NBA Draft 2005

With about 15 picks left in this years draft, I felt it was time for me to give my opinion on what took place tonight at MSG. I don't know what it is, but I don't like a lot of the picks that took place tonight. As far as high school players and Europeans, I can't comment much. I only know what other people write and it's a waste of my time to paraphrase them. Below is what I think of each pick individually.

Good Picks from Draft 2005

Bucks- Andrew Bogut (1st overall) If I were the Bucks, I would have made this pick as well. They needed a center and this was by far the best one available. I can't think of too many centers in the recent past who are as good as Bogut is now. Everybody keeps saying that Marvin Williams will be the guy who defines this draft years from now, but that's not a sure bet, and it's smarter to be safe then sorry. Personally, I have a lot of questions about Marvin Williams. Anybody who watched him the National Championship saw a chicken with his head cut off, and most of the time his hands looked cut off too. I just didn't see that fire that I think it takes to be a top notch player. He has a complacent attitude in my eyes. Only time will tell though. For tonight though, Bogut was the correct pick.

Hornets-Chris Paul (4th overall) Paul wasn't my favorite PG in this draft, but nevertheless, he is an excellent player. He's just so damn fast. I heard comparisons to Isiah Thomas and that's not bad company to be mentioned with. I think he'll definitely be a good NBA player but I would have went with Felton. Maybe I'm biased being a huge UNC Fan, but either way, that's my opinion.

Bobcats- Raymond Felton (6th overall) and Sean May (13th overall) I think these picks are both good picks by themselves and I really like them packaged together, especially in Charlotte. Even with the new team in town, Charlotte still had trouble selling tickets. Adding two guys who just won a championship together in Charlotte's backyard should help bring people in. I hope it does because I always like the Hornets as a kid and I'd like to see a team do well there, especially after having such a good fanbase in the early years. As far at the talent the Bobcats picked up in these two guys. I love Felton. He was my favorite PG as I stated earlier. I see him as a Tony Parker type. Flying down the court and setting up shots for other players or taking it to the rack. I think Sean May had the best back to the basket moves in the draft. Even better then Bogut. Give May a couple extra inches and he might have been the first overall pick. I think he'll be a successful NBA player though regardless of his height.

Warriors- Ike Diogu (9th overall) I don't care if this guy is undersized for a PF or if he doesn't have enough shooting range to play the 3, plan and simple, the guy gets it done. Diogu averaged 22.6 ppg last season and around 10 rpg. What more can you ask for? I think he's a more athletic version of Sean May and this guy will make it big in the NBA.

Celtics- Gerald Green (18th overall) Like I said earlier, I don't know much about HS players, but from what everybody is saying, this guy is freak of nature. I saw some mock drafts with him picked much higher so this seems like a possible steal for the Celtics right now.

Grizzlies- Hackim Warrick (19th overall) Along with being a UNC fan, I also follow the Big East pretty closely because of my fondness for WVU. And no I'm not fair weathered. Been going to their games for years. Anyways, I got to see Warrick play a lot. Warrick is the definition of an athlete. He's tall, fast, and can jump. His athleticism alone will take him far. This was an excellent pick by the Grizzlies at 19. I heard him being compared to Scottie Pippen, but to me he reminds me more of a young Robert Horry(minus the super clutchness Horry possesses).

Brief thoughts on a few teams drafts:

The Raptors are just dumb. What else can I say. Last years pick would make one question if Babcock has an IQ above 90 and this years only reassures that in fact, it's not. First of all, why pick the same position 3 years in a row? Next, if you are going to do that, why oh why do you take Charlie Villanueva? He had an okay career at UConn. He didn't show me anything that warranted him getting picked in the top 10. Half the time he stood out behind the 3 point line. Unless my PF is named Dirk, I want him under the basket. He saved himself somewhat by picking Joey Graham at 16 but nothing could save this draft after his pick at 7.


I also liked the Lakers draft. I don't know much about their first round pick, Andrew Bynum, but if he turns into a Jermaine O'neal and not Diop from the Cavs, this will turn out to be a great pick. It'll take at least 3 years to know what's up with him so will have to see. However, their 2nd round pick, Ronny Turiaf was a great pick to me. I love his aggressive style and how he attacks the basket. For a 2nd rounder, I think they got an excellent player and someone who will contribute right away, albeit in a small way at first.


New Orleans had an excellent draft as well. You heard what I thought about Chris Paul earlier, but they also took Brandon Bass in the 2nd round out of LSU. Here is another guy who I think will make in impact sooner then some people expect. He could have used another year in college but this guy can play. He's an athlete.


As I stated earlier, I think Charlotte did very well in the draft. Not only from a talent stand point, but also a very fan friendly draft. They added a very good PG to their lineup, and putting Sean May with Emeka Okafor, and you can see that this young team is headed in the right direction.

One of the things I hate about the NBA

Terry Porter was fired today in Milwaukee. Why? Because the Bucks big wigs want to make a run at Nate Mcmillan and Flip Saunders. Are Mcmillan and Saunders better coaches then Porter? It's arguable in both cases. How good would either of those coaches do with the Bucks talent. I'd venture to say the records wouldn't change to much between those 3 guys. I hate that there is no loyalty in sports. It's not as if Porter's Bucks were loaded with talent. He made the playoffs 1 of 2 years and never had a record better then .500. What did the Bucks management expect. To win the championship? Give me a break. They suck. I like Michael Redd and I think he's bottom-tier star, but with him as your star player, you're never gonna be a championship team. I don't care who is calling the plays on the bench. Mcmillan had Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. Was it Nate Mcmillan's great coaching that made the Sonics better then the Bucks, or was it the fact that the Sonics had better players from top to bottom?

I don't know. I just hate seeing coach after coach get fired for basically no reason. Paul Silas, Eric Musselman, Jeff Bdzelik, and the list goes on. All these guys got fired for no reason if you ask me. The talent level on these teams is at the bottom of the league. What do you expect the coaches to do, be miracle workers? You need talent to win no matter you are. Are the Lakers going to win the NBA Title next year just because the have the best coach in the last 15 years? No, and who knows if they are any closer with him then they were without him. I know coaches help and they are necessary, but they don't turn shitty teams into champions. The might make shitty teams mediocre and the might make good teams great, but they don't take teams from hell to heaven in 2 seasons. It's not fair that they are expected to either. It takes time to win and become a good team. Pick a coach, stick with him, give him some players, and when he gets enough talent to win, if he doesn't finally win, then you fire him. Have some patience.

The Zen Master is Back

For those of you living under a rock for the past few days, Phil Jackson is back as Lakers head coach. This isn't a real big shocker for anybody who follows the NBA, or even just watches ESPN. It's been expected for quite some time. The only question that remains is what brings Jackson back after all the turmoil he left with after last season?

I've got a few theories for that question. He likes the attention. I think he gets a kick of trying to be some psychological genius. He takes the Zen Master title to heart. Phil might want to show the world that after a year of thought he's figured out Kobe Bryant. That he can work with Kobe and take him to the "next level". Maybe he wants to see if he can mold Kobe into a better all-around team player. Many people out there, including myself credit the Laker championship run to Shaq's dominance. This is Kobe and Phil's chance to prove everyone wrong. That it wasn't Shaq and in Phil's case, MJ being the only reason they won championships. I think this might be a subconscious reason for Phil's return to Laker land. I don't think he's that self-absorbed to take a job just to prove his genius.

Another reason Phil may have came back was for money. It seems kind of oxymoronic for a Zen master to be fueled by money but hey, he's human. I think this is a pretty relevant reason for his return. I don't see what would interest him about this job so much based solely on basketball. The best player is one he's already coached and obviously had problems with. What would entice him about that? Maybe a few more million dollars a year to put up with his shit. They don't have much cap room to work with and overall it's not the most enticing job out there. If I were Phil I would have looked at the Minnesota opening. Personally, I'd be much more intrigued trying to build a team around KG then Kobe. KG is much more of a team player and his passing skills would aid well in the triangle.

The last reason, and probably the most realistic reason for Jackson's return to LA was a chance to coach young Walton to greatness. Just kidding. Seriously though, it's to be with Jeannie Buss. We've all done it. We've all made decisions based on our love life and why should the Zen man be any different. Hey, I'd take multi-millions per year and put up with Kobe's shit for a chance to be with a former Playboy Playmate. I think most of us out there would.

Mostly, this wasn't the most news breaking story of all time, but I thought I'd throw out a couple of reasons for Phil's return after such a rocky end to his first tenure as coach. Maybe will get a book detailing his reasoning in the future? One can only hope!

2005 Drafts Top Dogs and off the radar

With the draft less then a month away, I thought it was time I talked about some of the players coming into the league this year. I'll start with some of the bigger named players and what I think about them and then I'll talk about a few of the players not expected to get drafted high who I think will surprise some people.

- Marvin Williams/SF/UNC

UNC is my favorite NCAA team so I got to see him in action quite often. To be honest, I was never really that impressed with him and can't understand what the big fuss is all about. I know in the NBA everybody loves the word potential, and that's about all I see right now. I'm the type of person who likes NBA ready players, not works in progress. I see Williams as a work in progress. In the national championship he looked like a chicken with his head cut off. He couldn't catch passes that were right in his chest, grab rebounds, and basically played terrible. For those of you who say, "oh he's only an 18 year old freshman", let me remind you just 2 years earlier there was a freshman who led the Orangemen to the title by the name of Carmelo Anthony. If you are supposed to be the best player in the draft, I expect to see some more out of you in the biggest game of your career. If you can't step up in college, what makes you think you can in the NBA? I'm not saying Williams can't play and will never turn into a good player, but I am saying that I don't agree with him going number one overall.

-Andrew Bogut/C/Utah

This is my number one pick. Bogut is a guy you could plug in right away and get production. Will he end up being the best player in the draft 5 years from now? I doubt it. I still take him number one though. He plays good with his back to the basket, rebounds well, and is a very good passer. The Bucks own the number one pick, and they need a center pretty badly. I don't know how long they plan on living with Dan Gadzuric. Bogut's not gonna be the next Shaq, but I see him as a Vlade Divac type player and I think any team would love to have had Vlade in his hey day. At least with Bogut, you know what you are getting when if you select him.

-Raymond Felton/PG/UNC

I love Felton. In my opinion he was the best player on the Tar Heels. He is a prototypical point guard. He's excellent at controlling the game and without him, I don't think the Heels win the championship. His shooting has improved every year of his college career and I love his passing. He gets in the lane with his lightening quick speed and drops off passes or kicks out with good accuracy. If I were looking for a PG, I'm taking him over everybody. I don't care about Chris Paul and I don't care about Deron Williams. Paul is too short and Williams is too mediocre. Dee Brown is better then Williams in my eyes.

Guys you take in the late first round or 2nd round

-Ronnie Turiaf/C/Gonzaga

I like this guy. He's agressive on both ends and I just don't see what people are afraid of when it comes to him. When I think of Turiaf, I always think of him throwing down some pretty hard dunks. He's great around the basket. I see him as a Carlos Boozer type player. Nothing spectacular but gets the job done every night. With people like Marc Blount getting huge contracts in the NBA, I would definitly take a chance on this guy. If people are willing to pay big bucks for garbage like Blount, they can get Turiaf for a lot cheaper and once he gets acclimated to the league, a lot more productive.

-Julies Hodge/SF/NC State

It seems like his college career lasted as long as my HS and College days (9 years for those of you counting). I just like his athleticism. He'd be a nice guy to bring in off the bench. He has great energy, is a capable scorer, and has really long arms to make it tough on players with his defense. He'd be a good fit for an established team. I could see him making an impact for someone like the Suns or Heat. God knows the Suns need help on defense. Adding his long arms and atleticism off the bench would be a nice to start.

What gives?

• It seems the Bulls and Scott Skiles can't quit get on the same page when it comes to signing a long term extension. I don't know exactly who's asking for what, but as long as it's a reasonable offer, how can the Bulls even think of not bringing Skiles in for the long haul? He finally got the team back in the playoffs after 7 long seasons. This is a young team who could have finished with the 3rd worst record in the East, nevermind the fact that they had the 3rd best. I think that's pretty impressive, especially after an 0-9 start. I think going from 23-59 and having the 2nd worst record in the East all the way to 47-35 is reason enough to give Skiles what he wants. He got that team to play hard and with a true point guard who can defend added to that team and another quality bench player, this team could be even better next year.

• In Lakerland, Phil Jackson has set a mid-June deadline to decide what he'll be doing for next season. I can't quite remember the exact quote, but it's something along the lines of him waiting for a vision to see what he wants to do. He's talked to Kobe on the phone, but Kobe is wary of meeting in person in order to avoid the backlash if Phil decides he doesn't want to coach once he meets with Kobe. He doesn't want to take the blame. However, he said he'd meet with Jackson if the Laker big wigs asked him too. Dr. Buss is looking for a long term coach, not someone who is just going to be around for a year or two. I don't know what role that will have on the decision. I guess time will tell, or maybe his vision will. If Phil does decide to come back, you can expect a contract ranging from 7-10 million per year. Not to shabby.
  

• It seems the Wolves want to offer PJ Carlisimo their coaching job. There's one problem though, K.G. doesn't want him. I'm sure it has something to do with his teamatte Latrell Sprewell. But K.G. should remember one thing, it was Latrell who did the choking, not Carlisimo. Maybe he should reconsider who wants as a teamatte. If K.G. gives in and decides he can play for PJ, you can expect to see Spreewell in another uniform next year. I can't imagine those two coexisting again. If I were the Wolves I'd be looking to get rid of Spree anyways. He basically sucked all of last year and I think his days as an impact player are limited. I'll have to keep an eye on this story.
  

• For those of you interested in the labor talks, they are at a standstill. Both sides met yesterday for 2 1/2 hours but nothing came of it. No new meetings are scheduled. Some of the sticking points are the max length of long term deals and the increase of the minimum age. Just something to keep your eyes peeled for as the season comes to an end. For those interested, I have a post on the CBA a few spots down. Check it out!
  

Coaching Changes

So far 3 open coaching slots have been filled for next season. I'll take a little tour of the teams with new coaches and give a thought or two one what it means for those teams future.

Orlando- Orlando decided to go with the blast from the past, Brian Hill to guide them into the future. What this means for them in the future? I'm not quite sure. Hill's track record without Shaq isn't very impressive. In fact it's pretty terrible. However, I don't think Orlando is too far from the playoffs, especially in the East where the bottom half of the playoff teams chould change very easily. Only 3 teams strike me as locks for next years playoffs and those 3 teams are Detroit, Miami, and Indiana. A new coach and a few additions in the offseason and Orlando could easily finish the regular season as a playoff team. I think the main thing Orlando should be concerned with is getting a Center this off-season. Kelvin Cato, Andrew Declerq, and Mario Kasun doesn't sound too intimidating going into next year.

Grade the Move- B

Philadelphia- GM Billy King finally got his golden boy, Maurice Cheeks to come home to Philly and take over. I like Cheeks so I hope he does good there but I really don't see that team changing. Iverson has had 99 coaches and every team seems to be the same. The only plus I see out of this move is that Iverson respects (or so he says) Cheeks. Only time will tell when it comes to that. I think Iverson is a grade A baby. Regardless of the coach, with Iverson and Webber together for a whole season, they definitly have enough talent to reach the playoffs. I think that's all you get out of them though. Any team with Webber on it is doomed as far as I'm concerned. He's one of the softest players I've ever seen and I can't see him leading a team to the Finals and definitly never win a championship.

Grade the Move- B+

Cleveland- They were the first team of the off-season to grab an unproven coach. The Cavs decided to snatch Mike Brown away from Mike Carlisle and the Pacers. I won't pretend I know too much about him but I will say this. He was an assistant for 3 years with Greg Popovich and that automatically grabs my attention. Popovich is my favorite coach in the league. I think the Spurs are the definition of the way a team should play basketball and if he soaked up any knowledge at all from his 3 years with Pop, he'll do just fine. Mike Carlisle isn't a bad guy to learn from either. As I said for the 76'ers and Magic , any team could grab a playoff spot in the East. With King James leading them it shouldn't be a problem as long as they resign Big Z or get another top free agent.

Grade the Move- A-

That leaves Portland, Minnesota, LA Lakers, and New York with slots left to fill, and from what I've been reading, Detroit will be in need of a new coach after their season ends. Rumor has it that Larry Brown will jump ship once again, this time to be President of Basketball Operations in Cleveland. If he does leave, I just hope he sticks with this job. I don't want to see him leave to coach another team in the future. If he wants to coach he should stick with Detroit. If his health doesn't allow for coaching, then this move to Cleveland makes perfect sense.

You can expect Flip Saunders to take one of the jobs open ane whoever has him will have a good coach. I also read that Phil and Kobe are set to meet and see if they can work together. If that goes through you'll probably see the Lakers back in the playoffs next season.

When the positions are filled I'll let you know what I think about it. Until then having fun watching the end of the playoffs. I know I am. Go Spurs!

CBA Negotiations

As you well know, the NBA Owners and Players association are currently negotiating a new CBA. I'm not gonna put you to sleep pretending I know about escrow accounts and all that other jibberish they talk about. I am going to talk about what I feel is the most important aspect of these negotiations and probably the most controversial topic, the age limit.

First off, I know the NBA is a business and everybody has a right to make money. Afterall, we live in the USA where capitalism is king. I'm writing this from a pure basketball fans standpoint though. The NBA NEEDS an age limit. I'll highlight a few of the reasons why I think it's good for the game of basketball ( I stole that from MJ).

• Team USA blowing
• Everybody has watched USA Basketball disappoint us the last two times they got together. I don't know about you but I find this to be unacceptable. We invented the damn sport. We should be the best at it. Just 13 years ago we were destroying teams every single game. Now we don't even medal. I think a lot of that has to do with the young players in the game today. Some don't go to college and many of them only stay for a year or two. USA gets beat on fundamentals, notathleticism and you learn fundamentals in college. It's one thing to work on your skills in practice, but it's a whole new monster when you get to put your practice to work in gametime. A lot of the young players never get to play their first few years and I think they fall behind in the fundamentals department. At least with an age limit of 20, most players would be forced to play 2 maybe 3 years of college basketball. I think this would help tremendously in teaching them the game. Every once in awhile you might run into an Amare Stoudemire who comes out of high school and is already 20. You just have to live with that, but for the most part I think this would help.
  

• NCAA becomes better
• I like the NCAA as much as I do the NBA so I'd like to see it benefit from this age limit as well. I think the fans get cheated a lot of times of some really incredible teams. Can you imagine some of the Duke or UNC teams we might have seen in the last decade if it weren't for early departures? On top of that, I think it'd be a lot more interesting to see what Kobe could have done in college as opposed to seeing him average 6 ppg as a rookie. I think both the NCAA and NBA win with an age limit.

Overall, I just don't think this hurts anybody. Yeah you might lose out on a year or two of earnings, but when you're making 50-150 million dollars in a career, how much are you hurting from losing some money by waiting an extra two years to get your 2nd contract? And a few of you out there might ask, what about the kids who get hurt in college and lose their chance at an NBA career? I say that can happen to anybody at anytime. Just look at the Bulls Jayson Williams. Most likely, he's done for good after getting hurt in his motorcycle accident. The point is, you can say what if all you want, but you have to look at the big picture. An age limit helps a lot more people then it could potentially hurt. And it helps the NBA and it's fans, and we should push for an age limit if you ask me.

NBAMessiah -The Beginning

I want to say to everyone out there who reads this, welcome to my site dedicated to the NBA. First things first. Why the name NBAMessiah? Because I am where you come for guidance, answers, and the truth about the NBA. I'll offer my opinions on everything going on in the league. I won't focus on any one team specifically, basically because I live an hour south of Pittsburgh and we don't have the privelage of watching any specific teams entire season. If there is any one team you might hear more of then others, it's the Bulls. I was sucked in by Michael years ago and I've never left.

Why start an NBA blog? Well because I want to. I love basketball and I've been addicted to reading other people's blogs on the NBA for the past 3 or 4 months. Why not offer my opinion to the masses? If you agree with me great, and if you don't I'd love to hear why not. I encourage the readers to post their comments. I'll do my best to respond.

You also might be thinking, why start an NBA blog during the Conference Finals. Isn't it a little late to join in on the fun. My answers is simple. I won't be talking about this season. My focus starts on the changes going on for next season. The coaching changes, draft and so on.

The format for this blog will basically just be an opionion type thing. I'm not into stats very much. They only tell part of the story. I'm a firm believer that games are won the court, not on paper. However, don't think I totally disregard stats, I just don't put a whole lot of weight into them. On top of everything, I like to think I have a decent eye for good basketball and that's basically what I use to come up with my opinions.

I'll worry about the look of this page and all that jazz later. I'll start posting sometime this weekend and will continue to throughout the offseason and all through next season.