| Why The League Should Be Seeing Green At The Draft Authored by Will McClaran - March 26, 2007 - 5:15 pm
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Let’s be honest, Memphis, Tennessee isn’t exactly a big time basketball market. When I think of Grizzlies basketball the only things that come to mind are the blunder in drafting Steve Francis, the fact that Bryant “Big County” Reeves is the only player to have his jersey retired, and that Pau Gasol looks a lot like Paul McCartney in the later years of the Beatles. Let’s face it, basketball is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Memphis.
Boston on the other hand is quite a different story. The Boston Celtics are undoubtedly the most storied basketball franchise; they have 16 titles, played in one of the most famous arenas, the old Boston Gahhden, and have 21 retired numbers hanging in the rafters, seven of which were members of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players. Boston is accustomed to success, and lately there hasn’t been much of it on the hardwood.
As much criticism as Danny Ainge has received since coming back to Boston as Executive Director of Basketball Operations, one thing you can’t knock him on is his ability to see talent.
Delonte West has done well in Boston, Al Jefferson is staring to blossom into the big man we all in New England had hoped, Rajon Rondo is starting to show us a glimpse of what he is capable of doing (but if one of those things is lead the team in rebounds like he did at Kentucky, then the C’s are in serious trouble), and Gerald Green, arguably the best player in the history of the NBDL, has been showing people he can do other things than win a slam dunk contest.
Before Ainge came back to town, the Celtics were good at drafting talent, just not holding on to it. I’m pretty sure any Celtic fan wouldn’t mind still having Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson on the team.
Although the league has wanted the draft lottery to be fair ever since the Knicks “had a bad season” and picked up some kid from Georgetown named Patrick Ewing, they need to think about the state of the union for a minute. If you try to compare Boston to Memphis it’s like apples and oranges. Would the league be better off with their most famous franchise being able to have the choice of Durant or Oden (pending their decision to jump to the league)?
If the Celtics had the ability to draft one of the freshman phenoms, it would be as big for the team as when they were able to draft Len Bias. If the Celtics had sent a chaperone to watch over Bias that night the Celtics would probably have three more titles, and you might not be reading this column right now. Hopefully the Celtics had learned from that night to make sure the prospects are with the right people.
The way I see it, the Celtics have more to gain from being able to hold the number one pick than the Grizzles do. They need a strong, seven foot center as bad as Ron Artest needs a hit to get his record label off the ground. It’s fairly disheartening to see Brian Scalabrine getting quality minutes in an NBA game. This is a man who has a smile on his face when he hits a shot. I know this doesn’t happen very often, but it’s your job. That’s like a janitor rejoicing when he mops a floor. This is also a man whose best skill on the basketball court is throwing the inbound pass after a made basket. No offense Scal, but I could do that in a Celtics uniform for a lot less than your three million a year.
Could the Grizzlies use Oden or Durant? Of course. However, it makes no sense for the number one draft pick this year, if it is Kevin Durant or Greg Oden, to go to a small market like Memphis. A player of that caliber needs to go to a city where they will get a high level for national media attention for themselves, and their team. The greatest team in the league needs to be atop the league contending for a title, not claiming that every year is a “rebuilding year”.
David Stern should help the Celtics out, and give them their Len Bias of 2007. The way I see it, I don’t think Big Country will mind too much if the Grizzlies didn’t get the number one pick. He’ll be content going to Oklahoma State games and driving his four wheelers. |
