Raw, unedited blog live from NBA draft by InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner.
Fans booed David Stern when he came out. Stern responds by breakdancing and telling them that it’s ON. No, not really. But that would be cool.
Fans also booed being told that the Bulls are up first and have five minutes to make their selection.
During the wait some fans started chanting ‘OJ Mayo.’
Pick 1 in the first round: Bulls take Derrick Rose, as expected. So will Chicago now try to trade Kirk Hinrich? If so, they still need a legit shooting guard. Ben Gordon is unsigned and better off the bench.
Pick #2: Heat take Michael Beasley, as expected. So he can play small forward, Shawn Marion can keep doing his undersized power forward thing, and Dwyane Wade gets some help.
Pick #3: Wolves take OJ Mayo, as expected. He is a new building block alongside Al Jefferson
All good, logical picks so far.
Pick #4: Sonics take guard Russell Westbrook. So will they trade him to the Clippers? Or keep him and trade Luke Ridnour or Earl Watson?
Pick #5: Grizzlies pick Kevin Love. Now Mike Miller and Rudy Gay have a big guy worth giving the ball to. Love can bang and be a true power forward yet hit from outside when open.
Pick #6: The Knicks take Danilo Gallinari. Fans boo, VERY loudly, for a long time. They wanted Jerryd Bayless. Some fans start chanting ‘USA’ – clearly not fans of overseas talent, which has not met expectations. And in the interview after being drafted he seemed unphased by the boos and said it’s part of the game. He also smartly didn’t offer an explanation as to how he is different from other international players.
Pick #7: Clippers took Eric Gordon. They really needed a point guard – Eric is a scorer and shooting guard – but they must have felt that he was the best overall talent available. They did also need a two so this does make sense.
Pick #8: The Bucks took Joe Alexander, a small forward with insane hops. They just traded for Richard Jefferson, though. Perhaps Joe wil pretend to be a power forward for limited stretches.
Pick #9: The Bobcats, led by new coach Larry Brown, apparently do not believe Raymond Felton is their point guard of the future, because they took tiny, scoring floor general DJ Augustin.
Pick #10: The Nets got a fairly decent steal with Brook Lopez, who said he will bring energy and toughness to the Nets. He admitted to be pretty surprised that the Nets took him, especially since he didn’t work out for them.
Pick #11: The Pacers are expected to trade for TJ Ford soon, and now they have drafted Jerryd Bayless, a scorer who is the size of a point guard but has the game of a scoring two-guard.
Pick #12: The Kings need size and took Jason Thompson, who a few weeks ago was not considered a lock to go first round. He had good workouts.
Pick #13: The Blazers have shooting guard star Brandon Roy and they have drafted shooting guard Brandon Rush. Will they use Roy at the point? Rush can play undersized small forward but only for stretches. And will Martell Webster be traded?
Pick #14: The Warriors took Anthony Randolph, a lanky forward who is still refining his game. I guess he is a Don Nelson type of player. Or something. He is talented though.
Pick #15: The Suns take Robin Lopez, a big man role player who can back Shaq up and bump into people and stuff.
