Draft 2013: Top 60 Pre-Tournament Edition

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The passing of Jerry Buss last month brought to mind one of the things that made the Lakers great during his reign. Great teams draft potential superstars. I can think of three examples where the Buss Lakers went outside the box during the draft. The Lakers drafted Vlade Divac at #26 in 1989 when foreign players were viewed skeptically. Kobe Bryant was one of the great bargains ever at #13 in 1996 when drafting HS players was a new thing. In 2005 the Lakers drafted Andrew Bynum at #10, because … [Read more...] about Draft 2013: Top 60 Pre-Tournament Edition

NBA Draft 2013: Top 60

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The 2013 draft is shaping up as a pretty good draft overall. The strength is centers, which is a great thing as the NBA is in a perpetual shortage of quality big men. It also means the draft is going to be top heavy in big men, because they’re more valuable players. The draft will be similar to 2012 in that there is one guy who stands out, followed by a muddled group starting at #2. Like last year the top guy is a freshman center playing for Kentucky. The important thing is that while Anthony … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2013: Top 60

Transactional Analysis: The Gay Trade

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Like the Thunder trading James Harden, Memphis found that the new CBA luxury tax penalties cost prohibitive and they therefore decide to unload Rudy Gay.   The calculus is more complex than just luxury tax considerations.  I imagine the Grizz had to ask themselves several questions before reaching this conclusion.  Let’s run though the analysis and see if we agree with logic train: (a) What would the outcome be of just leaving the Grizz roster intact? Memphis had a tougher call than most … [Read more...] about Transactional Analysis: The Gay Trade

NBA Draft 2013: Top 60 or so Prospects as of 12/31

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At this point I like the 2013 draft. There are a lot of promising players, which is a welcome development following two very dry drafts. That makes this year much more fun for us draft geeks. The problem is there isn’t any one player who looks like a sure fire star. While the drafts of 2011 and 2012 were historically weak, at least there was Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. No such star has emerged as the class of the 2013 crop. There are enough good prospects out there, that I suspect a few will … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2013: Top 60 or so Prospects as of 12/31

Bowie/Jordan, A Look Back

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Is Sam Bowie a tragic figure?  Traditional lore paints him either as: (a) they guy who was taken over Michael Jordan and who crapped out or (b) the guy who overcome crippling injuries to become a pretty good center.  With the recent Bowie article and documentary on ESPN, the focus has returned to Bowie.  I haven’t seen the documentary but the article lets out a revelation that Bowie knew of potential leg problems in his pre-draft physical with the Blazers but did not disclose the pain he felt.   … [Read more...] about Bowie/Jordan, A Look Back

NBA Draft 2013: Sniper/Defenders

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It’s still early in the draft process and rather than rank the players, I like to let things play out at least through December. Two months is enough time for hot streaks will fade and cold starts to heat up and we’ll just have a more accurate view of what exactly is here in the class of 2013. I’ll start with the rankings in a couple of weeks. In the meantime I wanted to stay somewhat engaged by looking at recent draft success stories and try to determine if there would be any similar stories in … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2013: Sniper/Defenders

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