NBA Draft thoughts
I'm sure Bill Simmons will have a great breakdown of the draft, but here are some of my thoughts ...

Yao Ming. Yadda yadda yadda. Who knows what will happen with him. Go with "upside" or whatever, maybe he's Shawn Bradley. I don't know.

I'm more pumped about Jay Williams, although a lot of that comes from the fact that he went to my high school (and we don't produce lots of well-known athletic talent). He'll be a nice fit on the Peja Stojakovic and Pau Gasol have people looking to international players a lot more than before. Who knows if that will be a good thing. It definitely makes the draft a lot less TV friendly since we won't have heard of most of these guys (think the NHL Draft). It makes for some hilarious moments when David Stern has to say the name. Some of the guys on TV made good points that the international players can come in and do more sooner because they're in a more professional environment there, as opposed to the strict rules on the college level. But that still doesn't answer the fact that tons of these guys don't do a whole lot for a while (if that).

Caron Butler is a steal at No. 10 to the Heat, if Pat Riley will actually play him. He could be Paul Pierce (down to the slide to No. 10). Juan Dixon makes for a nice homer pick, although who knows what he'll do, if he can play point, great, but who knows. I guess he's one of those players whose size overwhelms the talent. Curtis Borchardt goes to Utah to replace Greg Ostertag as big goofy white center. He'll play for 10 years because he's big and white.

It's nice to see Casey Jacobsen get drafted reasonably high. It was funnier seeing everyone drool over his girlfriend. Hey Sager, you've got your own trophy blonde.

The Hawks finally did something right by picking up Dan Dickau. This after drafting and trading away Jamaal Tinsley last year.

There was a stretch, starting with Dickau, where I'd actually heard of all of these guys from college. Then the Hawks and Jets fans at the NFL Draft as they ripped into Scott Layden. However, they did OK in getting Antonio McDyess and Frank Williams (a head case but can be very good) for Marcus Camby (always hurt), Mark Jackson (old) and Nene Hilario (nice to see Denver stock up the international guys; they'll get more in the lottery next year).

Denver is holding open tryouts and guaranteeing someone a spot on the roster. Is the team that bad that they have to do that? Why don't they just go to the local Y and point at a couple of folks. Hmm, maybe Juwanna Mann and Lil' Bow Wow will be there.

Charles, Kenny and EJ were all in midseason form (even though EJ is probably beat having to make the trip from Wimbledon) and Hubie Brown is odd but entertaining. Poor Quin Snyder took forever to get into the swing of things. He probably was overwhelmed by the crew, plus the fact that he hardly saw any of these first rounders. He added a little more later on as the draft wore on, but he was very disappointing. Of course, I kept on asking myself "When did Andrew McCarthy change his hairstyle?" (I'd think Alyson would also be disappointed in Quin's effort.)

Craig wondered if the Hornets didn't pick so they wouldn't have to show off whatever they've done with the logo in New Orleans.

It's too bad this is Turner's last year of showing the draft. The question is: Will Mel Kiper Jr. show up on ESPN's coverage next year? Hopefully they won't drag it out like they do the NFL one. This one was pretty time efficient, but then again, the NBA always has been around draft time.

With all of these really young players (not necessarily high schoolers, at least not this year) and international guys coming in, it's getting harder and harder to really enjoy the draft. Being someone who watches his share of college hoops (especially in March), the draft always becomes interesting when figuring out which star players can move his game up to another level and which others get lost in the shuffle for one reason or another (usually size, but other reasons as well). It's also funny to see teams take risks on talented folks who never really hit their stride in college, then eventually fade (Luther Wright, Yinka Dare). It's sad to see who you think were good players stumble in the pros (Bobby Hurley, Bo Kimble). It's also aggravating to see good players slip in the draft mainly because they were good in college and scouts couldn't figure out why. You know they don't watch too much college hoops and have to rely on workouts to improve their status (John Salmons, anyone? I hardly remember him on a decent Miami team last season).

Oh well, it's one hell of a spectacle to say the least, even if it seems to be slipping in relevancy every year.