2008 NBA Draft Preview

Beasley vs. Rose

All of the talk at the top of this year’s draft doesn’t make much sense to me. Throughout the history of the NBA, and this can even be evidenced in last year’s draft, the thought is to always go with a big over a guard.

All of a sudden, Chicago and several other pundits are all the rage of Memphis PG Derrick Rose instead of Michael Beasley. This is a huge head scratcher for me.

First, Beasley fits in with what the Bulls need. He could start right away, with Luol Deng and Joakim Noah on the front court and he would give them a double-double almost right away.

Meanwhile, drafting Rose would mean Kirk Hinrich would have to go. He’s a great player, but after a bad year last year his stock is down. Not to mention the demons Rose would face playing at home. Not to mention, he’s not the pure point guard everyone says he is.

The thing that made his stock jump this high was his performance in the NCAA final this year. He was nearly unstoppable on offense, but he was more like a short 2-guard than a 1. I think everyone is overestimating his ability as a pure point guard and I could see him more as a Jamal Crawford type than the next Deron Williams.

On the other hand, Beasley is like David West with a three-point shot. He will be an all-star within the first three years of his career guaranteed. I don’t know why anyone would want to pass that up.

The rest of the crop:

Headscratchers
O.J. Mayo – I’m not a big O.J. Mayo fan. In the game his team got eliminated from the Pac-10 tourney, I watched O.J. Mayo dribble off the last few seconds of the clock with his team down by three, and throw up a wild three-point shot at the buzzer. Ever since then, I’ve always put him in the category of overrated or poor basketball IQ.
Jerryd Bayliss – He never impressed me at Arizona this year. I saw him play live in their tourney game against West Virginia in D.C. this year and he didn’t do squat.
Brook and Robin Lopez – Stiffs in the making.
Danilo Gallinari – Don’t know enough about him to make an opinion.
D.J. Augustin – I think he’ll be good, but a lot of people think his size will be a problem for him, especially on defense. At the same time, wasn't he the best point guard in the nation last year?

Future Busts
Anthony Randolph – As much college basketball as I watch, I should have heard of this guy at least once.
DeAndre Jordan – Ditto
Eric Gordon – I loved his game initially, but I think he should have stayed in school and developed more endurance and became more of an assassin. He’s the next Rashad McCants.
Kosta Koufus – Should’ve stayed in school as well
Roy Hibbert – Stiff.

Solid Picks
Kevin Love – He’s short, fat and slow for a power forward. But he has NBA 3-point range, can rebound with the best of them and he passes like Chris Webber. He will be a lot better than people think.
Russell Westbrook – He’s not, and will not, be a point guard. He’s a 2. But he’s a heck of a defender and he can make up for his height with his athletic ability.
Joe Alexander – Might end up being the best player from this draft. He can do it all on the court and he might even be the best athlete in this draft.
Brandon Rush – He’s a bit spacey, but without the pressure of having to be the number one guy, he would become a solid contributor to an NBA team.
Chris Douglas-Roberts – He was the most dangerous scorer on Memphis last year and can be really unstoppable off the dribble. He has a sleek game and is a tad unorthodox, kind of like a right-handed Manu Ginobili on the offensive end. I don’t know why he’s not going to be a lottery pick, but he’ll put up lottery pick numbers on the right team.

Sleepers
JaVale McGee, Donte Green, DJ White, Kyle Weaver, Courtney Lee