Let the Picks Begin

TrueHoop at the Draft Blogging and blogging and blogging the 2008 NBA Draft. Selected recent posts: • The Big Apple Wants O.J. • Will Michael Beasley Prank David Stern? • Thursday Bullets • Trade Talk • Chatting with Top Prospects • Pre-Game Tension Derrick Rose to the Chicago Bulls! And we're underway. Anyone else notice that he did not look all that happy? I mean not that he looked unhappy. He just looked a little nervous, or scared. Understandable. This is a big stage. He's young.And anyone else notice that John Calipari was not at the Rose family table, but migrated across the whole green room to stalk himself a hug? Calipari worked hard for that one.People here are already chanting for O.J. Mayo. I don't know if they want him to be second pick, or the Knicks pick.Beasley second overall. Prank alert. ... And, boy, he really did not pull a prank on David Stern. He very seriously, and carefully, shook the man's hand. Thus passes this evening's best opportunity to make draft comedy history.O.J. Mayo third to Minnesota. This reminds of Milwaukee picking Yi Jianlian last year. I just have the sense that this is not where he wanted to go. He might well make the best of it, and we'll forget anyone ever thought otherwise. Or he might end up like Yi, or Stephon Marbury, or Steve Francis, or whomever ... traded somewhere else before he reaches his peak.Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress is sitting nearby. He's thrilled with Seattle's selection of Russell Westbrook, because that's what he had in his mock draft. It was a bold call, but so far it has apparently paid off. With Westbrook going about as high as projected, that means guys like Kevin Love, Jerryd Bayless, Brook Lopez, and Eric Gordon are still around for teams like the Nets, picking tenth, to dream about.OK, Kevin Love is off the board, and now there are just a few minutes until this place erupts in boos as the Knicks will select Danilo Gallinari. Then it'll be surly for the rest of the night out there in the seats.One bunch of Knick fans is calling out for Bayless. Another group wants Alexander.I feel bad for Danilo Gallinari. And I think he's going to be good. In a year or two, these same fans will all cheer for him, just like they cheer now when Renaldo Balkman dives for a loose ball. Also, Donnie Walsh knows what he's doing. Knick fans would be wise to trust him at least a little. (At this time last year, Knick fans thought they had fleeced the Blazers out of Zach Randolph. They don't have the best track record.)Eric Gordon the Clippers means Jonathan Givony is still perfect in his predictions thus far. He literally can not stop smiling. He's working away on his laptop, grinning from ear to ear.Classy thing worth pointing out: When Gallinari was making his way up to the stage, showered in boos, Sonny Vaccaro, with a good seat in the second row, was standing and cheering like a maniac. I don't know if he has a relationship with Gallinari or not, but either way it was good that someone was showing that guy some love.OK, so D.J. Augustin goes ninth. There were 10,000 rumors around before the draft. One was that Augustin would not slide past ninth. Turns out that one was true. Brook Lopez and Jerryd Bayless are the two guys who have not gone as high as many predicted. Lopez, I'd bet, will be tenth. There is not a lot of smiling or talking at the Bayless table.There is a little less smiling at the Givony table. That Augustin pick knocked his draft board a little off-kilter.Did anybody think that Jerryd Bayless would go to the Pacers? Too weird to predict. Either Larry Brown kicks off his tenure with some good fortune, or there's something wrong with Bayless that the Pacers don't know. I suspect it's the former.Update on Sonny Vaccaro cheering for Danilo Gallinari. I had forgotten that Gallinari is in fact represented by Vaccaro's good friend, Arn Tellem.There are more than a few players in this draft with ties to William Wesley. None more so than Jason Thompson of Rider. Thompson played AAU basketball with Dajuan Wagner back in the day, and is from the same part of the country as Wesley. Now that Thompson has become the first shock of the draft -- some had him going 28th, and he went 12th to Sacramento -- Wesley is smiling somewhere. I heard a week ago that he might end up going 14th to Golden State, and many experts I ran that by scoffed. Everyone thought that was way too high. Turns out that was wrong. Too low!The scuttlebutt around here is that Brandon Rush will be traded soon. To where I do not know.Jeffrey Ma of ProTrade, who advises the Blazers, e-mails some thoughts: "Top ten steal: Kevin Love. Based solely on statistics our numbers have him as arguably the top player in this draft. He's more athletic than people realize as witnessed by his better than average blocks/minute. Great passer who does not need to score to make an impact. Should have been a top three selection. Top ten bust: Eric Gordon. Love the guy's college game but unless he can play PG in the NBA he will not be a success. Poor shot selection and efficiency spell doom for him at the NBA level and most NBA insiders tell me he won't be able to play the one at this level."ESPN's Chad Ford: "The Portland Trail Blazers have verbally agreed to a deal that will send the rights to Brandon Rush and Jarrett Jack to the Indiana Pacers for the rights to Jerryd Bayless and Ike Diogu, according to a Blazers source." DraftExpress's Givony has it slightly different: "Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts and the #13 pick (Rush) for #11 (Jerryd Bayless). Indiana must have a trade exception. Kevin Pritchard does it again! What a great compliment for Brandon Roy."Jeffrey Ma of ProTrade on Bayless: "That makes a lot of sense. Bayless is a tough one ... if he can play point guard he will be a success, if he can't he will be a bust." Ma also adds that the player he was really pressuring the Blazers to draft was Jason Thompson. "Thompson went higher than I thought he would go but he had some of the best statistical numbers of anyone in this class," Ma explains. "Obviously his level of competition was something that concerned people but purely by statistics we had him rated fifth in this draft."OK, now that the early part of the draft, and the big names and all that, are winding to a close, I'm moving this party over to a new post, to save you clicking refresh for a little while. more...