PISTONS PICKS:
Round 1: No. 21 -- Rodney Stuckey, No. 27 -- Aaron Afflalo
Round 2: No. 27 (57 overall) -- Sammy Mejia
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Evening, Pistons devotees! PostmanE from the always moderately better than average We Are The Postmen, as well as the AOL FanHouse, here, setting up the structural component most necessary for draft discussion -- the Official Detroit Bad Boys Draft Thread. Consider this your one-stop shop for Pistons draft discussion. I'll be updating each time the Pistons make a selection, as well as when other notable picks take place. (Who's it going to be? Oden? Durant? Or ... Tiago Splitter? Hmmmm.)
So, here we are. To be perfectly honest, you commenters will definitely know much, much more about the Pistons and their needs than I do, as I am a Bulls fan and do my best to ignore the Crucial Motor Engine Parts until they inflict the annual early-round exit for the Bulls. Therefore, analysis will be largely left up to you. And please be gentle.
Since we're about an hour away, I've got a question.
Surely you remember the Grant Hill-era teal and black and yellow uniforms. (Who could forget them?) While perhaps the real question here is "What were they thinking?", my question is: What's with the horse? Is a horse a piston, too? Or was that simply the most intimidating thing the Pistons design staff could come up with? Discuss amongst yourselves; back in an hour.
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7:oo: Well, this actually starts in another half hour. For some reason, I didn't know that.
In any case, the big story so far is Joakim Noah's suit. Henry Abbott mentioned Noah's suit prediction to his father in a post earlier today -- Noah called his suit "so funky" -- but it simply exceeds all expectations. Bow tie, triple-breasted, cream and tan pinstripes ... it's truly a thing of beauty.
7:42: I'll try to keep the non-Pistons stuff to a minimum, but for the sake of posterity, Greg Oden was just selected by the Blazers No. 1 overall. No real surprise there, but it's hard not to think that the Trail Blazers missed a huge opportunity to start Sergio Rodriguez, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, Zach Randolph, and LaMarcus Aldridge for the next six years. Then again, it is Greg Oden.
Also, apparently, Boston is going to trade their No. 5 pick, Delonte West, and Wally Sczerbiak to the Sonics for Ray Allen. And Seattle just drafted Kevin Durant. Again, no surprise, but now it's clear that the Sonics are going to dump Allen and build around KD.
(Also, the post might have just been set to Private for some reason. Should be all fixed now.)
8:00: Things are falling into place basically as expected. Al Horford went No. 3 to the Hawks -- weee, another forward! -- and the Grizzlies took Mike Conley at No. 4. At No. 5, the Celtics just picked Jeff Green for Seattle. So, to shake things down, Seattle gets: Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Delonte West and Wally Sczerbiak's contract and shooting. The Celtics get: Ray Allen. Not a bad pick-up for the Celts, considering they can start Pierce, Jefferson, and Allen together. And the Supersonics are set for years. The Bucks just took Yi, and Fran Frischilla just described him as "new school, hip hop, 50 Cent." Riiighhhhht.
8:28: The Bulls, in case you're interested, just selected Joakim Noah. As my cohort PostmanR just mentioned (we're both Bulls fans; be gentle) hopefully Skiles doesn't make him shave his head or something. But everyone's happy here: the Bulls get a great motor guy who also happened to have NCAA success, and the Chicago beat writers get a better quote than the stylings of Ben Wallace. Win-win!
9:05: PISTONS SELECT RODNEY STUCKEY. The many mock drafts were correct -- Stuckey it is. Jay Bilas just called him a poor man's Dwyane Wade. Thoughts?
9:15: The Knicks just traded Steve Francis and Channing Frye for Zach Randolph and some pieces. Had to figure Randolph was going to wind up somewhere, but I would never have thought it was going to be the Knicks. Kudos to Isiah? Feels weird saying that.
10:20: PISTONS SELECT AARON AFFLALO. Detroit just selected the Pac-10 Player of the Year, a guy I've had the opportunity to watch in person several times. Good shooter, great defender, bad ballhandler, good character guy who's gone through a lot during his poor Compton upbringing. Seems like a great teammate, which will have to make up for a skill set probably best suited for the role he played in college. In any case, the Pistons have definitely drafted in their guard template tonight (big, physical), something Jay Bilas has been happy to remind us of. So, what do the DBB commenters think?
10:47: Apparently the Bobcats are going to trade their first-round pick, Brandan Wright, to the Warriors for Jason Richardson. I told you I was a Bulls fan, so it's probably no surprise to you that Michael Jordan is my favorite player of all time ... but man, is that a bad trade for the Bobcats. I know Morrison struggled last year, and I know Gerald Wallace can be hit or miss, but what the hell? Jason Richardson is probably slightly above average, but he's certainly not a franchise-changer -- and Brandan Wright could be, given enough time to develop. Since when are the Bobcats in a hurry to win? Baffling.
11:02: Easily my least favorite player in the draft, Josh McRoberts, was just chosen by the Trail Blazers. It gives me great pleasure that this incredibly overrated, whiny d-bag -- seriously, he cried during a game -- fell all the way to the third hour of this draft. Cheers to that.
12:00: PISTONS SELECT SAMMY MEJIA. Just as the clock strikes midnight, and my sense of fatigue grows into a full-on fight with impending sleep, the Pistons mercifully select Mejia. I'd be lying if I said I knew much about Mejia, so, Pistons fans: what do you think? As always, throw your opinions in the comments.
And that will just about do it for me. Thank you for reading and checking it out, and while we may be rivals in ideology -- Go Bulls! -- we are forever united by our mutual love of Detroit Bad Boys. Catch you on the flipside, if people still say that.