Drafts 1996-2000

1996

Well, well, look who is not selected by the Lakers. Kobe gets drafted by his hometown Sixers. Do the Sixers accept Vlade Divac for Kobe? Probably not, they were in full rebuilding mode at the time, unlike the Hornets. The Answer gets shipped to Canada and Steve Nash doesn’t have to be the play behind Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd and Sam Cassell as he becomes the starting point guard for the powerful Vancouver Grizzlies. So, the Lakers don’t get Kobe nor Fisher but the immediate impact of this draft would be Peja’s selection by the Pacers. This is a 52 win Pacers team that already had Reggie Miller and Ricky Pierce as their shooters. A team that attempted almost 17 threes per game was obviously a 3 point shooting team; you couldn’t find a better scenario for rookie Peja

Championship Builders: Sixers, Twolves ( Pairing Jermaine O'neal with KG could had been interesting)

Biggest Jump: Four players jumped 12 spots (Kobe, Nash, JO and Fisher)

Pick Order. Picking Team --Player Selected ( Original position drafted)

1. Sixers -- Kobe Bryant (13)
2. Raptors -- Allen Iverson ( 1)
3. Grizzlies -- Steve Nash ( 15)
4. Bucks -- Ray Allen ( 5)
5. Twolves -- Jermaine O’neal ( 17)
6. Celtics -- Marcus Camby ( 2)
7. Clippers -- Stephon Marbury ( 4)
8. Nets -- Shareef Abdur-Rahim ( 3)
9. Mavs -- Antoine Walker ( 6)
10. Pacers -- Peja Stojakovic ( 14)
11. Warriors -- Zydrunas Illgauskas ( 20)
12. Cavs -- Derek Fisher ( 24)

1997

This is a pretty crappy draft class; a 3 player class headed by Tim Duncan. Now picture this: 18 year old TMac playing with 19 year old Kobe. I love this post

Championship Builders: Spurs, Sixers

Biggest Jump: Stephen Jackson from 42nd to 4th

Pick Order. Picking Team --Player Selected ( Original position drafted)

1. Spurs -- Tim Duncan (1)
2. Sixers -- Tracy McGrady (9)
3. Celtics -- Chauncey Billups (3)
4. Grizzlies -- Stephen Jackson (42)
5. Nuggets -- Tim Thomas (7)

1998

With the number one pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, the LA Clippers select: Dirk Nowitzki. Sorry Dirk.

Championship Builders: Clippers

Biggest Jump: Rashard Lewis from 32nd to 5th

Pick Order. Picking Team --Player Selected ( Original position drafted)

1. Clippers -- Dirk Nowitzki (9)
2. Grizzlies -- Vince Carter (5)
3. Nuggets -- Paul Pierce (10)
4. Raptors -- Mike Bibby (2)
5. Warriors -- Rashard Lewis (32)
6. Mavs -- Antawn Jamison (4)
7. Kings -- Al Harrington (25)
8. Sixers -- Matt Harpring (15)
9. Bucks -- Larry Hughes (8)
10. Celtics -- Jason Williams (7)

1999

These are the rookies of the lock out shortened season. If you sit down and analyze this players careers so far ( how good they are, injuries, character issues, impact, success) you are going to find a “but” in most of these guys. Everybody has issues, right?. Look at BDiddy ( injuries, clashes with coaches, not always “there”) Manu (injuries) Brand (injuries and a record breaking skills diminishing pace), Artest ( Being Artest), Kirilenko (Cry baby). This is actually a deep class fill with quality players, great players to have as your second or third option...but with issues.

Championship Builders: None

Biggest Jump: Manu Ginobili from 57th to 2nd

Pick Order. Picking Team --Player Selected ( Original position drafted)

1. Bulls -- Baron Davis (3)
2. Grizzlies -- Manu Ginobili (57)
3. Hornets -- Elton Brand (1)
4. Clippers -- Lamar Odom (4)
5. Raptors -- Ron Artest (16)
6. Twolves -- Shawn Marion (9)
7. Wizards -- Richard Hamilton (7)
8. Cavs -- Andre Miller (8)
9. Suns -- Jason Terry (10)
10. Hawks -- Andrei Kirilenko (24)
11. Cavs -- Corey Maggette (13)



2000

Worst class since 1991. Amazing, 11 years in the league, 58 players, 2 All Star selections ( Kmart and Redd in 2004).
Fun Fact: Michael Redd is the lowest selection to be “re-selected” as number one ( so far)

Championship Builders: None

Biggest Jump: Michael Redd from 43rd to 1th

Pick Order. Picking Team --Player Selected ( Original position drafted)


1. Nets -- Michael Redd (43)
2. Grizzlies -- Kenyon Martin (1)
3. Clippers -- Jamal Crawford (8)
4. Bulls -- Hedo Turkoglu (16)
5. Magic -- Quentin Richardson (18)
6. Hawks -- Mike Miller (5)
7. Bulls -- Eddie House (37)

NBA Playoffs Day 3

I didn't post anything yesterday 'cause first of all, I hate teams and players that talk and talk trash and then don't even show up to the game and know everybody is asking questions about the Wizards toughness and mentality. Let me give you a piece of advise coming from above: Stop talking, stop trying to kill Lebron and start playing some freaking D ( You were supposed to be playing better D this season, remember?)

The other reason is that hoped for a good Rockets' postseason they are soooo overtmatched that I feel bad for TMac I doesn't have a shot this year.

Last night was another story completely. Both Chris Paul and Dwight Howard gave more than impresive playoffs performances for the second straight game. They both protected their home court and that's always a good start specially for young teams as those. If I were the Raptors I'll be very worried right now, Orlando was one of the best teams league-wide on the road. It's time for Bosh to step up and stop Howard. Good luck, Chris. Just a little side note, what were the Mavs thinking (Via TrueHoop)


And then there was the old guys aka Spurs grabbing a 2 - 0 lead on their series. Right now I have a couple of concerns - from the Suns' standpoint:

1. Steve Nash is not dominating anymore. He's there but he's not the same.
2. Amare and Shaq had good games, stayed out of foul trouble but even so couldn't get the win
   
3. Amare is talking like the series is over
4. Duncan is not going to lose this series

The work is cut out for you Suns specially that you are the "better team"

First Round: Jazz vs Rockets

4. Jazz (54-28) vrs 5. Rockets (55-27)

Regular Season Series: UTA 2-1

Point Differencial: UTA +2.0

No Yao Ming and no Rafer Alston for a couple of games sound like a hell of a problema for Tracy McGrady and the Houston Rockets as they facethe second best home team in the West. One of the reason oh Houston's streak was the solid, let's face it overachieving, performance of RaferAlston and know he won't be there for the first two games. That leaves TMac to do ALL the offense creating from scoring to setting up the other Rockets 100% of the time. Their bench have to be huge and most of them are too green, Boby Jackson being the only one playoff tested.

Jerry Sloan's Utah are the good ol' hard working pick and roll team we are used to. But they are still young and some cracks are still there. Deron Williams sometimes (SOMEtimes like a very few) he doesn't show up and the entire Jazz team struggles. If TMac wants to be introduced to the second round for the first time in his life their focus should be 100% defensive -think Spurs or Pistons defensive- and principally stopping Deron Williams. Utah is not a good matchup for Houston but if they can hold DWill they have a hell of a shot. Houston is a excellent defensive team (They are number two in defensive rating) but you get the feeling that as the series grow old Jerry Sloan will made the necesary tweeks.

X Factor: Bobby Jackson. He needs to be agresive no matter what. He's going to start the games that Alston can't play and the first guy off çthe bench when Alston comes back.He needs to score and showcase that playoffs savvy the sometimes wins games.

Basketball Gods' prediction: UTA 4-2

Are you ready?

I was supposed to write this post at the beggining of the week but I didn't had time hence I'm doing a short maybe more intersting version

Take a look at the stadings, drive your glance to the West conference and enjoy the madness. This last 30 something games are really going to be something that any NBA fan is going to love. Seriously, they are only 5 games between the first seed and the 9th seed and if you believe in Portland's dream then it will be 10 teams fighting for everything from the number one position to be the poor souls outside looking in

For me this are the keys for each team:

• Hornets: Can they keep calm once that every game is played at full intensity? I mean Chris Paul is a true MVP (top 3 in my opinion) but they have never play with those conditions.

• Suns: Shaquille. He is going to slow them down. He is going to be in foul trouble a great deal of time. They are going to miss Shawn Marion. How does D'Antoni and Nash handle this? If they can pull it off I'll tip my hat to them.

• Lakers: Bynum's and Bryant's health. If they recover nicely they are the number one choice for the title.

• Utah: They need to find a way to win outside Utah. It's imperative.

• Mavs: If they get Kidd they will need to mesh pretty quick. If they stay put they Avery Johnson is the key. He needs to put some fire in this team. Somehow.

• Spurs: Finley, Barry, Bowen and Horry shot. Their title hopes depend a lot on those guys open jump shots.

• Nuggets: Believe it or not, K-Mart is the key here. He could be a great offensive and defensive weapon. They'd have so much versatility in both ends of the floor that they would be complicate matchup for anybody.

• Houston: Defense. It they play defense they know how to win. No matter if TMac is playing or not (Or he's traded or not)

• Warriors: Biedrins and Monta. When this two play their best they are an unbelievable team. Seriously. Warriors' fans know what I'm talking about.

• Blazers: Remember the magic. It wasn't only Roy's magic or Alridge's magic. Was a team's magic. Just remember it.