And finally…the Pacific Division.
Golden State Warriors
- Anthony Randolph - #14
- Richard Hendrix - #49
Tall? Check. Long wingspan? Check. Raw? Check. Athletic? Check. Huge potential? Check. They just picked Brandan Wright for the second straight year. Why would you do that. Now that I know B-Diddy is taking his game to LA, they should’ve taken a guard! But really, they could’ve picked anyone else.
Los Angeles Clippers
- Eric Gordon - #7
- DeAndre Jordan - #35
- Mike Taylor - #55
Surprisingly, Eric Gordon was one of the most athletic players in this draft. I say surprisingly because he is built like a uhh…big-boned little tank. He is 6-3 222 lbs with a 40 inch vertical. He has 8.2% body fat which is a lot for an NBA guard. I swear I just see pulled hamstrings and sore knees in his future. He’s already had multiple injuries in his one year of college and I don’t see it stopping. The Clippers took a huge risk in signing Boom Dizzle because also given HIS injury history, they could potentially have him and Gordon missing over half the games in their Clipper careers. If healthy though, they could have one of the best backcourts in the league. If all else fails, at least Eric Gordon can get an MVP profile on ibeatyou.com from Baron.
DeAndre Jordan is an enigma. He had lottery written all over him with his size and raw talent but he slipped to the second round. Kind of like what happened to Chris Taft. Seems like DeAndre will continue following that same path.
Los Angeles Lakers
- Pau Gasol - #28
- Joe Crawford - #58
The Lakers had the best draft of the night. With the 28th pick in the draft they got an NBA-ready guy from Spain who could average 20 and 10 right away and take them from good team to potential NBA Champion. A serious upgrade over Kwame Brown (who isn’t), Pau fits perfectly into the vaunted Triangle with his great passing skills and him and Kobe should form a duo to be reckoned with. You could call him a steal.
He should be able to help Kobe bring the Lakers back to the Finals. Oh wait…
Phoenix Suns
- Robin Lopez - #15
- Goran Dragic - #42
I guess I can see the Anderson Varejao comparisons with Robin Lopez. Or maybe it’s just the hair. I don’t know if Robin will make much of an impact. I don’t even know if learning from Shaq will be of much help to him. But what I do know is that it’s probably a good thing that he doesn’t have to play with his brother. Now he can play out of his shadow and show what he can do.
Sacramento Kings
- Jason Thompson - #12
- Sean Singletary - #42
- Patrick Ewing Jr. - #43
I heard a lot of things about Jason Thompson this year. He got a decent amount of pub and was regarded as one of the top seniors all through the year even though he played at a small school (Rider). The question is whether they overpicked for him. I’m guessing they did and they couldn’t find a suitable partner to draft down to so they had to use their pick on him. Thompson seemed like their guy all the way. (By the way, it was funny to see how in Mark Jackson’s quick notes he said the Kings needed a frontcourt player but when asked about this pick he said they should’ve taken a guard.)
Singletary is a nice player. Pure scorer but probably too small to make any kind of impact. Same player as Quincy Douby though. Ewing is the type of dude that could be effective in the NBA even though he wasn’t that great in college. He is one of the best athletes in this class and those guys are always nice to have on your team. The Knicks should’ve taken him.
