NBA Draft

Its the most wonderful time of the year: the NBA Draft. Fresh faces coming to Madison Square Garden, none out of high school, however, because that would be insane.Commisioner David Stern has done a lot of great things for the NBA, but that was a blunder. A player like Greg Oden is just spending a year just lollygagging around at Ohio State just because some old dude doesn't want young athletes bringing in more ticket sales (i.e. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, etc.) And so, contrary to my early claim to the "most wonderful time of the year," this draft has become a complete snore and could possibly produce the least amount of quality NBA players in draft history.Sure, we can have the Micheal Olowakandi and Sam Bowie players that look great but aren't, but this year, none of the players are studs. The projected top picks, Andrea Bargnani from Italy, LaMarcus Aldridge from Texas, Adam Morrison from Gonzaga, and Tyrus Thomas from LSU, could very easily all be complete busts. Bargnani has the offense, but his defense is abysmal and he cant play the post, a problem that poses an issue for many Europeans. Aldridge, maybe the most talented out of the bunch, doesn't hustle or rebound and has moments where he plays as weakly as the Enormous Mormon aka Shawn Bradley. Morrison, a strong offensive player, lacks composure in pressure (see UCLA v. Gonzaga) and defensive skills to handle many of the small forwards in the NBA. And finally Thomas, who might go from tomahawking in ur face to tying his ankles up in a not trying to dribble. They might be all projects, but they might all be out of league in a few years. This draft is weighted heavily towards offense, which is awful for the teams getting these one-tracked youngins, because their offense won't matter if, for example, Kobe is putting up 81 on the Raptors, who have this year's "pleasure" of picking first. 2006 is a great year to trade in your new for some experience, and you might find a diamond in the rough like Randy Foye from Villanova or Mardy Collins from Temple.No team will pull out a King from this year's deck, but those late-first round and early-second teams might just draw that joker (ex. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili) that leads them to a playoff birth.