Diary of a Mad Man IV (Live)

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:

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.

Odds are, I'll live.
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1:25: I don't think I've mentioned Brandon Jennings' assessment of Ricky Rubio at any point.  For those who missed them, a guy who wasn't smart enough to get into college decided to spend a year playing in the ACB League in Europe since he could not enter the NBA draft.  He played one game against Rubio and when asked, Jennings said Rubio was "all hype."

Obviously, there are a lot of reasons to take Jennings' words with a shaker of salt.  A) Jennings, who is also a point guard, is competing with Rubio for draft position, B) Jennings has a high opinion of himself, so the fact that almost no scouts put him on the same plane as Rubio has to eat at him, C) Rubio started for his ACB team while Jennings mainly watched from the bench, D) Rubio started for a Spanish National team loaded with NBA talent (including two other point guards with more experience who have played in the NBA) holding his own against Chris Paul/Deron Williams/Jason Kidd in the Gold Medal Game despite being injured, and E) Jennings wasn't smart enough to get into college.

But other than that, Brandon Jennings opinion is solid.
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2:09: Chad Ford, of ESPN, makes a great point while putting out a theory that the Thunder aren't really interested in taking Ricky Rubio.  It goes like this:  The Thunder organization is usually very secretive about what is going in to their thought process.  The example is last season when Russell Westbrook was the choice despite most people with knowledge fairly certain they would take Brook Lopez.  Now, with the front office releasing the information about the team hiring a Spanish law firm--information that obviously didn't need to be made public--it could be a smokescreen.  If it is, Presti could be trying to get Minnesota to overreact and give Oklahoma City some assets to secure Rubio.

Then again, the Westbrook thing may have been an anomaly.  Anyone who has followed this website knows the team has trouble keeping secrets.  We knew about the name change, team logo, and what the uniforms looked like before they released that information to the public.

Of course, if Ford is correct, I may be on suicide watch tonight.
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2:17: According to Andy Katz, also at ESPN, the Thunder are one of several teams who have made assurances that they will not trade their top-16 pick.  If true, that puts a hole in the "smokescreen to raise trade value theory."
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2:45: The rumor I'm seeing all over the place is that Minnesota is offering their #5 pick and #18 pick to Oklahoma City for the #3.  That seems pretty one sided because the Thunder have more than enough draft picks and young players already on their roster.  Plus, with last year's stashed overseas first rounder Serge Ibaka playing in the summer league, it stands to reason that he'll be on the team next year.

Considering that, and let's assume that the Thunder buy out Chucky Atkins contract rather than paying him a full year salary, the Thunder will already have thirteen of their fifteen roster spots accounted for before July 1st when free agency begins.  Adding another draft pick from the T-Wolves and now the team can only add one player without somehow shedding some players.  That doesn't sound like a great way to advance the team to the next level or a good use of the cap space Presti has so carefully created.

If this deal has legs, I hope Presti requires the Wolves to take some of the deadweight contracts (Damien Wilkins, Earl Watson) and sends some cash the Thunder's way.
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4:43: On the Jim Rome Show, Russell Westbrook backed off his distaste at being usurped at starting point guard.  He pulled a Bill Clinton and does not recall every saying "You trippin'" to Doug Gottlieb when asked about playing the two (Speaking as someone who follows his Twitter feed, that definitely sounds like something he'd say), and he now says the very thing his agent should have trained him to say from the beginning, "Whatever's good for the team, I'm going to try to contribute any way I can."  He did reiterate that he believes himself to be a true point guard.  I can respect him saying that, even if I respectfully disagree.
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6:05: The pre-draft show has started.  It's getting closer.  A grown man like me should not be this nervous.
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6:07: Vince Carter is going to Orlando for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, and Tony Battie.  That's a big trade, and it makes it even more unlikely that the Magic can afford to re-sign Marcin Gortat.  He should be a big target for the Thunder to fill the weakness in the post.
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6:11: When I wrote my first entry, I only mentioned how JVG and Mark Jackson bug me.  One other member of the ESPN team is Jay Bilas, who drives me just as crazy.  With him, it has less to do with a belief that good basketball has to be atrocious for fans, it is that he is such a xenophobe.  To illustrate the point, his "best available" is scrolling along the side of the screen and where is the concensus #2 player, Ricky Rubio?  Down at #5 on his list.

Had Rubio played for Duke last year, Bilas would be arguing that the Clippers should consider him over Blake Griffin.
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6:15: Speaking of Griffin, ESPN just showed a highlight reel featuring him stealing a rebound from Byron Eaton.  I'm not saying that he isn't the best rebounder in the draft, but why would you use footage of him having to battle a 5'11" point guard as a highlight?
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6:22: Fran Fraschilla, the international basketball expert, is talking about Rubio.  This doesn't get mentioned enough, but Fran points out that Rubio has been playing in the second best league in the world since the age of 14.  So, all those people who say he won't be ready for a few years might not know what they are talking about.
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6:24: Rubio is interviewed and he really has very good English, particularly for someone who has never lived in an English-speaking country.
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6:26: Does anyone get the feeling that Stephen Curry wants to play for the Knicks?  While most players would dodge the question about which team they hoped would draft them, Curry goes into a big spiel about hoping to stay in New York (which is where the draft is being held).  So, when he gets taken by the Timberwolves, the fans in Minneapolis can have a warm fuzzy about Curry's happiness there.
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6:29: The first sighting of Dickie V.  Why, God, why did the NBA give rights to draft coverage to ESPN?  I would much rather have the TNT team.
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6:35: 1,500 words into this post, the draft is about to start.  To set the stage, I am once again in the living room of Matthews Manor.  Mrs. Matthews is on the floor doing origami (seriously) and the ClarkPupp is watching Diego in my bedroom.  I'm not sure what Patrick is doing, but I'm sure it involves lobbying Ed Lynn for free beer.
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6:37: The Clippers are on the clock and have five minutes.  If Stern isn't on the stage by 6:38, I'll be surprised.
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6:38: ESPN just showed a montage of the Clippers first overall picks.  I got a chuckle out of David Stern's reading of the card announcing Michael Olowokandi.  He actually stifled a laugh in the process.
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6:42: It took them five minutes to select Blake Griffin?  I think David Stern must have wanted to finish his mimosa backstage.

In all seriousness, my condolences to the Sooner beast.  The Clippers do now, have always, and will always suck.  Good luck in reversing four decades of misery while living in the shadow of the Lakers.  It's basically like he was just drafted by the Baylor of the NBA.
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6:44: This amazes me.  Stuart Scott just announced that Griffin is the first Sooner to be drafted since Eduardo Najera (a second round pick) in 2000.  I find that hard to believe.
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6:46: There's Tommy Griffin, the coach of the undefeated 1996 John Marshall Bears.  Go Bears!!!!
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6:49: Memphis takes Hasheem Thabeet.  That means Rubio is on the board and Sam Presti is on the clock.  I now feel nauseous and my teeth are literally chattering.  Please, please, please...
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6:50: Mrs. Matthews hates Thabeet's suit.  She says it is something Bob Barker would wear.  She does appreciate the picture better than what she's seen in the past.  She says he looks "less retarded."
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6:52: That is the shiniest suit I've ever seen.
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6:53: Having Hideaway for dinner, while delicious, might have been a bad idea.  The anticipation is making me crazy.
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6:54: Mark Jackson thinks we should take Ricky Rubio?  Maybe I'm wrong about that guy.
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6:55: I'm going to have to go outside and get some air.
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6:58: I went to get a hug and kiss from my son and remember what really matters in the world, and now I'm back.  In the meantime, I'd like to dedicate this song to Sam Presti.
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7:00: Where to start, this pick was awful.  I always thought Sam Presti was smarter than making a choice based on team need when a special player was available.  James Harden could be good, but I don't ever see him being more than a middling NBA starter.  He reminds me a lot of Kirk Snyder, except not as athletic.

A lot of people talk about how Harden's a great shooter, but his three point shooting in college was approximately the same as Snyders, and the weakness listed by ESPN:  "Needs to work on mid-range shooting."  Are you kidding me?  Also, did I forget to mention that the first thing Stuart Scott brought up about him after the pick was that Harden has struggled with asthma his entire life?  The last time a player had a condition like that and was taken at #3, it was diabetic Adam Morrison.

But, on the bright side, Adam Morrison has a ring.
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7:02: Sacramento takes Tyreke Evans.  I'm not sure why they soured on Rubio, but they went from trying to trade up to get him, to passing on him.
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7:05: Back to the Thunder pick.  Let's say, for arguments sake, Harden is a great shooter.  I agree the team really needs shooting.  The thing is, they could have picked up a great shooter like Ben Gordon, or a cheaper alternative like Kyle Korver in free agency.  Those are sure things.  Instead, he passed on a player who could make the whole team better, and picked an asthmatic, unathletic wing.

If they weren't going to take Rubio, and wanted a shooter, I'd rather they reached for Stephen Curry so he could be disappointed here.
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7:07: Congratulations to the Minnesota Timberwolves.  I'll be following you closely now.  I cannot describe how disappointed I am right now.  The best I can do is describe the 2005 draft, back when I was a huge Utah Jazz fan.  In that draft, my draft crush was Chris Paul, and I scoffed when Milwaukee and Atlanta passed on him.  Then, Utah traded to get the #3 pick and I was soooo happy.  My favorite team was going to get the best point guard to enter the NBA in years to finally fill the shoes of John Stockton.

They took Deron Williams, and I have not followed them since.  Williams even turned out to be a really good player, and I still hold it against them.

Because the Thunder reside here, I'll get over this eventually, but I lost a lot of respect for Sam Presti tonight.
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7:14: With their second straight pick, the Timberwolves take their second straight point guard.  Johnny Flynn, who can't possibly play any time at shooting guard thanks to his 6'1" height.  It makes me wonder if Andy Katz isn't about to break in and announce a trade.
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7:17: Is it bad that at this point, I'm hoping that it turns out that Rubio's contract buy out is air-tight, that Rubio might never play in the NBA, and that Presti knew it.
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7:19: Knicks fans are pissed. With the pick right before New York, the Warriors select Curry.  The bright side for Curry is that Golden State is the offense that most resembles Mike D'Antoni's "seven-seconds-or-less" system.
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7:23: The ClarkPupp just climbed up our bookcase to get a bottle of bubbles we put on the top shelf so it would be "out of his reach."  I'm torn between being horrified and proud.
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7:24: Jordan Hill is the pick for New York and the fans aren't satisfied.  That's sad, because I like Hill and think he'll be one of those forwards every successful team needs.  Kind of like Robert Horry in that he will hustle, defend, rebound, and score when needed.  Unknown is if he'll check players into the scoreboard and get the opposing team's entire front line suspended for a crucial game.
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7:30: Toronto selects DeMar DeRozan.  He should have a career about as good as Gerald Green's, if Green wasn't as good of a shooter as he is.
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7:36: Brandon Jennings, who I'm now hoping is a shaman, is the pick at #10 for the Bucks.
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7:38: Based on the commentary of the ESPN crew, Mrs. Matthews just asked me (regarding Jennings), "If he's not a good shooter, and he needs to work on his decision making...what so great about him?"  You got me.
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7:39: Those bubbles the ClarkPupp worked so hard to get just got spilled all over the coffee table.  Water works are in effect.
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7:42: Terrence Williams, who is rumored to be the favorite of the Bobcats at #12, just went #11 to the New Jersey Nets.

For something that has been billed as an impossible to predict draft, Chad Ford has basically pegged all of them.  So far, the only picks he's missed are four and five, and he got those flipped.
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7:43: Either ESPN was wrong on the website when they reported that Louisville's Earl Clark is eccentric and citing that he carried a Barbie backpack in high school, or the ESPN Draft coverage team just got Terrence Williams confused with his Louisville teammate.  In the meantime, Williams is the one who gets to live that down because more people (assuming that Michael Jackson coverage isn't completely eating into the draft's ratings) will see this than read ESPN.com.
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7:49: Charlotte selects Duke's Gerald Henderson.  That was bound to happen.  The Bobcats seem to think that drafting local stars will help them.  I guess you can't argue with success.
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7:55: This is the first really big surprise to me.  I had heard Tyler Hansbrough could go to a lot of different places, but Indiana was not one of them.  As much as I think Hansbrough is the next Mark Madsen and despite how much I killed him for returning to North Carolina when he could have been a lottery pick in the weak 2006 draft, I'm happy for him.  Now, he's a lottery pick in this weaker 2009 draft and is $2MM poorer than he would have been, otherwise.  At least it has a good ending.  He'll fit in with the whitest team in the NBA.
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8:01: The guy who actually wore the Barbie backpack in high school just got selected by Phoenix as the last guy in the lottery.  Clark is not in the arena, but apparently, #10 pick Brandon Jennings just showed up and accepted the #14 pick in Clark's place.  Does he really want out of Milwaukee that bad, already?
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8:06: Austin Daye is taken by Detroit and will try to prolong the great string of success from Gonzaga players in the NBA.  This is a legacy that begins with John Stockton then goes on to Dan Dickau, Ronny Turiaf, and Adam Morrison.  I think he'll be able to live up to the standard of the second group.
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8:09: I am still clinically depressed about the #3 pick.  Ninety minutes ago I had visions of Ricky Rubio firing up this young team and novice crowd with alley-00p passes and leading the Thunder to a surprise playoff birth next season.  Now, I'm questioning whether Sam Presti can make good decisions in free agency and pull off trades that take advantage of the cap space.
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8:12: With the 16th pick, the Bulls take James Johnson.  When you can lock up the third best player on an NCAA #4 seed, I think you should jump at that chance.
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8:16: Philadelphia takes Jrue Holliday, the last man in the green room.  That's not bad, all fifteen guys invited to sit next to the stage are gone in the first seventeen picks.

Holliday is the second back up UCLA point guard to be selected in the draft in the past two years.  Meanwhile, the guy who started over Russell Westbrook and Holliday, Darren Collison, is hoping his name will be called.
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8:19: I hope Thunder fans enjoy watching Russell Westbrook push the ball to the basket to go one on four while Kevin Durant and Jeff Green stop at half court knowing the ball isn't coming their way.
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8:22: Ty Lawson, another true point guard, is the selection of Minnesota.  There has to be a trade in the works because there is no way the Wolves use Rubio and Lawson or Flynn on the same floor.  Assuming they keep all three guys, Minnesota's new GM values true point guards as much as I do.
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8:23: Before I even finished typing that, Ric Bucher broke in to announce that Minnesota just traded Lawson to Denver for a future pick from Charlotte.  I like this pick for Denver because Chauncey Billups is getting up there in years and Lawson can learn from him before taking the reins.  If the Nuggets can get their cap situation worked out, they could be a contender for a long time.
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8:27: The second best player on Wake Forest (behind Al-Faroq Aminu-who stayed in college-and ahead of #16 pick James Johnson) goes to Atlanta.  Jeff Teague is not a true point guard, but neither is anyone else who the Hawks have ever played at that position.
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8:32: I'm a little surprised that Utah just took Eric Maynor out of Virginia Commonwealth because they have a lot of other needs, but getting a true point guard to back up Deron Williams is not a bad idea.  Maynor is one of those guys who you can't find any weaknesses for, but it's hard to see where he's going to excel.  Knowing he'll never be expected to start, this is a good situation for him.
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8:33: It's bathtime for the little man, so I'm going to take a break.  There will be a lag from here on out if there is anyone actually following this live.
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8:54: I love this pick for the Hornets.  UCLA's actual point guard, Darren Collison, will be a great back up for Chris Paul.  He is a fantastic shooter, an excellent ball handler, and the kid is just a winner.  The sad part is that he and Paul probably can't share the floor much since Collison is only an inch taller than the diminutive superstar.
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8:57: Portland is a team that has done a good job building through the draft, and usually make a lot of noise on draft night.  That has not been the case tonight.  Most of it is that their coach, Nate McMillan, threatened bodily harm to the Blazers' GM if he acquired another rookie for him.  So, thus far, the only transaction is to move up from the #24 pick to the #22 pick.  It's something.

They just took Victor Claver of Spain with that pick.  Claver probably won't play for the team next year, but if he's anything like every other Spanish player, he'll be really good in the NBA.
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9:00: Speaking of Spanish players, while I was getting my son ready for bed, I think I figured out why Sam Presti passed on Ricky Rubio.  The rebuilding process was happening too quickly.  If the team made the playoffs in the second season in Oklahoma City, the fans would expect winning.  Instead, they'll tank the 2009/10 season and get another great lottery pick and possibly two now that Phoenix is in fire sale mode (Amare' Stoudamire might be following Shaq out the door).  In 2010, the draft is supposed to be much stronger.  If that's the plan, great move.
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9:03: This is a great moment for Israel.  A country that loves basketball just placed their countryman in the greatest country in the world.  Omri Casspi will be a Sacramento King.

The Thunder franchise actually was the first to draft an Israeli when they selected Yotam Halperin in the 2006 draft.  He, however, did not make the team.  Casspi, who is another player who reminds me of Robert Horry, is guaranteed a contract.
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9:07: The Mavericks just took B.J. Mullens, who the Thunder were supposedly interested in, with the pick right before Oklahoma City's second selection.  I am not heartbroken.  There were some draft experts who think he might have the potential of becoming another Tyson Chandler.  Of course, to realize that, he would need someone like Chris Paul (or Ricky Rubio) to feed him the ball.  Personally, I think he'll end up as another Robert Swift.
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9:09: Impress me Presti.
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9:10: Rodrigue Beubois?  Okay.
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9:11: The graphic says, "Must improve:  Point Guard I.Q."  He'll fit in perfectly with Russell Westbrook.
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9:13: Oh great, this pick was for Dallas.  The Thunder traded him for the guy I just called the next Robert Swift.  As far as I can tell the only difference between the two is that Robert Swift painted his fingernails, but Mullens gets his eyebrows done.  At least Oklahoma City beauticians won't miss out on the opportunity to work with a 7'1" guy.
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9:16: I'm going to grade Presti at a C- for this draft performance.  He did address needs, but he did it in a weak draft when the team's holes were better suited to be fixed through free agency.  What will be hard to find through free agency is a pass first point guard.  At least the Tulsa 66ers can count on a couple of stars for next season.

By the way, the players that will be in a Thunder uniform next season are precisely who Russell Westbrook suggested in the infamous ESPN article.  Are we sure Sam Presti isn't in a car trunk somewhere?
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9:19: Alright, I'm going to call it quits for the night as the Thunder are not scheduled to have any more activity.  If they do make a trade to get into the second round, I will amend this.  Otherwise, good night.