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With the 2011 NBA Draft now in the books, it's time to hand out 30 grades for all 30 teams.
Starting with...
Dallas Mavericks (Inc)
No Draft Picks
It’s all good.
Keep partying Dallas.
Denver Nuggets (B+)
First round: Kenneth Faried
First round: Jordan Hamilton
Second round: Chukwudiebere Maduabum
The Nuggets had a draft a weird draft, in the sense that I like the players they took…just not necessarily with this team.
To a degree, I guess Faried makes sense. Kenyon Martin is a free agent, and Nene has a player option to leave, so I guess he’s insurance should both bolt town.
But Jordan Hamilton? He’s a volume shooter, who jacks up bad shots, has a low basketball IQ (and by “low,” I actually mean non-existent) and plays poor perimeter defense, which is basically the exact way you’d describe four guys that the Nuggets already have.
Isn’t Hamilton just a taller, less tatt’ed up version of J.R. Smith?
As for Chukwudiebere Maduabum, well, just looking at his name on paper is making my head hurt.
Anyone have Tylenol?
Golden State Warriors (B-)
First round: Klay Thompson
Second round: Charles Jenkins
Second round: Jeremy Tyler
With the selection of Thompson in the first round, the Warriors once again proved that some teams just aren’t concerned about winning. After all, how many all-offense, no-defense perimeter guys does one team need? Is Golden State stocking up in case the world comes to an end tomorrow or something?
As for their second-rounders, well, I’m kind of intrigued by Tyler. All jokes aside, this guy was (at a time), the best player in his high school class, ranked ahead of Kyrie Irving, Brandon Knight, Jared Sullinger and others.
Granted, since then he’s proven to have the maturity level of a 16-year-old girl, but still.
If he ever puts it all together, Tyler could end up being a steal.
Houston Rockets (B-)
First round: Marcus Morris
First round: Donatas Motiejunas
Second round: Chandler Parsons
I bumped this up to a B- only because Marcus Morris had the best line of the night after his brother got drafted, when he said that he’d send him “flowers or fruit or something” when he got lonely (Marcus and his twin Markieff have played together their whole lives). Absolutely classic.
Otherwise, this draft left me unimpressed.
Look, I think that Rockets GM Daryl Morey has gotten a lot of credit that’s well deserved. He’s embraced analytics, is good with the media, and squeezed about as much of the talent he has as anyone could.
At the same time, how many years in a row can the Rockets hang out in this abyss of “fringe playoff team,” without shaking things up? I love Marcus Morris, and think he’s better than last year’s pick Patrick Patterson.
But is he really a guy who is making Houston better going into next year? Is he the missing piece that’ll push them into the playoffs?
Morey has supposedly been collecting assets for years now, wasn’t this the time to either cash some in and try to move up in the draft or get an impactful player in a trade?
I guess my point is this. Even though I had the NBA League Pass last year, I almost never watched the Rockets. Why? Because I always knew what I was getting out of them.
They were a good team that usually beat the bad ones but were almost never competitive with the league’s elite. Again, they’re stuck in an abyss.
And r
Los Angeles Clippers (C-)
Second round: Trey Thompkins
Second round: Travis Leslie
How can you not love the Clippers? Only they would take two guys that were considered underachievers off a college team that wildly underachieved in its own right.
The fact that Jay Bilas said that Trey Thompkins had the body fat of “a sea lion,” probably didn’t make Clippers fans feel better either.
If you are looking for a positive spin however, I’m guessing that Leslie and Blake Griffin are going to have some pretty epic dunk contests after practice next year!
(This article features only the Western Conference Draft grades. To read the ENTIRE Eastern Conference Draft Recap and Grades, please click here. Also, for updates on all his articles, podcasts and giveaways, be sure to follow Aaron on http://www.twitter.com/Aaron_Torres)
Los Angeles Lakers (C-)
Second round: Darius Morris
Second round: Andrew Goudelock
Second round: Ater Majok
I know nothing about Goudelock. And I know that after watching him play at UConn, Majok will never play a single, meaningful minute in the NBA. Not one.
As for Morris, people keep saying he’s a first-round talent that fell to the second round, but I don’t totally see it.
To me he was a guy who was able to score points in college because 1) He was more athletic than most 2) The competition wasn’t always that good. Putting an athlete like Morris in the Big Ten is like sticking a supermodel in an all boys computer class. It’s not even fiar.
The bigger concern, is that, as I’ve mentioned before, the Lakers need young pieces that can contribute right now. They don’t need stars, since they’ve got plenty of those. What they do need are guys that can come in and play spot minutes, and take some pressure off all the veterans on this team.
Quite frankly, I’m not sure any of these three can do it.
Memphis Grizzlies (B)
As I mentioned in yesterday’s column, I actually thought that entering the draft, Josh Selby would provide some good value for whomever selected him. There are simply too many people, who’ve seen him do too many good things for me to believe that the kid is a total fraud. Makes sense, right?
But Selby to this particular team? Oooo-eee!
There are of course, two ways to look at this.
On the one hand, if there’s one team that can take on a questionable character like Selby, it’s got to be the Grizzlies, right? After all, they did gainfully employ Zach Randolph, Tony Allen and O.J. Mayo last year.
At the same time…the Memphis Grizzlies did in fact gainfully employ Zach Randolph, Tony Allen and O.J. Mayo last year, which has the entire Memphis PD on a constant code red alert.
Add Selby to the mix, and Memphis’ season next year is ending in either one of two ways. Either the team will make another epic playoff run, which may result in an NBA title. Or someone is getting shanked in the shower after a bad loss.
There’s simply no middle ground.
Minnesota Timberwolves (B)
First round: Derrick Williams
Second round: Malcolm Lee
Second round: Targuy Ngombo
To sum up the Timberwolves' draft as precisely as possible, let me share with you what I wrote on Twitter after they selected Derrick Williams. It read, “Poor Derrick Williams. Poor Minnesota Timberwolves. Poor America. Everyone’s a loser on this one.” Three days later, I stand by it.
Look, I could be wrong about Williams, but quite frankly, I don’t think I am. He’s got a great work ethic and awesome athleticism, but I’m not sure that makes up for the fact that he’s got the body of a small forward and the game of a power forward.
To be blunt, I don’t think Minnesota is better today than they were Wednesday.
Speaking of which, you can’t totally blame Williams here either. The Timberwolves have seemingly been drafting in the lottery since Pangaea broke apart and aren’t any better for it. Meaning that I don’t care what the market was, they needed to trade this pick.
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Look at their roster; it’s younger than the demographic at a Justin Bieber concert, which is great if you need a great deal on a keg for Friday night. Just not if you’re actually trying to win NBA games.
It’s like I said before about Houston, it might sound great on paper to say you’re “collecting assets,” but at some point, you need to turn those assets into something. With the No. 2 pick in the draft and those young guys (all of whom I assume are expendable except Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio), the best veteran help Minnesota could get was Brad Miller? Can he even walk? Is he even alive? (Short answers: “Maybe” and “just barely”).
Needless to say, this was a dud for Minnesota. It’s no disrespect to Derrick Williams, but something else, something better needed to be done. And unless it gets done between now, and whenever the first game of the season is, we’re going to be talking about Minnesota in this same regard next year.
New Orleans Hornets (Inc)
No Picks
Woops!
I meant, I wish I could say the same for…
Oklahoma City Thunder (B+)
First round: Reggie Jackson
I know nothing about Reggie Jackson (except that his candy bars are phenomenal!), but if I’ve learned one thing through the years, it’s to never, ever question decisions made by the Oklahoma City front office. If they say this guy can play, I trust them.
Phoenix (B-)
For everyone making fun of Phoenix for their affinity for continually drafting the crappy, “other,” brother (Taylor Griffin, Robin Lopez), I ask you this: Can you really tell the difference between the Morris twins? I say not.
Portland (B+)
First round: Nolan Smith
Second round: Jon Diebler
Honestly, I didn’t hate this draft for Portland nearly as much as everyone else.
The truth is, the Blazers were a playoff team, and played the future NBA Champs about as tough as anyone did this postseason. They’ve got a nice core with LaMarcus Aldridge, Gerald Wallace and Brandon Roy (if he can stay healthy), plus they upgraded at point guard with Raymond Felton.
This team is already “good,” with the potential to be “really good” and didn’t need to hit a home run in this draft. A couple solid singles up the middle would do.
And that’s exactly what they got in Smith and Diebler. Both are experienced players, come from good programs, have clean backgrounds and are winners. Each will contribute next year.
Sacramento Kings
First round: Jimmer Fredette
Second round: Tyler Honeycutt
Second round: Isaiah Thomas
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I wanted Jimmer on the Kings, and I got it. What more could I ask for? Now let’s just hope that Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins and the rest of the gang don’t corrupt him, which very well could happen.
Honestly, I won’t even be surprised to see poor Jimmer on a season of Celebrity Rehab within the next few years.
On a different note, let me go on a quick tangent.
Every year there are always kids that, when they decide to leave college for the NBA, leave us as fans scratching our heads, and saying "what?" This year, for the most part, those guys were Honeycutt, Selby, Malcolm Lee and Darius Morris. When each declared, everyone was kind of confused, and thought for sure they’d end up going in the second round. And they all did.
Look, I know that we’re going on almost two decades of bad early entry decisions here, but they never cease to amaze me. When it’s your life and your livelihood at stake, isn’t spending one more year on campus with the possibility of moving into the first round, better than having to fight for a roster spot, and maybe ending up in the NBDL or overseas instead?
Isn’t Jimmer Fredette a perfect example of that? The dude spent one more year on campus and went from the late second round to early first round.
Now, I understand that for some of these kids, going in the second round might be a better alternative than going back to college for another year. Someone like DeAndre Liggins from Kentucky has a family to support.
At the same time, it’s just disappointing to see kids at 19 or 20-years-old put so much of their futures at risk, and for everyone to see the potential harm except for them.
I wish Honeycutt, Lee, Selby and whomever else good luck going forward. I just wish that they’d either gotten better advice before the draft process, or had listened to the advice given to them.
San Antonio (A-)
First round: Kawhi Leonard
First round: Cory Joseph
Second round: Davis Bertans
Second round: Adam Hanga
I love, love, love the Leonard trade for San Antonio. For a 60-win team to get one of the seven or eight best players in the draft is incredible. What’s really incredible too, is how, despite drafting so late every year, this team continues to re-invent itself with young role players to compliment their veterans.
Every year we keep saying that the Spurs window is closing. And every year they find a way to keep it cracked for just a little longer.
Utah Jazz (A-)
First round: Enes Kanter
First round: Alec Burks
This grade really should be an incomplete, since no one has actually seen Kanter play. But if he’s as good as most seem to think he’ll be, the Jazz very well might’ve gotten the best player in this draft.
Now, how he fits in with Derrick Favors, Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap is another story.
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