Unpredictable draft not full of surprises
NEW YORK – The first two picks surprised no one, so the drama was saved for just a little later – and there was no shortage of it.
One thing was certain about this draft: it was full of players with potential. Proven talent was in short supply, but plenty of players in this draft could one day wind up having stellar careers. There were also a number of players whose draft projections were all over the board heading into draft night – players that some felt could go in the lottery and some felt might not be worthy of a first round pick. In other words, it was probably best for an observer to go into the draft with few expectations of how things would turn out.
Everyone knew the top three point guards would all go in the lottery, but how many figured they would all go right in a row with picks three through five? Deron Williams and Chris Paul were hardly surprises at the first two, but the selection of Raymond Felton with the fifth pick probably surprised many. Even so, Felton is a winner and a hometown kid, having not only played his college ball across the state at North Carolina but also being from Latta, South Carolina. Felton said that being close to home won’t bring any more pressure than if he were picked in that spot by someone else.
“It’s no pressure, I’m just going to come out and play basketball the way I know how to play,” Felton told ESPN’s Stuart Scott after being selected.
For good measure, the Bobcats didn’t have to look far for their second lottery selection, as they took Felton’s college teammate, Sean May with the 13th pick. With May’s selection, the Tar Heels joined four other teams to have three players taken in the first 13 picks in the draft; ironically enough, one of those teams was the 1976 Indiana team, where Scott May, Sean’s father, was the second player taken overall. This also makes Sean and Scott the eighth father/son combination to be drafted in the first round.
The next pick after Felton was a bigger surprise, and it continued the trend of local products. The Portland Trailblazers, who earlier in the day made a trade, took the first high school player in the draft, and it wasn’t who anyone thought it would be, as they took Martell Webster from Seattle (WA) Prep. Most figured that Gerald Green, who went to Boston 12 picks later, would be the first high school player taken, but he didn’t even wind up going in the lottery.
But that wasn’t all. Right after Webster, Toronto made a puzzling top ten selection for the second year in a row (recall that they took BYU’s Rafael Araujo with the eighth pick last year) as they picked Charlie Villanueva from Connecticut. Villanueva has plenty of talent, but he’s been very inconsistent since he was a big-time prospect in high school. The Raptors could have a stud or a monumental bust; it remains to be seen, but Villanueva says he’s ready to fulfill the former possibility.
“A lot of people doubt me, but I always believe in myself,” Villanueva said, before giving credit to Husky head coach Jim Calhoun for preparing him for the NBA. “I think when I first got into the college level, I thought I knew it all.”
When the Lakers’ turn came up with the tenth pick, many probably figured they would go for a frontcourt player. Well, they did that, but who they went with was the surprise, as they took high school player Andrew Bynum, who a year ago at this time wasn’t even remotely on the radar as a likely draft pick, let alone in the lottery. Bynum is the youngest player ever drafted, as he won’t turn 18 until October 26, so the Lakers surely were not thinking about immediate help with this pick. Instead, they were going for size – not a big shock since teams have long been more willing to gamble on a big man than any other.
“It’s very unusual that you can get a center in the draft,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told ESPN’s Jim Gray. “We just felt, at the tenth pick, that it was our best chance to get a center in the draft.”
Many picks made later on could turn out to be steals, or at least high quality picks, evidence of the depth of the draft class but not necessarily its talent. In fact, that’s the major reason that much of what we can call “surprises” in this draft aren’t really that – there was some real balance in this draft in large part because most of the players are relatively unproven but have lots of potential right now. Much remains to be seen about this group, and it will be interesting to look back on it in a few years.
Key Notes
- Only three high school players went in the first round this year, ultimately showing that this year’s high school class certainly doesn’t measure up to last year’s. But with six going in the second round, this year’s draft did set a record with nine players drafted overall, and with the new age minimum coming in, it is a record that will likely never be broken – at least in a technical sense. We could see many kids do a year of prep school, then go for the draft, in the years to come.
- ESPN analyst Jay Bilas pleaded for people to give the NBA credit for scouting more than just postseason all-star games like the McDonald’s All-American Game and the Jordan Classic. That may be true to some degree, but in recent years several players have seen their draft potential soar based on a big all-star game, which in theory doesn’t seem to make much sense. All-star games are not where you go to see defensive clinics by a long shot, and it is still just one game even if it is top players going up against one another. One scout said that part of the reason players’ stock has soared from these games is that scouts don’t get to see the high school players much during the season, so a game like the McDonald’s or Jordan Classic is their first look at a player.
More Draft Selections
Steal of the Draft: Hakim Warrick (No. 19 to Memphis)
Worst Selection: Charlie Villanueva (No. 7 to Toronto) and Jason Maxiell (No. 26 to Detroit)
Intriguing Selection: Nate Robinson (No. 21 to Phoenix)
Second Round Steal: Ryan Gomes (No. 50 to Boston)
Biggest Winners: Charlotte Bobcats (Raymond Felton, Sean May)
Biggest Losers: Philadelphia 76ers (Louis Williams, no first round pick)
They Left School for This?
Players who should have stayed in school or gone to college
Alex Acker, G, Pepperdine (No. 60 to Detroit)
Deji Akindele, C, Chicago State (undrafted)
Kelenna Azubuike, G-F, Kentucky (undrafted)
Brandon Bass, F, LSU (No. 33 to New Orleans)
Andray Blatche, C, Syracuse (NY) South Kent School (No. 49 to Washington)
Monta Ellis, G, Jackson (MS) Lanier HS (No. 40 to Golden State)
Olu Famutimi, G, Arkansas (undrafted)
John Gilchrist, G, Maryland (undrafted)
Amir Johnson, C, Los Angeles (CA) Westchester HS (No. 56 to Detroit)
Dwayne Jones, C, St. Joseph’s (undrafted)
C.J. Miles, G-F, Dallas (TX) Skyline HS (No. 34 to Utah)*
Randolph Morris, C, Kentucky (undrafted)
Shavlik Randolph, F, Duke (undrafted)
Anthony Roberson, G, Florida (undrafted)
Chris Taft, F, Pittsburgh (No. 42 to Golden State)
Von Wafer, G, Florida State (No. 39 to Los Angeles Lakers)
Matt Walsh, G-F, Florida (undrafted)
Louis Williams, G, Snellville (GA) South Gwinnett HS (No. 45 to Philadelphia)
Kennedy Winston, F, Alabama (undrafted)
Bracey Wright, G, Indiana (No. 47 to Minnesota)
Notable Players Not Drafted
(not including undrafted underclassmen previously noted)
Taylor Coppenrath, F, Vermont
B.J. Elder, G, Georgia Tech
Chuck Hayes, F, Kentucky
Keith Langford, G, Kansas
John Lucas, G, Oklahoma State
Aaron Miles, G, Kansas
Chris Thomas, G, Notre Dame
Jawad Williams, F, North Carolina
* – did not sign with an agent and is likely to go to college, according to ESPN
