Author: Inside Hoops

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Kidney issue causes Darrell Arthur drop

Kansas forward Darrell Arthur sat and sat, finally selected no.27 in the first round by the Hornets. (A trade may send him to the Blazers soon.)

An alleged kidney issue caused his drop, according to ESPN and some other outlets. Arthur was not going to be a top pick but he was expected to go in the teens.

I asked Arthur after he was selected how it felt sitting and waiting and he seemed level-headed and calm about it.

Arthur also said that recent tests revealed his kidney is not an issue, and then remarked that word of the good results must not have spread.

Roundup of first 15 picks

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.

Nets trade Richard Jefferson to Bucks

The New Jersey Nets have acquired forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for forward Richard Jefferson, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.

InsideHoops.com reaction: This is wild. The Nets clearly want to rebuild for the future, and they have parted ways with RJ’s contract. Is Vince Carter the next to go? Yi Jianlian hasn’t proven anything yet — of course, he’s just entering his second year, so that isn’t saying much. Bobby Simmons got a decent contract from the Bucks and then disappointed them. On paper, as of this minute, the Nets will miss the playoffs again next season. As for the Bucks, this is a good move for them. They have talent up front with Andrew Bogut. Charlie Villanueva is pretty good, though probably best as the main forward off the bench. Though, he’s good enough to start in some situations. The Bucks backcourt of Mo Williams and Michael Redd was disappointing last year, but the additional of RJ will make them better. On paper, Milwaukee now has a pretty decent 1-3, and center. If they can solidify that power forward spot they could make a bit of noise. And by that I mean be a lower playoff seed in the East. Which isn’t that special. But it’s a step in the right direction.

“We feel that Yi can be a very special player,” said Thorn. “He is a 20-year old seven footer who shoots the ball extremely well, and he is an excellent addition to our frontcourt. Bobby Simmons is a veteran NBA player who has averaged 10 points for his career, and should be a rotation player for us.”

Grant Hill exercises player option

The Phoenix Suns today announced that forward Grant Hill has exercised his player option for the 2008-09 season.

Originally signed by the Suns as a free agent on July 11, 2007, the 14-year NBA veteran proved remarkably durable in his first season in Phoenix.  Hill appeared in 70 games for the Suns, his most in a single season since 1999-00, including starts in 34 consecutive contests to open the season.

The 6-8 forward averaged 13.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 2007-08 while shooting at least 50 percent from the field (.503) for the third time in the last four seasons and establishing a career-high in free-throw efficiency (.867).  Both his rebound and assist averages were his highest in five seasons.  Hill tallied four double-doubles last season, including the first back-to-back double-doubles of his career since 2002 on Feb. 20-22.

Last season, the Duke product became the first player in league history to win the NBA Sportsmanship Award in multiple seasons (2004-05) and the first Sun to garner the honor.  Hill also won the 2007-08 Dan Majerle Hustle Award.

Hill owns career averages of 19.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 14 seasons with Detroit (1994-2000), Orlando (2000-07) and Phoenix (2007-08).

The Phoenix Suns own the 15th and 48th overall selections in the 2008 NBA Draft, which begins tonight at 4:30 p.m. Phoenix time on ESPN.

Shaq rap costs him another police badge

Shaquille O’Neal’s freestyle rap in NYC the other day which mocked Kobe Bryant and included various profanities, resulted in one police badge being taken away the other day, and now it’s happened again.

The AP reports: Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown said Wednesday that he has asked the Phoenix Suns center to return a badge he was given for his work with the southwest Virginia county’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force… The decision comes one day after a sheriff in Arizona asked O’Neal to return a special deputy’s badge because of language he used in the rap.

New Rockets radio play-by-play guy

The Houston Rockets announced today the naming of Craig Ackerman as the new radio play-by-play announcer for the team. Ackerman takes the reigns from legendary play-by-play man Gene Peterson, who was the “Voice of the Rockets” for 33 seasons, after the long-time duo of Peterson and Jim Foley stepped aside from the microphones at the end of the 2007-08 season following an amazing 21 years together on the Rockets Radio Network.

“Craig has been a key member of the Rockets organization for the past 14 years,” said Rockets CEO Tad Brown. “He has some big shoes to fill, but his energetic style and passion for the Rockets will carry on the great radio tradition that Gene and Jim established over their tremendous careers.”

A 14-year member of the Rockets organization, Ackerman moves into his new role after serving five seasons as the studio host and substitute play-by-play announcer for Rockets radio broadcasts. Ackerman also filled in as radio analyst for games during both the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

Pistons have made good late first round picks

The Detroit News (Chris McCosky) reports: Here’s the thing about the Pistons and late first-round picks — they don’t generally throw them away. In the past few years they have plucked Arron Afflalo (27th), Jason Maxiell (26th), Carlos Delfino (25th) and Tayshaun Prince (23rd) out of the back end of the draft. So with the 29th pick tonight in the NBA draft, the Pistons are expecting to get another useful player. “No question, the goal is to get value, get the best player regardless of where you pick them,” Scott Perry, Pistons vice president of basketball, said. “That’s the rewarding part of the evaluation and scouting process. To be able to find a player in the later stages who can become an integral part of your rotation, that’s really the exciting part.”

Trade will move Jermaine O`Neal, TJ Ford

Ticker reports: Although the T.J. Ford-for-Jermaine O’Neal trade appeared to be on life support less than 24 hours ago, the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers have agreed to a deal Wednesday, according to a published report. ESPN reported that Toronto will send Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and its 17th overall selection in Thursday’s draft to Indiana for O’Neal. The deal was consummated after the two sides negotiated for almost a week.

Nuggets trade No.20 pick to Bobcats

The Denver Nuggets have traded their first round draft pick (the 20th overall) in the 2008 NBA Draft to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for a future protected first round draft pick, Nuggets Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today.

The Nuggets now currently have no picks in tomorrow’s draft.

The Bobcats now own the ninth and 20th picks in the first round, along with the 38th overall pick in the second round. ESPN’s live coverage of the 2008 NBA Draft begins at 7:00 p.m. ET tomorrow.