Tonight's the Night....oh ooooooo!
I know, I know...but I'm putting my prognosticating ass on line tonight and predicting the Wolves will land a top 2 pick in the lottery:
"But LH, they only have a 28.04% chance of that happening, are you insane?"
"Yes, maybe I am insane, or maybe, just maybe, I'm a man with a dream. A dream that one day my Wolves will rise up from the: Joe Smith/Felton Spencer/Luc/Starberry/Ndudi EBi/Will Avery/Paul Grant/Isiah Rider/Donyell Marshall ashes of draft incompetency and be given a new start, a new day" ( trumpets sound).
"Seriously though, even if the Wolves do somehow end of getting the 1st or 2nd pick, you know they'll end of giving it away for the rights to Rick Smits or something like that...don't you?"
"Of course, I know that, but don't you see, those kind of trades take at least minutes for McHale and others to figure out, so I might actually have 5 or 6 minutes of bliss before it all comes crashing down... and that, my friend, is more Wolves-related bliss then I've had since May 29, 2004... the date of the last Wolves playoff win."
13 Comments:
LH - I was waiting, nay, hoping to get your Steve Aschburner-like analysis on tonight's draft. Be even more interested come tomorrow and the dust has settled. Is Rick Smits still available for some sort of Keith Van Horn cap-saving move?
I would love to get a "Where are they now?" update on guys like Paul Grant/Ndudi Ebi.
Again, can someone explain how this lottery with its ping-pong ball shenanigans benefits the leauge?
Overall, our chances are best that we will get the third pick (13.8%) - therefore we will be picking 8th.
If we do get #3, is Brook Lopez the real deal?
May 20, 2008 at 1:23 PM
Let's just say the the Wolves do getvthe #1 or 2 pick, who are the top two guys out there?
May 20, 2008 at 1:52 PM
The Dunking Dutchman.. or where have you gone?
I think Paul Grant just washed my car..
I hate the ping pong balls. The process is stupid, it's just an excuse for Stern to see a bunch of ping pong balls bounce around...everyone knows that guy loves ping pong balls.
Actually, our chances aren't quite that bleak- we have a 14.54% of getting the 3rd pick, a 14.24% chance of getting the 2nd pick, and a 13.80% chance of getting the top pick. Given our dismal record last year, I believe the 6th pick is lowest possible pick that we could end up getting.
I just played the mock lottery draft on ESPN 1,264 times and we got the top pick once...so I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Danillo Gallinari is my State Farm "can't coach height" Spencer/Longley/Rasho/Grant- you better not pick him McHale, pick this year....
Other than Beasly and Rose, you might as well go with Lopez since I know the powers that be are still trying to turn Foye into a true point, something that I remain very skeptical about.
6 hours and counting
May 20, 2008 at 1:55 PM
I am assuming Beasley is the consensus top pick...but I almost hope the Wolves get the #2, so that we have to take whomever is remaining between Beasley and Derrick Rose. After seeing Rose at Memphis in the tourney, I think he's be a stud for years to come.
I think Lopez is good, but he seems a little slow and skinny right now...we'd need to send him to the weight room (or to BALCO) as soon as we drafted him.
May 20, 2008 at 3:47 PM
For an athletic 7+ footer, Lopez is actually pretty big (260lbs), so I think he'll be ok there...he doesn't seem to be the most tenacious player, which is something that would worry me, but maybe that will change when he is no longer Big Man on Campus and realizes that he needs to do the dirty work and rebound and not just wait for his teammates to pass him the ball when he posts up.
Given the dramatic impact that point gueards have had over the past season or two (CP3, Deron Williams, Parker, Rondo, Billups, etc.) don't be surprised to see Rose go #1. I think it all depends on who gets the first pick- and whether they need a big more than a point. If I were convinced that I could teach/coach Rose into being a better shooter..I think I'd take him over Beasley.
3 hours to go
May 20, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Is Pooh Richardson still available?
May 20, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Is Pooh Richardson still available?
May 20, 2008 at 4:06 PM
By the way...tonight is just the ridiculous ping pong ball selection... which determines the draf order, the actually draft doesn't take place until June 26. therefore, if the Wolves get one of the top 2 picks I'll have several weeks of bliss before McHale steps up and...
"With the 1st/2nd pick in the 2008 NBA draft the Minnesota Timberwolves select Pooh Richardon" (crickets)
May 20, 2008 at 4:12 PM
Well...file this in one of two folders:
1) "The Wolves are cursed" folder or
2) "The NBA is fixed" folder
Or both. As luck would have it, the Bulls need a point guard, and Rose just happens to be one of the most high-profile Chicago hoop products in many years. Hmmmm. Just like LeBron James is from the Cleveland area (Akron)...oh, and it just so happens that the Cavs got the #1 pick that year. Hmmmm. If you guys have 10 minutes to waste, watch the youtube footage of David Stern taking a mysterious envelope just before the 1985 draft (where the Knicks got the #1 pick and were able to draft Ewing). Pretty sketchy stuff...
Just sayin'...
Why is it that the Wolves are ALWAYS one spot out of the money??
May 20, 2008 at 9:29 PM
So did this turnout to be a 2 horse draft and we are 3rd? Now keep in kind I know nothing about basketball, but I remember being excited that the Wolves were able to get Laettner with the 3rd pick after Morning and O'neal were off the board.
May 21, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Only time will tell RTS.. but it certainly does smell a lot like 1992
May 21, 2008 at 2:37 PM
I know nothing about the pros either, but everything I've read tells me that, yes, the Wolves just got the third pick in a two man draft. Utterly predictable, no?
Interesting conspiracy theory. Makes sense to me. Doesn't Arthur Anderson do the verification on the lottery?
Agreed with everyone that the ping pong ball thing is a ridiculous spectacle. All this is still necessary because Houston and Portland were tanking games to get Olajuwan 25 years ago? The Bulls are evidence of why it's (a) unnecessary (they ended up getting Jordan with the third pick after the Olajuwan/Bowie sweepstakes) and (b) unfair (they have no business with the top pick this year).
May 21, 2008 at 8:13 PM
OMG, I just read the Saints/Bobblefoot article. That's one of the most hilarious things I've ever heard of.
Where is everybody? Can I crack on you all now for not posting anything for two days?
May 23, 2008 at 10:50 AM
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