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1.  Blake Griffin - Clippers - A pick so easy, a caveman could do it.  Far and away the best player in the draft this year and the obvious number one choice.

2.  Hasheem Thabeet - Grizzlies - Thabeet will add value on the defensive end from day one and I think he’ll be better offensively than people think, though when you set the bar that low, it shouldn’t be hard to step over it.  It remains to be seen which contending team Memphis will give away their new franchise Center to while getting virtually nothing in return. 

5. Ricky Rubio - Timberwolves - This kid really knows how to play, will distribute the ball, and could be the face of the franchise for years to come, though he didn’t seem thrilled to be going to what may seem like an arctic wasteland to him when January rolls around.   I loved this pick right up until…

6. Jonny Flynn - Timberwolves - I thought for sure this had to be a part of a trade because I just don’t understand why the T-Wolves would take another PG at 6, especially when they desperately need a SG and Stephen Curry is still on the board.  It seems they are going to build their team around two point guards and two power forwards.  I don’t get it.

10. Brandon Jennings - Bucks - Probably the biggest question mark of the draft.  Very talented and athletic, but an enigma who created one of the strangest scenes in the draft history by not coming out to shake hands with David Stern until several picks later because his agent had advised him not to be in the green room.

13. Tyler Hansborough - Pacers - I don’t think Pacer fans will ever be disappointed with this pick.  Hansborough will play hard every day and provide the type of grit and toughness that the Pacers are lacking. 

15. Austin Daye - Pistons - If this Tayshaun Prince clone turns out as well as the original, Detroit will be quite pleased with this pick.  Daye seems to have a big upside, comes into the league very skilled and with a great outside shot, but with a body that makes it seem he could blow away in any stiff breeze.

18. Ty Lawson - Nuggets - Lawson should be a great backup for Chauncey Billups and this role should give him the opportunity to learn from one of the best. 

28. Wayne Ellington - T-Wolves - Minnesota finally got the shooter they needed and I think Ellington provides a lot of value with this pick.

44. Chase Budinger - Rockets - Budinger is very athletic, but doesn’t really display it on the court like you might expect.  He can shoot the ball and may be a steal in the second round after having initially been mentioned as a lottery candidate.

It’s less than 24 hours until the draft and I’m feverishly putting together a mock up of what will surely be one of the most intriguing drafts in years. There is no relatively no certainty after the Clippers select Blake Griffin with the #1 overall pick. Meaning no player is lock to go to any team, no team is a lock to select a player that they will sign or for that matter there it’s quite possible a number of teams will trade away their pick for a veteran player or future pick. That being said I feel the analysis below is just a good of one as you’ll see so close to the NBA’s main post season event. So to borrow a NASCAR term “gentleman start your engines” and let’s rock and roll!

Player Recap: Griffin is a no brainer as the number #1 overall pick. He’s a versatile big man with excellent athletic ability. Can put the ball on the floor and finish with both hands around the basket. He also has a great motor evidenced by his high volume rebounding prowess and ability to run the floor. Doesn’t possess a consistent jump shot but has good mechanics. Needs to work on his defensive skills but has all the tools to be effective on the next level.

Team Impact: It’s no secret that Griffin is the Clippers guy here at No. 1. Blake’s presence with the other LA team creates a rather intriguing frontline rotation with Marcus Camby, Zach Randolph and Chris Kaman. If the Clips are nicked up by the injury bug next season like last season they’ll need all the help they can get on the front line or they can use the flexibility upfront to swing a trade to get help in other areas of need.

Player Recap: Rubio, voted the best Euro young player in 2007, is the prototypical pick & roll PG and probably the second best prospect after Griffin. The 18-year old Italian phoneme has excellent ball handling skills and is equally gifted with both hands (thanks in part to a wrist injury to his right/strong hand). Isn’t particularly fast but has great burst and is adept at using change of speed to beat defenders. He has terrific court vision and anticipation which are assets both in the transition and in half court situations. At one point led the ACB Euro League in assist per 40 min/gm at a staggering 11.5. He must develop a consistent jump shot and, his physique - which should happen naturally as he matures.

Team Impact: The buzz around the NBA is that there are a number of teams looking to move up to the #2 spot in order to draft Rubio so don’t be surprised if the Griz make the young Spanish PG the pick here and quickly trade him for multiple pieces to compliment its young core which includes OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley Jr.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings square off tonight in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  Why should sports fans outside of the blossoming metropoli of Pittsburgh and Detroit care?  Because the matchup sets up the pro sports landscape for the potential of one of the rarest of sports moments… a sudden-death championship win.

Are Red Wings faithful mere hours away from the most untoppable moment of sports fan euphoria?  Or are we better off hoping the Magic win two straight and the “if nec.” asterisk comes off June 18th at Staples?

Until then, I give you an ordered countdown of the top potential fan euphoria moments in each of the five major pro sports.

5. NFL Super Bowl - Touchdown
I don’t care about Adam Viniateri and your field goals.  Too much emphasis on a jockey in shoulder pads with a specialty skill.  Plus, modern NFL field goals are robotic and about as exciting as making applesauce sculptures.  I’d rather have a pass from around 15 yards out.  Unfortunately, all the potential candidates have come in the final minute, but not on the final play.  Or in an earlier round.  The real sleeper?  A 50- to 60-yard pick six in OT of the Super Bowl.  Tell me that’s not a momentum swing the 4,000 partisan fans in attendance could get behind.  Jump around, non-sponsors.  Jump around.

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First of all, great Game 2 yesterday and glad to see the Magic bounce back and put up a hard fought game.

That being said and before I get into coaching the Magic, I do have to say that I thought the referees in Game 2 were atrocious on both ends of the floor. Pietrus’ sixth foul, Turkoglu’s phantom push off, Howard’s goal tend and many more, I really thought the refs did not bring their A game and these are the best the NBA has. As Mark Jackson would say, “David Stern you are better than that…” Yes, he is starting to really get on my nerves and upset that I ever used to like the Jackson shimmy shake.

Without further ado, here are my five suggestions to Stan Van Gundy and the Orlando Magic to get them back in the series:

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Memphis hoopster and heralded recruit Robert Dozier notched a 670 on the math portion of his SAT in 2003, which put him in the nation’s 89th percentile.  Nothing to see here, right?  Not so fast.  Ironically, subtraction — in this case, the difference between his first SAT score and second SAT score — may actually be his biggest problem.

From ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach:

[Dozier] took the SAT for the first time on Dec. 6, 2003, about five months after he verbally committed to play for the Tigers. Dozier scored a 1,260 of a possible 1,600…

Educational Testing Service, the nonprofit company that develops, administers and scores the SAT, opened an investigation of Dozier’s test scores in June 2004. In a June 14, 2004 letter to Dozier, ETS officials told him that “we believe there appears to be substantial evidence that your scores [on the SAT] are invalid. Our preliminary concerns are based on a comparison of the handwriting on your answer sheet with the handwriting on other documents such as your registration form and external documents.”

ETS officials offered Dozier a chance to validate his earlier scores by taking the SAT again. Dozier took the test in July 2004 and scored 720 — 540 points lower than his earlier score.

Moral of the story… if you’re Chuckie Sullivan, don’t have Will Hunting take your SAT for you.

Photo Credit: Jon Goering - Daily Kansan

The NBAs final four has just been reduced to the final two, however, only one of the NBAs two chosen stars will have the opportunity to shine in this year’s finals. In the west, last year’s MVP, and the one dubbed by many as the best player on the planet, seeks to capture his fourth championship ring.  Meanwhile in what can only be describes as a “Magical” scene, the eastern conference final round concluded with the current MVP, also known as “King” James, being unceremoniously ousted from the playoffs by Orlando. How ironic is it that the “King” was dethroned in the magic kingdom by Superman no less. Afterward, the usually loquacious LeBron left without saying a word. But, who could blame him as this was supposed to be his coronation. Or, at least if you’re like me, you were subliminally programmed to think it was supposed to be.

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You’ve heard plenty about it… the debate rages on whether this NBA postseason is the best ever. Well, there’s no cut-and-dried set of criteria to determine this. So, when it comes to figuring how successful a season is, I am inclined to fall back to the factors that best facilitate the growth of the brand and net income.

Since the process of elimination inherent in sports playoffs leads to the majority of fans not having any vested interest in the final, let’s take off our fan hats and sit in David Stern’s recliner ass print and look at the six factors most important to the NBA in its march toward the ideal postseason.

1. Play as many games as possible

In any sport’s playoff system, TV drives the bus. Piss and moan all you want, but there’s a reason the NBA Playoffs feel longer than JFK. It’s not going to change (also see: Bowl Championship Series, The). Even if it takes 3 months, every league wants every series to go 7 games, and have every one of those games on national TV. A Jazz-Raptors Finals? It doesn’t matter, if you get all 115 potential playoff games played (’09: 74 so far with a  max of 89). That’s because more games = more games on TV = more revenue. Tickets and merchandise factor in, but they don’t vary as much from year to year or have the impact of TV ratings. Higher ratings drive the up price of ad placement, and all of these things factor into the price of the all-important rights fee/agreement between league and network. Exhibit A: ESPN’s 15-year, $2.25 billion deal for the rights to SEC Football. Looks like the potentially lucrative SEC Network has 15 more years to develop its launch plan.  You think coaches enjoy being mic’d up?  TV drives the Playoffs.  Period.

2. History lesson: legacy teams

These are teams whose fandom have been passed down through generations, and whose support is not bound by the constraints of geography (this is also why you want to punch people when your team plays the Cowboys, Steelers or Yankees). Last season’s Lakers vs. Celtics Finals, with over 30 NBA titles between them, was about as ideal as Rachel McAdams using my backyard to work on her tan. Read the rest of this entry »

John Calipari, already the highest paid coach in NCAA basketball, continues to add to his riches by landing a gem of a player in John Wall. What makes this so intriguing is the fact that Wall could have chosen to enter his name in the NBA draft due to a technicality. Originally, the 19-year old Word of God Christian Academy standout was slated to graduate in 2008. But for whatever reason, (I’m not going speculate) he did not meet the necessary requirements and instead will graduate this year. According to NBA draft eligibility rules,

“The player (A) is or will be at least 19 years of age during the calendar year in which the Draft is held, and (B) with respect to a player who is not an international player (defined below), at least one (1) NBA Season has elapsed since the player’s graduation from high school (or, if the player did not graduate from high school, since the graduation of the class with which the player would have graduated had he graduated from high school)”

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Game Sevens.  It doesn’t get much better than a playoff series that comes down to a Game Seven , no matter what the sport.  The players are sick of each other, tempers are frayed, and coaches are about all strategized out.  How many surprises and adjustments can there be?   You know the teams are pretty equal;  if otherwise, why have they split the six games leading up to Game Seven?

A couple of days off while the press analyzes ad nauseum.  As game time approaches, fans get to a fever pitch, players get nervous and totally psyched up.  Anyone who has participated in a Game Seven will tell you that just entering the arena, there’s a different feeling.  You can literally feel the tenseness and excitement in the air.  Read the rest of this entry »

I have never really “heard” John Wooden.  I’ve seen him on TV at games give a quick sound bite.  I’ve read a book about him and a book by him.  I admire him greatly.  But I’ve never really heard him talk long enough that I felt like I truly understood him.

Well, this speech his gives to the group “TED” is truly fantastic.  It shows how John Wooden is a very knowledgable person and a good human being. 

There are many lessons to be learned from John Wooden.  My favorite point from this video is how he says he never really mentioned “winning”.  His idea is that you can lose when you outscore somebody in a game and that you can win while being outscored. 

“When a game is over and you see somebody that didn’t see the game, I hope that they cannot tell by your actions whether you outscored the opponent or they outscored you.”

He is making the point that winning is about doing the making the effort to do the best you can.  If you do, the results will be what they should be and you should be more proud of giving your best effort than winning.