HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

The NBA Draft came and went with a flurry of trades.

Blockbusters?  No.

Top or second-tier players reshaping the NBA landscape? Nope.

Minnesota complicating everyone’s draft cards with late picks getting shuffled around like a deck of cards?  That was like the theme of the draft.

Andre Miller was dealt for Raymond Felton.  Rudy Fernandez has escaped an unhappy situation (for him in Portland) to the Dallas Mavericks.

Earlier in the day, Stephen Jackson was thrilled to learn he was a Milwaukee Buck (assumed sarcasm there) with Corey Maggette to the Charlotte Bobcats and John Salmons returning to the Sacramento Kings.

That’s about it.

Jonny Flynn to the Houston Rockets?  Brad Miller, knee surgery and all, to the Minnesota Timberwolves?  George Hill to the Indiana Pacers?

Clearly something happened this draft or rather something specifically didn’t happen.

The lockout.  The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and what it will mean for the future.

The rules are unknown.  The timeframe unclear.

Teams were very hesitant to make major moves as one NBA executive called the market “suppressed.”

While GM David Kahn is rumored to expect big payroll teams like the Los Angeles Lakers to dump large salaries, LA won’t act on a maybe.  Neither with the Orlando Magic with Dwight Howard or the New Orleans Hornets with Chris Paul.

The Dallas Mavericks are the only team comfortable enough to say they won a title this past year.  Most teams need at least one major move before next season and most of what we got on draft day was drips and drabs.

Both the Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers were rumored to be after Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala but that fell into the stasis that was the NBA Thursday.

Teams made up for it with such a complicated draft with so many teams flipping picks, the league didn’t have time to approve everything in one night.

Who won on draft night?

Give me the lockout to figure which team got which player.

Lakers Get Their First Round Pick in Second Round
The Lakers traded away Sasha Vujacic to the New Jersey Nets early last season, saving a large chunk of money (north of $8 million) but at a price that included the 27th pick in the 2011 draft.

The needs are quite obvious for LA given the age of their backcourt with Derek Fisher at 37 and Kobe Bryant 33 before next season.  Shannon Brown is expected to opt out.  Steve Blake, also over 30, didn’t play well in his first year with the team.

The prospect the team had their eye on was 6’4″ Darius Morris, a true point guard out of Michigan.

No he has no three-point shot but Morris has some Andre Miller in him (good size, a midrange game, can finish around the basket, etc.).

There was no way he would fall to 41 and yet there he was.

The player LA would have selected at 27, 14 picks later.

Suffice it to say the team is happy with the results.  Los Angeles considered Morris as a first-round talent.{AUTHOR_BOX}

For some background on the new Laker, check out Darius Morris: “I’m a true point guard.”

While he still has to make the team (as a second-round pick), LA may have found a true, long-term prospect at the point.

One “basketball guy” not affiliated with the Lakers said Morris in four years could stand as one of the better point guards in this draft.

Los Angeles also added a dead-eye shooter in Andrew Goudelock with the 46th pick.  While he’s projected to be an NBA point guard at 6’3″, Goudelock would be more of an off the ball, designated shooter.

He also has a real chance to make the team and was another key target the Lakers had going into the draft.

LA also messed with the spell-checker when they selected Chukwudiebere Maduabum with the 56th pick but then dealt him to Denver for a future second-round draft pick.

Maduabum or “Chu Chu” for short needs to make an NBA roster, just to mess with PA announcers across the league.

Ater Majok went 58th to the Lakers but is expected to play overseas before having a crack at the team (if at all).  That’s another tough one to pronounce.

If the Lakers, at a later date, decide to re-shop Lamar Odom as they did this past week . . . it will likely have to wait for the new CBA.

Oh yeah, Ron Artest is changing his name to “Metta World Peace,” so there’s that.

Clippers hold for better opportunity.

The Clippers and Vice President of Basketball Operations tried to drive the trade market but there wasn’t any way to force a deal.

Iguodala was a target but Chris Kaman wasn’t enough as the primary piece.  Even if LA offered sweetener, a trade wasn’t to be had. {AUTHOR_BOX}

“We had other goals to accomplish tonight beyond just using two mid second-round picks,” said Vice President Neil Olshey.  “We went into tonight’s room saying, ‘Unless we were going to make a huge, impact trade that was going to get us into the next level (as far as being a factor in the playoffs) we were going to abstain, keep our powder dry.’”

Olshey noted the team projects to have $12 million in cap room this summer  (although truthfully there’s no way to know exactly what level of financial flexibility the Clippers will have until the new CBA is written and ratified).

“We like the roster as it is,” continued Olshey saying the team’s plan is to “go into free agency and the new trade market and we explore opportunities at that point to make a huge impact.

“We added two guys tonight that we definitely had higher on our board,” said Olshey.

The Clippers chose 6’10″ forward Trey Thompkins with the 37th pick in the draft, who the team had ranked in the late teens/early twenties.

“Travis Leslie is an elite athlete,” said Neil about the Clippers 47th pick.  “He can be a lockdown defender.  He’s an improving jump shooter.  He’s getting better with the ball in his hands.  We want to make sure Blake Griffin competition in the dunk contest next year.”

Both picks played together for Georgia, coincidental the team insisted.

“We think we found two guys that add to our culture,” said Olshey.  “We’ve got one guy with an incredibly high skill ratio that’s a night counterpart to what Blake gives us as the four (Thompkins).”

Olshey compared Leslie to Jason Richardson when he first came into the league as a guard who isn’t going to take more than a couple of dribbles but has explosive power and significant upside.

Thompkins, Olshey noted, is friends with fellow Clippers Al-Farouq Aminu who also hails from Georgia.  The knock on Trey is questionable conditioning/work ethic which is why he fell to 37.

Also interesting to note is that Thompkin’s agent Arn Tellem, according to Olshey, tried to direct his client to the Clippers.

“Tellem’s been calling for two days, hoping that if Trey were to fall into the second round, we would be their team,” said Olshey.  “Arn just thought this was a great fit.”

“Some of these kids need direction,” said Coach Vinny Del Negro.  “We’ve just got to touch this kid.  We have the environment and the culture to support these types of players.  Now we have to do a good job kind of just put our arms around working with him.  He’s going to have to have the desire to do it but I think he does.  His skill set is impressive for where we got him.”

Olshey noted the game may have come too easy for Trey in college.  Thompkins has the 6’10″ height but he can handle the ball, make plays off the dribble and shoot threes.

“At this level, the conditioning catches up,” said Olshey.  “DeAndre Jordan learned that lesson.  He got himself in great shape and now we look at what he does from a production standpoint.  This is the reason you build $50 million practice facilities.

“You absorb guys into a culture of commitment, of conditioning, of guys working together, guys competing on the practice court and we’ve seen that,” said Neil, impressed by the Griffin-led contingent of players working out diligently so far this offseason.  “We’ve never had a turn-out like this in May or June from a conditioning standpoint and preseason preparation.  That’s the kind of culture that Trey and Travis will enter.  That’s why I’ve got so much confidence that any issues he may have had not being in peak condition in Georgia won’t be an issue here.”

Of course that doesn’t address what happens when the players aren’t allowed into the gym after next week, assuming as is appropriate that there will be a lockout.

The Clippers couldn’t comment on it as the NBA is quick to fine even innocuous statements about the ongoing labor negotiations.

“We want to try and hit homeruns,” said Olshey of his picks.  “Taking a guy who just barely makes your roster and hangs around for a year or two doesn’t do anything for you.

“We had the same opportunity two years ago with DeAndre Jordan.  There were safer players with more pedigree probably than DeAndre, more of a track record.  You could apply more statistical analysis to their production but here we sit today with DeAndre Jordan being a starting caliber center in our league.

“I think that Trey is a great compliment to Blake.  He brings a lot of things that we need on this team.  He has a high IQ.  He shoots the ball.  He’s a willing passer.  He plays within flow and structure.  He understands schemes and coverages.”

“With Travis, you just wind him up and put him out there and things are going to happen,” continued Olshey.  “He’s probably the 6’3″ DeAndre Jordan in this class . . . probably the best athlete in this draft.”

Olshey took a moment to give Director of Player Personnel Gary Sacks praise for helping to make sure the staff was fully prepared for the draft so that both picks were very easy for the Clippers to make.

“We’re lucky to get both those guys.  They’re both guys who can make our team,” said Olshey.  “They can impact our team and continue to grow with the core we put together.”

Seller’s Remorse?
Did the Clippers feel any twinges watching the Cleveland Cavaliers draft Kyrie Irving first with what was originally the Clippers’ pick?

“There is no remorse.  We made the deal knowing there was an eventuality that it could be the number one pick in the draft,” said Olshey.  “The alternate consideration would have been the Minnesota pick [next year].”

Neil continued that he and his entire staff had long studied both the 2011 and 2012 drafts before the Cleveland trade, “and in our mind . . . the 2012 class, based on the college kids that are still in school and the potential high school kids that can be one-and-done guys, would far surpass in terms of the value to our franchise.”

For any skeptics still unclear on the difficulty the Clippers would have had protecting the pick they sent to the Cavaliers without simultaneously unprotecting the 2012 Minnesota pick, check out salary cap expert Larry Coon’s article on ESPN Los Angeles.

Olshey also pointed out that the Clippers were sixth from last in the standings when they made the Baron Davis/Mo Williams trade but improved play (11-11) helped the team climb to eight, which is why the ping pong balls ultimately went the way they did.

Keeping Davis, who was a significant thorn in the side of the organization with his contract, difficult personality and uninspired work-ethic, was not something the Clippers wanted to do.

Clippers want a Melo or Deron Level Trade
The home run Olshey was generally referring to was landing a free agent that would not only solidify the Clippers as a playoff team but help make them a force in the playoffs.

Easier said than done but the team is hoping they’ll be able to package that pick at a later date to get an elite player who becomes available in trade.  While Neil couldn’t name names, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and even Deron Williams would be major gets for the Clippers.

“We’re going to need an asset like the Minnesota pick to get into those conversations and that’s another reason we held onto it [rather than protecting the 2011 pick],” said Olshey.

“We’re still one piece away but it’s not going to be the wrong piece.  We’re going to be patient and make sure it’s the right piece,” said Olshey.  “And again that’s where the Minnesota pick comes into play because if you want to hit a home run, you better have the assets to do it.”

The 2012 pick won’t go out for high-level but non-elite players like Danny Granger, Andre Iguodala and Rudy Gay.