Loving It and Leaving It
Fri-Day! Yes! And as you roll into the weekend, here’s a quick guide with a few things and thoughts worthy of your precious free time.
Finally, we can exhale. The NBA Draft is over, and after weeks of rumors, supposition and innuendo, we now have an idea of where teams are headed heading into next season. The moves aren’t over, of course, but we can at least guess the direction franchises are moving.
For the most part, I thought this year’s NBA Draft was pretty logical — there weren’t many, if any, picks that came completely out of left field. That said, there were still some decisions and moves that left me with more questions than answers.
Here is my Love It or Let’s See for select teams from this draft:
Love It
Memphis Grizzlies
Sure, I’m a homer, but man did the Grizzlies have a Draft. The Grizzlies entered the week with picks 3, 16 and 32. They walked away with Cameron Boozer (the number one player on my big board), Karim Lopez (a guy many projected as a lottery selection), sharpshooter Richie Saunders, Pistons enforcer Isaiah Stewart, and two future second round picks, to boot. We may be in the middle of reconfiguring the roster, but having a Draft like this sure makes that easier.
Philadelphia 76ers
Nobody understood what the Sixers were doing at the trade deadline when they moved Jared McCain to the Thunder. They ended up getting a first round pick in return, which they used this week to snag Alabama scoring guard LaBaron Philon, who should pair well with their dynamic backcourt of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.
San Antonio Spurs
We saw the Spurs make a deep postseason run despite a bench that wasn’t quite ready for prime time — how many guys were on that bench that didn’t even play, especially when their bigs were in foul trouble? So, I loved the Spurs using their two first round picks on big men Tarris Reed and Jayden Quaintance. While Reed should contribute right away, Quaintance has a chance to be a huge factor down the road, if they can get him healthy.
Let’s See…
Minnesota Timberwolves
The T-Wolves only ended up with two second round picks. But the morning after the Draft, they gave up a haul of future picks and swaps, as well as big man Naz Reid, in exchange for LaMelo Ball, which was baffling, at least to me. The Wolves have needed a point guard for a while now, but going all in like this for a guy who doesn’t defend and runs the offense like he’s playing 2K is certainly a choice.
New York Knicks
The recent champs have seemingly embraced a NSFW slogan of “FTP” to describe their drafting strategy, which essentially comes down to they aren’t interested in draft picks. It got them a title, so, sure. But with a few members of their bench about to hit free agency, this Draft was an opportunity to find a player with a fixed salary who they could have for the next few years. Instead, they traded out of the first round entirely.
Dallas Mavericks
One year ago, Morez Johnson was probably not even a first rounder. But after a championship season at Michigan—and his college coach getting hired in Dallas, perhaps not incidentally—Johnson was the 9th overall choice in the NBA Draft. Maybe he’ll be a great fit for the Mavericks! Just seems like Dallas could have gone a few other ways here.
Odds and Ends…
- Took my son to see Toy Story 5 last weekend. Didn’t really have any expectations, especially because I wasn’t a huge fan of TS4. But guess what? Toy Story 5 was great! Go see it!…
- Do all the leading AI models recognize your name? Find out here!…
- If you drive a 23-foot-long banana car, maybe you shouldn’t be surprised if you get pulled over?…
- People who enjoy dark humor are smarter than everyone else. It’s science…
- Make some croquettes this weekend…