The 2008 draft is a tough one to grade. I had 3 players, Rose, Beasley and Love, head and shoulders above the rest. I felt after the top 3, there were 15-20 players who could have been shaken up and drawn in any order and it wouldn’t have surprised me much. Because the pool of talent from 4-25 was so deep and evenly matched, there were many varied opinions on this draft. I’m guessing there will be more busts than normal and more round 2 and free agent surprises than normal.
These grades are based on how much each team helped themselves in the draft itself. I grade on a curve, meaning 3 As, 6 Bs, 12 Cs, 6 Ds and 3 Fs. The logic being that since the teams are in competition with each other, they can’t all get As, nor can they all flunk. It’s safe to say that teams are listed in order of best to worst though.
A: Miami Heat: There were two “best” players in this draft and Miami got one of them. I give them a slight edge over Minnesota for best draft, because they got Chalmers. Had the Wolves kept him, I’d have given them the top spot. The Heat now boast a big 3 of Wade, Marion and Beasley. When healthy and happy that’s as formidable a trio as any in the league. Now all they need to do is fill in the spaces with good role players, like Boston did with their big 3 a year ago. Chalmers is a great start. He’ll be a great fit next to Wade, with his defense, quickness and lights-out shooting ability. The Heat put themselves right back in the title chase with this draft. What does give me a little pause is the way they felt the need to put Beasley in his place leading up to the draft. There were the “secret” workouts of Mayo and Bayless and reports that Beasley’s goofball attitude was troubling Riley. This is probably nothing that can’t be smoothed over, since Riley isn’t the coach. But it’s just not the best way to welcome a young player into the fold.
A: Minnesota Timberwolves: Love is going to be a much better player than Mayo. I feel very comfortable in making that statement. I’d probably still have this team here had they just taken Love at #3. But they also added a guy who looks like a perfect complement to Love and Jefferson in Mike Miller. A legit outside scorer to help out Jefferson was probably the biggest need this team had. They filled that with Miller and brought in a potential superstar in Love to boot. Miller’s presence should also make life easier for the likes of Brewer and Foye, who will now be in supporting roles. It’s been a real tough year for the Wolves and their fans. The 60 losses were bad enough. It also had to hurt that the franchise’s best ever player was dealt away and promptly won the title he never got in Minnesota. With one slick trade though, a team that had been in the dumps has quickly changed course, distanced themselves from the 20-win crowd and is a savvy trade or signing away from challenging for the playoffs.
A: Chicago Bulls: They got the best player. Congrats. They can add him to the new coach who has yet to coach and the impressive cache of raw, untapped talent on hand, mix them all together and see what happens. Del Negro wants to run and that made Rose a fairly easy choice over Beasley. The Bulls are a tough team to read right now. They’re sitting on a great group of young talent, but it’s uncertain who’s going to play when and where. They’re also dealing with a new coach and a new offense. A great PG is as good a place as any to start the retooling and they have that now in Rose.
B: LA Lakers: They dealt their pick as part of a package deal for Pau Gasol and promptly stormed to the Western Conference championship. That they got rid of Kwame Brown in the process makes it that much better. A core of Bryant, Gasol, Bynum and Odom makes this group strong title favorites for 2009, unless the Trailblazers decide to take over the league a year early. Either way, this was a smart use of a draft choice and brought much more value than drafting a Darrell Arthur would have.
B: Indiana Pacers: This assumes the widely-reported Jermaine O’Neal trade happens as soon as NBA rules allow. The Pacers got themselves a good PG in TJ Ford and a good combo guard in Jarrett Jack. They added a couple of big, young bodies in Hibbert and Jawai. They also brought in Brandon Rush, a player I’m not at all wild about, but does possess some impressive skills and could flourish in O’Brien’s offense. The main thing they finally got however was a much-needed break with the past and a chance to move on. They’re starting over and they did a nice job bringing in a lot of new faces to help ease the process.
B: Toronto Raptors: Odd when teams that deal with each other both come out of it good, but this seems like a trade that has the potential to help both teams. Toronto needed a center badly. They got one who had been an all-star, but has struggled with injuries of late and has missed 123 games in 4 seasons. My biggest concern with O’Neal is that his rebounding fell way off last year. Since he’s only 29, I think Raptor fans can probably cross their fingers and assume that was an aberration caused by injuries. Regardless of what happens, this was a necessary gamble. The Raptors have improved nicely under Colangelo, but were about to be stuck on a 40-45 win treadmill. O’Neal is young enough to get back close to where he was and Toronto really didn’t give up anyone who’s going to be missed.
B: Portland Trailblazers: I had Bayless as the 4th best prospect in the entire draft, so the Blazers scored a coup in landing him. PG was the only position on the team where there was no long-term solution and Bayless might fix that. What we don’t know yet is whether Bayless can develop into the big, physical PG that leads teams to championships and be the final piece in this team-of-the-teens puzzle, or if the mad bomber mentality he flashed at Arizona will undermine this group and keep him on the bench. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on that one, but getting a talent this good when drafting at 13 is just another impressive draft day move by Kevin Pritchard. Prichard also stocked up on future 2nd-round picks in a couple of draft day deals, so expect more wheeling and dealing from Portland in future drafts.
B: Atlanta Hawks: No players were added, the pick went to Phoenix (finally) in the Joe Johnson deal. This one worked out well for the Hawks. It didn’t go exactly according to plan, as it took about 2 years longer than they anticipated to finally make the playoffs. The Hawks have a near all-star in Johnson and they only gave up the draft pick that became Robin Lopez and Boris Diaw. This wouldn’t have looked so good had the ping-pong ball bounced differently last year and Phoenix had been able to use this pick to grab a Mike Conley at #4, while Al Horford was tearing it up in Boston, Memphis or Milwaukee instead of Atlanta. But that’s why teams negotiate protection on draft picks. The bottom line is Atlanta got a solid player for what became an iffy draft pick.
B: Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers needed some inside help and ended up with the best big guy after Beasley and Love. Speights does have some issues, but he’s also a player who was productive on a level that has historically been reached only by all-stars. The biggest problem with Speights is he wasn’t in shape this year, got winded easily and didn’t play big minutes because of that. With prospects there are two types of flaws: fatal and correctable. An example of a fatal flaw would be a PF who is measured at 6’3”. Another one is a PF who just can’t rebound well enough. Those are things that will never be fixed. Being out of shape can be solved with a personal trainer, treadmill, jump rope, medicine ball and any number of fancy new workout gadgets, along with a little dedication on the part of Speights. I suspect if Mo Cheeks keeps reminding Marreese that he stands to earn $100 million+ over the next 10 years if he just does what the trainer says, the dedication will be found. Should Speights reach his potential any team that passed on him for a Lopez brother is going to feel very silly in about 5 years.
C: Cleveland Cavaliers: JJ Hickson was a steal at #19. He won’t help much immediately, but after sitting for a season behind the likes of Wallace and Smith, he should be ready to join the rotation and add another solid young piece to the supporting cast. I don’t know that LeBron to the big media market is a going to happen or not. I do know that the Cavs improve their chances of keeping him around by grabbing a good, young player when they have the opportunity. Hickson is such a player and they did well to get him drafting as low as they did.
C: New Jersey Nets: This doesn’t include the Jefferson trade, since that didn’t involve a draft pick. The Nets are obviously starting over and the first step for any team when that happens is to accumulate some young talent. Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Chris Douglas-Roberts are a good trio of young players to add to a rebuilding. Douglas-Roberts is actually a steal in round 2. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Brook Lopez, I can see not letting him slip by at #10. I guess the new focus will be on bringing LeBron in after the 2010 season. I can’t say for sure, but such schemes never seem to work out. I think if I were running the Nets, I’d have some sort of backup plan in place. That and be very careful about tampering.
C: Golden State Warriors: Warriors did a nice job addressing their glaring rebounding weakness. Randolph is raw, but is a decent enough rebounder that he should be able to help in limited minutes, while the Warriors hope and pray he can reach his legendary upside someday. Richard Hendrix was taken in the second round and is a steal in the way Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap were. He immediately becomes the Warriors best rebounding PF and that’s going to get him some PT immediately. As good a fit as Hendrix is here, he’s a sleeper for the all-rookie team.
C: Seattle Supersonics: I found it interesting how little reference was made to Oklahoma City when the Sonics were discussed during the draft. I hope this is a sign they’ll be sticking around Seattle for awhile. But league politics and the dirty dealings of the rich and famous aside, I thought the Sonics whiffed badly at #4. I understand the need for a PG, but Westbrook just wasn’t a good value pick at the time. Better to grab Love, Gordon or Bayless and try to make a deal from there. Nothing against Westbrook, he just hasn’t proven himself to be a PG yet. There’s promise here, what seems to be a good work ethic and strong defense. But this was just too high for a player of this skill. They did a nice job in the later rounds, grabbing some potentially useful inside players in White and Ibaka. But they needed to make a big score here. This is a team that’s going to move up in the standings and is unlikely to find themselves in a position to draft a potential star to put next to Durant in the next few years. With all the resources they had in the way of #1 picks, I find it hard to believe they couldn’t get something else done.
C: Houston Rockets: The Rockets picked up Joey Dorsey, Donte Greene and Maarty Leunen. Dorsey and Leunen are seniors with good role player skills who might be able to help immediately. Particularly Dorsey, who should be able to provide 10-15 minutes of excellent rebounding and general inside chaos per game. Greene is a top 10-15 talent who could grow into a pretty good player. I had him as the top SF this year, a ranking that said more about the weakness of that group than anything. But Greene is a perfect player for a team like Houston to be gambling on. They don’t need to rush him into the lineup and the payoff could be huge down the road.
C: San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs made a nice haul and they did it without drafting a single foreign player who would be stashed away overseas for several seasons. George Hill has the potential to become a dynamic combo guard off the bench. I wouldn’t be surprised if he stepped right into the rotation. This team is in serious need of an infusion of youth and Hill might provide just that. Hairston and Gist are also great fits, though their marginal talent will probably keep them on the bench to start with. Hairston is a strong 3-point shooter, which the Spurs like to load their bench with and Gist has the potential to be a Robert Horry type, if he can build on the crude perimeter game he started to develop as a senior at Maryland last year.
C: LA Clippers: I admittedly could be wildly wrong about this one, but I just don’t see Eric Gordon becoming anything but a bust. The red flags are rampant in his stats. From weak rebounds, steals and blocks numbers to a poor A/TO ratio Gordon has bust written all over. Not to mention that they needed a PG more than anything and they took a pass on Bayless. They redeemed themselves somewhat by picking up DeAndre Jordan in the 2nd round in a move that could have a huge payoff. Jordan has a way to go, but he’s the only center in this draft who has the potential to become a dominating player. Jordan saved the draft, but there was no immediate help brought in to a team that needs it badly. Now they’ll have to line up with several other teams at the door of Chris Wallace and try to get one of his PGs.
C: Boston Celtics: The champs did a smart thing in grabbing Bill Walker. While some might say Walker should have stayed at K State, I think I’d rather have him learning from the veterans on this team while getting 700 or so garbage time minutes than struggling to carry a modestly-talented college team to a .500 record. Walker may or may not make it, but he was a top 10 prospect coming out of high school, is still very young and played his only college season coming off knee surgery. That this is a situation where they can be patient with him makes it all the better for his development. JR Giddens was also a good pickup, though I’m not sure he’ll get much burn right away.
C: Utah Jazz: Like Cleveland, Boston and Houston the Jazz took advantage of the strength of this draft and landed a talented freshman who they can afford to take some time with. Kosta Koufos fits the Jazz system well with his inside play and 3-point shooting ability. In a couple of years he might be able to step in for Okur and few will notice the change.
C: New York Knicks: My inclination is to give Donnie Walsh a break here based on his stellar drafting record while with the Pacers. I’ll also say that regardless of need, the Knicks are in a situation where they needed to add the best player. I’ll admit that I don’t have a real good handle on foreign players. I look for certain things in their stat line and make the best call I can, but that’s clearly no way to rate players. Gallinari looks like he can become a pretty good scorer, but I didn’t see much else to like about his game. He doesn’t rebound well enough to become a Gasol or Nowitzki and his defense numbers weren’t all that good. There’s a long way to go with this team and Gallinari is just a start. They have bad contracts they need to flush out and a new attitude to instill. That’s going to take some time and I doubt we’ll be real clear on what exactly they have in Danilo Gallinari until sometime in 2010. I will say that the Knicks have a couple of smart guys in charge with Walsh and D’Antoni. I expect good things to eventually come of this, but it’s too big a mess to expect much before 2011.
C: Milwaukee Bucks: This doesn’t include the Richard Jefferson trade, just the draft. Joe Alexander was a reach. Teams loved him in workouts, because the fact that he was a very inefficient scorer in college doesn’t always show up when a player is jumping, cutting, shooting and doing other amazing feats of skill to show off his great athleticism. That gripe aside, this team is primed for a big improvement in 2009. I will be surprised if the Bucks win fewer than 40 games next year. There already was a decent group in place and they added a former all-star in Jefferson to the mix. All they needed was some direction and a coach who will turn their focus to defense. Skiles is that coach. While Speights or Bayless should become much superior players to Alexander in the long run, Skiles might have little patience for such players and bury them on the bench the way he did with Ty Thomas in Chicago. With the Bucks’ situation for 2009, it might be best to bring in a player like Alexander whose strength is defense and add to the positive vibe that should be there next year.
C: Memphis Grizzlies: On draft night I figured they’d be one of the teams to get an A. They drafted one of the 3 best players who was a perfect fit for what they needed. They were sitting with 3 good, young PGs in a league where half the teams are desperate for one good PG. Then around midnight, they flipped out and dealt Love, along with their best returning player to Minnesota for OJ Mayo. Mayo certainly won’t replace Mike Miller’s numbers in 2009 and may not ever become the player Miller is. He’s going to be expected to star immediately and he just isn’t capable of that, which will lead to grumbling fans and a potentially ugly situation. Heck, I don’t know that Mayo is capable of starting immediately. They still have some PGs to deal and hopefully improve the team that way, but does any Grizzly fan really trust Chris Wallace to make the right move after this trade and the Gasol fiasco? If I were an opposing GM, I wouldn’t leave this guy alone until he agreed to trade Conley, Crittenton or Lowry for a bad PF and a draft pick certain to be in the 20s.
D: Washington Wizards: JaVale McGee is a decent enough prospect. I just thought there were much better players available. Chalmers would have been a great fit on this team. Hickson, Koufos and Jordan all look like better long term projects than McGee. There could be an uprising of young teams in the East in 2009. Miami and Chicago could easily return to prominence, Atlanta and Philadelphia look primed to become perennial playoff teams, Toronto could move in with the elite and Milwaukee and Charlotte have brought in coaches with a history of immediate improvement. The Wizards need to make some bold moves just to keep up. That didn’t happen in the draft.
D: Orlando Magic: This grading system of mine can be cruel at times. The fact that this is a curve can get some team a D when they really don’t deserve such. That’s the case here. The Magic went out and tried to address a need with Courtney Lee. I felt there were better options out there, specifically Mark Tyndale and Chris Douglas-Roberts. But Lee isn’t a bad pick and I seem to be a lonely voice in my championing of Tyndale. I just don’t see where he improves the team much though. Orlando is sort of in the same boat as Washington. They’re probably not as good as their record suggested last year and need to make a bold move to keep up with the swell of good teams the East could very well see in 2009. They didn’t make that move in the draft and could pay the price for their complacency.
D: Charlotte Bobcats: Man that was ugly. Larry Brown just might get this team to a better place in the short term, possibly even the playoffs. But they had a chance to round out what was a fairly promising young team with a couple of good players and they blew it. Hibbert at #9 and Chalmers at #20 would have looked great. These are two good college players ready to help immediately who will please the new taskmaster of a coach with their ability to play defense and willingness to do the little things that help a team like this win. Instead they get a PG who’s a bad defender and is inferior to the incumbent, along with a project at center. What kills me is they had a chance, probably a last chance to round this group out into a solid team. MJ whiffed badly here.
D: Detroit Pistons: I hate when I doubt Joe Dumars, because I’m usually wrong. Cases in point are Maxiell and Stuckey. But I don’t like what they did here. They brought in Walter Sharpe, Trent Plaisted and Deron Washington. Sharpe has a rep as a great athlete, but hasn’t been all that good when he played. He’s certainly not promising enough to take on the baggage that comes with him. Plaisted and Washington just don’t grade out very well as prospects. Better options were there in every case. Now expect at least 2 of the 3 to surprise and become solid contributors, because Joe Dumars is smarter than me and just about everyone else.
D: Sacramento Kings: Riddle me this: There’s a player who’s a sophomore playing in the SEC who puts up superior numbers to a player of similar size and the same position who’s a senior in the MEAC. Which player should a team draft? If you’re the Kings, the answer is you pass on Marreese Speights and grab future role player Jason Thompson. That’s about all I have to say about that one. Thompson was the biggest reach in the draft and is unlikely to provide the help the Kings need on the inside.
D: Denver Nuggets: I suppose this one should read incomplete, because I have no idea how they plan on spending the cash they saved by handing this pick to Charlotte. I do know that Mario Chalmers was available, as were a strong group of young, developmental PFs and centers. They also get a future #1 from Charlotte and lottery protection might wear off that pick by 2015. So there could be a big payoff way down the road. Grading just on this draft though, the Nuggets blew an opportunity to improve their team. In a competitive conference, that’s not a good thing.
F: New Orleans Hornets: The Hornets wanted to save some cap money and go after free agents, so they sold the pick to Portland. I guess they deserve an incomplete too, at least until we see what happens. This is a draft grade though. Keeping the pick and selecting Chris Douglas-Roberts would have been a good move to make. As it stands now, they’re the same team they were last year. A team in the Hornet’s position needs to be using every resource at their disposal to improve. That didn’t happen in the draft, so I have to flunk them.
F: Dallas Mavericks: I do understand that they needed to make the Kidd trade. They weren’t going to win it all as things stood, so they had to go ahead and roll the dice. It didn’t work and instead of drafting a Koufos, Jordan or Greene to develop and still having Devin Harris around, they’re stuck with Kidd who’s overpaid and way past his prime. It seems like the outlook is bleak for a championship during the Nowitzki era. But don’t count this team out. Unlike the team below them, the Mavs have an aggressive, creative management team and have always done whatever it took to be competitive. Even if it takes a year or two to reshuffle after the Kidd trade, I expect this team will be back.
F: Phoenix Suns: This is officially a disaster. The sad part is there were some decent players available at #15, but they went with Robin Lopez who doesn’t look anything like a prospect and will be of little help inside to a team that needs a lot. That their own pick was sent away as payment for taking on a bad contract is bad enough. That all they have to show for Joe Johnson is an overpaid Boris Diaw and Robin Lopez really sucks. In a year the Suns have gone from a team that was on the verge of a championship to one with possibly the bleakest immediate future in the league. All the wounds were self-inflicted and is an example of what happens when a team that’s extremely close to a title doesn’t use all their available resources to help attain that title.