By Adam Johnson
So, last night was the NBA Draft. I watched a decent chunk of it and was following some stuff on Twitter but the draft is hard for me to really engage with. First of all, I don't really watch much college basketball. Part of that is a time thing and part of that is due to the fact that the quality of a college game is just nowhere near the quality of an NBA game. Why would I choose to watch an ACC game that might have 3 future pros playing when I could watch a game with two teams filled with pros? Why would I watch a walk-on try to get his shot off when I could watch Anthony Davis? Anyway, about the draft...
The whole draft process feels un-American to me. Someone can work their whole life to be one of the best in the world in their line of work and yet they have no say in where they go to work? It just feels weird. Also, how people break down different prospects makes sense but also feels strange. Draft analysts and scouts obsess over standing reach and wingspans and players bodies. I don't know, it just feels odd. So, if you are here for draft grades then you have come to the wrong place. I will say this, I hope Luka Doncic is an absolute superstar. I want the anti-Euro bias to be broken.
Last week I finished off our greatest moments list. I am proud of it and you can find the entire thing here. I made a small update to include a couple of moments from the 2018 playoffs. Here is a little story about moment #1; once I rated each moment on our long list and realized the Michael Jordan's last shot was #1, I immediately knew what to title it. Before the '97-'98 season, Phil Jackson titled the Bulls' playbook "The Last Dance" because he knew that particular Bulls team only had one more season as a group. I came up with the name "Michael Jordan's Last Dance" as a title for that moment last fall once the list was complete. Now, you can imagine my chagrin when the title for the upcoming Michael Jordan documentary was announced. They stole it from me! Anyway, the moments list is done, so go check it out, learn and reminisce about the history of the NBA/ABA.
In the last couple of weeks we have posted ten more player profiles on our greatest players list. In the next week or so the list will be updated to include stats from this current season. That means that most active players will move up the list, some a decent amount, which will obviously effect the overall look of the rankings. Here are the new entries...
#19, Karl Malone
#93, Jack Sikma
#111, Rasheed Wallace
#131, Zelmo Beaty
#150, Larry Nance
#156, Terry Porter
#178, Andrei Kirilenko
#180, Antawn Jamison
#188, Harry Gallatin
#200, Marvin Barnes
The next couple of weeks are a fun time on the NBA calendar as free agency and summer league are right around the corner. I booked my flight for Vegas this afternoon, so be looking out for some stories from that. Until then...
So, last night was the NBA Draft. I watched a decent chunk of it and was following some stuff on Twitter but the draft is hard for me to really engage with. First of all, I don't really watch much college basketball. Part of that is a time thing and part of that is due to the fact that the quality of a college game is just nowhere near the quality of an NBA game. Why would I choose to watch an ACC game that might have 3 future pros playing when I could watch a game with two teams filled with pros? Why would I watch a walk-on try to get his shot off when I could watch Anthony Davis? Anyway, about the draft...
The whole draft process feels un-American to me. Someone can work their whole life to be one of the best in the world in their line of work and yet they have no say in where they go to work? It just feels weird. Also, how people break down different prospects makes sense but also feels strange. Draft analysts and scouts obsess over standing reach and wingspans and players bodies. I don't know, it just feels odd. So, if you are here for draft grades then you have come to the wrong place. I will say this, I hope Luka Doncic is an absolute superstar. I want the anti-Euro bias to be broken.
Last week I finished off our greatest moments list. I am proud of it and you can find the entire thing here. I made a small update to include a couple of moments from the 2018 playoffs. Here is a little story about moment #1; once I rated each moment on our long list and realized the Michael Jordan's last shot was #1, I immediately knew what to title it. Before the '97-'98 season, Phil Jackson titled the Bulls' playbook "The Last Dance" because he knew that particular Bulls team only had one more season as a group. I came up with the name "Michael Jordan's Last Dance" as a title for that moment last fall once the list was complete. Now, you can imagine my chagrin when the title for the upcoming Michael Jordan documentary was announced. They stole it from me! Anyway, the moments list is done, so go check it out, learn and reminisce about the history of the NBA/ABA.
In the last couple of weeks we have posted ten more player profiles on our greatest players list. In the next week or so the list will be updated to include stats from this current season. That means that most active players will move up the list, some a decent amount, which will obviously effect the overall look of the rankings. Here are the new entries...
#19, Karl Malone
#93, Jack Sikma
#111, Rasheed Wallace
#131, Zelmo Beaty
#150, Larry Nance
#156, Terry Porter
#178, Andrei Kirilenko
#180, Antawn Jamison
#188, Harry Gallatin
#200, Marvin Barnes
The next couple of weeks are a fun time on the NBA calendar as free agency and summer league are right around the corner. I booked my flight for Vegas this afternoon, so be looking out for some stories from that. Until then...