Many balls in the air as the draft approaches

Well, it was certainly nice to catch up with Bryan and chat about the draft a little bit but after an hour or so of sitting around and asking questions and telling stories and mining for information, this much is clear:

Not much is clear.

Oh, there’s a guess and a narrowing of the field that’s gone on and that’s just natural but there are lots of balls still in the air with just over a week left until draft day.

If I had to guess from various conversations with people around the league and other work that I’ve done, I’d say Lillard, Rivers, Waiters and Lamb are the four favourites right now but I don’t know that there’s a definitive order and a lot of it will depend on who’s there on draft night.

I do get the sense from those conversations that a trade is a very real possibility as long as it yields another pick, not necessarily in the lottery but definitely in the first round. They want another young piece but would live with getting one later in the first if they could get some immediate help.

But, again, there’s an awful lot of time left between now and the draft for things to change and Thursday’s workouts – Sullinger, Perry Jones, Terrence Jones, perhaps John Henson and maybe Lamb if they can get him back in – is significant because a few of those guys are in the 13-18 range, perhaps, and would be someone taken with a later pick acquired in a trade.

It’s going to be an interesting week, I have a feeling; and some of the stuff you read might actually happen. Not much, but some.

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Oh yeah, The People and I are gonna be fast friends; or at least with a few of ‘em.

We will be back at 9 p.m. for an IGBT if we can all stay awake that late but there’s also a noon chat if you’d care to join.

It’s loads of fun, am sure there’ll be draft stuff and Finals stuff and who knows what else.

Come on by.

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Let me get this straight:

A trio of 20-something pro athletes take a night off, get hammered in the club, end up in a street brawl with cops and get themselves arrested?

Colour me shocked.

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I tell ya, if you can find a hidden local with solid burgers, good pizza, passable wings, friendly staff and a jukebox with this on it that stays open ‘til 3 a.m. after games, steps from your hotel, you’ve found a gem.

Better than South Beach, I tell ya.

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Who is R.A. Dickey and why does he seemingly throw nothing but one-hitters.

This Mets dude, with an 85-mile an hour knuckleball, is becoming the greatest story of the baseball season and I’m not sure enough people appreciate what he’s doing.

I don’t know much about knuckleballs except that I couldn’t hit one and they seem to be the last gasp of failed minor leaguers who retire to, say, South Buffalo to live out their dotage, but for Dickey to throw one that hard and that well is amazing.

Every season we see one amazing baseball story, I thought early this season it’d be Josh Hamilton but now it’s Dickey, who is 11-1 and hasn’t given up an earned run in about forever.

Great story, better start following it.

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More Raptors?

Not an awful lot except that it’s a big week for Valanciunas, whose national team is deep in preparations for the final Olympic qualification tournament that starts early next month own in Venezuela.

He and the Lithuanians will be in Houston this weekend for a couple of games – Great Britain, Russia and Nigeria will be there as well – and you know that Bryan, the Henchmen and the coach will be in attendance.

There is an off chance Valanciunas still plays in the summer league, too. If Lithuania doesn’t make it to the Olympics – which is a longshot – the Raptors will try to get him from Venezuela to Vegas to start his NBA career.

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Speaking of Valanciunas and getting back to our chat with Bryan, the impending arrival of the young big man has actually made this process this year a bit easier, according the president.

“I think it’s almost been made easier by the fact we know we have a significant piece coming that would be regarded as the second-best player in this draft.”

Really? Second overall?

“It’s been told to me by countless people so at some point you start believing it, it’s not just an internal thought. It’s an external thought as well. We feel very good about that.”

As well they should.

And it’s allowed them, to some degree, to avoid wasting an awful lot of time on available bigs.

“It kind of talks to the argument of do you take best player or position, we kind of figured that that position is somewhat covered so maybe the (Tyler) Zellers and Myers Leonards of the world have not really been in the flow with our draft process. We’ve studied them, we’ve scouted them but we haven’t put a lot effort into the process of digging deep right now because of the Valanciunas piece.”

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Riddle me this:

How utterly bored are you by Roger Clemens and that lengthy trial that ended in acquittal yesterday?

If you’re me, you’re bored to absolute tears and when the news broke breathlessly that he was not guilty, it elicited nothing more than a yawn.

Look, it doesn’t matter to the casual sports fan whether the courts found Clemens guilty of lying to the US Congress or not, if you think he used steroids before, you’re not going to change you’re mind; if you’ve been a supporter, this is vindication.

Personally? I think he did take some kind of juice, whether a gaggle of high-priced lawyers muddied the waters enough to get him an acquittal or not. That’s my opinion after seeing some testimony in the past and more recently and it’s not going to change.

I suspect that’s a predominant feeling around the sports world.

Oh, hang, on, I misremembered that I don’t care.

Carry on.

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So, before the little chat with Bryan we had a wee bit of face time with the Commissioner after the competition committee meeting and it was pretty entertaining.

While nothing has been decided, the one thing that jumped out is that there is some kind of consideration being given to some kind of retroactive penalties being assessed to floppers.

We know it’s a difficult call for refs to make in real time – there is a split second to make a decision and often no one notices until the TV replays show it – so the committee (of which Bryan is a member) figures having something like a points system where video is used either post-game or the next morning to hit the floppers is a good idea to pursue.

That makes entire sense to me, it’s a way to accrue fines or points that might eventually lead to suspensions, like they do with technical fouls now, and might at least cut down on one of the scourges of the game.

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Comments

[chris]

Doug - which sites do you do the majority of your draft research on? NBA.com, ESPN/CNNSI/etc or draftexpress/nbadraft.net??

Blogger's note: Actual real live conversations with people; I do my own research. But look at all sites for things such as stats

[Felix]

i don't remember, did you have an opinion on ryan braun's "case"? if not, care to share?

Blogger's note: Not sure if I wrote it, think it's hard to accept a mere technicality means acquittal

[Konstantinos]

Hello Doug, hello from Greece!
I remember BC saying sth about "the flexibility" etc etc before July 1st...are they going to use this "flexibility" or not?
And about the pick trade. They will haveto pick 2 more players from second round. Could they trade these picks instead of the 8th to catch another 1st round pick or some already established player?

Blogger's note: Don't know if they'll use it or not, it's better to have it than not; and sure, they can trade whatever they want for whatever they can get; don't get too simplistic, though, it takes two sides to make a deal, just because the want to do something doesn't mean it'll happen.

[Tim]

Hi Doug,

Quick question -- is that noon chat at noon today or noon tomorrow?

Blogger's note: Today

[Jeremy]

I hope they are going to distinguish between flopping and exaggerating. Flopping is a problem because it is players trying to trick the referees into calling fouls that didn't actually happen. However, a lot of what is called flopping by media and the fans is really just players exaggerating fouls that did happen but wouldn't be called unless the player showed the referees that they were fouled. Exaggerating may bother people but players should be allowed to do it because in some cases it may be the only way to get the call and if they were actually fouled then they should get the call.

[Has]

Doug I know BC would deal the pick if he saw a good trade out there, any weight to the rumours about a potential loul deng conversation? (i know you hate rumours, but I ask anyway lol)

Blogger's note: No clue; rumours are rumours and I don't spend an awful lot of time paying attention to them

[Jeff D]

Dickey should call you and give you an earful!! I'm sure you just jinxed the rest of his season. You might as well just predict he'll win the NL Cy Young award as well.

Great blog as always.

"Oh, hang, on, I misremembered that I don’t care. Carry on." It's gems like this that make my day.

[Steve]

"While nothing has been decided, the one thing that jumped out is that there is some kind of consideration being given to some kind of retroactive penalties being assessed to floppers."

Of course they came out of, I think it was the 2008 season, making all the same noises about flopping and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing.

[JT]

Good article Doug.
Not sure I agree with BC on taking the "best player" even if it means stacking at a position. The evaluation of the best player available is based on the Raptors evaluation. There may be 5, 10, 20 teams who don't rank the players the same as the Raptors or don't consider who the Raptors picked the best talent at the time. I think its also hindered if team know you have to trade a player because you've got 4-5 PF (for example). You get less back. I think you take the best player available based on need if and only if the talent level is not significant different between the best player for need and the best overall player available.

[Jeff]

Hi Doug,

If a trade does come, what are the chances it comes before the draft? Would teams most likely wait to make sure the player they want is available at 8 before they trade their establish player? Or would they trade their player for the pick and, like the raps, have a list of possible players? Your thoughts?

Blogger's note: I would presume it would come draft night

[Anson]

Doug, you seemed surprised when BC said that Valanciunas would be the second best player in this draft....Where do you think he ranks in this draft?

Have you seen him play recently? If so what are your thoughts about him and his progress over the last year?

Thanks in advance.

Blogger's note: Not surprised at all; he'd have been No. 2 last year with no buyout issues

[Dave F, Kingston]

Hi, Doug,
I have to weigh in with Jeremy on the flopping issue. Historically, an offensive foul was rarely called unless a player went down. Players, as Jeremy notes, went down to make sure the officials noticed when a genuine charge happened. Later on (blame Vlade Divac if you want to) players began going down with incidental or no contact. That to me is real flopping.

Perhaps another solution would be for the league to make a point, and announce it ahead of time, that offensive fouls WILL be called if a player doesn't go down. They would also have to call enough of them to be seen to be making those calls.

[Bohdan (Bo) Klymkiw]

I say put the spare ref in the TV production room, where he has access to all the same footage that the TV director does. He can view it while they are, and call down when there's an obvious transgression missed. I do assume that that room is inside the stadium, though.

[Rob.V]

You know, I dont really care if Clemons used roids (ahem, he did!) however it's the douchebag part of him that seems to bother me more than anything really. I dont know him, but he comes across as one IMO.
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Is it just me, or does anyone else love when Colangelo refers to his players this way: "Valanciunas piece.” I dont mean this a a slight at all, I know he respects the players, it's just cool how in this business your players are you know, your product. The Valanciunus piece! - - - Would you like "fries" with that Valanciunus piece Mr. customer. Yes please... and throw in and apple pie and um... some Rudy Gay (at a 30% discount) would be nice! Please drive through to the 2nd window.

[Giulio Alison]

hallo from Italy, floppers are a big part of the history of this game, simply there was no fashion of talking about it, now it exploded and my hope is that Stern is making some public statements just to scare those "floppers". Me, and i hope another million people, will think about Dennis Rodman and his super-flopping game, or Sam Cassel, or Ginobili, or Nowitzki and his long hair, or Billups and his arm right on the defender's hand once he saw he was coming, and then the superstars, like Wade and his art of making the defender jump and than take a shoot with contact, and one, and the raptors? Andrea can make a play every game given how people is scared by his jumper! I think the retroactive thing is danger, once a player is fined for "flopping" than he will never change his reputation, or should say in an interview "i will not do that again, i promise"? Just ridiculous.....i give my solution: less calls, less fouls, less flops, and that's it.

[Moshigh]

If Raptors take the best player available (and get another Big) its a problem unless he has a deal in place. Im knocking Bargnani at this time, but They had Bosh and instead of taking a guard or 3 man they took a player with same skill set, that really didnt work out.

Raptors need a 1 2 or 3 man badly. Maybe not 2 give Demar another year, but 1 and 3 need a severe upgrade.

Flopping im sure will be toned down a twitch next year.

Those clowns from TFC are lucky they arent dead, shot by the police

[GM]

Any time a player falls backwards, that's flopping. It's not a natural thing to do if you have any kind of balance and strength. If someone pushes you, at most you'd take a couple stumbled steps backwards; you don't just fall straight back. A ref should never make a call based on the outcome -- he should make it based on the action. If you didn't see an extended forearm or a shoulder to the chest, for example, you shouldn't make the call even if the defender falls. I always like to use the example of a player like, say, Spud Webb running into Shaq. Shaq shouldn't have to fall backwards for an offensive foul to be called on Spud, because in real life Spud would have next to no impact on Shaq even if he ran full speed into him. But it should still be called an offensive foul. So it's the action that should be called, not based on the reaction.

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Hats off to Serge Ibaka for giving LeBron James something to put up on the locker room bulletin board:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/sports/basketball/thunders-serge-ibaka-says-miami-heats-lebron-james/nPYyf/

Yup. Excellent idea. Poke a stick at the angry bull. Always works.

AG, Toronto

[doug]

I am totally against that solution they are considering to "flopping"...come on all sports are becoming to complicated already in terms of increasing punishments that head office decides on after the fact...Goodell is the biggest offender, the simplest solution to me is leagues telling the in-game officials to do their job and cal the action as they seem fit..and let it be after that even if the media, fans,players whine about it move on....there is no need for this flopper rule or point system what a bunch of hookey, crapola......during slow time in the summer you should have a question of the day, a example would be, between Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy who has starred in the most stinkers, absolute celluloid drivel out of the 2, it would be a close competition...ok cheers...

[doug]

in regards to Spain-U.S.A. match..Spain announced it's finalist for roster spots today..not a bad list and US better not take them lightly..

The official 12-man roster will be announced later this summer.

Named as a finalists were: Jose Calderon; Juan Carlos Navarro, Victor Sada; Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Llull, Felipe Reyes; Rudy Fernandez; Rafa Martinez, Victor Claver; Fernando San Emeterio; Pau Gasol; Marc Gasol; and Serge Ibaka.

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/221591/Spain_Announces_13_Finalists_For_Olympic_Team#ixzz1yGP4pgtj

[james]

That was an interesting exchange in the noon chat today about LeBron. I have never particularly cared for him myself (I would doubtless change my opinion if he joined my team) but I have rarely seen a player take more physical abuse while playing the game. This abuse is often not called, apparently because (a) the guy has the misfortune to be built like a brick outhouse, and (b) he is supremely talented. Others may disagree.

[LeeZ]

@DaveF: I'll go you one better on solving the flopping issue: how about getting rid of the offensive foul altogether? Now hear me out before you string me up. Obviously, there are legitimate instances of offensive fouls, and they would continue to be called to the best of the refs' abilities. BUT...anytime a defensive player PURPOSELY gets himself into harm's way and attempts to DRAW a charging call by putting himself in the path of the offensive player without attempting to acutally guard him but for the sole purpose of initiating contact, that should be called a DEFENSIVE foul. Plus it would solve the flopping issue once and for all. Doug, have you ever heard any chatter that the league might consider something like that?
@Konstantinos: Hey bro, what's going down in Greece these days? How about an expert political analysis?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Funny stuff, @Rob V! Another Valunciunas piece to go, please, and maybe a nice slice of Humble Pie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc4QRvE4oiA&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9B7ErEPwBrNUddGSMtHOIoB
Cheers. Keep cool. Go Sixth Man!

[GM]

@LeeZ, I heartily concur! I've said that to friends, too, and they scoff, but I think there's something to it. It's not really a basketball play when your sole goal is trying to stand in a spot before the offense gets there. Play the ball! Play defense!

[gordo]

Dude! Canada/Argentina! Dude!