Some quick hitters on the 2009 NBA Draft:
- Well, the Clippers didn’t screw this one up. I’m sure many fully expected that they would be the Clippers and take someone like Tyreke Evans with the first pick, but they took the only choice there was for that pick in Blake Griffin. Maybe there’s hope yet.
- The first puzzle pick of the evening goes to Minnesota in taking Jonny Flynn with the fifth pick right after taking Ricky Rubio. You have to think there’s a deal coming involving one of the two, although there is also speculation that it won’t be easy to get Rubio out of his contract in Spain just yet.
- How about Terrence Williams going in the lottery? A year ago, he opted to come back to Louisville knowing he was a likely second round pick at the time, but he put in a solid year of work and now goes in the lottery.
- Let the arguments continue about Tyler Hansbrough. They’ve always been there, regarding how good a player he will be, but as he went at No. 13, that will only add to them.
- Jrue Holiday stayed in the draft to be taken 17th? I’m sure that wasn’t his idea, and all the talk was that he was going in the lottery, perhaps even the top five.
- Speaking of players who stayed in the draft to go low, how about Jodie Meeks going 41st instead of being a key part of a nice team at Kentucky next year? Then there’s Chase Budinger going 44th overall and Patrick Mills going 55th. Mills might prove to be a steal going that late.
- Although he wound up going to San Antonio, the poster child this year for coming out early and not faring well is DeJuan Blair. Hopefully he will tell players not to put any stock in Internet draft boards – something I could have told anyone long before he ever set foot on the Peterson Events Center floor. When he declared for the draft and said he wouldn’t be coming back to Pittsburgh, Blair told the Associated Press, “I’m an Internet freak and I go on all the draft boards, and nobody’s got me going second round. That’s almost guaranteed to me.” I guess there was a reason he used the word “almost” in that last sentence.
- The underclassman who made out best by in staying in the draft is Austin Daye, going 15th to Detroit as purely an upside pick. Sure, other underclassmen were taken ahead of him, but Daye is tough to figure and there was a wide range of places he could go in this draft at the time he decided to stay in it.
- The Utah Jazz continue to make great value picks, something they’ve done a lot of over the years as they’ve rarely been in the lottery. This time around, getting Eric Maynor with the 20th pick is terrific.
- Every year there are several notable underclassmen who stayed in the draft and went undrafted. This year’s class includes Eric Devendorf (Syracuse), Daniel Hackett (USC), Paul Harris (Syracuse), Shawn Taggart (Memphis) and Dar Tucker (DePaul).
