On a late June evening in New York’s Madison Square Gardens, a highly anticipated event was quickly losing steam just prior to the 7 p.m. start time. First, some major moves were made between contending teams in the NBA earlier in the day, as some of the biggest names in the sport were being shuffled around, especially in favour of the Eastern Conference. Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers from Phoenix to join forces with Lebron James, in exchange for only Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace. By addressing the issues at centre that have plagued the Cavaliers, many feel this move makes Cleveland the top contender for the 2010 Championship.
Other notable moves in the East were the trade of Vince Carter from New Jersey to Orlando and Jamal Crawford from Golden State to Atlanta. The only major move in the West was the acquisition of Richard Jefferson by the San Antonio Spurs through a three-team deal that meant the end of Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Kurt Thomas’ days in Spurs uniforms.
With so many high priced and talented athletes switching teams and with a draft class that many feel is the weakest of the past several seasons, much of the excitement and anticipation normally felt at the NBA draft was simply missing. Adding to this was the shocking and unexpected news of a certain pop star’s death, which occurred only an hour prior to the start of the draft, further dampening the mood inside Madison Square Gardens.
Anyone watching this year’s NCAA March Madness tournament would have had a perfect preview of this year’s NBA draft class. There’s no single player who will make a large impact on the game right away, but many who may grow into dominant forces in years to come.
Not surprisingly, Blake Griffin—the large and athletic power forward who impressed everyone with his play for Oklahoma in the NCAA this year—was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. Unexpected selections included Tanzanian-born Hasheem Thabeet by the Memphis Grizzlies with the second overall pick. While Thabeet is 7’3” and weighs 267 pounds, many feel he lacks the finesse and court sense necessary to be valuable as an NBA player. Ricky Rubio, the skilled point guard from Spain who was part of the silver medal winning Spanish Olympic men’s basketball team, was anticipated as a potential second or third overall but ended up being quite a steal for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who picked him up with the fifth overall pick.
Other notable picks were Stephen Curry by the Golden State Warriors, a selection that forced New York to settle for Jordan Hill, despite publicly reporting their interest in Curry. This selection drew boos from the crowd at Madison Square Gardens, as the home team ended draft day with less-than-favourable selections. For Torontonians, some positive news was the selection of DeMar DeRozan, who many Toronto sports writers feel will perfectly compliment the likes of Chris Bosh and Hedu Turkoglu.
In a day full of major headlines both from within basketball and without, it seems as though the draft was doomed to be an afterthought in the minds of most fans. Although the pool of talent in the draft class seems shallow in the early going, there is a lot of potential for several of these rookies to emerge as stars in their first NBA seasons. This year’s race for Rookie of the Year will be extremely tight and entertaining to watch.
