04/26/24
June 26, 2003
How do you grade the 2003 NBA draft?: Enter your own grades and see what others think. I give the Cavs a B. LeBron sure, but Jason Kapono? They could have got Lampe, 3" taller and with a greater upside. What's up with that? Orlando did well to get a 2-way guard in Reece Gaines, the Lakers got what they needed at forward in Brian Cook, and New York should have a very strong frontcourt in a few years thanks to Michael Sweetney and Macoej Lampe(who surprisingly fell to the second round due to contract buyout confusion thanks to the FIBA), I give the Knicks an A.
posted by insomnyuk to basketball at 11:52 PM - 10 comments
The Knicks also got the 7'6'' Slavko Vranes, who, IIRC, also has a brown belt in Karate, so he can't be entirely uncoordinated. I also thought Boston and Orlando improved themselves today. Orlando's 2nd round center guy looks like a keeper, and Gaines should be enough 1 to get the ball to T-Mac, and enough 2 to share the scoring load. Jerry West looks like he got taken to the cleaners by Ainge, but of course, only time will tell.
posted by Cormac at 12:21 AM on June 27, 2003
The SuperSonics drafted two honkies. How good can that be? Nick Collison and Luke Ridnour. In a tough west where the Sonics were maybe the tenth or eleventh best team, this should vault them up to ninth. C.
posted by vito90 at 08:14 AM on June 27, 2003
The Knicks and Lakers--my two most hated teams--both get an A. How did the Knicks get Lampe? That's amazing. And if he's a bust, Layden ends up looking--well, not great, but better, because he still drafted Mike Weatherspoon-Harrington. And how did the rest of the league let the Lakers end up with Luke Walton? He's like the best possible Mark Madsen and you just know he's going to burn somebody come playoff time. Hopefully the Cavs, Pistons and Nuggets all made out like bandits, but we just won't know for a while. Carmelo seems most likely to cause an immediate impact. And wouldn't it be funny if LeBron was a Kournikova-like master self-marketer and not a great basketball player? BOY! Would our faces be red....
posted by Justin Slotman at 09:09 AM on June 27, 2003
The Mavs picked up Josh Howard out of Wake Forest. I've not seen him play, but from what I see on the sites he seems like a decent pick. If nothing else, maybe they can develop him and then package him with Shawn Bradley in a trade. I really don't know why Dallas would need another 6'6" player, as they're pretty overloaded at the big guard/small forward position as is. If he can get some offensive rebounds though, then that would be a bonus for sure. At least he's not another perimeter player. Jerry West looks like he got taken to the cleaners by Ainge, but of course, only time will tell. I still think West is justwaiting for Kobe (see #3).
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:33 AM on June 27, 2003
Orlando, Los Angeles Lakers, and Detroit all get A's in my book. I'd give the Knicks an F based on their first-round pick, but they came together nicely for a B-. A big huh? to my Pacers for drafting a talented four year starter who happens to play the same position as half of the team.
posted by chmurray at 09:39 AM on June 27, 2003
hey UJ, why are the column comments orphaned from the column itself? not your fault, i am sure. they are kind of out of context though. the kobe/future thing was mentioned on ESPN today though it doesn't mention the Memphis link you did. Ufez scoops Jim Gray!
posted by gspm at 10:27 AM on June 27, 2003
I guess that's just the way the permalinks to the comments are set up, gspm. If you look at the original column itself the comments are still at the bottom of the page. A co-worker that I had told about the Kobe leaving LA thing said he heard or read something else about it yesterday. Looks like it's more likely to happen. And FWIW I only heard the Memphis thing as speculation on ESPN radio, so take it as that, speculation. It just seems both logical and likely to me.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:09 AM on June 27, 2003
The Kobe rumor has been making the rounds for a long while though I cannot cite a particular URL. Mainly, I just want to give a huge shoutout to my main man, GSW GM Gary St. Jean, for the truly outstanding job he did by drafting another guy who can't score in round one and a guy listed by the scouts as "not NBA quality" in round two. Oh yeah, way to go! I'm frankly just this side of amazed that he didn't do even worse by taking Collison in front of Seattle. Arenas is gone, I'm sure, after seeing this 'tard draft and so the mighty Warriors will be slinking back to their usual 19-23 wins next season.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:33 AM on June 27, 2003
The Lakers did well (go, Walton!)...Minnesota got crap.
posted by rushmc at 11:56 AM on June 27, 2003
That's Maciej Lampe, and Kapono is a good 3-point shooter, so he will complement LeBron's excellent passing skills, so it's not neccesarily a bad pick, but still.