PHOTO COURTESY OF DAILYTHUNDER.COM
(As I have done the past three years--see here, here, and here--tonight I will let you have a peek into my basketball obsessive mind as I watch the NBA Draft. Before you go to the comments section to point out that this bit is a rip-off of The Columnist Who Shall Not Be Named, I'm fully aware of that. The difference is that, as a resident of Oklahoma City, my input will be flavored by interest in the Thunder and will not reference the Boston Celtics with every entry. Also, as an added twist, this year's diary will be blogged live, so check back regularly. Then come back tomorrow to see it prettied up.)
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11:57: This morning, when I first checked my twitter feed, the following quote was staring at me:
How duz Mark Jackson know anything. I hate a expert that hasn't mastered anything, be credible if you want credibility.
~ Shaquille O'Neal
This was a great start to Draft Day 2009. You see, for years, I have been watching the NBA Draft and being upset that I tended to agree with the analysis of loudmouth talker Stephen A. Smith. In the past year, ESPN ditched him and tonight we will be bombarded by the opinions of Jeff Van Gundy--the person who best represents everything that was wrong with the NBA during the 1990's--and his protoge and former point guard, Mark Jackson.
It's bad enough that ESPN has ruined games for me by putting those two in at color commentary where they bemoan how the game is too pretty and watchable these days. Now, they will be giving their two cents on whether teams made the correct choice at the draft, and their criteria will likely involve whether the player is old school enough.