Thursday, June 25, 2009

Live-blogging the draft

Okay so yours truly Dr. Murphy going to give this liveblogging thing a shot...

I'll check in during most of the picks in the first round and if your watching it too feel free to drop some comments on anything draft related. In the meantime check out the mock draft below and create your own at http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/features/draftmachine/index

***Note: all times Mountain Standard Time

Noon update: wow how did I miss putting Darren Collison in the first round? I think if he is available he will get a serious look from the Knicks at 29 (who just purchased the pick from the Lakers).

3:35 update: The Nets just completed a multiplayer deal with the Magic sending Vince Carter to Orlando and receiving, among others, Rafer Alston. This is probably a sign New Jersey won't go with a guard tonight so I'd look for them to take a versatile forward like Terrence Williams or James Johnson.

4:40 update: Anyone else getting the feeling this day is going to center more around potential trades than the actual draftees themselves? And good news, my take-n-bake draft pizza is officially in the oven.

5:05 tidbit: Look out for Jonny Flynn's post selection interview, he has a past tendency of referring to himself in the 3rd person. And my pizza is now out of the oven, draft in 25 minutes!

5:06 trade note: Rick Bucher reporting the Warriors have offered the 7th pick, Andris Biedrins, Marco Belinelli and Brandan Wright to the Suns for Amare Stoudamire... stay tuned

5:15 final PRE-draft update: I feel like my mock draft will end up like my March Madness brackets... look really good in my head at the time, but as the event nears seems more and more flawed! Draft in a couple minutes, I'll check back in after the first pick

1st pick, LA Clippers - By far David Stern's best draft opening. By the way, if it takes the Clippers 5 minutes to make this pick they should be fined for taking so much of our time.

2nd pick, Memphis Grizzlies - I like Thabeet for Memphis, don't love it, but every team needs a paint protector. I'm anxious to see if my prediction of Curry to OKC makes me look really smart or really dumb.

3rd pick, OKC Thunder - Well... really dumb, but Harden is great. Why would they have wanted to move Westbrook off the ball anyways?

Shout out to LSU Tigers baseball!!! My pick from the begining!

4th pick, Sactown Kings - what happened to all the supposed trades? Would have liked to see Evans in Golden State, ho hum.

5th and 6th picks, T'Wolves - when a player gets drafted by Minnesota or Milwuakee, are they pissed? Nice young talent starting to be built on that roster though. Can we just get to the Warriors pick?
But on the real, 2 quality points guards, but will be interesting to see if either get moved. Curry or DeRozan might have worked there.

7th pick, Oaktown Eastbay City Warriors - Steph Curry SWIPED from the Knicks!! nice pick, nuff said, Monta with a long ball and better passing skills. He could be packaged later though...

8th pick, New York Knicks - Okay I'm calling it now, Knicks and Warriors swap picks, then the Dubs get their guy but pay him less.

9th pick, Raptors/10th pick, Bucks - DeMar eh? Raptors get a little potential boost and hopoefully a reason for Chris Bosh to stay. As for the Bryan's favorite team the Bucks get the Italian, Brandon Jennings.

A little surprised Holiday is still on the board, that was my guy. Shows what I know I guess...

11th pick, New Jersey Nets - TWill is apparently a little awkward, i.e. watches Sponge Bob habitually and just all around wacky. Good pick though.

12th pick, Bobcats - that makes me look really dumb, I had him going late 1st round. Should give Charlotte some nice all around play off the bench.

13th pick, Indiana Pacers - Jerry Sloan is pissed! Tell me Hansbrough wouldn't have been perfect for the Utah Caucasians!

14th pick, Suns - Giving myself a pat on the back for placing Clark to the Suns. Nailed it.

I am still shocked that Holiday is on board right now, but honestly Daye being in the green room seems a little bit of a stretch.

15th pick, Pistons - and of course there he goes. Do not hire me as a GM.

WOW!! Dickie V making the early Stephen Curry Rookie of the Year call, thats gonna take some compromise from Big Don

16th pick, Bulls/17th pick, Philly 76ers - James Johnson has a nice fluid and long game that should help the Bulls when Tyrus Thomas heads to the bench. I don't know what it is but Holdiday has been on my radar since December, good steal here.

And thank you Steve Kerr for displaying the art of dodging trade questions.

****Warriors/Suns trade update: Marcus Thompson II and Tim Kawakami reporting that the Suns are in love with Steph Curry, interesting tidbit to store.

18th pick, T'Wolves - 3 picks, 3 point guards. However, former Mercury News journalist Rick Bucher reporting this pick will be moved to the pick-less Nuggets.

19th pick, Atlanta Hawks/20th pick, Utah Jazz - Taking Teague and acquiring Crawford could all be indications that Bibby may not be resigned this summer. Maybe Eric Maynor can be the missing piece to get Jerry Sloan that first Coach of the Year award.

21st pick, Hornets - Wow I completely undervalued this guy, good for him and Hornets really needed some help for CP3.

So the Blazers moved up 2 spots to get this pick so they are specifically targeting someone, off the top of my head maybe Blair, Young, or Casspi?

22nd pick, Blazers - good pick because he can develop overseas for no dough, the Blazers have enough young talent now so they can store him abroad and bring him over when he's ready.

Interesting that Blair is still here

23rd pick, Kings/24th pick, Mavericks - Casspi should come over right away, he apparently is a really gritty and tough player - not a typical attribute of the foreign dudes. BJ Mullens is a good pick up and compliment to Dirk, Eric Dampier doesn't have many more miles in him.

25th pick, OKC Thunder - Rodrigue Who? Looks like the Mavs are swapping BJ Mullens with this guy to store him overseas.

26th pick, Bulls - Taj Gibson is really under rated, an athletic four off the bench is always great. It's a little bit of a duplication of James Johnson though, just less skilled.

27th pick, Grizzlies - great pick to get an energy guy that gives you a little length and rebounding... But why take him when DeJuan Blair is still on the board?

28th pick, T'Wolves - Another pick!? Not a point guard!? Minny really loading up on their backcourt.

29th pick, Lakers picking for the Knicks - gotta love the Knicks fans' reactions to getting Darko, actually not an awful deal for the Knicks in my opinion. Toney Douglas is a nice defending guard for the offense-happy Knickerbockers.

30th pick, Cleveland LeBrons - The Shaq acquisition overshadows this pick a little bit, especially being that I have zero clue who that is.

Well thats it for our coverage as the 2nd round is generally filled with future D-leaguers and Euros. An interesting note however is that DeJuan Blair and Chase Budinger are still on the board.
Thanks for sticking around and be sure to check back in a few days for a little draft recap action.
Stay up!

30 comments:

  1. murph i am tuned in! give me some juice

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  2. harden is an amazing fit!!! and westbrook and harden are bff (both from LA)

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  3. the OKC Thunder are a homosexual team

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  4. rubio??????????? whats goin on?

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  5. oh man, minesota could be dangerous five years down the road. Love and Rubio is dangerous white boy combo. adding curry could be intense

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  6. ooooohhhh... i think flynn is a bad fit. Gives us a chance at curry!!

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  7. hhmmmmm.... i am torn. I LOVE CURRY!!! but, i cant get amare out of my head, i dont know what to do

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  8. Go to the ESPN trade machine and try Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette for LeBron James, we can dream! And yeah, the Amare thing is intriguing

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  9. i still think that Jackson would be the perfect pippen to lebrons jordan. I feel like we should be shopping him to cleveland

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  10. although i dont know what we would get in return, maybe a three way trade and get someone good that way. Jacksons contract is just soo horrific, we need to get rid of it

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  11. I totally agree, Jack has everything you want out of the #2 guy on your team - leadership, defense, fearless shooting. Gets hated on WAAAYY to much

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  12. oh i have a love/hate relationship with stack jack. LOOOVE him as 2nd 3rd option behind bdavis and ellis. HAAATEE him as the number one option like he was last year. Has he ever heard of shot selection!!! but anyways, yes him and lebron would win the championship no problem
    Why he would help lebron win:
    1) he would guard the best player so lebron wouldnt have to
    2) he would hit the open threes that wally, and delont and company could not
    3) he would bring expierence with his ring from san antonio
    4) and he would have lebrons back if lebron ever where charge the stands and fist fight all of detroit

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  13. haha, and he also would prevent Bron from being triple teamed late in games because Jack "makes love to pressure"

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  14. can Crabtree ball? he'd be a great 3

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  15. i will take p-willis at center

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  16. warriors trade appears to be this:

    Amare for..

    Biedrens
    Wright
    Belleneli

    which i think i would do, as long as Amare's knees arent as bad as everyone says they are.

    Trade cant be completed till july 8th though

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  17. And don't forget his jacked up eye, he's going to be wearing goggles the rest of his career

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  18. whats with the july 8th thing?

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  19. from July 1 to July 8 is some time that is blocked off to any transactions. The new NBA year starts July 1 and that week gives teams a chance to deal with internal stuff without the distractions of having to match contract offers and deal with trades.

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  20. sorry that was supposed to be under the Dr.!!!

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  21. the doctor has spoken!!! im loving this whole blog thing btw

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  22. i dont understand why these things happen. dallas and okc drafted and than swaped picks. why didnt dallas just go ahead and pick bebeauio and not trade? i think there messing with us

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  23. i really thought taj gibson would be a great fit in cleveland to replace varejeao, i think their might be a trade or something

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  24. Look at the Dallas swap this way, switching for the guy drafted one spot after, they will actually end up paying him a little less when he eventually comes to the NBA. All rookies make more than the players they are drafted ahead of.
    And I also thought Gibson would be great with the Cavs too, they have no one to guard Rashard Lewis!

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  25. i dont understand the bulls, they drafted guys who do the same things as tryus, and noah. i like johnson but dont understand why they also picked gibson

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  26. the more i read about curry the more excited i get. Him and monta could be really special together in the backcourt. (special offensively of course, defensively they will be team olay!)

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  27. It will be interesting to see if they play together or alternate at the 1, either way a good new face to mix things up.
    Bryan, where is your boy Calathes?

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  28. This live-blogging is crazy exhuasting

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