First off, props to the Miami Heat on winning the NBA Championship. I ate crow on that one twice, first predicting Dallas to win the series beforehand and then by burying the Heat after they went down 0-2. I still think Dallas had the better squad but they buckled. Dwyane Wade is money. However, his coronation as the best player in the NBA, bar none (which seems to be the popular comment everywhere) is premature, and in my mind, incorrect. I've long said that Kevin Garnett is the best player in the league. Sure he's on the trading block and it seems as though he's been slept on the last few years but look at the numbers. This season he averaged 21.8 points and a league-best 12.7 rebounds per game (and throw in 4 assists, a block and a half, and a steal and a half a night.) Put KG in San Antonio and Tim Duncan in Minnesota and see who has the rings. If you eliminate KG because of his team's lack of success (despite his multiple MVP-worthy seasons) then you have to look at Kobe, with his three rings. 35 a night this season? Are you serious? First Team All-NBA and First Team All-Defense, pretty impressive. In fact, if I'm starting a team today, I go with LeBron over Wade, if only by a hair (note: LeBron's 31, 7, 7 to Wade's 27, 6, 7.) Certainly Wade has a better supporting cast than does LeBron. Wade is incredible and I'm a huge fan but I think there are a few players that are superior.
Normally I would do an NBA mock draft here. But this year's draft is weaker than an Ethopian on a hunger strike. So instead I'll break down a few prospects. First is the hot Euro talent, Andrea Bargnani. Let's see, 6'11" versatile Italian big man that plays for Benneton Treviso....I can swear this sounds so familiar....oh, yeah, just like Nikoloz Tshkitishvili (career: 3 ppg, 2 rpg), that sterling exemplar of international talent translating to the NBA. You cannot overlook Bargnani's 11 points and 4 rebounds a game. Incredible. Next is Tyrus Thomas of LSU. Again, I seem to recollect something....freakishly athletic and long LSU forward....right, Stromille Swift, who has averaged just 9 points and 5 boards in 6 NBA seasons. LaMarcus Aldridge looks to me just like Randolph Morris, who went undrafted last year. Rudy Gay is another unfinished product that doesn't do anything that blows me away. And his UConn teammate Marcus Williams is likewise overrated (and watch your laptop...) And the player that everyone says would have gone #1 without question is high schooler Greg Oden. Dude averaged an astonishing 19.8 points and 9.8 rebounds against teenagers. Wow. Oden's a 7 footer, in high school, with supposed-NBA ready talent and he goes for (just) 20 and 10?! By contrast, Al Jefferson of Boston, a former straight-from-high-school first rounder averaged 40 and 20 as a senior. As for players I do like: Adam Morrison. A friend of mine had the perfect NBA comparison for Morrison: Wally Szerbiak. I've also heard him compared to Chris Mullin. Morrison should be a good NBA player, possibly getting a few All-Star nods. Shelden Williams looks like the next in the line of undersized Duke big men to succeed in the league (see also Elton Brand and Carlos Boozer.) I also like several college-gasp!-seniors in J.J. Redick, Brandon Roy, Randy Foye, and Maurice Ager. All are lucid examples of the benefits of staying in school, at good programs, to make yourself truly NBA ready. A few second round sleepers-Allan Ray, Leon Powe, Dee Brown, Kevin Pittsnogle (best name in the draft, also) and Eric Williams. My All-Should-Have-Stayed-In-School Team: Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, and LaMarcus Aldridge.
I'd like to revisit a subject I never commented on, Big Bonehead Ben. Why would a multi-million dollar athlete (or anyone for that matter) risk injury (or worse) by riding motorcycles at all, let alone without wearing a helmet? I'm not a motorcycle guy so maybe I'm not the best person to comment but it seems to me given what we've seen just in the last few years with Jay Williams and Kellen Winslow II that athletes should park their bikes in the garage. Is it worth the risk of costing yourself millions in current and future earnings and of costing your team your services? I do not get it. Be responsible. And while I'm talking about Big Ben I feel compelled to say, however reticently, how overrated he is as a player. I was the biggest Roethisberger fan coming out of college. I openly said he was the best QB in the draft (ahead of Manning and Rivers) and second only to Roy Williams. And I think Big Ben will eventually put up Pro-Bowl numbers. But as of now, he's pretty average. The Steelers win in spite of him, not because of him. They play a ball control offense, focusing on clock management and running the football, while limiting turnovers. Big Ben is solid but he does not belong in the upper echelon of NFL QB's, at least not yet (I'm pretty sure Trent Dilfer has a Super Bowl ring, too.)
Quote of the Week:
"It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."-Aristotle.
[Open Your Mind!!!! (Politics, religion, etc)]
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