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Ricky Rubio! (pictured)

Oh I wish.

Time to share my love of the NBA Draft again.

About 3 weeks left. The Warriors, as usual, are absolute trash, and as usual, did not get lucky and move up in the draft. They are also over the cap, have a coach who will bail anytime now, have a front office that is basically evil, and there is no hope for the fans.

So I am depressed.

But here’s a list of players I like, and to be balanced, players I simply don’t like, picking not just from the low ranked players, but also trying to predict busts from the top.

FTW! I mean, For the Warriors!

Legit:

• Ricky Rubio, PG (ranked in the top 2): 18 year old PG. Can legitimately defend, has good size and is a true PG. I would temporarily forgive the Warriors for their sins if they moved up and got him. I would almost move back to the US and buy an 8 game ticket package- that’s how excited I’d be. Of course, Rubio’s agent, Dan Fegan, hates the Warriors front office, and the front office, him, so Warriors fans are again f*cked.
• DeJuan Blair, PF PITT (top 15): He mauled Hasheem Thabeet head to head even though he’s about 8 inches shorter. He’s got a great wingspan and a motor. I really like guys who work it and bust ass.
• Ty Lawson, PG UNC (top 20): a part of me wonders if he is like Greg Anthony- looks better than he is because of his great teammates (Anthony played with Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson), but I think he will be much better than the spot he’s picked at. I really wonder why he’s rated so low, and I don’t buy the argument of size because other players (Flynn, Jennings) are small as well but ranked much higher. Lawson has improved every year, played great in UNC’s championship run, and is a good leader.

To me everyone else is a crap shoot, and I don’t really care who the Warriors pick if these guys aren’t it. What I really hope for is they blow up the team. When you’re crap, the worse case that can happen is you’re still crap. And the Warriors have been crap so long, as long as they don’t trade or sign 30 year olds, I say just risk it. Go get Chris Bosh for one year if that’s somehow possible. Everyone can go as far as I’m concerned, but especially Monta, Corey Maggette, and Jamal Crawford. I’d take Baron back, no hesitation, even if he is showing alarming signs of slowing down. And I hope that Randolph, Brandan Wright, and Macro Belinelli (he plays defense now), can be given starting roles to show what they can really do. I love Andris as well, but he can go if necessary.

Busts:

• Hasheem Thabeet, C UCONN (ranked in the top 4): DraftExpress, which knows what it’s talking about, says this for Hasheem’s best case scenario: Samuel Dalembert. Also, I’ve learned my lesson from Emeka Okafor, another UCONN guy, and Okafor was much better in college than Thabeet was. I expect Okafor to be better than Thabeet in the pros as well. So I expect Thabeet to be something in the middle of Michael “Kandi Man” Olowokandi and Okafor. So, like DraftExpress said, Samuel Dalembert.
• DeMar Derozan, SG USC (top 15): Everyone compares him to Vince Carter. Sounds great, but Vince actually lit it up and stayed at UNC for three years. He could also dribble. Derozan cannot. In fact, no one says anything much about him other than he can dunk like Vince. What I really want to ask is, what’s the difference between Derozan and James White? Other than the fact Derozan hangs out with Master P and Lil Romeo, and because he’s only played 1 year, people still think he has potential.

I guess talking about just 5 players isn’t a real commitment, but this year’s draft class is just so bad. People feel it’s a bad draft, and I could easily say I think guys like Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings, and Jonny Flynn won’t pan out, but I don’t have a strong feeling either way, so I’ll stop here. I’m not even sure I’m high on Blake Griffin (can he be THAT much better than Carlos Boozer?) or Jordan Hill, either. James Harden should be a solid pro-I don’t think people think he will be a superstar, but he surely won’t be trash. (If you look at his good combine numbers, though, it looks like he’s a much better athlete than he’s given credit for) Austin Daye, I think he definitely has bust on him, as does BJ Mullens, but I don’t want to talk about people outside of the top 10 so much – just too easy to say those guys could be busts. Just to clarify, most of these guys I haven’t even watched play, but just using what I’ve seen in years past in terms of projections vs reality and trying to understand what’s most likely to happen here.

So those are my thoughts for this year, but let’s do a quick review of what I said last year just to show how dumb I am. The Warriors picked the player (Anthony Randolph) I hated most but he ended up being considered one of the best in terms of talent. Really came on strong at the end of last year. My thoughts last year were:

My hopeful Warriors-to-be:

• Kevin Love, 6?9 270 PF from UCLA
  • Love’s name is suggestive conditioning if you were to believe in Malcolm Gladwell. I haven’t seen him play, but to me, he’s a bruiser with skills. Won’t be a great athlete, but will work and isn’t afraid to kick some a**. Good passer, can do the dirty work. (2009 Update: GOOD CALL, after a slow start, he really showed what he can do)
• OJ Mayo, 6?4 PG from USC
  • Sure, my attitude on him essentially changed 360 degrees after I learned he was super smart. Nonetheless, when you watch him in highlights, he just seems like he’s super smooth. Would love to have him, would have to trade up big time for him, but maybe he could be Baron’s replacement. (2009 Update: GOOD CALL)
• Michael Beasley, 6?9 235 PF from Kansas State
  • He only had better numbers playing with lousier teammates in the same conference than Kevin Durant last year. He’s way out of reach for the Warriors, but he’d be insane as a Warrior. Of course, people have been mentioning Derrick Coleman with Beasley, so that’s a bit scary. (2009 Update: TOO EARLY TO TELL)
• Robin Lopez, 7?0 255 C from Stanford
  • Not a fan of his brother’s, but Robin is suppose to be more athletic, and very good defender. Just poor offensively. He’s definitely within range for the Warriors, they’d probably be stretching to get him, but I wouldn’t mind if they traded down to get him. (2009 Update: TOO EARLY TO TELL)

Who, please, DO NOT PICK:

• Anthony Randolph, 6?10 200 PF from LSU
  • When Tyrus Thomas came out a couple of years ago, I said another “Stromile Swift”. He’s from LSU, tall, thin, and athletic, and missing a ton of skills. Some people said that too, but most people said, “he’s gonna be great!” 2 years later, Stromile Swift ring a bell?
  • Anthony Randolph: Tall. Thin. Athletic. LSU. Missing a lot of skills. Like the other guys, bolting way early for the draft. Stromile Swift Part 3. Write it down. (2009 Update: WRONG or still too early to tell- I read Lamar Odom saying,”Hall of Fame” potential)
• Joe Alexander, 6?8 230 SF from WV
  • a white Jason Richardson who can’t shoot (2009 Update: GOOD CALL but still early)
• DeAndre Jordan, 7?0 250 C from Texas
  • The talent of a Jordan with the work ethic of (a dead) Andre the Giant. Laziness + Talent = Big Fat Ass.
• Every other center in the draft, including Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert, JaVale McGee, Kosta Koufos. Every one of them sounds like bench warmer to me. At least Robin could be a quality 20-25 MPG backup defensive center. (2009 Update: Brook is legit, looks like I am flat out wrong on him. JaVale looks ok, but he did play on a terrible team. Roy and Kosta had their moments, and Robin was out of the loop mainly. Overall, TOO EARLY TO TELL)

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