Grading the Draft - Picks 1-5

First off - drafting is an inexact science. There are NO guarantees. And complicating matters, this is a draft of "potential" I think Vitale said that once or twice last night, didn't he??

When it comes to college basketball players, the only guarantees are Jay Bilas gushing about someone's "tremendous length" and Stephen A. Smith screaming about something, usually not factually or contextually relevant to the discussion. With that said, here are the Maniac's early draft grades.

Chicago Bulls - Derrick Rose #1
Grade: A

Tough to argue this pick. Hometown kid, solid decision maker at the point, great leadership abilities, goos strength and scoring ability, able defender. Good pick.

Best case scenario: Derron Williams meets Jason Kidd. A commanding floor presence with exceptional court vision, develops a better J to go with the slashing scoring ability. Rose leads the Bulls to the 2010 NBA Finals, earning MVP Award, assumes Jason Kidd's throne (and challenges Chris Paul) as the PG of Team USA for the next decade. Exposes Tony Parker and Chris Paul as "too small" to cover him. Becomes a perennial 1st Team All-NBA Player.

Worst case scenario: Derrick Fischer. A strong, physically tough, solid floor general; a great locker room presence and a solid contributor to good teams. A nice 10 year career, solid but not spectacular numbers.

Miami Heat - Michael Beasley #2
Grade: A+

The Heat, after some insane posturing select the most pro-ready collegian since Carmelo Anthony, an instant impact SF/PF who will average 20-10 for a long, long time.

Best case scenario: Dirk Nowitski meets Kobe Bryant. I know - odd blend. The size and shooting touch and ability to shoot over top of any defender quick enough to stay in front of him (ala Dirk), with the killer big-bucket instinct and competitiveness of the Mamba. Questions regarding "character" surfaced from the Heat camp (but OJ Mayo seemed fine??). Please, doubters - pop in a tape of the first Kansas game from 07-08. Spectacular. Best collegiate performance in a regular season game I have seen in a decade. Kansas could have put seven guys on the floor, and he STILL could have thrown in 30. Oh, and he led the NATION in rebounding. By the way, Kansas had four guys drafted last night and won the National Championship...

Beasley becomes an instant All-Star, and is a top-3 MVP guy for 6-8 years. The Heat get a healthy Dwyane Wade, and win the East in 2009. The Heat win a title in 2011, then trade a washed-up, disgruntled, injured, max-contract Shawn Marion back to the Phoenix Suns for two first-round draft picks, both eventual lottery picks, and Steve Kerr wanders the streets of Scottsdale, babbling vacantly about the 1998 Bulls...

Worst case scenario: Zach Randolf, Glenn Robinson - Decent numbers guy, never appears fully committed to dominating in the NBA. I do not think this is the case with Beasley.

Memphis Grizzlies (via Minnesota) - OJ Mayo #3
Grade: C+

I like this pick a lot more in Memphis's hands as opposed to Minnesota's. Mayo could flourish having an opportunity to dominate the ball and look to score. Converting him to a pure PG could have been a difficult task.

Best case scenario: Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Martin. OK, so I am not sold on Mayo. I can't shake the thought of watching three of four USC games this year and not instantly being able to tell which one was OJ. He blended in with the other guards on the floor for USC, just another good player. Stars POP off the screen. Watch the NCAA tourney game vs. Kansas St and tell me how there was ever a debate for the Heat...

Worst Case scenario: Ricky Davis, Stephon Marbury. Tons of talent. Tons of athleticism. Tons of issues... Tons of losing. Mayo peaks early (as a 14 year old on the cover of SLAM Magazine) and never quite fulfills the promise and hype. Three years down the road Mayo is left behind after the deal in which GM Chris Wallace ships the three best players to the Lakers in exchange for a sack of wrenches and a stack of Golden Girls DVD's. Local business chain develops product entitled simply, "OJ Mayo - The Condiment of Killers." Rampant lawsuits follow. Allegedly.

Oklahoma City SuperSellouts - Russell Westbrook #4
Grade: C

Ok, call me crazy. At any point, was this guy the best player on his team? Did he not sit the bench behind NBA-All Stars like Jordan Farmar and Aaron Afflalo for two years before emerging as a junior?? This year he was no better than the third best player on his own team (Love, Collison) Number 4?

Best case scenario: Rajon Rondo with a little more offensive spark. Solid, if not exceptional defender. Doesn't need the ball to have an impact (a nice fit for Durant). A real nice fit pick, just not sure if the value is there at #4

Worst case scenario: Dominates head-to-head matchup against former UCLA teammate Richard Mbah-Moute in 2011 NBA D-League Finals.


Minnesota Timberwolves (via Memphis) - Kevin Love #5
Grade: B-

McHale reportedly coveted Love from the beginning (the player, kevin love...). A few pundits tabbed him "this year's Adam Morrison." That is unfair (and also a discreet way of saying "slow sucky white guy"). A better analagy would be "this year's Sean May." And that isn't really a compliment, but at least it isn't patently racist.

Best case scenario: Carlos Boozer, Robert Horry.
Love develops a nice mid-range jump shot to offset some quickness liabilities. He learns to channel his intensty and focus, becomes an instant fan-favorite and a locker room "glue-guy." A good player, a key contributor, but never a star on
good teams. He evolves into a Sam Cassell, James Posey, Robert Horry, PJ Brown guy. And that ain't a bad career - just a little bit of a reach at #5.

Worst case scenario: Sean May, Marcus Fizer.
Good college player, nice fundamentals - just a little small and/or slow for the NBA. Love plays several years, then slips slowly out of the league. He is found ten years later, sinking two consecutive shots from the opposite foul-line during a halftime promotion in Flint, Michigan. Flint Tropics owner Jackie Moon scrambles to find the $20,000 owed to Love. While waiting for the check, Love begins earning extra money doing Beach Boy cover songs in Los Angeles beach bars.

The Bulls and the Beez

The latest projections from most draft experts have the Chicago Bulls leaning towards home-grown point guard Derrick Rose with the number one selection in the upcoming draft.

My question is: Are you serious?

I know Rose dazzled in the NCAA tourney leading his Memphis Tigers to a minute away from a national championship, while Beasley bowed out early with his two-man Kansas State team (Billy Walker can ball.)

Beasley is a no-doubt 20-10 guy tomorrow. At this stage in his career he is far more physically NBA-ready than Kevin Durant, and led the NATION in rebounding. I know, I know, there are "attitude" questions. My response: How many kids with terrible attitudes and the ability to drop 30 a night lead the nation in rebounding? The kid is a beast, the kind of player you can build around for the next 10 years, and the kind that can take the Bulls to the elite in the Eastern Conference NEXT YEAR.

Check out this stat line:
39 points, 11 rebounds, 31 minutes.

That was Beasley against National Champion Kansas and their NBA-ready front court. He similarly dominated Blake Griffiin and Oklahoma, dropped 19&13 versus Luke Harangody and Notre Dame. With double and triple teams all season, Beasley produced every night.

Many scouts have labeled his upside as "Amare Stoudamire meets Antawn Jamison." I wonder why no one has said "Amare meets Dirk." Perhaps it is the wierd unwritten rule of not comparing white dudes and black dudes when referencing players games... not sure. But there is a lot of Dirk Nowitski circa 2004-2005 ice-cold hand-in face knocking down 22-footers in his game.

Note to Bulls GM John Paxson. Pretend it is March 13th and you have the number one pick in the draft. It is a no-brainer. Michael Beasley. Don't let a few extra games under the sparkle of March Madness blind you.

The Results are In....

Another Great Year:

Thanks to all participants in this year's March Madness Extravaganza! In one of the mostly tightly contested contests of all time, two victors emerged. In first place, with a PERFECT Final Four bracket, Chandler! Chandler claimed his second consecutive family pool.

When asked for comment, Chandler responded, "Yeah, I am excited. I guess...I mean it is always nice to win. But winning the Scheeren family pool is sort of like winning the 100 yard dash at the Special Olympics. You just don't have to run quite as fast."

In related news, Steve Scheeren is no longer paying for the wedding. Steve told March Maniacs that "If that bastard marries my daughter, the pool remains unwinnable. Plus, he is funny looking, and I do not want ugly grandchildren."

In second place, the Commish's wife rejoiced when Mario Chalmers' prayer was answered. She finished in the money for the second time in family pool history. Shanda, unquestionably excited said she was "most excited to beat my dumbass husband again. I mean, he writes this column like he has a clue, then picks Xavier in the Final Four. Smart gamblers never bet on emotion. I mean, last year he finished 4 places behind Pacer. Pacer is a freaking DOG for crying out loud. Smart gamblers bet on logic and intelligence. My husband is not a smart gambler."

The Commish agreed with Shanda's sentiment, citing his marriage to her as a prime example.

Other notable performances included Sara and Lee, both of whom selected Kansas to cut down the nets and fell a few points short of placing, and Kevin J, who posted the highest score of any incorrect champion selector. Sara's excitement was dampened by finishing just two places out of the money... and by the fact she is actually going to marry Chandler (seriously dude - bad move...)

The Commish and fellow maniacs are already looking forward to 2009 - we hope to have you back again. Except Chandler.

By the way click on some ads so I can send my brother-in-law (who is really one of my favorite humans on the planet -for those who didn't get the sarcasm... I like my wife too... and the Special Olympics... relax folks....) his second trophy. He earned it. Argh.

One Shining Moment

Ok, maybe a bit cheesy, but don't tell me you don't get a little misty...

Walking in Memphis

Oh What Could Have Been...

The celebration flowed like sweet jazz until the early morning on Beale Street. The "dream team" had done what no other Memphis squad ever could. Bring a title home to the city.

John Calipari had claimed from the outset that foul foul-shooting would not deter his squad from reaching college basketball's loftiest perch. "They'll make 'em when they need to." he said over and over. Monday night they did just (barely) that. Despite a few late missed attempts the Tigers made enough of them early and often, including 4 straight by All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts with several minutes to go in the contest.

The real turning point in the game was when Kansas coach Bill Self elected to go to a box-and-1 defense on Douglass-Roberts. This was all the opening Freshman sensation Derrick Rose needed to assert himself and take over the game. Rose, the Final Four MOP said, "I took the challange. They decided to focus on CDR, and I knew my team needed me to make something happen."

Make something happen he did, scoring a quick seven points and changing the tenor of the game back to Memphis's style. The Jayhawks never recovered.

Bill Self, arguably now the front-runner for title of Best Coach to Never Win A Championship (along with UCLA's Ben Howland) was classy, yet despondant after the game. When asked if the Oklahoma State rumors had any impact on his team, he replied flatly, "None. None at all. My focus was on MY team, and on finding a way to beat Memphis. They just executed and made a few more plays. It was their night."

Perhaps the most important execution of the night came on the final play when Calipari elected to have Douglass-Roberts foul Mario Chalmers with 3.2 seconds remaining. The Tigers, clinging to a three point lead wanted to prevent Kansas from attempting a game-tying three point shot. Chalmers calmly sank the first free throw, and intentionally missed the second. Dozier corralled the hard rebound and fired the outlet pass to Rose who threw the ball jubilantly towards the rafters. With that toss, Memphis capped off a dominant tournament run in which they beat Michigan State, Texas, UCLA and Kansas with the school's first national championship.

The sweet sounds of victory flowed from campus to dowtown, a title in Memphis, the Tigers, walking with their feet ten feet off of Beale...