Last year’s crop of SGs was one of the weakest I’ve seen. This year it looks like one of the deeper groups. Most of the depth is of the lower round variety though. There’s very little star power in this group. OJ Mayo and Eric Gordon would seem to be potential stars, but both players have a ways to go before they’re at that level. Below them are a group of juniors and seniors who have developed into pretty decent prospects. They’re not on the level of a Mayo, but they’re certainly good enough that if I were a team drafting in the top 10, I wouldn’t feel bad about passing on Mayo or Gordon for a talented big man with the idea of drafting a SG in round 2.
NBA Draft 2008: Combo Guards
Last season I took things simple with the combo guards. I looked for players who could score both often and efficiently, showed an ability to play some PG in a pinch and put up an RSB40 in at least the 6.0-6.5 range. This year I’ve got a little better grip on the position, or at least I feel as if I do. When I originally separated past prospects, I had put them in the 5 traditional positions. This year I’ve isolated some combo guards and I’ve been able to come up with some better data on what successful combo guards looked like in college. There have been only 2 who have been wildly successful pros, Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas. Both entered the NBA after their sophomore seasons:
| Player |
FG Pct. |
2-point Pct. |
P40 |
A40 |
A/TO |
RSB40 |
| Allen Iverson |
.480 |
.546 |
30.5 |
5.7 |
1.2 |
9.3 |
| Gilbert Arenas |
.479 |
.519 |
22.3 |
3.2 |
0.8 |
7.8 |
Iverson was a terrific all-around player, but Arenas was a little more difficult to get a feel for. Everything looked OK, but the 0.8 A/TO would have scared me off some. He’s become a good enough passer in the pros, but he’ll never be mistaken for Jason Kidd or Steve Nash. The fact that as a sophomore he was able to score often and efficiently with a high RSB, should have gotten him drafted before early in round 2 though.
NBA Draft 2008: Point Guards
This is a potentially a pretty good group of PGs. Rose is going to be very good. Whether he’s a star, just a solid PG or even some sort of star combo guard is still up for debate, but he should be pretty good. Beyond Rose, things get a little more iffy, but there are enough good prospects that I suspect 2 or 3 other good ones will emerge. The most interesting thing going on this year with the PGs is the number of small college sleepers. Very few small college players ever make it, but I’m guessing at least one of the players from the small college group this year will make an impact. I say that because there are just too many good ones for one of them to not hit.
Playoff Thoughts
1. Celtics Take Control: One of the fun things about writing about sports is that we can chew the scenery a little bit and really delve into some points that aren’t mentioned on the television or in the newspapers. After something like Game 4 of the Finals, there really isn’t too much to say. The Celtics played great defensively and did just enough offensively, thanks to James Posey and Eddie House, to comeback and put the Lakers in a huge whole. While it is easy to bash the Lakers for not being able to score, this win was more a product of the Celts tough defense than Laker ineptitude. The Lakers had more points in the first quarter (35) than they had in the entire second half (33). There were something to pick on the Lakers. Lamar Odom had problems taking advantage of James Posey in the low post in the second half. Every single attempt was met with Posey pulling the old Rick Mahorn “lean in and move out of the way” move that causes the post up offensive player to fall over or travel. Ultimately, however, the Lakers inability to score falls to Kobe Bryant. If he can score his usual 26-30 points and the game is a comfortable win. The Celts did an excellent job of forcing Kobe into fadeaway jumpers and the result was a huge win.
Playoff Thoughts
1. Boston Beaning: With the outlier of the Detroit series, the Finals appear to have mirrored Boston other playoff series quite a bit. The Celts are playing like a formidable 66-win team at home. They’ve controlled most of the first two games, with the exception of the Lakers flurry at the end of the Game Two. So far, the difference in the series really has been Paul Pierce, who has 26 ppg on .615% and is shooting 7-8 from three. Throw in the fact that Ray Allen has been more efficient than Kobe Bryant and a 2-0 lead makes sense. I was also surprised that the Celts defense, though great, has been so effective against the Lakers. The Spurs also tried to keep Kobe off the foul line and let him shoot jumpers but it didn’t work at all. Now the same exact plan has been lights out.
Playoff Thoughts
1. Lakers-Celtics…blah…blah…blah: Did you hear? The Lakers and playing the Celtics and they may have even met before. We’ve all touched on the history of the Lakers and Celtics and such. ESPN.com and Classic Sports have been all over this story, giving us all a chance to re-live the old series. Last time, we cursorily explored how the Lakers and Celtics have met 10 times in the Finals, with the Bill Russell Celtics beating the Lakers all seven times they played and Magic Johnson taking two of three from the Celts. This time, however, the match up seems more like two teams passing in the night, rather than an ongoing battle. The Celtics are propped up by older players and the Lakers are surprise team bolstered by the outright theft of Pau Gasol. So forget history…Who wins this time? Let’s take a look look at the factors to consider going into the Finals: