The Upside of Falling Down

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz Jrue Holiday drops ... and might be better for it. (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images As recently as a few weeks ago, Jrue Holiday was a projected top 10 pick. A good number of observers felt that another year at UCLA would've served Holiday well, but there was enough collective faith in his court smarts, defense, and capacity to blossom into a productive NBA guard. Whether it was Ben Howland's slow-it-down offense, playing off the ball alongside Darren Collison, or something else, Holiday found himself as the dreaded "Last Guy Sitting in the Green Room" Thursday night, and ultimately went #17 to Philadelphia. In the big man division, no prospect dropped farther and harder Thursday night than DeJuan Blair. Projected as a certain first-rounder and as the seventh best player in the 2009 draft class according to John Hollinger's Draft Rater, Blair was a brute force at Pittsburgh with 15.7 points and 12.3 rebounds a ...