draft boo-boos

i try to avert my eyes when the stats of those players we coulda got over the past year are posted. i have mostly succeeded in the case of larry hughes. unfortunately, though, i noticed that chris mihm played really well in his first game replacing that european center in cleveland with the bad foot (ilgauskas?). something like 15 points and 12 rebounds. and this morning i noticed that jermaine o'neal had yet another great game for the pacers, double figures in points and rebounds.

now, hindsight is 20-20, but can someone console me here? fizer and crawford are gonna work out, right? right?

I doubt that Mihm will ever be an all-star Center but he does look like he could eventually be a solid 15 and 10 guy who can alter the odd shot. And there are 25 teams in the league crying for that kind of production out of the 5 spot.

It is amazing. Especially considering Krause *HAD* to have known that Crawford was a major major project and would be coming to a team that was supposedly looking for quick success this year. They came out of the draft though with three point guards, none of whom are really NBA starters, and no center who could play while the best center in the draft gets traded for a kid who may very well never produce for this team. Thanks sleuth.

Krause wasn't looking for quick success. Remember, he actually wanted to take a high-schooler with the 4th pick too. That would have been exactly 1/2 year of college ball combined with his 2 lottery picks had it worked out. He wasn't in a rush. This is a guy that had no problem tanking 2 seasons so what was tanking 2 more seasons? He figured that he had forever to rebuild and wanted athletes. And since he had won big the first time around without a stud Center and already had a good post scorer in Brand, I guess he wasn't concerned with getting Mihm. But more likely, he thought that one or both of the Euros were going to be huge steals. Jerry likes picking the long shots so that he can brag when they come home. (Does Scottie Pippen ring a bell?).

Pure idiocy. It's the hardest position to learn, usually taking most solid PG's years to master, and he doesn't bother to get a veteran, any veteran, to help teach 3 rookies the ropes. Bryce Drew does not count. Randy Brown, Sherman Douglas, Mark Jackson, anyone like that would have been smart.

He certainly rolled the dice with Crawford. You can see what a great talent Miles is and understand why Krause wanted him (hell New Jersey and Vancouver are already looking foolish for passing on that kid). But Crawford isn't even noticeable when he's on the court. I just don't see 'it' in him.

Hmmmmm. If Krause wasn't looking for quick success then why did he tank two seasons to get millions under the salary cap in hopes of luring big FA's who could turn things around in a hurry? Maybe he thought a big FA would cover his ass on some shaky draft picks. If that were the case then he was running too big a risk and it blew up in the fan's faces.

You are right, Krause does like to take the long shot so the glory of the payoff will be all his. However I can't imagine what he would have seen in Tarlac or the other guy. Neither of them have even briefly shown a spark of any kind. An idiot could have seen they would be busts.

Bryce Drew is fine but there really isn't so much difference between him and Maloney or even Brown. All the more odd when one assumes that the point of drafting three point guards is that one of THEM will play and not some third tier gym rat.

When Floyd talks about Crawford he says things like, 'he needs to mature as a person and a player'. In other words he is a long way off on many levels. Since that had to be obvious before the draft why wouldn't Krause hedge his bets a bit and stay with a guy like Mihm who would be a steady if unspectacular contributor?? Im afraid the answer is that Kruase is also a long way off on many levels.

Interesting. If Krause would deign to speak to the fans......