http://sportstwo.com/NBA/Story/NBA/2526375 <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%">Winners and losers in the 2008 NBA draft</span> Saturday, June 28, 2008 09:31 AM By Anthony Olivieri PA SportsTicker Pro Basketball Editor A quick look at the board from Thursday's NBA draft can leave you scratching your head. Have you seen a more unimpressive draft on paper? Of course, a look back a year from now can be a totally different experience. Still, there were some obvious winners and losers as the next generation of NBA stars - and busts - hit the scene at Madison Square Garden. WINNERS NEW JERSEY NETS - The draft should be simple. If you have a position of need, fill it - and that's exactly what the Nets did on Thursday. In need of size and scoring up front, New Jersey grabbed skilled 7-footer Brook Lopez and 6-10 forward Ryan Anderson at Nos. 10 and 21, respectively, in the first round. The Nets also selected Chris Douglas-Roberts in the second round with the 40th pick. Douglas-Roberts was the best player for much of last season at Memphis until first overall selection Derrick Rose emerged as a team leader. On draft day, New Jersey also dealt forward Richard Jefferson for last year's No. 6 pick, Yi Jianlian, and forward Bobby Simmons. The Nets may have gotten a raw deal talentwise but, if it clears cap space for LeBron James in two years, we'll call that a good move. MIAMI HEAT - The strange thing about this draft for the Heat is that they had to be convinced to draft Michael Beasley, who might have been the most talented player on the board. Miami shopped the pick before the draft and is rumored to still be doing so even after it made the selection. But Beasley can post 20 points and 10 rebounds right away if he sticks around. In a second-round trade, the Heat also grabbed talented point guard Mario Chalmers, who is a first-round talent. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS - The Trail Blazers are stockpiling talent. In a reported trade with the Indiana Pacers, they nabbed athletic guard Jerryd Bayless, who was rumored to go as high as No. 4. They also traded for four future picks and dealt for the No. 25 pick, Frenchman Nicolas Batum, who could be a part of their bench. Oh yeah, it all seems better when you are getting Greg Oden - last year's No. 1 pick - back. LOSERS CHARLOTTE BOBCATS - MJ has a shaky draft history to say the least. He continued his questionable decision-making in this one, grabbing 5-11 point guard D.J. Augustin at No. 9 in the first round. Say what you want about starting point guard Raymond Felton, who now is rumored to be dealt, but Augustin projects to be a career back-up and was a reach for Bobcats in the lottery. While tough defender Kyle Weaver has nice value in the second round, Charlotte also botched its second selection in the opening round. It took Alexis Ajinca, who averaged just 5.0 points in the French league, at No. 20. SACRAMENTO KINGS - Great, Jason Thompson - the Kings' first-round pick at No. 12 - can grab 20 rebounds in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Unfortunately, he did it against less-than-stellar competition. Some of the centers in the MAAC are the size of NBA shooting guards. While Thompson has a great NBA body, he is too big of a risk at No. 12 with Marreese Speights, Darrell Arthur and Anthony Randolph still on the board. And while Sean Singletary (N0. 42 overall) can be a rotation player in the league, Patrick Ewing Jr. (No. 43) couldn't even start at Georgetown. UTAH JAZZ - The Jazz, who are very well-coached by Jerry Sloan, have some big-time talent to make their veteran coach look good. They didn't add to it on Thursday after nabbing 7-foot stiff Kosta Koufos at No. 23. A much-hyped scorer, Koufos is just the type of unathletic big man that will be wearing suits on the bench instead of his uniform on the court come November. In the second round, Utah selected an unpolished Croatian (Ante Tomic) and the Adriatic League MVP (Tadija Dragicevic) with its two late picks.
Hmmm, I can't say that I agree with the ripping of Koufos. Everything I've heard about him was saying that he has the potential to be damn good and a potential lottery pick. Getting him at #23 seems like a steal based on that.
yeah but 6.7 rpg as a 7 footer in college? smells like big-white-stiff syndrom.. too slow to rebound or play D in the NBA.
Yeh he too slow, and he be easily bullied, Especially with Shaq on the floor. In some ways he a steal, but i think he wont make a big impact.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Celtic Fan @ Jun 30 2008, 05:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah but 6.7 rpg as a 7 footer in college? smells like big-white-stiff syndrom.. too slow to rebound or play D in the NBA.</div> Well hes only a freshman mind you, not all of them are going to come in and dominate like Oden/Beasley/Durant/etc. He'll probably never be a dominating rebounder but I think its a great value pick at 23 for the Jazz and its a guy who fits in their system. Hes very smart, very skilled. Theres a chance that if he came back to OSU and had a good season he could very well be a lotto pick next year. Also hes not as slow as people make him out to be, for a 7'1 guy hes got nice footspeed, definitely more smooth and mobile than Book Lopez. Also I wanna pimp my Warriors' draft. Randolph at 14 and Hendrix at 49 are both great values. Minnesota was a winner too IMO. As much as people here tend to think Mayo is the better prospect than Love, I'd say there isn't much difference between them and you always go with the big man unless the talent difference is pretty wide. Plus Love was the T'Wolves' guy- they got their guy, PLUS Mike Miller, draft Pekovic in the second round who, based on his size and production is a great value pick, then trade the overrated Mario Chalmers for two second round picks next year. Whether you think Mayo is better than Love or not that did a great job landing the guy they targeted whilst getting a 16/7/3 veteran wing player and a good value big man in the second round.
Koufos was completely misused by the o$u coaching staff. There are a lot of comments about them tryibg to downplay his value so that he would come back to school for a second year. Frankly, Matta is slimy enough to do that too.
