The 2007 NBA Draft Lottery produced some shocking results as the Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Supersonics received the prized #1 and #2 picks giving them the opportunity to draft Ohio State center, Greg Oden, and Texas small forward, Kevin Durant. It was believed that the Memphis Grizzlies and the Boston Celtics would take home the prizes because they had the highest chance of winning the lottery due to their terrible seasons. The Portland Trailblazers in fact, had a 5.3% chance of winning the draft, very small compared to Memphis’ 25% chance.
After the results were announced, mass trauma spread through Memphis and Boston as many complained the system was not fair. Fear of setting the franchises back for more than ten years were being speculated if the teams were not able to select either Oden or Durant. Now that they will not get that opportunity, fans feel as if the messiah had come down from the heavens as they overslept and missed the event. However, Grizzles and Celtics fans need to calm down; this isn’t the end of the world, and it isn’t the end for your franchises. Welcome to the era of freshmen phenoms.
This is only the second year of the newly implemented rule by NBA commissioner David Stern stating that graduating high school players can no longer enter the draft. These seniors are forced to wait one year where they can attend college for one year and then be allowed to enter the NBA Draft. This has brought a new generation of basketball where high school players will be much more hyped than they were prior to the rule. Some players do not need the extra attention such as Lebron James or Greg Oden; these guys are exceptions to the rule. The rest can use the hype which will only make basketball better in both the NCAA and the NBA. I guarantee you that Kevin Durant would not have been hyped this much let alone be drafted in the top five if he come into the league straight out of high school. Also, think about the media coverage surrounding Dwight Howard for example if he attended one year of college. Howard was selected #1 overall by the Orlando Magic but he did not have nearly the amount of attention he could have received if he had attended college.
It would also do justice for the high school phenoms that were overlooked by many teams including such players as Amare Stoudemire (Drafted 9th overall after such players as Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Drew Gooden, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Dejuan Wagner, Nene, and Chris Wilcox), Tracy McGrady (Drafted 9th overall after such players as Keith Van Horn, Tony Battie, Antonio Daniels, Ron Mercer and Adonal Foyle), Kevin Garnett (Drafted 5th overall after Joe Smith, Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse, and Rasheed Wallace), Kobe Bryant (Drafted 13th overall after such players as Kerry Kittles, Lorenzen Wright, Samaki Walker, Todd Fuller and Vital Potapenko), and Jermaine O’Neal (Drafted 17th overall in the same year as Bryant). There would be no question that these guys would be one of the top five draft picks in their years if they had attended college.
More recent players that came straight out of high school that have not received the attention they deserve are Andrew Bynum (Drafted 10th overall), Monta Ellis (Drafted 40th overall; he won the 2007 Most Improved Player Award), Gerald Green (Drafted 18th overall), Al Jefferson (Drafted 15th overall), Josh Smith (Drafted 17th overall), J.R. Smith (Drafted 18th overall), and Shaun Livingston (Drafted 4th overall). Too early to figure out whether these guys are busts, if they had attended college, they would have a lot more attention allowing fans to get excited over these guys which would only sell more tickets. The new rule placed by the NBA allows for this to take place.
Back to the misfortune of the Grizzlies and Celtics, these teams will get plenty more opportunities to pick up potential upcoming all-stars. With the attention surrounding Oden and Durant, many are forgetting next year’s 1-2 draft picks, guard O.J. Mayo and forward Michael Beasley. These guys will receive just as much attention as Oden and Durant and if next year’s worst team gets unlucky in the lottery, they will be experiencing exactly the same pain Grizzlies and Celtics fans are experiencing right now. We should get used to the NBA Draft becoming a huge event from now on because opportunities to pick up franchise players will come more regularly.
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Sports Moment of the Week
The Robert Horry shove to Steve Nash that affected the Suns more negatively than it did the Spurs causing the Suns to early an elimination, 4-2.
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