My NBA Draft 08 thoughts

[mvblair]

Nice and expected move by D'Antoni.. Gallinari is already a better player then half of those from the Knicks lockerroom..

Sad but true.

apparently when Knicks were announcing their pick Gallinari was booed, but stupid newyorkers will be cheering him in few months..
finally some sun in that club, I hope better days are coming for them..

There were some boos and some cheers for Gallinari. Actually, the ESPN commentators, including Marc Jackson, Jay Bilas, and Fran Frischella, seemed pretty supportive. Marc Jackson praised Gallinari's attitude. He's going to be OK. Like everybody, I think he'll play well with D'Antoni. It'll be interesting to see what else the Knicks do over the summer.

Some of my other thoughts:

• I suppose Chicago is going to try to trade one of their guards now that they have Rose. Rose will do a good job for them.
• Isiah Thomas had a fantastic draft last night. His best in years.
• New Jersey got lucky with Brook Lopez at ten. He'll do well with Krstic and Yi.
• Ajinca really hasn't played well at all. I mean, he's kind of an average player in France, right?
• Toronto got a nice pick with Roy Hibbert. I like Hibbert a lot. He gives Toronto a nice big man to come in behind O'Neal and Bosh.

[raph]

Right for ajinca, he struggled to get some minutes this season, knowing he was transfered last summer to hyères-toulon by pau-orthez which did not believe that much in his profile (basically coz of his physical frame & herbert never gave him a chance).
He started this season on the bench in HT but in the second half he finally got some decent minutes & managed to achieve a few good games.

I guess he benefited the most from the last hoop summit (+ the one from last year even though batum was much more consistent) & from his latest work-out as he was still ranked in the late 20ies and early 30ies in last month's rankings more or less.

As for batum, it's not such a burden to be in portland as he could be the third rotation (or better if he proves stuff in training). Knowing what has been the last week for him and the last year to a lesser extent, i m pretty sure he's satisfied to be drafted in the 1st round.
Less pressure hopefully for him this year, i really hope he will develop his physical gifts & get a coach to improve his technic as he is already nba ready in other fields.

[mavs128]

kosta koufus is about as european as my father...he was born and raised in Ohio.


Ajinca only got drafted that high because of his workouts....apparently he was a very impressive individual outside of just his raw basketball ability, but everyone was impressed with his monstrous length.

[heroescantdie]

rose gonna very great beasley's gonna be a star oj star also,, but for now,, mayo has the biggest chance to contribute right away rose and beasley, oj will be the starting sg of memphis,, rose, dont know with hinrich there,, hinrich first the mid season it's rose turn, or maybe rose all the way,, dont know about beasley,, heat has two offensive opt, marion and wade,, maybe beasley 3rd opt..

[House]

Everything is pretty nice, except Knicks Fans. Of course it is hard when your team is the worst in NBA history, but booing new player will not bring you to playoffs. Or maybe they wanted that Knicks choose Patrick Ewing JR? And then loose again and again. IMO it is perfect pick for Knicks, actualy is best pick in Knicks history of all times.

IMO Pekovic was the best player who attended this draft. Maybe not best Potential or Dunker, thats why he was chosen only in 2nd round.

Ajnica is too overrated and this is strange that Koufos was drafted later. Batum - another joke from France like Gelabale. Very good NDBL material. He couldn't play good in worst Euroleague team, and you think he will play good in NBA?

Beasley is another Carmelo Anthony and that means nothing good. Thats why overguarded Chicago chose Rose - another guard.
OJ Mayo looks promising, I expect another Michael Finley.

Overall this draft looks not very good and no super players will raise of them.

[damelo]

Batum has NBA potential, definitely. He's shown he was all right at the end of the season, even if I think he was not ready when EL started. He had to learn. He is still toot young I think to leave, but he is ways better than Ajinca right now. His game may be even more efficient in NBA than in EL.
And, who cared about Udonis Haslem when he played in Cholet?
Batum was better than Tony Parker was the year before he left Pro A. And basically the same age. He knows what it means to win games.

Anyway, Gelabale, was Obradvic's guy in Real...

[rikhardur]

kosta koufus is about as european as my father...he was born and raised in Ohio.

So what?

[mvblair]

Everything is pretty nice, except Knicks Fans. Of course it is hard when your team is the worst in NBA history, but booing new player will not bring you to playoffs. Or maybe they wanted that Knicks choose Patrick Ewing JR? And then loose again and again. IMO it is perfect pick for Knicks, actualy is best pick in Knicks history of all times.

If Gallinari is as good as the reports in the US say, it'll be great to see him with D'Antoni. But New York needs to send Zach Randolph and/or Eddy Curry to another team if they expect to find much success in the next few years. Otherwise, with Crawford (who I really don't like that much), Nate Robinson, Gallinari, and Lee, they might look pretty good.

Overall this draft looks not very good and no super players will raise of them.

I tend to agree. At this point, it doesn't look like there will be many stars. But like Damelo said above, you never know what will happen. So much depends on how the coaches play the players and how the players fit into systems. I do think Rose will become a semi-star in the NBA. I like him quite a bit.

[stuart]

I think if Beasley has the determination, he can be a superstar. Beasley is a baller man, he has it. He looks like a shooting guard in build, but then to get multiple 20-rebound games? He has rebounding instincts of a man much larger, his timing is amazing, left-handed and the ability to get his shot off at any time.

There's only been a few times when I have watch a player make things look so terribly easy on the NCAA level as they were playing three levels above their competition -- Bird, Webber, Shaq, Duncan, Jay Williams (hey say what you will he did what he wanted) and Ewing. I include Beasley in that group.

Watching a couple Bird tapes of when he was in college. He knew what he wanted to do and how everyone would react in that sitation. Despite his obvious effort, Bird was toying with the competition most of the time.

I remember watching Duncan play for Wake Forest, and you even see it today, he was so long and quick off the ground -- his competition never stood a chance to get the rebound. He was definitely a league above.

Webber and Shaq were so athletically gifted at that age, it was sick. And Jay Williams was just in another gear -- his moves were so quick, you knew he had a lot more going for him.

I would imagine I would have said the same about Dwight Howard and LeBron James - they make the NBA look so easy at times, it's hard not to imagine them killing in college.

Stuart

[Coke_Hero]

I thought that DeAndre Jordan was going to enter the draft? Apparently, I didn't see him selected in the first round

[elaj]

I thought that DeAndre Jordan was going to enter the draft? Apparently, I didn't see him selected in the first round

He was selected by LA Clippers in second round.

[mavs128]

Beasley has the chance to be a beast. He's Kevin Durant with about 20-30 more pounds of muscle. The thing that hurt his draft stock was measuring in at 2.02 meters...most people thought he was more like 2.06 meters, and that's a big difference to NBA people. But he's got such an incredibly long wingspan, and he's really strong. Mark it down, he's going to win Rookie of the Year...Wade is the only other offensive weapon Miami has...Marion isn't a bad player but he's a defender, not much of an offensive force.

[robbe]

kosta koufus is about as european as my father...he was born and raised in Ohio.

Koufos owns a Greek passport, played youth tournaments for Greece, was invited to the NT training camp and had drawn the attention of both Greek top clubs. But I don't know about your father.

[mavs128]

Koufos owns a Greek passport, played youth tournaments for Greece, was invited to the NT training camp and had drawn the attention of both Greek top clubs. But I don't know about your father.

I'm simply saying it's ridiculous to act like he's a European player playing in the United states. He played Highschool and NCAA basketball in Ohio. That doesn't mean he can't play for the Greek national team, but it does mean he's american born, bred, and trained.

[robbe]

I'm simply saying it's ridiculous to act like he's a European player playing in the United states. He played Highschool and NCAA basketball in Ohio. That doesn't mean he can't play for the Greek national team, but it does mean he's american born, bred, and trained.

All what was being written here is that he's interesting from a European standpoint. I mentioned the reasons in my last post. I honestly don't see what's wrong about that.

Besides, we could probably have a long, unproductive debate about what "being American" (and Greek, German, Italian and any other nationality) is. Fact is, he has a Greek passport.