be a great fit for the triangle as an off-ball element, a la Ron Harper and his future coach, Derek Fisher.
6:51 PM: The Toronto Raptors take Delon Wright with the 20th pick to replace Grievis Vasquez, who was traded to the Bucks earlier in the night. (I was taking the pizza from the delivery guy at that time, and my brother doesn’t pay attention to the TV screen like I do.)
Wright is a better athlete and defender than Vasquez, which should make coach Duane Casey happy, at least. It’s a better use for the 20th pick than the guy Toronto used it on last year, a kid from Brazil named Bruno Caboclo that was famously described by ESPN international guru Fran Frascilla as “two years away from being two years away.”
6:58 PM: The Dallas Mavericks draft prime 3-and-D prospect Justin Anderson with the 21st pick, two picks before my beloved Portland Trail Blazers could snap him up. Dammit.
7:04 PM: The Chicago Bulls, with the 22nd pick, select big man Bobby Portis to provide depth and insurance for the inevitable Joakim Noah/Taj Gibson injuries that will crop up next year, no matter how much new coach Fred Hoiberg eases their minutes burden.
7:05 PM: Blazers are on the clock, and my brother and I both get nervous. He wants the Blazers to take Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, while I favor R.J. Hunter.
7:07 PM: I offhandedly suggest Portland might take Montrezl Harrell, and my brother flips out. He has nightmares of J.J. Hickson 2.0, complete with free runs to the rim for the opponent, and renews his prayers for Hollis-Jefferson.
7:08 PM: My brother’s still praying for RHJ.
7:13 PM: The Blazers select RHJ, and my brother passes out from joy. Here’s hoping he learns how to shoot.
(UPDATE: The Blazers traded Hollis-Jefferson and Steve Blake to the Brooklyn Nets for center Mason Plumlee and wing Pat Connaughton. It seems like the Blazers won’t re-sign Robin Lopez, at least; Plumlee’s a much cheaper replacement. Portland struck gold when they acquired Lopez for squat-diddly two years ago. Maybe the same happens with a younger, healthier, more athletic big in Plumlee.)
7:21 PM: The Cleveland Cavaliers take Tyus Jones 24th overall to backup Kyrie Irving. He’s a ball handler with stones, and represents an upgrade over Matthew Dellavedova, if the Cavs keep the pick.
7:26 PM: Jones goes to Minnesota for the 31st and 36th picks, both of which are second-round picks, non-guaranteed or stash slots. Cleveland gets to save the smidge of guaranteed money that would have gone to Jones (maybe they could have kept him as a better version of Delly, but whatever), while Minnesota gets a guy who projects as a capable backup in case Rubio gets hurt yet again.
Oh yeah, and Jones happens to be from Minnesota. For once, the Timberwolves didn’t fudge up a draft. No, I’m not drunk, I swear. I’m telling you, the T-Wolves made good decisions in a draft.
7:27 PM: The Memphis Grizzlies, starved for outside shooting since the Clinton Administration (Bill, not the future Hillary one), instead decide to reach for LSU power forward Jarell Martin, who wasn’t even considered the best big man from his team.
I dislike this pick for the Grizz, even though they do need another big body to replace Kosta Koufus in case he decides to pursue a starting job elsewhere. R.J. Hunter was still available, and is a big guard perfectly capable of spotting up on the wing opposite from Courtney Lee to give Mike Conley space to drive, and discourage the double teams against Marc Gasol and/or Zach Randolph.
Instead, the search for perimeter offense continues. Moses had a better chance of finding the Promised Land than these guys do of finding a three-point shooter.
7:32 PM: The San Antonio Spurs draft and stash Nikola Milutinov, which is a very bald attempt to save the guaranteed money they would owe their first-rounder. The Spurs usually draft overseas guys with these picks, but their motivation this year is to open up enough space to both make a competitive offer to LaMarcus Aldridge, and bring back either of their resident legends, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, if they want to play another season.
7:37 PM: With the 27th choice, the Lakers reach for a mid-second round talent in Larry Nance, Jr. While his dad was a solid NBA player for 13 seasons, Junior didn’t show enough flashes to get a first-round grade.
Given GM Mitch Kupchak’s dismissive comments about this draft slot earlier in the day, it’s easy to imagine Los Angeles just picking a name at random, then sticking the poor sod onto their D-League team. Again, R.J. Hunter, a big guard with good shooting ability, is ignored.
7:44 PM: Boston selects Hunter with the 28th pick. It’s easy to imagine Hunter going 16th and Terry Rozier, the guy the Celtics did pick at 16, going here. The Celtics save themselves from ridicule by sheer luck; no way Hunter should have fallen into their laps.
7:50 PM: Brooklyn takes a much-needed flier on Chris McCullough at 29, a talented forward still recovering from ACL surgery. Since the Nets won’t have many draft picks–and no decent ones–for a long while, they need to take risks wherever they can, hoping one pans out and provides them with sorely-needed fresh blood.
7:55 PM: My diary ends with the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors taking Kevon Looney 30th overall. If/when the Warriors trade David Lee, either Looney will be included in the deal, or he’ll get a decent chance to replace Lee at the back of the rotation. Looney could also be a cheaper alternative to free agent Marresse Speights.