Missouri Looks to Send Two Tigers Into NBA on Draft Day

So what’s the best part of the incredibly long and dull Major League Baseball Draft?

No, it’s not getting the chance to hear Bud Selig say Notre Dame University is in Notre Dame, Indiana, although that’s close.

It’s not even the incredible Shelby Miller interview, in which the 18-year-old 19th pick in the draft blew any chance at leverage in negotiations and ever being referred to as humble in one fell swoop.

No, the best news is that it means the much more interesting (take note of the impact of trades, Mr. Selig) and shorter NBA Draft is only two weeks away.

Everyone knows Blake Griffin is going No. 1, and everyone else is talking about who the other lottery picks are going to be. But that’s not what this blog is for. It’s time to take another look at two of the best Missouri prospects since Linas Kleiza (yeah, that’s a knock on you, Thomas Gardner)—Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll.

The way I see it, choosing the better of the two depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a guy who’s going to work hard for you every night but might not have the athletic ability to ever make him anything more than an eighth or ninth guy off the bench, or a role player at best, you want DeMarre Carroll. If you  want to take a risk with a guy who’s a bit more of a headcase but probably has more natural talent, Leo Lyons is your man.

The other thing that should be mentioned with Carroll is this liver problem. Apparently he’s at risk for a liver transplant, but his agent assures us it’s nothing to worry about in the short term. Hopefully that’s the case and the letter they’re sending out to NBA teams will clear everything up, but the vagueness of the situation is a little concerning. At least you know with Lyons you’ll be fine as long as he keeps his headlights on.

As of this writing, nbadraft.net has both Tigers going mid-second round, with Carroll at No. 42 and Lyons at No. 44. But it’s usually hard to predict the guys who are going past the first round. I could try to make a prediction myself, but I think enough people are doing that already.  (The most recent one has Carroll going last in the first round!)

So on June 25, just sit back, relax, and see if David Stern can do better than Bud Selig and remember what century it is on each and every pick. (The sad thing about these jokes is that only the 10 other people who watched the draft on the MLB network are going to get them.)