NBA Draft
Is there a more impactful crap shoot in all of sports than the NBA Draft?
Seriously, look at the top 10 monster difference-makers in today’s NBA.
Three of those 10 – Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook – fell to the OKC Thunder in various top 5 spots.
Steph Curry was passed over by six teams in 2009, and Kawhi Leonard and GIannis Antetokounmpo were there at 15 in 2011 and ’13 respectively.
LeBron went 1 because he is LeBron, but the timing of Cleveland getting that No. 1 pick still was very fortunate. The same can be said for Minnesota with Karl-Anthony Towns and New Orleans with Anthony Davis, because No. 1 picks are far from a slam dunk.
Look at the No. 1s from 2017 since the year before LeBron and the best pick in each draft in parenthesis:
2003 – LeBron (Duh)
2004 – Dwight Howard (Howard)
2005 – Andrew Bogut (Chris Paul at 4)
2006 – Andrea Bargnani (terrible draft overall really but Kyle Lowry did go 24)
2007 – Greg Oden (Durant went 2)
2008 – Derrick Rose (Russell Westbrook at 4)
2009 – Blake Griffin (Griffin is a star when healthy, but Steph Curry went 7, DeMar DeRozan went 9 and James Harden went 3)
2010 – John Wall (Wall’s pretty excellent, but that draft also featured DeMarcus Cousins at 5, Gordon Hayward at 9 and Paul George at 10)
2011 – Kyrie Irving (Kawhi Leonard at 15)
2012 – Anthony Davis (Davis)
2013 – Anthony Bennett (Giannis Antetokounmpo at 15)
2014 – Andrew Wiggins (Joel Embiid at 3)
2015 – Karl-Anthony Towns (Towns)
2016 – Ben Simmons
2017 – Markelle Fultz (Jayson Tatum at 3)
And it’s not just the biggest of names. Last year, the three best rookies went 3 (Tatum), 13 (Donovan Mitchell) and 27 (Kyle Kuzma).
FILE – In this May 15, 2014, file photo, Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird watches the warm up for Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series against the Washington Wizards, in Washington. Bird is stepping down as president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers, a stunningly abrupt move even for an NBA legend known for making swift decisions. Bird made the call on Friday, April 28, 2017, and general manager Kevin Pritchard will be elevated to take his place, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the move, which was first reported by Yahoo! Sports. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) Biggest what ifs in sports
We may visit this as a Rushmore at some point but for our dollar, the biggest what if in sports history happened 32 years ago this week and there’s not an NBA draft that goes by in which we do not think of it.
June 19, 1986 was the day Len Bias died.
For those who never saw Bias play, he was better in college than Jordan. Would he have improved and changed his game the way MJ did to become the GOAT? No one can tell, and that’s not the what if at play.
No, Bias died of a drug overdose after the Boston Celtics made him the No. 2 overall pick in the ’86 draft. Bias would have been an immediate – and needed – injection of athleticism in a Boston rotation that was an annual title contender for most of the 1980s.
He also would have given the Celtics multiple options. Those options could have added extra years on the primes of Bird and McHale.
The “What ifs” of Bias in Boston could have the reach of an extra title or two. Would those be at the expense of the Lakers or the Pistons.
Would Bias have been the chief foil for MJ over the next decade-plus in the Eastern Conference.
R.I.P., Lenny Bias. You were amazingly fun to watch.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Sean Newcomb was sharp again Saturday, winning for the eighth time in nine decisions in a 1-0 victory against the San Diego Padres in Atlanta.Braves play where?
For folks that listen to Press Row, you know that the Braves play almost all their games on ESPN 105.1 the Zone.
Today, the Braves play at 12:37 in Toronto. (Zone programming director and Press Row producer Wells Guthrie has informed us that the Braves-Jays will be on 106.9 FM.)
That’s a small change in the broadcast plans.
Here’s a big one: The Braves-Jays game will only be shown on Facebook Watch.
(Side note: During the more than a dozen years we were the sports editor of the TFP, the phone-call question we received the most was not, “Why do you love/hate Baylor/McCallie/private schools/public schools/ (you name it)?” The most frequent query was “What channel are the Braves on?” and that was asked by a river of folks all of whom were somewhere between 65 and 108. Can’t imagine trying to explain this one to our elderly Johnny and Jane Braves Fan. Somebody better call Alexian and give them the head’s up.)
Here’s AJC Braces ace Dave O’Brien on the details of the decision to put the Braves on Facebook Watch.
The social media monster has a deal with the MLB to the exclusive rights to live-stream one game a week, and wisely that game is normally a day game during the work week. People have online access at work way more often than they have TV access, you know?
You also need to know this: This deal will only get more frequent.
Think of the benefits for each side.
For Facebook – and Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, et al. – live sports is one of the things that still draws real-time viewers. Live sports also generates a lot of social media commentary, which benefits that platform immensely.
As for the leagues, sure, the value of these deals are not at the same place of the big contracts from TV partners.
Bloomberg News reported that Facebook paid between $30-35 million for the 25-game package. For baseball, the regionality of most games (unless they are on ESPN or Fox) can limit the chance for people on the West Coast on in NYC and Boston to see the Braves play. That regionalization of the game limits MLB’s ability to maximize star power.
Case in point: Mike Trout is the best player of all time stats-wise at this point in his career. Best ever. And how many times have you ever seen him play live? Exactly.
The online platforms give the game much greater reach – in this country and beyond.
So welcome to the future, and if you can’t find the Braves, call the TFP. Sure they will be able to help you out.
This and that
– Speaking of the Braves, well, Johan Camargo’s salami paced Atlanta to an 11-4 win Tuesday. That’s three in a row and six of their last seven. Who’s printing playoff tickets yet. (Kidding. Mostly.)
– Speaking of the draft, here’s an interesting story that several of the top prospects refused to send their medical information to the Sacramento Kings, who have the No. 2 pick. Only Marvin Bagley III appears comfortable with the Kings.
– No charges against Chachi.
– The Yankees are crushing it over the fence. Through 70 games, the Yankees have 118 homers. The most-ever is 264 by Seattle in 1997. The Yankees are on pace for 273 homers this season.
– The Cubs had a pitcher miss a start because he got injured taking his pants off.
Today’s questions
Loads to discuss today.
Today is national vanilla milkshake day. On a “Which Way Wednesday” which way you going on your go-to milkshake flavor?
June 20 is the birthday of Nicole Kidman (51), Lionel Richie (69) and John Goodman (66).
Let’s go with the big guy there and pin down a Rushmore of Goodman movies. He has a sneaky good catalog, thanks in part to working regularly with the Coen brothers.
Go and remember the mailbag.