What does this have to do with anything? Well, last night was NBA Draft night. I stayed late at school to shoot some hoops. When I shoot at school, I usually keep track of 100 free throws and 100 threes (from the high school line since that's all we have). I made 84 out of 100 free throws. Good, but I can shoot better than that. But here's how I shoot and keep track, I shoot ten at a time and add them up after each set of ten. At the end, whatever streak I'm on, I keep shooting until it I miss. So I made my last two out of the 100 and kept shooting. And then I made 41 more. So I hit 43 in a row before missing. That beat my old personal best streak by seven. I was hoping that was a good omen for the Celtics and the Notre Dame guys. Leigh Ellis of the Starters once made 50 in a row. I thought I was going to get there. So after all of that, I was 125 out of 142 (88%). I was satisfied with that. On my threes, I was 48 out of 100. Pretty good, but a little disappointing considering I made 28 out of my first 50. So after all of that, I got home a little after 6:00. I thought the draft was later than it was, but when I realized it was at 7:30, I didn't have a ton of time to get food after taking a shower. In the past, I probably would have gone to Jimmy's in this situation. I didn't want Jonny D's. So I went to Little Vincent's. I introduced the guy behind me on line to cold cheese. He'll be in my debt forever.
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| One cold cheese, on regular |
After some good shooting and good pizza, I was ready for the draft. I think it was the 25 draft that I've watched. I remember Larry Johnson going number 1 in 1991. I knew Derrick Coleman was drafted first overall, but I don't think I watched that happen in 1990. And this is my third running diary of the draft (you can check out 2013 and 2014 if you want). As always, I watched with my dad. From the first pick to Pat Connaughton, here we go:
7:32- We're ready to go. ESPN has Rece Davis with Jay Bilas, Jalen Rose, and Jay Williams. No Bill Simmons on TV (I started doing this because Simmons being on the TV coverage meant he wasn't doing his running diary anymore). Speaking of dressing by mood, I'm wearing a Celtics shirt and Notre Dame shorts. The Celtics have four picks and Notre Dame is going to have two players drafted. There's a mixed reaction from the crowd for Adam Silver. Why is this draft taking place at Barclays Center? Silver congratulates the Warriors and notes that Stephen Curry was picked seventh in 2009. Griffin and Harden ahead of him were obviously defensible. But Hasheem Thabeet, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, and Jonny Flynn? Yikes.
7:34- The Timberwolves are on the clock. If the Heat had the number one pick, we'd have my four least favorite teams with the first four picks.
7:37- The Timberwolves could be the first team ever with three straight number one picks on their roster. They take Karl-Anthony Towns. Good pick. Notre Dame played a great game against Kentucky, but we couldn't handle Towns. He also has more class than the scumbag that was his college coach. He is wearing a ridiculous outfit, though.
7:39- Jay Bilas is making drinking game references. By the way, my friend Sam will be joining me later.
7:43- Apparently Kentucky is the first school with three number one picks. How has that not happened before?
7:44- The Lakers take D'Angelo Russell. This might be a good pick. I'm not a big fan of Okafor. Russell has a pretty ridiculous outfit also.
7:52- Silver acknowledges Harvey Pollack, the last active employee from the NBA's first season.
7:53- Philadelphia takes the best player on a team that lost two out of three to Notre Dame this year. Jahlil Okafor scored 20 the first time Duke played Notre Dame. And the guys he was guarding scored 20 also.
7:55- The Knicks are on the clock. Jalen Rose's team needs for the Knicks: everything. Yep.
7:59- Andy Katz says the 76ers are keeping Okafor. My dad said there was talk of the Celtics looking to trade for him if he got to number 3.
8:00- The Knicks take Kristaps Porzingis from Latvia. There are some great reactions from Knicks fans.
8:03- You're not going to believe this, but Fran Fraschilla likes the foreign guy. Porzingis doesn't have a particularly thick accent. He's also wearing the same outfit as Okafor. If I was interviewing him after he was picked, I definitely would have asked if he was Latvian Orthodox like George Costanza.
8:05- International lottery pick all stars since 1984: Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, and Yao Ming. That is all.
8:07- No Frederic Weis reference from the ESPN guys? That's disappointing.
8:09- The Magic take Mario Herzonja. Fran says he's the best shooter in the draft and compares him to J.R. Smith. That's probably a ridiculous comparison for many reasons.
8:15- The Kings take Willie Cauley-Stein and I immediately have flashbacks to him guarding Jerian Grant the length of the floor on the final play of our game against Kentucky.
8:17- And now they're showing that play on TV. We were so close to the Final Four.
8:18- It's not a bad outfit for Cauley-Stein other than the bow tie and the medal that reminds me of Flava Flav's clock.
8:22- The Nuggets take Emmanuel Mudiay. He played with Chairman Yi in China.
8:25- Mudiay's shirt is terrible.
8:28- The Pistons take Stanley Johnson, whoever that is. I like his jacket-shirt-tie combination, but I wish the pants matched the jacket. By the way, my notes in my notebook look like I'm drunk at this point. I don't know why.
8:33- ESPN shows some tweets at the bottom of the screen and you're not going to believe this, but Magic Johnson likes the Lakers' pick of Russell. He's the Lakers' version of Lou Holtz or Tommy Heinsohn. The Lakers can do no wrong in his eyes.
8:36- First they trade for Jeremy Lamb (giving up a second round pick and a guy that was going to get waived right away). Then the Hornets take Frank the Tank. Speaking of Jeremy Lamb, I have a student who is very weirdly obsessed with Jeremy Lamb. He went to see the Thunder play the Nets back in November. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both missed that game, but my student was upset about Jeremy Lamb missing that game. I have no explanation for it. But then some of my friends and I were pretty obsessed with Sam Perkins when I was in eighth grade.
8:39- Frank the Tank is wearing a grey suit, white shirt, and grey tie. It's not often that I say this about an NBA Draft pick, but that suit is too bland.
8:40- He does have tanks in the lining of the jacket, though.
8:42- The Heat take Justise Winslow at number 10. Is this going to be like when Paul Pierce fell to number 10 in my favorite draft ever? And how did it take me this long to make a reference to that draft? And what's Danny Ainge doing, by the way?
8:49- The Pacers take Myles Turner. The ESPN guys are surprised he went this early. I don't know anything about him.
8:50- The Jazz are on the clock. Can we get a "Best White Guys Available" graphic?
8:56- The Jazz take Trey Lyles. I was really hoping for Sam Dekker.
8:59- The scumbag that coaches Kentucky is on TV.
9:03- The Suns take Devin Booker. There are celebratory fireworks outside my house.
9:10- The Thunder take Cameron Payne. Can he fill Jeremy Lamb's shoes?
9:12- I'm joined by my good friend Sam. Unfortunately, he won't be staying long since I have work tomorrow. By the way, this is the first time I can ever remember the draft being before the end of school for me.
9:14- The ESPN guys were getting excited about Cameron Payne referring to himself in the third person.
9:16- They just went through some notable non-lottery players. They included Avery Bradley and Kawhi Leonard. Um, yeah, those two are not quite on the same level.
9:17- The Hawks take Kelly Oubre. The Celtics are on the clock.
9:20- Jeff Goodman says Oubre is going to the Washington Professional Basketball Team.
9:21- Oubre's shoes are outrageous. They have spikes or something on the top. Rece Davis makes a Tom Brady Deflategate reference. Nice.
9:23- They talk about the Celtics' assets. Danny Ainge has been accumulating assets. I support that strategy, but it's time to turn them into something.
9:25- The Celtics take Terry Rozier. My dad is very surprised. He says trades are coming. I hope so. Jay Bilas likes him as a defender. He also describes him as "small and not a great shooter." It's not like the Celtics have any other guys that fit that description. Oh, wait.
9:31- The Bucks take Rashad Vaughn. Couldn't we have gotten the ominous "Terry/Rashad is not here," for the last two picks?
9:38- The Rockets take Sam Dekker. Whatever.
9:44- The Washington Professional Basketball Team takes Jerian Grant, but he's going to Atlanta for Kelly Oubre. And the Hawks are getting some second round picks. Of course, I like the trade for Atlanta.
9:46- Now the word is the Knicks are sending Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Hawks for Jerian Grant. I was not saying Boo-urns when I heard about this. At least Grant isn't going to the Lakers. Hopefully the Knicks will end up trading him away in some terrible trade in the future.
9:50- Finally, Jay Bilas makes a Frederic Weis reference. And the ESPN guys are openly mocking the triangle offense.
9:51- The Raptors take Delon Wright, who apparently won the Bob Cousy Award.
9:55- Phil Jackson says that Porzingis has the equipment to work. Like a basketball and a hoop?
9:58- Why are there seven minutes between all of these picks when each team has five minutes to make a pick? The Mavericks take Justin Anderson. My dad thought the Celtics would take him.
10:04- The Bulls take Bobby Portis. ESPN's guys just projected them to take Pat Connaughton a few minutes ago, which would have been very surprising this early.
10:13- The Trail Blazers take Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. He's wearing some silly pants.
10:19- They're talking about Kevin Love next year. The Celtics need to do something, but that's somebody I'm not interested in.
10:20- Two trades to announce. They're the Jerian Grant trades. I feel bad for Grant.
10:21- The Cavaliers take Tyus Jones.
10:25- Andy Katz says Tyus Jones is going to Minnesota for two second round picks. I'm fading, by the way.
10:27- The Grizzlies take Jarell Martin.
10:32- The Spurs take Nikola Milutinov from Serbia. He'll probably be good.
10:37- The Lakers take Larry Nance Jr. The Celtics are on the clock thanks to the Doc Rivers trade. That was a good move.
10:44- The Celtics take R.J. Hunter. They needed somebody who can shoot the three. My dad thought he might be their first pick.
10:53- While I was brushing my teeth, the Nets took Chris McCullough. Boo Syracuse.
10:55- The Warriors take Kevin Looney with the last pick of the first round.
10:56- Silver recognizes Rod Thorne, who will be retiring. Jerry West and Michael Jordan provide taped messages.
10:58- Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum will handle the second round. I'll only be handling some of these picks.
11:04- Cedi Osman is the first pick of the second round. He last played in Turkey.
11:09- My dad is looking for a big foreign center for the Celtics.
11:12- The Celtics take Jordan Mickey, the other possibility my dad mentioned. He doesn't have great size, but he is a shot blocker. Bilas likes the pick.
11:14- The Lakers take Anthony Brown from Stanford. Boo Lakers. Boo Stanford.
11:21- The Timberwolves take Rakeem Christmas for the Cavaliers. He might have the ugliest outfit of all the draft picks.
11:26- The Pistons take Darrun Hilliard from Villanova. That's our first player from a current Big East school.
11:32- The Nets take Pat Connaughton. We'll see what happens with him. I think he's got a chance to make it. He can shoot, he's fearless, he's much more athletic than you'd expect, and he's a very good rebounder for his size. I think he can at least play in Europe and make some money if that's what he wants to do. And I'm falling asleep sitting up. It's time to go. Good night.
Postscript: As it turns out, the Nets traded Connaughton to the Trail Blazers. I love that guy. I hope it works out for him and that Grant gets out of New York and it works out for him too.
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