The first round of the NBA Draft happened last night. The NBA is trying to copy the NFL by spreading out its Draft over more than one prime time TV insertion. One obstacle the NBA faces is the fact that about half of the players taken in “Night #2” will be players that have never been seen by at least 90% of the viewing audience. It is hard to get too excited when your team chooses Joe Flabeetz over Sam Glotz in Round 2 when you have never seen either player nor could you pick either one out of a lineup with the Andrews Sisters.
There are a couple of interesting things to wonder about from the results of that first round of the Draft.
- Two players from Duke went in the Top Five. Duke went to the Final Four last year and was dominant. Makes sense.
- Two players from Rutgers went in the Top Five. Rutgers finished 11th in the Big-10 last year with a Conference record of 8-12 and an overall record of 15-17. Makes no sense.
A third player from Duke’s squad last season was taken with the 10th overall pick which means Duke had three “Top Ten Picks” this year. That a team had three players taken in the Top Ten of the NBA Draft has happened twice before since 1993 which is where I stopped checking NBA Draft results early this morning:
- In 2007, Florida had Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah drafted in the Top Ten.
- In 2019, Duke (again) had Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish drafted in the Top Ten.
The Brooklyn Nets had five first round picks last night and held on to all of them taking three guards in the process. The Nets will pick 6th tonight in the second round of the Draft; Odds are they will not take another guard.
The Portland Trailblazers took Yang Hansen with the 16th overall pick. He is 19 years old, 7’ 2” tall and weighs 258 pounds. He has been playing in the Chinese Basketball Association which is why 99.9% of NBA fans have never seen him play more than in a 30-second highlight reel. Shades of Yao Ming … ?
The New Orleans Pelicans traded up to be able to draft Derik Queen. The Pelicans already have Zion Williamson so the team will never lack “bulk” in the front court. It will, however, lack interior defense when both guys are on the court together; neither player pays more than passing attention to that aspect of the game.
Switching gears … Max Kellerman has been out of sight for about two years now after he was let go by ESPN in what seemed to be a cost-cutting move by the network. Well, Max is coming back to the sports broadcasting sphere, and he will return to his roots. Reports this week said that he will be part of the broadcast team for a major boxing event pitting Canelo Alvarez and Terrence Crawford in September. The fight will be shown on Netflix; it will happen at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and the winner will be the “Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion of the World.
Max Kellerman began his broadcasting career on public-access cable TV with a show called Max on Boxing. He continued with that focus even in his days at ESPN as a fixture on that network’s presentation of Friday Night Fights. He also did a bunch of studio shows for ESPN including as the original host of Around the Horn as well as hosting several ESPN Radio programs. Kellerman is only 51 years old, and he is too good as a sports commentator to be “out of the loop”. Hopefully, this event will get him back in orbit.
Moving on … If you happen to be in the Dallas area and decide to take in a Texas Rangers’ game … and … you happen to be in the mood to present a digestive challenge to your gut, the Texas Rangers have just what you need:
- The Elvis Jabberdog Brownie: This is a two-foot long brownie that is dusted in Rice Krispies as a coating and then deep-fried like a funnel cake. Oh, but that is not all. Then it gets a topping of more brownie crumbles and whipped cream – – of course.
I’m thinking this gets washed down with about 16 ounces of Pepto Bismol …
Finally, this from comedian Mitch Hedberg:
“My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………