I'm generally happy with the T-Wolves' choice of Rashard McCants tonight in the NBA draft. He's got talent, but also baggage- but that baggage wasn't enough to stop Carolina from winning the championship last year. And besides- what with years of having good records and/or forfeiting choices due to the Joe Smith incident, this was literally the Wolves' first draft pick of consequence since Wally Szczerbiak in '99.
I won't write too much about the draft (because Simmons does it better- I wonder what kind of hotel suite he rented for this year's diary). But I thought it was good that the draft for once emphasized winning college players, as opposed to unproven high schoolers and foreign players.
And is it just me, or did Jay Bilas describe literally every single player drafted as "long"? "Long" is the new "upside." That's why they pay Mel Kiper the big bucks for the NFL draft- he actually provides analysis- and sometimes even uses multi-syllable words.
UPDATE: Simmons diarizes:
"Here's my McCants question – everyone was writing that his stock was dropping as teams kept doing background checks on him. Well, what were they finding? Did he kill a litter of puppies? Did he appear in a snuff film? Or was it something as innocent as "His favorite movie is 'Scarface'"?Other than that, the highlight is the writer who thought Portland would draft Carlton Dotson. Posted by Stephen Silver at June 29, 2005 01:31 AM
I'm not an NBA fan, but I follow the draft to see how my favorite college players stack up. What do you think Illinois' Deron Williams going #3? I saw a lot of him as a college player, and while he was impressive, I never saw anything that made me think he'd be a big-time NBA player. (Mid to late 1st round, maybe.)
Was it the workouts, or is there something he has that just translates better into the pro game?
Posted by: Gib at June 29, 2005 09:04 AM