Mini Draft Preview

There are 4 players that matter in this draft, so let's figure out where they should land.

1. Chicago. No question Derrick Rose. This is about as easy as it gets. In the era of the point guard he appears to be the next great one. Sign Deng, sign and trade Gordan or let Gordan go freeing up salary. This leaves Chicago with the 3-guard rotation of Rose, Hinrich & Hughes (yes they are stuck with Hughes for 2 more years so they gotta make the best of it) & Deng @ the 3-Spot. Nocioni also plays the 3 & can even play the 4 in a small ball scenario, as he is as tough a player as your going to find. This leaves Chicago with Noah, Thomas & Gooden to play the 4 & 5 spots. There are missing one piece. Can they land Elton Brand? Why not? They have expiring contracts in Nocioni & Gooden. Pay the luxury tax for one season and you have a very deep squad who can contend immediately in the East.

2. Miami. OJ Mayo. I am not suggesting that Miami should actually draft Mayo with the 2nd pick, just that this is where he should end up. Draft Beasley & Make a deal with whomever drafts Mayo, Minnesota or Seattle. Wade & Mayo makes a terrific back court for years to come, a smaller version of Jordan & Pippen. If they are stuck with Marion for a year that works as well, if they can sign & trade Marion, for lets say Elton Brand, you have a bright future. Yes I am going to suggest that every team makes a play for Brand.

3. Minnesota. Michael Beasley. Draft Mayo and swap for Beasley. First of all Minnesota seems about as safe a place as any for Beasley & I love the inside out combination of him and Al Jefferson, this just needs to happen.

4. Seattle/Okla City. Kevin Love. Durant & Love is something you can work with. Love a tough inside player & Durant providing the flash on the perimeter. Green can still do the dirty work.

The question is what exactly can Miami get out of Beasley in a trade or will they be forced to simply take OJ Mayo outright? I do not like Wade & Beasley on the floor together, I just don't see that working.

Finals Recap: The Fortunate Truth

The 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics proved to be the best. Aside from a couple strong starts from the Lakers, games 4 & 5, the Celts dominated this series. It took me until game 5 to realize that the C's were in fact a much better team. The combination of finesse & strength overwhelmed the Lakers. Tremendous ball movement, sharp shooting and interior strength was simply too much. The weight of the world was lifted from KG's back as he came through with a monster game & the stats don't even tell the whole story, 26-14 throw in 4 assist, 3 steals and a block. He was the true leader on championship night. Paul Pierce was the best player on this team but KG showed why he was the most valuable player to the '08 Boston Celtics. The Celtics proved to be champions, however, not without some good fortune.

It wasn't that long ago the C's played a game 7 vs. the 37 win Atlanta Hawks, followed by a classic game 7 vs. Lebron. Pauly perhaps played the best game of his career to advance to the conference finals. In the conference finals the Celts became the Celts again. Ray Ray finally showed up and they cruised toward the championship. I can't help but wonder, if they had to take a different path, the Western Conference for example would they be champions? As poorly as they played & perhaps coached at times, I think not. In that regard they are fortunate. The Truth, KG, Jesus Shuttlesworth & Doc have their championship now. The road they took, I suppose, is not so relevant.

Game 6: The Big Ticket

Right from the start it was clear to me that there would be no game 7. The Lakers held their own for most of the 1st quarter but the C's led by KG were focused and determined to end the series immediately. They could have handed out the trophy midway through the 2nd quarter. The only question left was would the media do something foolish and give KG the Finals MVP for having such a big closeout game. Fortunately they did the right thing and handed that award to Paul Pierce. After 10 seasons in Boston Pauly finally got his due on the national stage. He has been one of the best players in this league for the last 8 years. The Celtics were the better team. The Celtics were the best team in the league and deserved this championship. Danny Ainge can finally rest easy. After some poor choices in the front office over the past couple of seasons he took a huge gamble and won. Kudos to you Danny Boy.

It seems to me that we learned that Kobe is not Michael Jordan. Just because he talks like MJ, walks like MJ, he simply is not MJ. After a sparkling run through the western conference Kobe had nothing for Boston's tenacious D. Kobe shot just 40.5% in the finals, 10% below his '08 post season percentage. He might be the best player in the league but it wasn't enough, not even close.

It was a great year, 66 wins and a NBA Championship. Congratulations to the Boston Celtic organization.

Game 5: Dead Cat Bounce

Laker fans, don't get too excited. Watching game 5 and seeing another early lead squandered I finally came to realize that The C's are in fact better than Showtime. I was wrong, dead wrong. I expected the Lakers to ease threw this series and be done in 5 or 6 games riding the wave of an unstoppable Kobe. Wrong, Boston's defense is simply too good & are making Kobe work so very hard for everything he gets. Game 6 is very intriguing. Look for the desperate Lakers to come out strong again, even on the road only for the C's defense to win out in the long run. Even with 1 game in their pocket I expect Boston to play with sense of urgency, I don't think KG would have it any other way. Having said that I hope I am wrong again, there is nothing better in sports than a game 7, especially a Game 7 between LA & Boston.

Game 4: Mongolian Reversal

57-33! I never would have a thought a Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant tandem would allow a such a 2nd half collapse @ home. Unfathomable. No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit & no team has ever won games 6 & 7 on the road so don't expect it happen now. It appears KG, Ray Ray & Pauly will get their career validation stamps & most likely an MVP for Pauly. Boston has found it's 66 regular season stride and is on the brink of making Danny Ainge's Ginormous risk payoff. Can sports in Boston get any better? Maybe we will see the Bruins hoist the Stanley Cup next spring. God, I hope not.

Game 3: All Square

All Square, at the line that is. I'm so frustrated I am forcing myself to write something. The refs sent Kobe to the line repeatedly in an obvious effort to even the score after the unbearable game 2 officiating. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is completely annoyed with this series. The much anticipated finals after a fantasy land regular season has been a bust. I pray LA wins game 4 so we can enjoy a 3 game set for the finals. Perhaps this series would be better off if Stern allowed the players to call their own fouls.

Game 2: An Official Mess

Where do I begin? As an NBA fan I was happy to see The Truth return to the floor in game 1, I want to see a great series. As an NBA fan I absolutely do not want to see a game decided by the whistles and game 2 was just that. It disgusted me. Were the C's more physical? Yes. Did the C's get to the rack more often? Yes. Was the game called evenly? Absolutely not! The 38-10 free throw disparity pretty much told the story. I watched the game a 2nd time to analyze the officiating alone. I estimated that the disparity should have been approximately 30-20, give or take a couple either way. Amazingly the Lakers made an improbable run and pulled within 2. Just to ensure that I am not coming from a biased point of view, Vlad Rad took about 18 steps on the bucket that pulled the Lakers to within a deuce. How that was missed is also beyond me.

Paul Pierce has been the best player thus far, 2 wins away from a Finals MVP. That as a basketball fan is good to see after the disrespect that the Hawks, namely Al Horford showed Pauly in the opening round. Everyone has to have their heart melted just a little with the Leon Powe story and his tremendous effort. KG is playing fantastic team basketball, no surprise. All that adds up to a Boston 2-0 lead. In my heart & brain I feel that it should be 1-1, but it's not and LA has their backs against the wall and probably has to take all 3 in the city of angels if they want to be champions. Can Kobe pull that off? Thus far he has maintained a good attitude @ least through the media. Will that last? I can't wait for game 3.

Game 1: Truth or Drama

ABC couldn't have written a better script for Desparate Housewives. Pauly not only looked done for the season but perhaps a career ender as he was wheeled into the locker room in tears. Only moments later trotting back onto the court with nary even a limp. To his credit Pauly admitted he was embarrased by the incident. I suppose fear of the worst got the best of his mind. Now onto the bigger story. How good has The Truth been playing. After a slow start by both he and Ray Ray, Pauly exploded in game 7 vs the Cavs and has been fantastic ever since. Ray slowly found his groove and has actually been an asset in the conference finals and game 1 vs LA. Having said all that, it was Kobe not getting his ball to stay in the cylinder that was probably the biggest factor in game 1. Kobe seemingly unphased by it, was upbeat, but I have a feeling that his mind might be playing tricks on him, going down 0-2 might be just too big a hole to dig out of now that all 3 of Boston's stars are playing quality basketball. The great ones deliver in the toughest of situations, I am looking forward to see how the Mamba reacts in game 2.

Finals Preview

First things first. Thank you Kobe for dismissing the Spurs, I am now a fan despite your child like behavior last off season.

Odom can guard Pierce, Kobe can shut down Allen (& Pauly for that matter), Pau can check Garnett. No one in the Universe can even fathom stopping Kobe. I'd like to go into greater detail & pretend there is something deeper but it's simply not any more complicated than that. I like LA in 5 or 6, and we will be watching Kobe put a gigantic validation stamp on his career.