Bit of a blah night but what else was expected?

Look at it this way:

All those operators they had standing by for season ticket orders had an easy night.

Seriously, though, it was a pretty lame draft from start to finish all throughout the league – where were all those trades we heard about? – and there was a pretty big “blah” factor when the HOTH came to make their pick.

For now, at least.

Here’s the truth of the matter: You don’t know and I don’t know and they don’t know for certainty whether Terrence Ross is going to be a prospect or a suspect and none of the hand-wringing or name calling is going to change that fact.

It’s probably going to be late 2013 or early 2014 before we know what he really is and that’s entirely understandable.

Could there have been a better pick?

I don’t know.

Sure, Austin Rivers was the flavour of the moment, in part because of name recognition, in part because people had seen him play on TV, in part because he’d be touted a few places.

But, as Dwane explained in the story, they didn’t think he could shoot the ball well enough right now to be the pick and he needs the ball in his hands to be effective and that wasn’t going to happen in a million years if they hit a free agency home run with You Know Who From Phoenix.

Sure, Andre Drummond was on everyone’s mind because he was kind of driving the draft as far as these fellows were concerned. But he’s also a centre, the last thing anyone wanted was two rookie centres to break in during the same season.

And, no, there was no “take Drummond and trade him” possibilities; no one wanted him that badly and it made no sense to take him without a surefire guarantee because if you got stuck with him, you were screwed. Yes, they tried; no, it didn’t work. Get over it.

Look, they tell me Terrence Ross can shoot and he can defend and he’s athletic and a good kid. All probably true.

He was also the consensus pick among the coaches and executives in the room, I’m told, for what that’s worth.

Look, there wasn’t a home run to be hit in this draft as it turned out; they had a list of three, those three were gone so it was time to move to the next name. That was Terrence Ross, for good or bad or indifferent and we’ll let you know sometime late next season whether it was a good pick, a bad pick, an indifferent pick.

It was a blah draft all around; it was a blah night around these parts. But they did what they thought was best for real and well thought out reasons; who knows if they will eventually be proved right.

But the truth of the matter is, they weren’t going to get a franchise changer at No. 8 even if they got one of those three other guys; the real work of keeping this team going forward begins with free agency on Sunday.

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So we’re doing the IGBT: Draft Version and there’s two notable missing pieces:

Do you think Paolo and Sportschick were out getting their hair cut in a zany Mohawk as a tribute to Mario Balotelli?

That was as good a soccer game as maybe there’s been in the knockout round of Euro2012; some goals, some attacking, some play that took the bad taste of the plodding Spain-Portugal game away.

And, no, I’m not telling you who I like in Sunday’s final, I don’t need people mad at me.

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Mail?

Gonna be busy today – Ross and Quincy Acy are in at 1 p.m., have other stuff to write, the women’s hoops to follow and a rare radio show to do from 5-7 (yeah, they’re way down the list at the McCown show but you should listen if you can) – but we’ll find time somehow to do it.

Click. Write. Send.

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So what did Bryan say?

What you’d expect.

It was a pick they’re comfortable with, had some trade talks but nothing came of them and they are more athletic with Ross than they were.

I’m sure he, like everyone associated with the team, was a little disappointed that the three guys at the top of the list were gone but what can you do? It didn’t work out; you deal with it and move on and see what happens.

But he did dangle on tiny carrot that might get you a bit, well, I don’t know what the right word is:

“(We) still have 48 hours or thereabouts until we go into the next salary cap year … so within the next 24 to 48 hours we’re going to exploring some conversations that we’ve been having. As the dust settles on the draft, team needs become very apparent but we are still armed with that cap flexibility that we have in this salary cap year.”

Do I expect something in the next day?

No, not at all. I think they will – and should – save as much money as they can for after Sunday (hello, Mr. Nash) and see if they can’t plug holes the other way.

One thing I don’t think they can do is use the amnesty clause too early. Yes, it’s all well and good to add to the money they have and they could get to a nice big number over $20 million but what if you amnesty someone and then get nothing in free agency? Then you’re screwed. You’ve got money, can’t spend it and glaring holes in your roster. Makes no sense to me.

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At least there’s this.

Yeah, that’s Linas Kleiza making about 17 three-pointers in a row and it doesn’t mean much but I figured you want to see it.

 

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Was nice catching up a bit with Damon Stoudamire before the draft, though.

Hadn’t seen him in a while – he’s an assistant coach at the University of Memphis now – and we, of course, got to chatting about his draft night so many years ago.

And we again relived one of those “what if” moments when were talking about it.

“There kind of wasn’t a whole lot of anticipation I knew what was going to happen, that was discussed way back in November. It wasn’t like something that I didn’t know.

“If Kevin Garnett didn’t go to Minnesota, Minnesota was going to draft me and if Kevin Garnett was gone I was coming here."

"I already knew that was going to happen.”

Hmmm, KG in Toronto. That would have altered the course of history, wouldn’t it have?

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Comments

[Bo4]

I like the Terrance Ross pick. At the 8-spot, of the plkayers that were left, he & Austin Rivers were the two best choices, but TR was taller & heavier. Well done, BC!

[John_S]

@ joeu

I see what you're getting at with the Jays so I'll flip it back to you this way.

Many of the Jays highly regarded prospects in the minors do not play to win as how you'd define it. Instead of using his plus-plus speed to bunt and get on base, Anthony Gose in 2011 implemented a new swing to drive pitches and better use his natural power. It's not enough for him to be a singles hitter in the majors. He sacrificed some growing pains for a chance to be a much better player in the majors.
Some pitching prospects are told to not use their plus fastball in order to develop their other pitchers to better succeed in the majors. Their fastball would get better results and would lead to a greater chance of winning in the present but they focus on increasing their chances for much greater success in the future.

I don't dispute your link but in this specific draft, there appeared to be a certain tier of players that Toronto missed out on. Only time will tell if that turns out to be true and more likely than not there will be players picked at 8 and below who have better careers than 1-7. That said, at this particular moment, it appears that Toronto got the short end of the stick because of a silly coin flip against GS we lost out on potentially our starting SF for the next 10 years.

[doug]

sometimes there is more to stories then meets the eye...far more, the Thunder and coach Brooks are trying to hash out a deal before he hits FA...which is Sunday as well...well I was reading this piece to see what was going on and the chances of him re-signing...well the last line of the article says it all, it's the whole story, a clear conflict of interest and I'd be ticked if I were the Thunder as well, as they are being played...again a agent is in the forefront...

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8113115/source-scott-brooks-oklahoma-city-thunder-not-close-deal

[Bo4]

I like the Terrance Ross pick. At the 8-spot, of the players that were left, he & JEREMY LAMB were the two best choices, but TR was taller & heavier. Well done, BC!

[larry lukeeborg]

geez, doug, the blog's difficult to find!