1. It's NBA Draft Day! Sorry for the exclamation point, but I'm expecting some NBA fireworks today, so I'm a little excited. If nothing else, today will be Markelle Fultz Day for my Sixers and I will not let you guys ruin that for me. Short of him acting like Josh Jackson in a parking lot today, I'm going to be completely pink with joy.
2. What happens with Jarrett Allen tonight is going to be absolutely fascinating.While he once looked like a late lottery lock, there's a chance that he would fall into the middle-to-early late part of the first round. Check out these most recent mocks:
The Crossover: No.15 to Portland
Draft Express: No.16 overall to Chicago.
USA Today: No.17 overall to Milwaukee
NBA.com: No.20 overall to Portland
Although I'll never begrudge a young man for wanting to be paid for his work and to begin the clock on his NBA career, Allen enters this draft as a guy scouts think can be a solid rotation player at the next level. Very few people seem to think he's going to be a front-line player. It makes me wonder how different the perception of him might have been if he had come back for another year, but there are too many examples of kids that left Texas early amid question marks that have turned out more than fine (Avery Bradley and Cory Joseph for starters) for me to question the decision too much.
3. My personal Top 10 heading into tonight's draft based on watching a bunch of Youtube and listening to a bunch of podcasts:
1. Markelle Fultz
2. Lonzo Ball
3. Josh Jackson
4. De'Aaron Fox
5. Malik Monk
6. Jayson Tatum
7. Jonathan Issac
8. Dennis Smith
9. Frank Ntilikina
10. Lauri Markkanen
4. Phil Jackson is in full on George Costanza mode. He's trying to get fired from the Knicks and James Dolan just won't pull the trigger.
5. I expect Adrian Wojnarowski to own tonight... as he does every NBA Draft. If you don't want him to spoil the Draft for you tonight, you might have to tune him out completely because you never know when a Woj bomb will hit five minutes before your team is about to make a move on live TV.
p.s. - Instead of our normal Thursday night War Room, we're going to do a 24-hour chat, including all of the mods, beginning at noon today and going through noon on Friday. Get your best questions lined up.
2. What happens with Jarrett Allen tonight is going to be absolutely fascinating.While he once looked like a late lottery lock, there's a chance that he would fall into the middle-to-early late part of the first round. Check out these most recent mocks:
The Crossover: No.15 to Portland
Draft Express: No.16 overall to Chicago.
USA Today: No.17 overall to Milwaukee
NBA.com: No.20 overall to Portland
Although I'll never begrudge a young man for wanting to be paid for his work and to begin the clock on his NBA career, Allen enters this draft as a guy scouts think can be a solid rotation player at the next level. Very few people seem to think he's going to be a front-line player. It makes me wonder how different the perception of him might have been if he had come back for another year, but there are too many examples of kids that left Texas early amid question marks that have turned out more than fine (Avery Bradley and Cory Joseph for starters) for me to question the decision too much.
3. My personal Top 10 heading into tonight's draft based on watching a bunch of Youtube and listening to a bunch of podcasts:
1. Markelle Fultz
2. Lonzo Ball
3. Josh Jackson
4. De'Aaron Fox
5. Malik Monk
6. Jayson Tatum
7. Jonathan Issac
8. Dennis Smith
9. Frank Ntilikina
10. Lauri Markkanen
4. Phil Jackson is in full on George Costanza mode. He's trying to get fired from the Knicks and James Dolan just won't pull the trigger.
5. I expect Adrian Wojnarowski to own tonight... as he does every NBA Draft. If you don't want him to spoil the Draft for you tonight, you might have to tune him out completely because you never know when a Woj bomb will hit five minutes before your team is about to make a move on live TV.
p.s. - Instead of our normal Thursday night War Room, we're going to do a 24-hour chat, including all of the mods, beginning at noon today and going through noon on Friday. Get your best questions lined up.
