2008 NBA Draft Diary - Part III

By Felipe Melcio

2008 NBA Draft:
8th PICK—Turns out Joe Alexander was born in Taiwan and can speak Mandarin. Remember in last year’s draft when Yi Jianlian didn’t want to be part of the Bucks’ organization because the Asian population wasn’t as big as it was in L.A., N.Y.C., or Hong Kong? You’d think Yi would’ve felt better about Milwaukee with Alexander on board, but alas, he was shipped to New Jersey before the draft.

Cut to a shot of Alexander in college, SLAMMING IT DOWN. Wow, talk about white men jumping! Cut to the NBA draft audience and there’s a guy holding up a “Vanilla Sky” poster, an obvious reference to Alexander. If it wasn’t for Gallinari’s nickname of The Rooster, Alexander would be ahead in the “best rookie nickname pool.” Cut to another shot of Alexander showing a pretty mediocre turn around jumper, which Bilas points out is, “a nice turnaround shot.” In college it WAS “a nice turnaround shot,” but in the NBA, that shot is going to get blocked every time. At least the dude can jump.

9th PICK—D.J. Augustine is 5’11”. There’s so many things that are wrong with this selection that I don’t even know where to start. You think, I’m confused and upset, you should’ve seen Brook Lopez’s face when Augustine was selected and not him. First of all, Augustine is 5’11”. Not a concern? Ok, how about the fact that the Bobcats already have a “franchise” PG in Raymond Felton. I think Bilas just mentioned that Augustine will make a good back up to Felton. WHAT? Since when do teams start selecting backup players in the top 10 of the NBA draft? Seriously, what is going on here?

10th PICK—Brook Lopez gets selected as Robin looks sad that his brother leaves the family table to get to the podium with Stern. Twins are a mysterious bunch, aren’t they? Here’s some more Bilas facts on Brook:
--Brook “ plays bigger than he really is” (apparently Brook can play as if he were 8 feet tall. The NBA could use another clumsy giant to their roster of players).
--His draft stock dropped because he didn’t test well in the Orlando workouts (as a former Stanford student that was probably the only test he failed all year).
--Needs to work on REBOUNDING (a guy who plays like he’s 8’ can’t board? Breathe-in, breathe-out...)

Quick interview with Robin where he tells the TV audience that he can’t wait for his name to get called. Keep waiting. Stevie A. is now interviewing Brook and I swear, both of these guys sound like cavemen. Absolutely deep grunting noises come out of their mouths when they try to talk.

Jax wants to chime in (let him!): The Nets, a weak team that was soft in the middle last year just fixed their problem by picking Brook. Yep, getting a tall and clumsy center who CAN’T REBOUND fixed the Nets’ problems alright. Although, the Nets did have problems rebounding so Brook will fit right in.

11th PICK—Jerryd Bayless is picked up by the Pacers which is very strange seeing that the Pacers, before the draft, received T.J. Ford in a trade. They also have Jamaal Tinsley, but I figure if the Pacers are as frustrated with Tinsley as his fantasy basketball owners, he’s probably long gone. I figure Indiana have themselves an insurance policy if Ford isn’t healthy for the season. Or maybe the Pacers want Bayless and Ford in the same backcourt. Interesting.

Bilas: “Great work ethic and he really wants to be good” (doesn’t everybody?).
Jax mentions that Bayless can score, and score in bunches (again, a glorified Ben Gordon).
NEEDS TO WORK ON: PASSING. How can a PG/Combo guard have trouble PASSING THE BALL. Are they just reaching for criticism here or is he really this bad? Oh wait, he’s just another Ben Gordon. I guess it makes sense.

Next: 12-15