NBA Draft
The two most exciting nights in the NBA are the NBA draft lottery and the NBA Draft itself. These two events probably affect teams more than anything else. This year Portland got Oden at #1 and Seattle got Durant at #2, in a loaded draft year.
As a Raptor's fan, I remember clearly how this has affected our team. For example, the 2nd year as a franchise, the Raptors won the lottery, but due to our new (unfair) Franchise rules, were not allowed to pick first. We ended up missing out on Allen Iverson and got Marcus Camby instead.
A more recent travesty is having the 3rd highest chance in the 2003 draft - the draft that included Lebron, Darko, Carmelo, Bosh and Wade. We weren't able to move up and actually moved down one position to the fourth overall pick. We had a fairly good shot at Lebron, and should have had at least Carmelo. We winded up with Bosh, which isn't too bad, especially since he's seems to like Toronto and is unlikely to skip out of town like certain thin-skinned athletes have in the past. But to this day, I still think of what could have been. Sigh.
When we do get lucky, it happens during a weak draft year. Last year, we had the fourth highest chance and wound up with the 1st overall pick. Usually that's spectacularly good news, but since it wasn't a strong year, we got Bargnani - not #1 pick material in my opinion. I think that even if we stayed at the number four pick, we still would have ended up with Bargnani.
Anyway, this year's draft featured two Chinese players. Yi Jianlian is suppose to be pretty good. He's an athletic forward who can score. Unfortunately, he went to Milwaukee of all places. I think there are 3 chinese people living there. What a terrible fit. I hope he gets traded to Golden State or something, where he'll be appreciated. It's going to be really tough for him to adjust to the American culture, especially when he's in the middle of no where. I feel for him. The other Chinese player, Sun Yue, is not that good, but at least he was drafted by the Lakers. It'll be a bit easier to adjust, but I don't think he'll get much playing time.
Too bad the Raptors didn't have any picks this year, but I have to say that the Raptor's progress was impressive and I am looking forward to next season already!
As a Raptor's fan, I remember clearly how this has affected our team. For example, the 2nd year as a franchise, the Raptors won the lottery, but due to our new (unfair) Franchise rules, were not allowed to pick first. We ended up missing out on Allen Iverson and got Marcus Camby instead.
A more recent travesty is having the 3rd highest chance in the 2003 draft - the draft that included Lebron, Darko, Carmelo, Bosh and Wade. We weren't able to move up and actually moved down one position to the fourth overall pick. We had a fairly good shot at Lebron, and should have had at least Carmelo. We winded up with Bosh, which isn't too bad, especially since he's seems to like Toronto and is unlikely to skip out of town like certain thin-skinned athletes have in the past. But to this day, I still think of what could have been. Sigh.
When we do get lucky, it happens during a weak draft year. Last year, we had the fourth highest chance and wound up with the 1st overall pick. Usually that's spectacularly good news, but since it wasn't a strong year, we got Bargnani - not #1 pick material in my opinion. I think that even if we stayed at the number four pick, we still would have ended up with Bargnani.
Anyway, this year's draft featured two Chinese players. Yi Jianlian is suppose to be pretty good. He's an athletic forward who can score. Unfortunately, he went to Milwaukee of all places. I think there are 3 chinese people living there. What a terrible fit. I hope he gets traded to Golden State or something, where he'll be appreciated. It's going to be really tough for him to adjust to the American culture, especially when he's in the middle of no where. I feel for him. The other Chinese player, Sun Yue, is not that good, but at least he was drafted by the Lakers. It'll be a bit easier to adjust, but I don't think he'll get much playing time.
Too bad the Raptors didn't have any picks this year, but I have to say that the Raptor's progress was impressive and I am looking forward to next season already!
Labels: basketball, NBA, Raptors
posted by Nelson at 10:53 PM
1 Comments:
I agree, and I wonder the WHAT IF's all the time. Oh well, C'est la vie
At least we have had couple stars - VC, T Mac, Camby, Stoudmire, and even Olajuwon, ha ha
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