Now that the NBA Finals are over with the Draft is all that us real sports fans have to look forward to. "Real sports fans" being those that are aware that baseball is so boring that it makes us actually long for fall so football can start. Sorry baseball fans, but even basketball and football on their worst day is better than baseball. Although for those that want to keep their sports betting active baseball is just the thing to get you through the summer.
Anyway, the Draft that took place a couple of days ago was a small morsel to whet my sports appetite. Just enough until the Olympics start next month and we can see Team USA going for the gold in basketball. I may not have been able to watch full blown out games, but at least they showed highlights of these kids in action. So I didn't get a full game like I was craving but I got to see the best parts. In some cases anyway. Which brings me to my first point...
Was it just me or were some of the highlights they showed just not that impressive? The whole point of showing a highlight is to showcase how outstanding a kid is. I was expecting to see guys playing above the rim, making spectacular plays and/or doing something memorable to make it clear why the guy was a high prospect. Instead some of them looked rather average. It was a stark reminder of how the college talent has looks more mediocre than it has in the past. Probably because kids these days are more focused on putting that first and/or second year of college behind them so they can just hurry up and get to the draft.
Take the first pick for example: Bert. Excuse me...I mean Anthony Davis. Maybe he was the clear number one pick among this draft class. That's not really saying much though. You put him among the draft classes of ten years ago or more and he would not have even been a lottery pick. He was further proof of what's wrong with these kids these days. His talent and skill should be foremost on everyone's description of him. Instead the one thing that kept coming to the forefront was how he trademarked his unibrow so he can make money off it. Way to keep your priorities straight, Anthony.
The one thing that often makes the Draft more fun to watch is the local connections. There are only two rounds to the NBA Draft so it's not often that you'll find someone from Iowa in it. We tend to make a big deal when it does happen. This year we had two of them in the first round: Harrison Barnes and Royce White. Personally, they went in reverse order as far as I'm concerned. I could really care less that Barnes is a product of Ames High right down from the street from me. He plays soft. Not suited enough for the NBA game. Royce White, on the other hand, has the build and game built for the rugged NBA game. My opinion on the two of them has nothing to do with the fact that White is a Cyclone and Barnes shunned ISU for North Carolina. Okay...maybe a little bit of bias involved. Just a little.
One thing I will give these kids credit for is their suit selections. Every one of them that were there went with a standard business suit. Nothing outlandish. I thought for sure that this new "geek chic" craze that Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and sometimes even Dywane Wade and Lebron James have made famous in post-game press conferences would influence the wardrobes of the Draft. Fortunately they didn't. I have to admit though...I do miss the clown suits that dominated the drafts of the 90s. But much props to these young fellas for keeping it traditional.
My son was definitely into it more than I was. I had already tuned out by the second round. That's when the highlights had gotten even more boring and the players even less familiar. No more local products involved. I don't have a favorite NBA team with Kansas City not having an NBA franchise so there was nothing to look forward to in that regards either. All I had to look forward to at that point was the inevitable analysis from the purported experts. Including myself. Just a few more small nuggets to get us through while we wait patiently for the Olympics and then subsequently football season. Come on Olympics and football season...
