Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Just two days after Kahn essentially cleared the backcourt by trading Randy Foye and Mike Miller, the Wolves upheld a proud draft tradition: They once again left fans celebrating inside Target Center absolutely befuddled, perhaps dismayed, and wondering what in the world their team once again had done when it followed Rubio’s unexpected availability fifth overall by taking Flynn before the joyous noise inside the arena faded away. Four of the Wolves’ six selections Thursday were point guards — they did trade North Carolina’s Ty Lawson to Denver for a future first-round pick and later dealt second rounder Nick Calathes away as well — and Kahn vowed that Rubio and Flynn will play together, and promised neither will be traded. ‘I truly believe these kids can play together,’ Kahn said, citing the long-ago backcourt of Boston’s Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas as two similar examples. ‘Great players like playing with other great players.’”
Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee: “The team so badly in need of a talent boost opted for Memphis guard Tyreke Evans with the No. 4 pick, taking him without hesitation or concern for the popularity of the pick because they simply see him as special. With the Clippers taking Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin at No. 1, Memphis choosing Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet at No. 2 and Oklahoma City selecting Arizona State guard James Harden third, the Kings were left to choose from all four players believed to be on their short list: Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, Davidson guard Stephen Curry and Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn. But none of them, as Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie and his staff saw it, compared to Evans. Some saw Rubio as a better fit, his passing skills needed on a team that ranked 27th in assists per game last season. Evans is a wholly different player, a 6-foot-5 talent who has impressive penetration skills, is a good defender and can play both guard positions. Last season at the University of Memphis, he led his team to 27 consecutive wins after coach John Calipari moved him from shooting guard to point guard.”
Sekou Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “On a Hawks team still uncertain at the position — second-year man Acie Law IV and wounded veteran Speedy Claxton were traded to Golden State earlier in the day for veteran Jamal Crawford — Teague assumes the mantle of ‘point guard of the future.’ Teague’s arrival, along with that of Crawford, gives the Hawks insurance heading into free agency next week. Mike Bibby, the Hawks’ starting point guard the past year and a half, is an unrestricted free agent. ‘When we ended the season I made it clear to ownership and [Hawks general manager] Rick [Sund], you win 47 games, it would be nice to get everybody back and see where we go next season,’ Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. ‘But the way we ended the season, it was hard to evaluate our team. So to bring all of those guys back and give it another shot means a lot to me, because with a healthy team we would challenge Cleveland with the way played this season.’ Teague said he’s already familiar with the Hawks, having used them regularly on the NBA Live video game. ‘I play the video game a lot, and that’s who I roll with, the Atlanta Hawks,’ Teague said. ‘Joe Johnson, that’s my guy. Every time I give him the ball he scores. Josh Smith is an exciting player, and Al Horford inside.’”
Tom Enlund of the Journal Sentinel: “‘He’s very talented,’ said Skiles. ‘He’s got a very good handle, the ball is on a string. He plays with a certain amount of flair that I know people will like to see. He has good vision on the floor. He knows what he’s doing out there. When he has the ball in his hands, he has good command of his team and what’s going on out there. And he can score as well. He’s an exciting young talent.’ Said Hammond, ‘I think we got a special one. I really do.’ Jennings knows a little bit about Milwaukee, having played in a McDonald’s high school all-star game here in March, 2008, and returning for a recent pre-draft workout with the Bucks. ‘What that . . . I first got to Milwaukee, all I heard was bad stuff Milwaukee was really boring, terrible,’ said Jennings by telephone from New York. ‘But I think I really got to see the town a little bit when I came there for the workouts and Milwaukee is not a bad town. It’s kind a lot of fishing and a lot of boats and a lot of . . . of laid back water, things like that. And now I can go to a Green Bay Packer game. I can’t wait for that.’”
Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: “The Suns entertained options for trading their 14th pick for most of the draft day but said there was one case that would prevent them getting out of the position. It happened. Louisville forward Earl Clark lasted until the Suns’ choice came up and the Suns stayed put to tab him and intend to keep the versatile playmaker with good defense. ‘In this league these days, if you can’t guard the hybrid 4s – the Dirk Nowitzkis of the world, not that anyone can really guard Dirk — but you’ve got have people that at least have the size and ability to stay with Dirk,’ Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. ‘That was probably the most appealing thing about Earl for us. He moves his feet well and he’s 6-10. What we kept noticing on the tape and when we watched him live was his activity defensively. I think Rick Pitino did a great job with him, stayed on him and he got better and better the last three years. If you look at the big picture and the full package, offensively he could put the ball on the floor a couple times and make a play. I think he’ll get better with his jump shot but he can really pick and pop. He can really run the floor.’”
Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: “The Raptors, in a refreshing throwback, actually drafted an athlete – you know, one of those jump-out-of-the-gym, strong-as-a-bull fountains of talent that most good NBA teams have in quantity and Toronto hasn’t had in eons. That’s right. They didn’t draft a lumbering maybe of a Euro, as they did in the first year of GM Bryan Colangelo’s three-year descent to this year’s draft lottery. They didn’t make a draft-day trade for a lumbering has-been of a big-man, as they did last year. They drafted DeMar DeRozan, a 6-foot-7 pogo stick who will make you go, ‘Wow,’ more often than you say ‘Why?’ And that alone, for a team a long way from title contention, isn’t such a bad thing. No one is saying DeRozan is the second coming of Vince Carter, the explosive swingman who starred on the only Raptors team to win a playoff series in 2001 – no one except DeRozan, who dangerously heaped the comparison on himself in his post-draft news conference and, before that, via Twitter. ‘Air Canada’s back (in Toronto),’ was the gist of the new guy’s tweet.”
Frank Isola of the Daily News: “One pick was all that separated the Knicks from drafting Stephen Curry Thursday night. Now, they are separated by nearly 3,000 miles. Curry was taken with the No. 7 pick by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Draft, a stunning turn of events that left Jordan Hill and Donnie Walsh as the two least popular people at Madison Square Garden. One pick after Curry came off the board, Walsh selected Hill, a 6-10 forward from Arizona, much to the dismay of the partisan crowd at the Theater. ‘I’ve been through that in Indiana,’ Walsh said. ‘They booed Chuck Person. They booed Reggie Miller. I can go on and on.’ Walsh called Hill ‘one of the best, if not the best, big men’ in the draft. He averaged 18.3 points and 11 rebounds as a junior for the Wildcats. ‘Our scouts have him rated as the second-best player in the draft,’ Mike D’Antoni said. ‘I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I think he can be a really good player. He’s long. He can really run the floor. He’s got range and he can block shots.’”
Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: “If you’re asking me, Denver landed one of the five best players in a weak draft by swapping a future first-round pick to obtain Lawson, who pushed North Carolina to the national title. Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin will be a load in the NBA. As a guard, Tyreke Evans is a bulldozer with a Ferrari engine. When Ricky Rubio grows up, he won’t make anybody forget Pete Maravich, but could eventually do a reasonable imitation of Steve Nash. Stephen Curry can shoot out the lights. But Lawson wasn’t lying when boasting he should have been selected in the top 10. ‘He’s a one-man fast break,’ Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien said. Chauncey Billups was present in the team’s war room during the draft. When the Nuggets beat the clock and persuaded Minnesota to swap Lawson, it presented a real opportunity for Karl to cut the 2,788 minutes Billups logged during his most recent regular season by 10 percent.”
Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “When the Grizzlies’ public relations guy explained that Hollins was taking a little while to make his way to the post-pick press conference because he had stopped to use the bathroom, a local blogger offered a theory. ‘Maybe he’s throwing up,’ the blogger said. All around the league, teams were making deals and creating excitement. In Memphis, the team was drafting a 7-3 guy who has a hard time actually putting the ball in the hoop. They added one international center (Thabeet) and subtracted another (Darko Milicic, who was traded to New York). Then the Grizzlies passed on two opportunities to take Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair and give the draft a little zest. Thabeet and Blair had wonderful battles in the Big East. Putting them on the same team would have made the Grizzlies’s practices interesting, at least. But, no. The team took Missouri’s DeMarre Carroll instead. Then they took Blair’s teammate, Sam Young. If the franchise had designed a draft to infuriate its fans, this might well have been it.”
Tim MacMahon of The Dallas Morning News: “Donnie Nelson doesn’t know whether first-round Frenchman Rodrigue Beaubois will be ready to crack the Mavs’ rotation as a rookie. ‘I think this year is asking a lot, but you never know,’ Nelson said. ‘The NBA is kind to athletes, and he’s a big-time athlete.’ The Mavs measured Beaubois’ vertical leap at 40 inches. That leaping ability combined with his 6-10 wingspan allowed him to get within one inch of big man Blake Griffin, the No. 1 overall pick, on the touch-the-top-of-the-backboard test, per Mark Cuban. The folks in the Dallas front office are just as impressed by Beaubois’ jets. ‘He was milliseconds behind Devin Harris,’ Nelson said of Beaubois’ performance in some of the pre-draft visit tests to measure quickness. ‘He’s just starting to scratch the surface.’”
Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman: “Westbrook also told ESPN The Magazine that if given the power, he would draft Harden third overall and Ohio State’s B.J. Mullens at No. 25. Darned if that isn’t who Presti picked by night’s end. The guy starts the day not knowing if he’ll even be the point guard, and before midnight he’s not just the point guard, he’s assistant general manager. Not that Harden is a bad pick. Last June, the Seattle SuperSonics’ selection of a certain UCLA guard was met with great yawns. Westbrook turned out all right. Harden is an offensive shooting guard to supplement Thabo Sefalosha, the Thunder’s defensive stopper. Solid strategy. Draft for offense, turn to free agency for defense, since teams overpay for offense on the open market. Harden’s performance at the pre-draft camp showed he is more athletic than first believed. If Harden is the offensive player he’s billed to be — a good shooter and penetrator — the Thunder will have four solid (at least) scorers under the age of 24.”
Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: “The first-round pick was the antithesis of the blockbuster trade General Manager Danny Ferry made Thursday, when he acquired 15-time All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal from the Phoenix Suns for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a second-round pick next year and $500,000. Speaking through an interpreter, the French-speaking Eyenga said he was shocked the Cavs drafted him, which was pretty much the reaction in the Cavs’ press room. The move was surprising given that players the Cavs were thought to be interested in — like Pittsburgh forward Sam Young and St. Mary’s guard Patty Mills — were still available. In addition, it was believed the Cavs had opportunities to move up in the draft. In announcing the pick, NBA Commissioner David Stern seemed slightly amused and not quite sure how to pronounce Eyenga’s name. Although Eyenga was in the stands in New York for the draft, he was the only first-round pick not invited to the green room to be interviewed, and the league didn’t have a draftboard nameplate ready for him.”
Jeff Rabjohns of the Indianapolis Star: “After the draft, Pacers president Larry Bird talked at length about Hansbrough, second-round pick A.J. Price of Connecticut and other topics. ‘We had some point guards in mind, but we felt if Tyler was there, we had to take him,’ Bird said. ‘He’s mature, a four-year guy, had a great college career. And he plays hard. I like them when they play hard. he can play right away, which is huge for us.’ Since he’s been making the Pacers draft picks, Bird has gone for proven college players. Center Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush, last year’s first-round picks, were established college players. Bird said that’s the way he’ll continue to go in the future. ‘My philosophy has always been to get winners, guys that are going to compete every night, play hard, do the work in the summer. That’s what I’m going to try to build with,’ Bird said. ‘I think Tyler’s proven the last four years that he competes at a high level and wins at a high level.’”
John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News: “The Sixers said they were drafting small. Most, although not me, figured it would be the best point guard left. Holiday, 6-3, 180 pounds, was better than they expected. ‘He has great upside, displays aggressiveness on both ends of the court, has a great nose for the ball as well as the size and strength to play both guard positions,’ Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski. ‘He has an NBA body. Big, big upside.’ ‘Upside’ is a key word concerning the Sixers. Given the youth of their core players – Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams, Speights and Jason Smith – the Sixers are still a work in progress. Even if forward Elton Brand comes back healthy, it’s difficult to see the Sixers challenging the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference next season. Obviously, the goal is always immediate improvement, but the reality is that Sixers’ time is still probably a season or two away.”
Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press: “Joe Dumars bit his tongue when explaining his ire toward his team’s debilitating lack of character last season. There were young, impressionable ears in the Pistons’ draft party audience Thursday, so he spared them the saltier descriptions of the depth of his anger. But he made it clear that he tabbed 6-foot-11 forward Austin Daye 15th overall not only for what he could do on the court, but also for what he won’t do away from the court. He won’t show up late on game days or late to the airport for flights. He won’t show up authority if he disagrees with a coaching decision. ‘Never again will I allow us to be in a position where we’re dealing with issues, where we’re dealing with drama,’ said Dumars. Daye’s selection is more symbolic than anything else. … Dumars could have taken somebody more NBA ready physically, but in choosing Daye, he sent a message that the Pistons need to correct a deficiency in attitude as well as an absence of pure talent. ‘I think Joe was madder than anybody else about us losing all those Sunday games,’ said coach Michael Curry, ‘and usually that has something to do with what you were doing Saturday night.’”
John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times: “NBA executives are always optimistic and upbeat on draft nights, even the general managers of teams selecting late in the first round. Training camp is months away, and everybody feels they improved their team by getting a player who was a ‘’steal.’ In reality, more times than not, it’s the GM who’s left searching for his wallet after spending big money on a player who just didn’t work out. Because of that history, it would be wise to approach the Bulls’ draft Thursday night with at least a bit of skepticism — especially because this year’s class was considered the weakest in years. But upon first review, it seems the Bulls’ optimism after grabbing two power forwards — James Johnson of Wake Forest at No. 16 and Taj Gibson of USC at No. 26 — is justified. They improved their frontcourt depth tremendously and got what figures to be a busy and crucial summer off to a good start.”
John Canzano of The Oregonian: “Trimming Rodriguez’s salary inflates the organization’s available cap space by $1.8 million. General manager Kevin Pritchard said the team’s draft choice at No. 22 — Victor Claver — will end up being stashed overseas next season. The Blazers could have more than $10 million available to pursue free agents beginning July 1, possibly more if they renounce the rights to Joel Freeland and Petteri Koponen. They’ve also retained a trade exception that would allow the organization to make a lopsided deal if it chooses to do so. The Blazers took Claver even though college prospects such as DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh), Wayne Ellington (North Carolina) and Sam Young (Pittsburgh) and international prospect Omri Casspi (Israel) were available. And if you’re baffled by this, you’re missing the point. Portland was basically saying, ‘Pass.’ Thursday wasn’t about ego. The organization wasn’t attempting to outsmart everyone. It’s not like Kevin Pritchard walked across the Willamette River or made the Broadway Bridge disappear on draft day. The Blazers were poised. They acted like a franchise that has confidence in the current group of players. The day was about keeping the good beat going and leaving options open.”
Mike Jones of the Washington Post: “Well, that’s that. The Wizards took Jermaine Taylor out of Central Florida and delt him to Houston for cash. The obvious thinking is that they have a veteran team and a 32nd pick wouldn’t help them right now, so why draft him and have him stuck on the end of the bench and paying not only his salary but matching it dollar-for-dollar in a luxury tax payment? The surprise, however, is that Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair slid all the way to the second round and the Wizards had a chance to take him — a move that would’ve met the need for an additional big body — but didn’t. Grunfeld actually was rather humorous when speaking with the media after the 32nd pick was made, but before the trade took place. I asked him what the thinking was and he said ‘I like guards. The more the better,’ then laughed. I asked, obviously you’re gonna move the pick, right? And he admitted that ‘there probably will be some news in the morning.’ Turns out two minutes later, Grunfeld and Co. finalized their deal with Houston to snag some cash in exchange for Taylor. The Wizards at some point this summer — whether it’s through free agency or trade — need to address that big man deficiency.”
Graydon Gordian of 48 Minutes of Hell: “In an unexpected turn of events, the Spurs were able to draft power forward DeJuan Blair with the 37th pick in the draft. Blair was a consensus top 15 pick. Considering that this was one of the weakest drafts in recent memory, the Spurs acquired something I never believed would be available in the 2nd round: A player who can contribute immediately. Blair may not be a starter but in his rookie season he will be prepared to play 15 minutes a game. Given how shallow our frontcourt became in the wake of the Jefferson trade, the fact that we were able to acquire a rotation big without sacrificing a current member of the squad is unbelievable. … He has an instinctual sense of spacing, a solid back-to-the-basket game, and off-the-charts rebounding numbers (During the 08/09 season, he successfully rebounded the ball 31% of the time). Add on the fact that the man is a pit bull when on the floor, and it becomes clear that Blair is an absolute steal. The most frequently expressed concern about Blair is his height: At 6′6.25″ with shoes, he initially comes off as too short to legitimately earn minutes in an NBA frontcourt. But then you consider his 7′2″ wingspan and realize that he has a taller standing reach than Blake Griffin.”
