Draft Review

In my first blog entry, the night before the NBA draft, I said that if the Celtics could acquire an all-star caliber veteran without giving up Al Jefferson, they should jump at the chance. On draft night, they did just that, landing Ray Allen and the #35 pick in the draft in return for Wally Szczerbiak , Delonte West, and the #5 pick. Consider me unimpressed.

For the second straight year, Ainge, whose greatest strength as a GM has been drafting, has forfeited a top 10 pick in an ill advised trade. Unless this move is coupled with another acquisition, it simply isn't enough. When Ainge took over the franchise he blew up a squad that had just appeared in the Eastern Conference final, rightfully stating it was not good enough to win a championship. Unless Wyc Grousbeck is willing to pay the luxury tax to bring in another veteran, we're again stuck with an entertaining but flawed team that isn't good enough to win a championship. Packaging Theo Ratliff's expiring contract with Gerald Green and a future #1 may be enough to bring back a veteran such as Andrei Kirilenko. The team could also improve by making an offer of Allen in return for Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer. I believe this is an offer the Jazz would be forced to accept as Kirilenko's value to them is greatly diminished by the fact they play him out of position at small forward and Allen's shooting is exactly what the club needs. In contrast to Allen, who duplicates many of Pierce's skills, Kirilenko would bring much needed defense to the team. In Brewer, the team would receive a talented young player to replace the wasted #5 pick. As for the rest of the draft, Ainge nailed the second round, with the selections of Gabe Pruitt and Glen "Big Baby!" Davis. Pruitt is a tall combo guard, who may be able to replace the production of Delonte West, an underrated talent who never should have been included in this deal. Big Baby, has the could be a real contributor if he doesn't eat himself out of the league. Landing a big man this talented in the 2nd round, is well worth the risk. Additionally, Davis may be the most entertaining big man since Shaq, and yelling Big Baby! in a Dick Vitale voice is unbelievably fun.

As for the rest of the draft, the top 4 teams all made the right selections. Seattle made an odd choice, using the #5 pick on Jeff Green. Seattle's 3 best players, Durant, Szczerbiak and Green all play small forward, as does restricted free agent Rashard Lewis. I believe Durant will eventually be a power forward, but until then it's going to be hard for Seattle to maximize the talent they have on the floor. Milwaukee's pick of Yi Jianlin, which is reminiscent of the Chargers drafting Eli Manning, can't be fairly assessed until he agrees to suit up for the team, or they see what he commands in trade. Special recognition goes to New Jersey, who are a perfect fit for Boston College's Sean Williams, and Charlotte, who selected my favourite sleeper, in his former teammate Jared Dudley. The Spurs also stole Tiago Splitter a big man who was originally projected as a lottery pick and fell to to the hefty buyout in his contract.



In addition to the Allen move, there were two other major deals on draft night. The first had the Warriors sending Jason Richardson to the Bobcats in return for Brandon Wright, who was the #8 pick in the draft. Wright has tons of potential, and Golden State saved itself a ton of money by not taking back any big contracts. However, the last time the team swapped a proven shooting guard for young size, they exchanged Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens. This deal could end up looking similar. From the Bobcats perspective, this is a good move, as long as they continue to invest money in the team and resign Gerald Wallace. Richardson is talented, but overpaid, so if his acquisition means the notoriously cheap Bobcats are done, then this move no longer makes sense. The other major trade of the night was a steal for Isaiah Thomas. This may sound unbelievable, but Zeke managed to turn a terrible contract and a decent prospect into a 20/10 guy. Zach Randolph may come with risks, but the cost wasn't very high and with the Knicks roster, risk taking is necessary. From Portland's side, I'm surprised they didn't get more and shocked they didn't move Randolph for a starting small forward. Channing Frye is solid, but will spend the next 10 years backing up Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. The Blazers seem to have decided that ensuring Greg Oden never met Zach Randolph was more important than finding a deal that truly met their needs.

The first blog promised The Little Papi Urban Achievers would focus on sports and entertainment. So far I've only discussed the NBA, but I promise that will change. As a start, here are a couple links I found interesting. http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/1406/1/ is a fascinating interpretation of the final scene of the Sopranos. It's been pretty widely distributed online, but if you haven't read it, it's well worth the time. I am now firmly in the Tony is dead camp. At least, I believe that's what David Chase wanted to portray. Five years from now, they'll probably decide he's alive and come out with some sort of Soprano's movie. If they really want to make a Soprano's film, the opening scene should pick up where they left off and have Meadow walking in as Tony gets whacked. http://tastybooze.com/2007/04/the-origin-of-boggs is an incredible story about Wade Boggs. If you thought his hitting was incredible, and his sex addiction legendary, you should see the man drink. Years ago, I heard Steve Lyons tell a similar story about Boggs, so this actually may be true.
Were two posts in, and I want to thank you for reading. In fact, if you just read that, there is a legitimate chance you are the first person to ever read this blog. Congratulations. Please do not hesitate to respond to anything on here, I'd like this to be as interactive as possible. I assume this page can handle multiple postings, so if you're interested in posting, let me know.
-Bodner