2008 NBA Draft Diary - Part 1

By Felipe Melecio

My buddy Roy and I have had the following argument since the Chicago Bulls were awarded the first pick of the 2008 NBA draft: he would argue that the Bulls need a low-post presence and that Kansas State’s Michael Beasley would be the perfect fit for this team who is already full of guards. I would counter with the impact that Chris Paul and Deron Williams have had on the New Orleans Hornets and Utah Jazz respectively and that the Bulls would vastly benefit to have a true point guard (PG) on the team. Kirk Hinrich is really a shooting guard (SG), Ben Gordon is your typical scorer off the bench, and Chris Duhon should not be starting on any NBA team. I explain that the way the NBA works is as follows: unless you have a Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, etc. on the roster, teams NEED a true PG to have some semblance of success to their season. Look at the playoff teams from the Eastern Conference this season. Only three teams, in my opinion, had star (or semi-star) “pass first” true PGs: The Pistons, Raptors, and 76ers. All other teams depended on guys like Pierce, James, Arenas, and Johnson not only as primary scoring options, but as primary playmakers as well. The Magic were the only team to make the playoffs with a less than adequate backcourt. In the Western Conference, of the nine winning teams in that conference, six had good to great starting “true” PGs. The three teams that didn’t depended on the following players: Kobe, McGrady, and a combination of Anthony and Iverson. Even the three of the top four teams in the WEST were lead by Tony Parker, Williams, and Paul. Lack of true, pass-first, playmaking point guards in the EAST might have explained that Conference’s mediocrity. That’s why I thought the Bulls should draft Derrick Rose. Beasley might be the inside presence the Bulls have been looking for, but someone has to feed him inside. Even if the Bulls don’t get a player to score inside, Rose will still find open teammates the way Paul and Williams do (I’m salivating here!).

The Bulls have drafted “back-to-the-basket” players before. Eddy Curry was one, but I really don’t want to talk about him. They did have Elton Brand for two seasons and his rookie year was painful to watch (for starters--he would constantly get blocked in the paint), but by mid-season, he was very well on his way to averaging 20 points/ 10 rebounds a game. Roy would cite that as a major reason for the Bulls to select Beasley. However, for the sake to feed my ever growing curiosity, let’s investigate how the L.A. Clippers have benefited from having Brand on the team, because of his 20/10 ability. The Clips have only average 36 wins (going back to the 2001-2002 season, but not including this season) since Brand was traded from Chicago. The one year the Clips made the playoffs with Brand, he set a career high of 24.7 points per game (PPG). That was also Sam Cassell’s first season with the Clippers and the last time he would come close to playing a full NBA season. So Brand only made the playoffs because the team had a playmaking threat at PG in Cassell. Funny how that works, huh? The final kicker was that after being measured in an NBA draft camp, Beasley came out to be only 6’7”. First thing I thought to myself was, “Oh no! We have another Danny Fortson!” He somehow went back to being 6’8” but his “lack of height” was enough even to turnoff my buddy Roy. We never had this discussion again.

And with that mentality coming into the NBA draft, I now bring you back to June 26, 2008. I’m at my friend’s Donny Rodriguez’s, home located near the corner of Western and Division here in sweet home Chicago (after six days in Seattle, I dearly missed the old city). He was nice enough to buy pizza, beer, and be my primary audience to my jokes (some would actually make it to this piece).

You have your prologue, the setting, and now on to ESPN’s televised coverage of the 2008 NBA draft:

The following takes place before any selections take place: David Stern comes out, Donny is digging his tie (by the end of the night, I would be amazed at Donny’s fashion sense). The totalitarian leader with the title of NBA Commissioner comes out and informs us that the Bulls—yes!—have five minutes to make their selection--huh? I turned to Donny and we both agreed that the Bulls had weeks to decide on Rose, but Donny put it best by saying that the five minutes were just a formality. So now we have five minutes to put up with the gentlemen who will be delivering the NBA draft all night long (the thought alone makes me want to shudder like Sideshow Bob after he gets hit in the face with a rake). ESPN really went all out to bring you their “A” list of NBA ‘experts” for this one. Hubie Brown? Scoop Jackson? Matt Winer? Michael Wilbon? Mike Tirico? Nope, we get, starring from right to left: Stuart Scott (a.k.a. Stu), Mark Jackson (a.k.a. Jax), Jeff Van Gundy (just Jeff), and Jay Bilas (or Bilas for short). For example, they gave a recap of the Bulls' season (please don't remind us), the fact that they have too many guards (duh!), and Stu's reasoning behind the Vinnie Del Negro coaching hire was due in part because of the latter's “Single-digit handicap golf score.” (breathe-in, breathe-out Felipe. Don’t get angry; breathe-in, breathe-out...)

1ST PICK--Mercifully, Stern comes out to announce that the Bulls have selected Derrick Rose with the first pick.

Cut to a shot of the Bulls' War Room where everybody from GM John Paxson and maybe the equipment manager are clapping and cheering because they just realized they couldn't mess this pick up even if they had tried. The right choice was Rose.

We also noticed that Stephen A. Smith has been relegated to do player interviews in between picks with the new draftees. How the LOUD and obnoxious have fallen! Wasn't Stu doing this last year? I want to say he was because how else would we understand the recently drafted, mostly black players talking without Stu translating for us? Can someone please verify? I also noticed that Stu was promoted to lead anchor of the NBA draft. Barry Melrose becoming the Tampa Bay Lightning’s new head coach got more fanfare than Stu hosting this year’s NBA draft. Who says that the NHL is irrelevant (Tiger Woods doesn’t count)?

2ND PICK-- Michael Beasley, despite talks that Dwyane Wade was getting very close with O.J. Mayo and trying to convince Pat Riley to select him with the #2 pick overall, the Heat went another direction and selected the “big” guy from K-State (they'll survive). ESPN informs us that he went to six different schools from 8th -12th grade (maybe he was an Army brat?).

FELIPE: I swear he looks very slow.
DONNY: He looks pretty quick to me AND he's a scoring machine. Plus his mom is hot. I think Paxson might've dropped the ball.

Paxson is being interviewed and is letting the TV audience know that Rose will not be pressured to step in right away to produce and be a team leader. Nevertheless it's implied that he will—or else Paxson is out of a job.

3RD PICK: O.J. Mayo-- Bilas chimes in, “Mayo was able to shut down Jerryd Bayless last season.” (ummm, that's because he's better than Bayless).

FELIPE: I think he has the best beard in this draft, hands-down.
DONNY: Yeah, dude's dapper. He's wearing a hounds-tooth, button-down. Classy!
FELIPE: It's from all that money he was making at USC. Good for him.

Pat Riley is being interviewed in regards to the Beasley pick. He pretty much just told Dwyane Wade NO on O.J. Mayo. That's why Riley continues to have an NBA job!

Next: Picks 4-7