Yardbarker: Samaki Walker

1996 NBA Draft Remix

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:35:52 -0500

by Jeff Fox The initial plan was to make the focus of this article a showdown between Allen Iverson and Steve Nash for the No. 2 slot in the remix. Instead, let’s just cut to the chase — Iverson wins due to the longevity of his greatness. But, that being said, the battle was probably closer than most people would be willing to admit. The reason we are cutting the Iverson-Nash debate short (other than the fact that AI pretty much beats Nash in most categories when you look at their...

We Reminisce: Maurice Taylor’s NBA Draft suit

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:16:59 -0500

The What Not to Wear: NBA Draft Edition Hall of Fame is a tough group to crack. Which makes sense, when you’ve got the bar being set by Jalen Rose’s red pinstriped suit, Chuck Person’s white-and-pink tuxedo, Samaki Walker’s fedora, and Karl Malone’s entire outfit in ‘85 that was so country it should have come [...]

Remembering That Awesome 1996 NBA Draft

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:10:00 -0500

If you've been reading this blog recently, you'd know that I've been all over NBATV's replays of old drafts. It's cool to see where the mistakes were made, how young these kids were and just the overall feel of the league again.So the 1996 Draft comes on and I am reminded how amazing of a draft it really was.#1-Allen Iverson. Probably a Hall of Fame player and is one of the freakiest talents we have ever seen in this league. He has an MVP award and an NBA Finals apperance ...

2008/09 Player Evaluation: Etan Thomas

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:26:55 -0500

Previously: Oleksiy Pecherov, Juan DIxon. STATS Per-game: 11.8 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.5 rebound Per-36 minutes: 9.4 points, 7.8 rebounds Percentages: 48.5 FG%, 69.6 FT%, 52.5% TS% Advanced (explanations): 10.1 PER, 12.7 REB%, 19.1 TO%, 14 UsgR, 99 ORtg, 111 DRtg, 0.1 WSAA (win score above average). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Prada: 2008/09 pr...

Biggest Draft Steals of All Time

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:12:08 -0500

Yesterday we did a story on the 10 biggest draft busts of all time. Today, we're going to look at the flip side of things ? the ten biggest draft steals of all time. After all, part of the reason Sam Bowie was considered a bust was because of the guys picked after him. The only rule to our list here is that you can't be a top ten pick to be a steal. So, without further ado, the ten best steals of all time. 10. Michael Redd, Milwaukee Bucks Redd was picked 43rd overall in 2000 in a very weak draft class. So weak, in fact, that only three All-Stars, including Redd have come out of it. Though picked behind the likes of Jerome Moiso, Jason Collier and Mamadou N'Diaye, Redd is already 10th all time in Milwaukee Bucks history for points scored and 5th for scoring average. 9. Gilbert Arenas, Golden State Warriors Selected 31st overall in 2001, Arenas was told he was too small to play shooter and too unaware to play point. A three time NBA All-Star, Arenas has proven the critics wrong and has shown himself to be one of the best in the business today. Just ask him. 8. Karl Malone, Utah Jazz Taken 13th in 1985, Malone would become a two time league MVP, a 13 time all-star and be named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time team. Oh yeah, and he's second all time in NBA history in scoring. 7. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs In 2001, Tony Parker was a 19 year old rookie point guard with just about zero expectations. Seven years later, he's won three NBA titles, a Finals MVP and a Desperate Housewife. Not bad. 6. Dennis Rodman, Detroit Pistons Colorful, freakish characters aside, Rodman was a heckuva basketball player. Selected 27th overall in 1986, "The Worm" would go on to win five NBA championships, be named Defensive Player of the Year twice and wear a wedding dress to promote his autobiography once. 5. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns Picked 15th overall in 1996, Nash followed picks like Samaki Walker, Todd Fuller and Vitaly Potapenko. Over the past 12 seasons, he's proven himself to be one of the league's finest players, picking up two consecutive league MVP awards along the way. 4. Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs The second to last selection in the 1999 draft has certainly shown he can do it in the NBA. It took him a while to get over to the United States, but since he's come, he's been doing nothing but lighting up the league. 3. Clyde Drexler, Portland Trail Blazers In 1983, 13 teams passed on "The Glide." It was certainly 13 too many. Steve Stipanovich, Rodney McCray and Russell Cross highlight those selected before Drexler, who on his way to the Hall of Fame, would amass ten All-Star appearances and is one of only three players with 20,000 points, 6,000 assists and 6,0000 rebounds. 2. Kobe Bryant, Charlotte Hornets It should be noted that Kobe Bryant refused to play for Charlotte, hence why he was dealt. However, that doesn't let the other 12 teams that didn't draft him in 1996 off the hook. While five of the top six picks in the draft have been All-Stars, the next six certainly weren't, and it's tough (though, admittedly arguable) to say that anybody in the world is better than Kobe today. 1. John Stockton, Utah Jazz The 1984 draft had some serious star power but the clubs that passed on Stockton in favor of players like Sam Bowie and Lancaster Gordon no doubt regret it. Stockton went on to become one of the game's greatest players and the prototypical "pass first" point guard. Pick 16 was a bargain and a half for Utah. BJ Pickard

Four Rules to Live By For a Successful Late-Round NBA Draft

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:58:58 -0500

Who knew that getting caught watching classic NBA Drafts by your girlfriend would be worse than getting caught watching porn? NBATV has been running classic drafts all day/night, and I was in the middle of watching the 1996 NBA Draft with John Calipari justifying why his Nets just drafted Kerry Kittles over Kobe Bryant when the GF popped her head into my home office. "What are you watching?" she asked with a look of suspicion on her face. "Um, the NBA Draft from 1996," I replied. She then just nodded in a trance-like state and vacated the room before the Mavericks drafted Samaki Walker. Awkward. Anyway, the 2008 version of the NBA Draft is on Thursday (5pm MST, ESPN) and I can't wait. Like the NBA Draft Lottery and All-Star Weekend, I'm a total sucker for the draft. In fact, I'm missing an annual college alumni event on Thursday just to watch it live. Even in this era of DVRs, there are certain sporting events you still have to watch live, like big playoff games, the NBA Finals and of course, the NBA Draft. It's just not the same unless you have your friends calling with comments like: "Who the f--k is Efthimios Rentzias and why the f--k hasn't Bernie been fired yet?!!" within seconds of making a pick. Since my favorite team isn't drafting until 20th, I've looked at the past 20 NBA Drafts (the modern era, if you will) and who was drafted in the 18-24th pick range. There are way more misses than hits, but the hits include talented guys with notorious off court problems like Rod Strickland, Jayson Williams (before he was killing limosine drivers and shooting dogs at point-blank range), Latrell Sprewell, Zach Randolph, J.R. Smith, international steals like Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Andrei Kirilenko, Nenad Krstic, Sasha Pavlovic and some players that have been integral on NBA Championship teams like Brian Shaw, "Eddie" "star" Rick Fox, Sam Cassell, Michael Finley, Derek Fisher, James Posey, Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo. But as noted above, an astute GM can find good value with the 20th pick if he knows what he's doing and abides by the following four rules... Rule #1: Stay away from centers in the back of the draft. By my accounting, in 20 years only four decent centers have been drafted in the first round from the 20th pick onward: Vlade Divac in 1989, Elden Campbell in 1990, the Big Z in 1996 and Brendan Haywood in 2001. In fact, an entire landfill could be filled up with the corpses of bust centers like Cook, Duane Causwell, another "Eddie" "star" in Dwayne Schintzius, Alaa Abdelnaby, Stanley Roberts, Elmore Spencer, Geert Hammink, Zidek, Loren Meyer, Lauderdale, Travis Knight, Leon Smith, Jake Tsakalidis, N'Diaye, Pavel Podkolzin and David Harrison (and I'm sure I missed a few). Rule #2: Don't get seduced by the "best athlete available" argument. Most teams drafting late in the first round - like the Nuggets in 2005 - made the playoffs, so they go into the draft willing to gamble on "raw talent" with "big upside" (anyone who has watched the draft should be familiar with Jay Bilas' buzz words by now). But history tells us this is a flawed strategy, and teams like the Nuggets have paid the price for drafting this way (see Brooks, Kevin and Hodge, Julius). Consider the case of Hodge specifically. Had the Nuggets drafted for what they really needed - a backup power forward for the oft-injured Kenyon Martin and Nene - Jason Maxiell or David Lee might be Nuggets right now. Rule #3: When in doubt, draft a power forward who played at least three years in college or somewhere overseas. There's been a slew of good-to-great power forwards over the years who have been neglected in the earlier part of the draft. I did some research going back to 1988 and came up with this list of NBA-ready (due to them staying in college or playing professionally overseas) power forwards who were selected late in the first round (or even in the second round) during that 20 year span: Clifford Robinson (36th pick overall), Jayson Williams (21st), Antonio Davis (45th), P.J. Brown (29th), Kenny Thomas (22nd), Krstic (24th), Carlos Boozer (34th), Luis Scola (55th), Anderson Varejo (30th), Maxiell (26th), Lee (30th), Ronny Turiaf (37th), Paul Milsap (47th), Leon Powe (49th), Carl Landry (31st) and even "Big Baby" Glen Davis (35th). Rule #4: Put a premium on character and work ethic. At the end of the day, a terrific college player with a tireless work ethic and solid character will figure out a way to be a productive NBA player, even if he's deemed "undersized" for his position by the draft pundits. Most of the power forwards listed above would fit this description, as do other late round or second round steals. Notable names on this list include Shaw, Fox, the late Bobby Phills, Cassell, Bryon Russell, Finley, Eric Snow, Fisher, Jackson, Posey, Eddie House, Michael Redd, Gerald Wallace, Gilbert Arenas, Earl Watson, Prince, John Salmons, Josh Howard, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Kyle Korver, Nelson, current Nugget Linas Kleiza and Jordan Farmar. Drafting players in professional sports is hardly an exact science, and it's easy for armchair GMs such as myself to look back in hindsight at what should have been. But if you look at the teams that have been most successful in the latter part of the NBA Draft recently, such as the Lakers, Pistons, Jazz and Spurs, they generally abide by the four rules stated above.

Power Drinkings

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:07:00 -0500

Why on Earth would we at 120 do an NBA Power Rankings article? Seriously. It's not as if we consider ourselves legit or anything. But seriously, this NBA Summer can only be described as a Jerry Springer episode. Kevin Garnett switched conferences, Kobe failed (so far) in his attempt to flee Lakerland, followed by the knock-down-drag out saga of MSG vs. Anucha Browne-Sanders, the tragic death of Eddie Griffin, and finally, the apparent return to prominence of the USA national team. Now...