Wake and Blake

The NBA Lottery has come and gone, and the NY Knickerbockers are unlucky again. Shocker! I will get into the Knicks shortly, but let’s take a look at the landscape of the lovable lotto losers.

With the first pick in the 2009 draft, the L.A. Clippers will ruin the career of, er, I mean select: Blake Griffin, from the University of Oklahoma (side note, OU is rapidly becoming my favorite team to cheer for in all sports beside the teams I love. Don’t ask me why….because I am not going to tell you). OK, there are two ways to look at this pick. One is that Griffin will thrive in L.A. with the likes of Barron Davis, Marcus Camby, and Z-Bo on the team. He would slot right in as a starter in the front court with Camby and Z-Bo. Catch lobs from Davis while the announcers simply say, “dunk.” And be an important piece to vaunting the Clippers back into the playoffs. That way of looking at things though is very optimistic, and most likely wrong. I like Griffin. I think he is a beast on the court and an extremely hard worker. I think his defense will get better as will his shot. He is also freakishly athletic. However, the Clips are the Clips….which basically means they are a poorly run team that no matter how much talent they acquire, it’s the wrong talent. Think the West Coast Isaiah Thomas. I fear that Blake will develop poor habits from being around such selfish players like Z-Bo. And no Clipper fans, no one is going to trade for Z-Bo. Florida Atlantic is a University, so don’t think Isaiah is coming to the rescue. The Clips won’t trade the pick either. No matter how many bodies you have at a certain position, if you’re a lottery team in the NBA you can’t draft off need (you probably need a lot if you’re praying to ping pong balls each year). If there is a sure fire future all-star available, then you have to draft him. It’s that simple. And other than Ricky Rubio, Blake Griffin is that type of talent and player. So my advice to you Blake is this: work hard, develop your skills, and as soon as your contract is up get the F out of dodge.

As the NBA draft moves closer I will have more useless information on all of the projected picks along with my Mock Draft (which is basically done to pass the time and will have no real “inside” information) and more detailed thoughtful notes on the NBA. In the meantime, let me make a few statements on the NY Knicks.

1) Unless the Knicks can move up into the top 2 then stay put at 8. There is a big fall off after Griffin and Rubio. The draft is filled with “potential” guys. So unless you unload a contract then stand pat. Plenty of talent will be there at 8.

2) If the Knicks stay at 8, I think they should draft Stephen Curry. And here is why: Curry can play the point. He is a smart basketball player. Passes well. Defends well. Can flat our shoot the rock. And the kid has major onions. Anyone who watched him two years ago saw him single handily dismantled 4 major programs. And this past season, when everyone knew who he was, and knew that they had to stop him to beat Davidson; Curry still dropped something like 26ppg. He was made for “7 seconds or less.”

3) He is boys with LeBron James. Nuff said.

Again, it hasn’t been 24 hours since the lottery ended, so there is more to come. In any event, it should be a very busy off season for Donnie Walsh and all of the other GMs in the NBA.