John Wall Summer League Debut

Should John Wall Go #1 In The NBA Draft

A lot of people seem to think that the only lock in this year's NBA Draft is John Wall going 1st to the Washington Wizards and the rest of the Draft is almost up in the air. My thing is should the Wizards select John Wall with the #1 pick? If Gilbert Arenas is coming back next year how is Arenas and Wall going to play in the back court when both are 6-4 ,which I think someone gave them both a few inches on there height.Its do able because remember the Detroit Pistons played the 6-1 Isiah Thomas and 6-3 Joe Dumars together and won back-to-back titles. John Wall is a special player we all know that to me he's much like a Rajon Rondo because of his speed, jumping ability, vision on the floor and lack of a jump shot. I mean face it both are lacking a good jump shot, Rondo more so the Wall. Plus would Arenas want to play the Shooting Guard (SG),I don't think so and can he guard the SGs in the NBA? John Wall may be a special player but if I were the Wizards I would look to Evan Turner, 6'7 he's a combo guard but also needs to work on his jump shot from 3. To me Wall or Turner at the #1 pick for the Washington Wizards would be a good pick but to me more so Turner because you wouldn't have to ask Arenas to slide over to the SG position. I would like to thank everyone for reading this and feel free to leave a comment below.

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The G(m) Spot: No Love For DeShawn

At this point in his career DeShawn Stevenson is known for two things; that he was drafted out of high school, and that he turned down a 3 year, $9 million contract from the Magic last season and instead played for the minumum with the Wizards. What you may not know about Stevenson is that he has started all 82 games in each of the past two seasons and shot 46% from the floor. In fact, his stat lines from the past two seasons have been nearly identical:

2005-2006: 11.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 2.0 AST, 10.93 PER
2006-2007: 11.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 2.7 AST, 12.92 PER

Not stellar stats of course, but good enough on a team like Washington that doesn't really need too much more scoring with Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Atawn Jamison. As such, the Wizards have offered Stevenson a 4 year, $12 million deal to stay in town. So is this a good deal for DeShawn? To answer that question lets play a little game. Here are the stats for another 26 year old, free agent shooting guard. Let's call him "Player X" for now:

2006-2007: 10.9 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1.2 AST, 13.87 PER

Pretty close to Stevenson's numbers right? So you would think he would get about the same money, right?

Nope.

Player X is Jason Kapono, and he just agreed to a 4 year, $24 million contract with the Raptors earlier this week, an average of $6 million per season. So is Kapono worth TWICE as much as Stevenson, even though they are the same exact age, have nearly the same stats from last season, and Stevenson in fact has a more consistent track record in the league? The answer is of course no. There is no way that Kapono is worth twice as much as Stevenson. The real question then, is whether it is Kapono that is being overpaid or Stevenson that is being low-balled. To answer that question, lets take a look at yet another 26 year old, free agent shooting guard's stats from last season. Let's call him "Player Y" for now:

2006-2007: 12.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.3 AST, 14.63 PER

That player is Matt Carroll, who recently agreed to a 6 year, $27 million contract with the Bobcats, which comes out to about $4.5 million a year. So two other players with nearly identical stats to Stevenson, with less starting experience in the league, who are the same exact age as Stevenson, are getting $6 million and $4.5 million a year respectively while Stevenson is being offered $3 million a year from the Wizards. It seems to me that the Wiz probably need to move that deal up to at least the value of Carroll's contract for it not to be an insult to Stevenson.

NBA Draft: Picks Breakdown

In examining the picks from last night's draft some of them are pretty simple to evaluate. Greg Oden to the Blazers. Good. Kevin Durant to the Sonics. Good. There were a number of intriguing picks and stories that developed during draft night, so here is a look at some of the most intriguing picks, whether they be steals, terrible picks, or just plain great picks:

The Pick: The Milwaukee Bucks selecting Yi Jianlian with the #6 pick
The Scoop: Leading up to the draft myself and many others pointed out the rather odd choice by Yi Jianlian and his representation not to let Milwaukee see Yi work out. Speculation was that Yi's camp wanted him to play in a large market with a big Chinese population, a description that did not exactly fit Milwaukee. Some even believed that if the Bucks were to select Yi that he would either try to force a trade or go back to China. The truth behind those beliefs is set to be revealed as there are already rumblings that Yi might not only miss the team's training camp later this year, but that he may not even show up for Milwaukee's post draft press conference tomorrow. Something tells me this pick may not have been worth the trouble. By the way, check out this picture of Yi from Time Magazine in 2003 when he was *15* years old. Yeah right, my left foot he is 15 in that picture.



The Pick: The Chicago Bulls selecting Joakim Noah with the #9 pick
The Scoop: I don't often agree with Stephen A. Smith, but I am completely with his analysis on this pick. To put it simply, The Bulls already have what Noah is selling. Isn't Tyrus Thomas the same player except with a slightly better offensive game? The Bulls did not need another high energy rebounder, what they needed was a scorer in the low post. The most distressing aspect of this pick was that there was indeed such a player available in Spencer Hawes who went to the Kings at #10. It isn't that Noah is a bad player, he just does not seem to be what the Bulls needed with that pick.

The Pick: The Washington Wizards selecting Nick Young with the #16 pick
The Scoop: Young fell a bit lower than where many people had projected him to go, but ending up in Washington may well be the perfect spot for him. The Wizards started DeShawn Stevenson at SG this past season essentially on a one year rental. Young is a major upgrade at that spot, and at worst will be the Wizard's 6th man headed into the season. His offensive skills combined with the Wizards up tempo style and hole at the SG spot will make Young an impact player sooner rather than later.

The Pick: Everything the Portland Trailblazers did
The Scoop: The Blazers had an unbelievable evening. Putting aside the Zach Randolph trade, here is a quick rundown of the moves and picks they made: Drafted Greg Oden with the #1 pick, traded cash to the Suns for the #24 pick which they used on Rudy Fernandez, traded cash and the #42 pick to the 76ers for the #30 pick Peteri Koponen, drafted Josh McRoberts with the #37 pick, drafted Taurean Green with the #52 pick, and finally they drafted Demetris Nichols with the #53 pick. It goes without saying that Oden is a great pick. The other five selections however, are what make this draft truly special. Fernandez and Koponen are great talents that can take the time to develop overseas and then come to Portland a few years down the road to contribute. The three second round picks of McRoberts, Green, and Nichols are complete and utter steals. McRoberts is a lottery talent that came out too early, Green was the floor general and leading scorer of the two time national champions, and Nichols was arguably the best three point shooter in the entire draft. To put it bluntly the Blazers' draft picks tonight, the $30 million in contracts that they have coming off the books in two seasons, and the fact that they already have Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge makes this team a championship contender sooner rather than later.