It was an exciting draft this year, with multiple trades and a new record for the most freshmen ever being drafted. The first three players drafted were all freshmen.
The Bulls used the number-one pick to nab Derrick Rose. I do think Chicago will benefit from this selection—but they weren't the team that got the most out of this draft.
One team I would like to mention is Toronto. The Raptors are expected to trade TJ Ford, Roy Hibbert, Rasho Nesterovic and Macio Bastin to Indiana for Jermaine O'Neal and Nathan Jawai. With this trade, the Raptors are finally acquiring some good, big bodies in the middle.
This is a risky trade, however, because of O'Neal's recent injuries. If O'Neal performs similarly to last year, it wasn't really worth it for the Raptors to get a guy who plays 40 games and only scores 13 points a game. But if he can return to his old form...
O'Neal has been a legitimate MVP candidate twice in his career. He lost to Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan—two future Hall of Famers. If O'Neal, 29, can get back to his former 20 and 10 days as a Pacer, the Raptors will be in very good shape.
If not, this trade will hurt the Toronto Raptors dearly, because a 13-point, six-rebound guy—who you are paying $45 million over the next two years—isn't very good for your team.
One team that I feel will have a fantastic roster in the near future is the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland added some more key players to their team— Brandon Rush, Mike Taylor and Omer Asik.
However, they have been rumored to be involved in many trades. Although not final yet, the following players are rumoured be leaving: Mike Taylor, Brandon Rush, Josh McRoberts, and Jarret Jack. Darrel Arthur and Joey Dorsey have already been traded in a 3 team deal with the Rockets and the Grizzlies, in this trade the Trail Blazers acquired forward Nicolas Batum. Players rumored to be coming to Portland are: Jerryd Bayless, Ike Diogu, and some valuable draft picks in '09.
If all of these transactions are to happen, Portland would add a lot to their very potent young team.
The team I think that "won" this draft is the Miami Heat. Although only acquiring two players, they filled their needs by acquiring a future All-Star in Michael Beasleym, and a point guard in Mario Chalmers. This would make possible a small but potent lineup of Mario Chalmers, Dwayne Wade, Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem, and Michael Beasley.
We won't truly know who did the best until the season rolls around—but I believe the Heat are best set for this fall.
15 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Justin Morgan about 1 year ago
Miami deffinatly won the draft. I said yesterday that their best choice would be Michael Beasley. They also picked up Mario Chalmers, who I think will be a decent player in the future. I'm not sure if I agree with your starting line-up though. I don't think I would throw Chalmers in the starting PG spot just yet. They should be able to make the playoffs in the East if they stay healthy and Beasley isn't overwhelmed in his rookie season.
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TJ Zwarych about 1 year ago
Yes I agree, I wasn't going to put Chalmers there but then I thought...who else?
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Justin Morgan about 1 year ago
I'm not positive on the status of J-Will since I haven't heard about him in a while, but if he is healthy I would have him start until Chalmers gets some experience. Unless Chalmers proves in pre-season that he is ready to be an every day NBA PG.
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c s about 1 year ago
nathan jawai isnt the aussie shaq for no reason i say let him stay one more year and bring him up in 2009 even 2008 will be fine this guy get JO and CB4 tot each him, he truly is lucky, go raptors!
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TJ Zwarych about 1 year ago
Yeah, a guy that huge with that much raw talent behind chris bosh and jermaine o'neal, you know he will be good.
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Andrew Kneeland about 1 year ago
I think an NBA draft can officially be "graded" one or two years after the fact. NFL drafts take longer because it takes longer for players to develop, and MLB drafts take even longer.
Good work.
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CJ about 1 year ago
yeah your right...I was surprised Chalmers was still on the board for the Heat to pick up. He plays great defense and will help Wade out in a big way.
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Jack Frost about 1 year ago
No question, Chicago won the draft by a wide margin. Rose looks like a combination of Chris Paul and LeBron. His addition will let them trade Gordon for a forward like Elton Brand, and then this team will be almost unbeatable.
Omer Asik would have been a top ten player in another year or two - check out the videos on this guy, he's incredible. The Bulls got him for three number twos - none of whom would have stuck anyway.
Miami made a huge mistake taking Beasley. The Miami nightlife is going to be a big disaster for him.
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Captain Fanatic about 1 year ago
The O'neal gamble is well worth it...Toronto as it stands is a very soft team...
Plus Bosh's contract is up in a couple of years and he's sick and tired of getting banged around!
Great article, we could use a good writer!!
The Captain
toSPORTS.ca
thecaptain@tosports.ca
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Curly Morris about 1 year ago
I like the way the Pacers completely reinvented their team. They landed T.J. Ford, Jarret Jack, Roy Hibbert and Kareem Rush in a span of two days.
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Curly Morris about 1 year ago
My bad...Brandon Rush
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c s about 1 year ago
hmmmm if only someone would take joey graham and kris humphries from us :D i think we should let them go try to get a rookie slasher to help kapono/moon/parker
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TJ Zwarych about 1 year ago
In games Joey acctually does get to play he does great, I dont know why he never plays him, and I think Humphries is a great up and comer, he always shows great hustle.
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Hugh Jass about 1 year ago
Yeah, I agree that the Heat got the best of the draft. Portland is obviously going to be great in a few years. The up and coming team though is the Utah Jazz. In two years if not next year, they will be the team to beat in the Western conference. But hey, I just joined BR and I want you to read some of my articles and tell me what you think of them.
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Andrew Butler about 1 year ago
I like Minnesota, they picked up mike miller perfect for sf and veteran leadership, and kevin love whose productivity at the NCAA level if it can transition over here would be a phenomenal pickup, not to mention they weeded out some bust contracts as well, they might have gotten a 2 for one deal, and nikola pekovic, had it not been for the salary restrictions of first rounders, would have gone top 20, and if he comes over to the u.s. the wolves may actually contend for a playoff spot, 3 or 4 years down the road.
I also like the Grizzlies, granted Darko Milic yeah a problem, but they have a real PF now with Arthur instead of WArrick with his versatility and being undersized making him well suited backing up rudy gay. O.J. Mayo, Mike Conley, Javaris Crittenton, Kyle Lowry, Donte Greene, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick, Darrell Arthur. Athletic, fast, promising, couple of busts here and there but you got a good looking team 3 or 4 years down the road as well.
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