Today, the NBA Draft Lottery was held. The annual Draft Lottery, while suspenseful, is one of the biggest scams in sports. I've always believed that the worst team in a league should get the first overall draft pick - like in all other sports. In basketball, however, a team's fate is left up to some guy picking a ping pong ball out of a hat. Somehow, amazingly, New York and California teams tend to mysteriously "move up" in the draft. Hmmmm......Anyway, our local basketball squad, The Minnesota Timberwolves finished with the 3rd worst record in the league this year. I hope you are sitting down for this next bit. Tonight, after much suspense, the Wolves found out they will pick...... third. Now, I understand that this makes statistical sense. And, hey, they could have done worse. You see, the Wolves have been known to drop a few spots in years past. I really thought they would drop to fifth or sixth. So third is OK. By the way, how many times in their history since 1989 have the Timberwolves moved UP in the draft lottery?
Zero.
The real reason, however, that picking third overall makes the most "sense" for the Wolves is that there are essentially TWO great players coming out of college, Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose. Either one of these players would have been a superstar for the Wolves. Instead, however, the Wolves will now get their choice of head-cases, wing-nuts, pot heads or (worse) overrated-white-guys-who-can't-jump-but-mean-well. If there are two great players, the Wolves will pick third. If there are fifteen great players, the Wolves will pick sixteenth. You get the picture. Why does this happen? I believe the answer is obvious:
The Timberwolves are a cursed franchise.
No question. Curses exist in sports. Some franchises are cursed to never win a championship. The Chicago Cubs fall into this category in baseball - the Curse of the Billy Goat. The Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills fall into this category in football. There are other franchises, however, that are cursed in everything that they do. On the field. Off the field. Drafting. Coaching. Run-in's with the law. Injuries. Everything. Total ineptitude. Off the top of my head, the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints fit this category.
The Minnesota Timberwolves also fit this category. They are a cursed franchise in every sense of the word. They miss out on drafting Shaq and Alonzo Mourning in 1992 (even though they had the worst record in the NBA)and get Christian Laettner. And then there is every trade that they have ever made. They finally draft a competent point guard (Stephon Marbury) and he demands to be traded. Malik Sealy gets killed by a repeat drunk driver. Their best Center of all time was Felton Spencer for God sakes. They draft Brandon Roy (probably one of the best up-and-coming players in basketball) and trade him for the ever-injured Randy Foye. You want to talk about Planter Fasciitis? The first time I ever heard the word was with Micheal Williams AND Wally Szczerbiak.
And then there was J. R. "Junior" Isiah Rider. C.R.A.Z.Y. Need I say more? The list goes on and on and on and on....So, the Wolves will pick third. They'll pick a guy who might turn out to be an average NBA player if he can stay out of jail. Good thing I really don't care much for basketball.
Jeff
4 comments:
Jeff - don't worry...They'll end up getting Eric Gordon.
He's going to be better than Rose or Beasley.
I'd feel bad for you, but you did dump Wally on the Celtics in a trade. I think McHale owed us Garnett for that one.
Jase - I don't know. If he is that good the Wolves won't take him. I'm going with Brook Lopez, a 7-foot Center who can't rebound. He'd be perfect.
Phil - I am convinced that McHale is still under contract with the Celtics. Although I don't really disagree with the trade. At least the Wolves got Al Jefferson...
The Wolves moving up in the NBA draft lottery?!? Now that would be a sign of the impending apocalypse.
Post a Comment