Community Draft Board, pt. 3: The Cold Product Edition

more as an example of what happens after you fal below the top tier. No matter who you pick you will get crap for wasting a high selection. Sometimes in a draft you don’t really get to make a decision on which player. In a four player draft you simply take the remaining top tiered player and see if anyone offers an acceptable deal or will accept an acceptable deal from you. If not, then you roll with what you have.

Everyone keeps on talking about how MN can’t lure a top tier FA. So how are we supposed to add this talent? No one will realistically trade them to us either, and that leaves the draft. I am adamently against ever selecting “role players” with a high pick for this reason. You go for broke or you have simply resigned yourself to mediocrity. I thought when most decided that we didn’t want mediocrity that it would be obvious on who to select and what types of trades we would accept (ones where we get the best player back even if it means overpaying slightly).

The best player is usually the one with the most skill and they are either limited by athleticism and enabled to be great with superior athleticism. Athleticism for me is the super tiebreaker, not the primary grading criteria.

I disagree, I guess. Not necessarily about Bucks-Hawks, but the playoffs as a whole. I’ve watched a ton of these games and enjoyed most of them. Boston-Cleveland was one of the more interesting playoff series’ that I can remember. LA-Oklahoma City was, too. Phoenix was always entertaining. These Finals, with somewhere between 4 and 6 Hall of Famers playing, is hardly underwhelming.

Expansion hasn’t been less of a factor in the NBA in over 20 years. There is plenty of talent for 30 teams. That doesn’t mean every team can contend every year, but we’ve seen some rapid turnarounds in Milwaukee and Oklahoma City that suggest that the talent gap, top to bottom, is less than it used to be. The biggest problem right now is the Washington Wizards problem, where teams dump their best players on contenders, to save some money. But, that doesn’t hurt the playoffs any, obviously.

The NHL playoffs are very entertaining, if you’re into hockey and can handle watching it on TV. But, more than being great, the playoffs really bring to light how meaningless their regular season is. 8 seeds beat 1 seeds, home ice barely matters, if it matters at all. As long as you’re into the playoffs, you’re on equal ground with the rest. The NBA has a long season with its share of problems from a competitive standpoint, but nobody doubts that you’d rather face an 8 seed than a 1 seed or that home court advantage is a big key that’s worth trying to earn.

….if he can defend, which it looks like he can.

Is that some seem so focused on adding “athleticism” to our team that they are overlooking a lot of red flags in his game. I see almost no chance of him ever getting close to Amare’s offensive game.

I watched Tech about 1/2 dozen times last year (mostly in the ACC and NCAA tourneys), and I saw a guy who can dunk, block shots, and not much else. Calling his offensive game “raw” is generous. Wish I could remember which game it was, but every time he touched the ball on the low block it was a turnover. EVERY…SINGLE…TIME. That’s not hyperbole either.

All the athleticism in the world means squat when you don’t know what do with it. Just ask Tyrus Thomas, Marvin Williams, Kwame Brown, Stromile Swift. Or Jonny Flynn for that matter.