After one of the most interesting and exciting regular seasons and adding to that a terrific playoffs and Finals rematch – the NBA Draft was a bore.
Fifteen of the first 30 players drafted were international, of those in the first round only five played all four years in college. Even the most ardent fan of college basketball has probably only seen these players just a few times. You have no idea who is being drafted, what their skillset is or whether or not they will even play this year. Forty-three percent of all players drafted were foreign born. GMs can target players that may not be ready yet and keep them overseas for future trade chips and further development, but for every Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Pau Gasol there are hundreds of global players that will never set foot on an NBA floor. Whether there is a talent issue or not, the player could just be happier playing for his country and that could also be more profitable for them and their families. You just don’t have a point of reference with these players. Fans are reduced to watching YouTube highlights to maybe get a glimpse of who their team just invested millions of dollars into.
Outside of Ben Simmons, who was the consensus number one pick and a must watch during the season, who is the one other player to rival him? Even in this scenario, Simmons’ LSU Tigers didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament, so there was another sect of basketball fans that missed out on his potential March run. Simmons and Brandon Ingram should contribute right away, but everybody else you have to hold your breath. You don’t see these players enough to even critique them and notice any flaws. All you see are the highlights.
As soon as I heard that the Warriors first round draft pick Damian Jones wasn’t going to be in Summer League due to an injury, my interest waned a bit. If Jones was an elite player, being seven feet, he would have gone in the lottery. The Warriors front office, since the days of Larry Riley, have had incredible success in the lottery. Bob Myers, to his credit, got the most out of some late round selections with Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green, but the law of averages states that the further in the draft you pick, the less of a chance you have to draft an impact player.
The NBA draft will never be like the NFL draft. The number one sport in the country has a talent pool from college football, which is just as popular. It’s full of juniors and seniors that everybody has heard of and that people will look forward to seeing on their teams next season. To be honest, you have to wait a few years to really have an intelligent response as to how the NBA draft turned out. As for Thursday night though, in general I just wasn’t feeling it.
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