The wheeling and dealing started early Wednesday afternoon with the Pacers swapping Jermaine O' Neal for the Raptors point guard T.J. Ford and contuned until 2am eastern time Friday with Kevin Love being traded from Memphis to Minnesota for the rights to O.J. Mayo (or as i like to call him Ovinton J' Anthony Mayo).
That trade ended the draft but the debate rages on, Big vs. Small.
The Chicago Bulls had that choice with the first pick and chose Memphis PG Derrick Rose over a seemingly sure 20 and 10 guy Michael Beasley. The league is being taken over by great point guards with the stellar play of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Tony Parker, and Steve Nash.
The thing I don't understand is that none of those great players were in the Finals. Instead the two point guards were Derek Fisher and Rajon Rondo. Fisher is a rock on defense and one of the smarter guards in the league. Rondo is extremely athletic and fast but neither are even mentioned in the same breathe as those other guards.
If you truly want to get technical a team with a great point guard as there go to man has not won a championship since 1990 when Zeke sliced the Trailblazers up in 5 games (Tony Parker has Tim Duncan). Point guards are changing the game these days and signal a faster turnaround to a team than most other players.
Just look how successful the Hornets and Jazz have been lately.
Point guards are the new hot thing in the league and I love it but I am still under the old adage that big's put banners in your arena. Just two years ago the experts were telling us that the run and gun was taking over basketball and i haven't seen the Warriors or Suns put any gold on their fingers (Stephen Jackson's brass knuckles don't count). So we will see how these deals and decisions workout for the big and the little of the draft. So I realize that grades are pointless if these guys haven't even stepped on the floor yet but i will put my talent evaluating skills to the test and tell you what these players will in the league.
So now i will attempt to be a professor at the school of basketball and hand out my 2008 NBA Draft Grades.
Atlanta Hawks Grade: B+ No Picks
The Hawks had no picks in this draft because they traded there first rounder this year for Joe Johnson in 2005 and their second rounder for Mike Bibby this year. I gave them their grade because they finally made the playoffs after a miserable drought. The trades were worth it and the future looks good in Atlanta.
Boston Celtics Grade: B- 1.30 J.R. Giddens 2.47 Bill Walker 2.60 Semih Erden
Coming off of the abomination of the Lakers the Celtics wouldn't appear to need much. They really don't but they missed out on a great opportunity to get Mario Chalmers who would of been a great upgrade on defense for Sam Cassell and a change of pace for Rondo.
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