Another Set of Random Thoughts

Changing the NBA Draft
The NFL draft kills the NBA draft in ratings. If I had to fix the NBA draft, here’s what I’d do:
1) Hold the draft lottery two days before the draft
2) Expand the draft to three rounds
3) Drop Dick Vitale

Wizards win the NBA Draft
The Wizards have the first overall pick. I am trying to just enjoy the feeling of winning. Nevertheless, I can’t help but focus on the fact that top player in college basketball John Wall plays the same position as Gilbert Arenas. I also remember the train wreck that happened when we selected Kwame Brown.
However, Wall-Arenas could be a fantastic combination, like Thomas-Dumars for the Pistons. The Wizards frontcourt of McGee and Blatche are on the cusps of reaching their full potential, complicated somewhat by the fact that McGee has asthma. The Wizards are small forward away from being a dominant team. There are some quality small forwards who are free agents in 2010. The most likely scenario would be signing Rudy Grady, a restricted free agent for Memphis Grizzlies. He’s not worth a max contract. Combined with Gilbert Arenas, John Wall, and Andray Blatche, however, he could be the missing piece in a dynasty. At least on paper.
I’d actually prefer the Wizard buy another early first round pick and land Wesley Johnson. It’s a pipe dream, but I think our draft win entitles a bit of dreaming.

The latest Cleveland scapegoat
I am amazed at Lebron James’s ability to deflect almost all blame on to other people. Many who disliked Clinton used to refer to him as the Teflon President. Lebron James is the Teflon NBA Star. Mike Brown was fired despite being one of the most recent coaches of the year.
The truth is that I agree with many of the criticism of Mike Brown. He kept games too slow, failing to utilize Lebron James’s talents in the open court effectively. He failed to develop a solid rotation going into this playoff and failed to properly incorporate Antawn Jameson. He also failed to adjust his defense on Rajon Rondo. Nevertheless, Mike Brown’s Cavaliers had the best regular season record for the past two years. He took the team to the NBA Finals in 2007. He has an impressive record as a coach. The Cavalier’s decision to fire him strikes me as overreaction to their playoff failures.
There are two camps when it comes to Lebron James. The first camp sees him as the greatest player ever and does everything to preserve that status. The second camp sees him as an amazing talent, but flawed player who thinks he doesn’t deserve the accolades already placed upon him. I fall firmly into the second camp. Carmelo Anthony deserved the Rookie of the Year honors. Lebron James is not the best player in basketball. Kobe Bryant remains the best. While he’s not a bad team mate, he doesn’t make his team mates better like Kevin Durant and Dwayne Wade. He over dribbles and dominates the offense a bit too much.
However, Lebron James is still a fantastic talent. If firing Mike Brown is the cost of retaining him, it’s a worthwhile trade. If Lebron leaves, the Cavaliers will have compounded their mistake.

NFL Live
I was up late and watching NFL Live. This show is terrible. Herm Edwards’s performance is a mix of a bad half-time speech and the most inane analysis ever. His side-kick Teddy Bruschi makes Herm Edward seem like an expert. That evening their “insightful analysis” was that Bengals were unhappy, but not too unhappy, with Chad Ocho Cinco being on dancing with the stars. Yikes.
At a certain point, my head exploded that evening. The discussion was about how Brad Childress felt using Tavaris Jackson at QB if Brett Favre didn’t return. Herm Edwards aggressively defended the position that Brad Childress was fine using Tavaris Jackson for the season. Really? He was begging last season for Brett Favre to come to Minnesota. He has allowed Favre to skip training camp. It couldn’t be clearer that Brad Childress is desperate to get Brett Favre to return. Herm Edwards is not examining the situation, he’s giving a weird pro-Jackson pep-talk.
It’s a terrible show.