Sort of a delayed diary here tonight. I had some work to get done for my real job (Anyone who wants to sponsor this page so I can quit my real job, feel free to contact me!)
Reds are in the top of the fourth inning, tied at Philadelphia 4-4, and the NBA Draft has seen two Ohio State Buckeyes taken in the top five. Greg Oden was taken first overall by the Portland Trailblazers and Mike Conley Jr. went fifth to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Oden was hilarious after he had shaken hands with David Stern. He went over to a desk to be interviewed by ESPN’s Stuard Scott and was asked about the fact that, since he had already known for at least 12 hours that he was in fact the first pick, why was he rubbing his hands together nervously in anticipation of the announcement?
—Josh Hamilton just scored on a single by Scott Hatteberg, giving the Reds a 5-4 advantage.—
Oden’s answer to Scott’s question? He wasn’t nervous, he was simply rubbing hand sanitizer on his hands because he’s been battling a cold and he didn’t want to give Stern any germs! This guy is more charismatic than people are giving him credit for, and he’ll take the torch from Shaq, in my opinion, as the next big man who entertains not only on the court, but off it too.
Conley going to the Grizzlies doesn’t do much for me. It appears Seattle, who took Kevin Durant with the second pick, has traded Ray Allen to the Celtics for the fifth pick and a few players, giving them the opportunity to pick up Georgetown’s Jeff Green. I had really hoped the Blazers would do something similar, giving the Hawks or Grizzlies some players and maybe next year’s first round pick for the right to take Conley, keeping the dynamic duo together.
I had heard of a possible trade that would’ve sent point guard Jarrett Jack and forward Zach Randolph to Atlanta for the third pick. I guess Atlanta wanted Al Horford a bit more. Funny since they’ve taken a power forward with their first round pick like five years in a row. I wonder why they don’t get the flack the Detroit Lions have gotten in the NFL for taking a receiver every year. Sure, Randolph would be another power forward, but he’s shown the ability to play the five position in the NBA, too.
Wow, I can’t believe I’m talking this much about the NBA, and I actually think I’m putting together a solid thought or two. I’d like nothing more to really be serious about the Association again, but to reiterate thoughts from an earlier column, I just haven’t been able to sustain any passion for it for nearly a decade.
Having Oden and Conley in the league could make a difference, but the two teams they’ve been drafted by might put a damper on that. It’s hard, even for a sports writer who sleeps past 9 a.m. more often than not, to watch west coast games that start after 10 p.m. on a regular basis. It’s also hard to watch the Grizzlies because they really aren’t on TV much.
I assume that with Oden’s star power he’ll get immediate national TV games on TNT and ESPN. In fact, ESPN often airs games on its Friday night telecasts from the west coast after an east coast game.
To be honest Portland deserves Oden. He will do a lot of good toward helping the organization return to the good times it experienced in the late 1970s and the late ’80s to early ’90s. That community loved its Blazers like no other in the league, or all of sports for that matter, but the Jailblazers of the mid ’90s and early ’00s really tarnished things.
That said, if there ever needed to be proof that the NBA doesn’t fix the draft lottery, this has to be it. The two biggest talents since LeBron James and Carmello Anthony came into the league in ’03 and they both end up in the Pacific Northwest, where most of the country can’t watch them play!
—Ugh, with rain coming toward the stadium, all Reds pitcher Matt Belisle had to do was get a third out in the bottom of the fifth inning for the game to be official. Instead, he allows to batters to reach base and then gives up a two-run double, making it a 6-5 deficit.—
Time for a run for the border. Yes, I’m breaking my no fast food rule because the CPA was in a bowling league tonight and I haven’t eaten. She informed me she’d pick me up some dinner, but she wouldn’t get out of the car because it was raining! So, I had to settle for fast food. She got to eat with a colleague at Brio, a fine Italian restrent. (Inside joke for my man Hollywood)
OK, back to the draft. I’m a little behind because of all the Reds watching, but we’re at the eighth pick and the Charlotte Bobcats select…Brandon Wright from UNC. Hmm, that’s Sean May, Raymond Felton, Michael Jordan and Wright, all from UNC, just miles away in Charlotte. Is this a marketing ploy or do the Bobcats really want to get better?
Da Bulls are up next and I find myself longing for the ’90s when Jordan and the Bulls ran the universe. Now they’ve reduced themselves to taking Joakim Noah with the ninth pick. Now there are two guys who can’t score on the front line for the Bulls. They took LSU’s Tyrus Thomas last year in the first round. Both these guys are rebounders and I’ve actually heard Noah compared to Thomas lately.
Oh, and Mike Tirico reminds me on ESPN that the Bulls have Ben Wallace, another guy who doesn’t score much…hmm.
One other guy I’ve heard Noah compared to, whether I agree with it or not, is Dennis Rodman. Both those guys have/had tremendous motors as far as getting after the ball when it’s coming off the rim or if it’s loose on the floor. Both guys also seem to feed off negative crowds and adversity.
At the end of the day, though I don’t know that I can see the Bulls doing well with so many front line guys who don’t look to score.
—Alex Gonzalez goes yard in the top of the eighth to give the Reds a 7-6 lead. Boy, with these two bullpens it’s like playing Russian Roulette only there’s a bullet in every chamber. I like the Reds’ chances against the Phillies bullpen, but I’m sure Philly fan feels the same way about my team!
In a downpour, Marcus McBeth is trying to get through the eighth inning. He earned the win last night and he has two outs now. Wow, they just flashed to the dugout, a structure that gives the players shelter from the storm, as Bob Dylan would say, but Aaron Harang, Kyle Lohse and Homer Bailey are out on the rail getting soaked. At least the New Era hats aren’t made of wool anymore, so they won’t shrink.
Well there goes the lead. I liner to the right field corner and it’s 7-7. The Reds have given up a ton of runs with two outs. Even worse, they’ve gotten two outs with no one on, only to give up singles and walks to give the Phils a chance to knock them in. It’s bad enough to have a man on when you get two outs and then give up a run, but you have to really work hard to give up back to back hits with two outs.
Here we are, top of the ninth, and Antonio “Six Fingers” Alfonseca is on for the Phillies. He started the year as a guy who barely made the team. Now he’s the Phillies’ closer. Hatteberg leads things off, so we’ll see if he can get the job done. Well on to the bottom of the ninth.
Jon Coutlangis comes on to strike out both Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, so we’re out of the woods right? Wrong. Two outs, remember. Aaron Rowand lines a single and here we go again. Some guy named Bourn hits one to the track, and it looked way gone, but the wind held it up and Junior pulled it in to end the inning.
Adam Dunn, who homered earlier, hits a rocket, but Ryan Howard somehow pulled it in. I don’t know that anyone who hasn’t watched many Phillies games this year knows just how good Howard is on defense. He’s made diving stops, great reaction plays of line drives and he even dove for a foul pop after running about half a mile earlier tonight.
Down goes Edwin Encarnacion, next up Josh Hamilton. All right! The Natural just hit a double and Alex Gonzalez works a walk, so here comes…not Chad Moeller, but Javier Valentin. He’s the guy who had two RBI hits after pinch hitting last night. He’s as good a pinch hitter as the league has had the past two seasons.
All that about Valentin and he grounds out.
Now Santos has walked a batter and given up a single and he’s at the top of the order. Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the first four spots in the order. That’s as good as it gets. Offense isn’t the Phillies’ problem.
Rollins proves my point with a game winning single to knock in the winning run. I think I’ve seen this before and I wasn’t impressed then, either.—
What a downer. I’m a bit underwhelmed now about the rest of the draft.
Apparently Wright got traded to the Warriors for Jason Richardson. Good move by MJ in my opinion. He kept saying he wanted to get some veteran talent to go together with his youngsters. He certainly didn’t need another young guy not knowing how to play the NBA game.
The Hawks got Horford and Acie Law IV, nearly a Conley clone, only he’s a little older and he shoots a lot better. He’s not as quick as Conley. So, I guess the only thing they have in common is they’re both shorter than Greg Oden!
I think that’s a good move by the Hawks, who’ve quickly become the Devil Rays of the NBA. Those two guys were multi-year guys in college, so they’re not just going to sit on the bench at first.
OK, I’m officially disinterested in the draft. Learning that Daequan Cook did get picked in the first round by the Sixers, only to be traded to the Heat, a place where he can actually ease into playing time without the pressures of being counted on to play a lot right away, ends the night.
Cook is tough for me. I watched him score a ton early in the season for OSU and then he fizzled, his jump shot taking more of a line than an arc. He had a terrible second half of the season and even though he didn’t say negative things publicly, his former high school coach and his mom didn’t pull any punches in criticizing Thad Matta, even though the Buckeyes were en route to a Final Four and just four losses on the season.
That’s what makes the NBA Draft so different than the NFL’s. These guys take players who, even after showing that they can’t play 40 games in a season without breaking down somewhat physically. How can a guy who went from 19 points a game after 12-15 games to just barely over 10 a contest at the end of the year play well for 82 games and the playoffs?
In the long run he’ll be a good player, I hope, but my feeling about him leaving early is a lot more tainted than Oden and Conley.
Enough NBA, football training camp is just a month away and while the Reds stink, there’s still excitement around Griffey and Dunn going back and forth with 20-plus homers apiece.