Draftastic Voyage: NBA Draft 2011

In our first A.E. post (after engagement...the First Lady and I made it official over the weekend), Daily Onions is going to breakdown one of our favorite nights of the year, the NBA Draft. Whether we've watched it from home, or live from the MSG theater, or got updates via text alerts, the Draft has always been a night of excitement for NBA fans because there is always so much "upside potential" for trades, new stars coming into the league, GMs making awful picks, etc. This year, however, stands out a bit from other years because.....this year's crop of draft players is AWFUL. Who knows, maybe in 5 years we will look back and talk about the surprise of how good the draft of 2011 was, but more likely it will be about the guy being drafted at number 14 being just as good as the guy drafted at number 3.

Best Dressed Wes

Daily Onions isn't going to do a mock draft as our preview. Wanna know why? Because if you Google "NBA Mock Draft 2011", 4,350,000 results come up in .32 seconds. Instead, we'll take a look at some of the things we are expecting tonight, what players we are rooting for to go into good situations, who's slipping, who's got a cool name, and who is going to be this year's best dressed player, aka The Wes Johnson Award. And now, in no particular order, let's explore this year's Draftastic Voyage:

• Top Two: All signs are pointing to the Cavs (who have the first and fourth pick) going with Kyrie Irving to be the savior for the city of Cleveland. If that is the case, then Minnesota has the opportunity to grab potentially the best player in this draft at Number 2. BUT, Derrick Williams is a tweener in the sense of is he a 3, or is he a four. If they draft him, Minnesota should just change their name to the TweenerWolves, because their roster will consist of Michael Beasley, Wes Johnson, Lazar Haywood, Anthony Randolph, and Martell Webster - all guys with no true identity in their position. Throw in an undersized Kevin Love into the mix, and a log jam at the point guard position, and the TweenerWolves are a bad pick away from combustion. In our opinion, Wolves need to aggressively shop that pick and see if they can make their roster look more like an NBA team, and not a Picasso painting

  

• The man, the myth, the Jimmer: If you aren't rooting for Jimmer to be successful, please leave the blog. No hard feelings, but we don't want you here. We are trying to figure out what would be the best situation for Jimmer. Is it Utah because of his local ties from BYU, and the tradition of John Stockton (aka white point guard), or is it Phoenix because he would have the best mentor a rookie point guard could ask for in Steve Nash (unless Nash is traded), or is it Indiana (Basketball, Indiana, White Kid that can shoot, it all goes together perfectly), or is it Sacramento (he can take over the point and form the backcourt that will average the most FGA's in the history of the league with Tyreke Evans). We are rooting for Phoenix (with Nash of course), or Utah (Jimmer and Gordon Hayward would be instant best friends).

• Best in Show: Shout out to Jim Nantz...sorry I stole your line about Kemba Walker and the Huskies being the Top Dog of college basketball. Seems like Kemba's stock is slipping in the last few days though. We've seen mocks with him as high as 5 and as low as 17. Daily Onions has had a love/hate relationship with Kemba this year. We think he can succeed in the right situation. If he goes to a bad team, I don't think he can put them on his back and make them a contender in the NBA, like he did w/ UConn in the Big East and NCAA Tournament. We'd like to see him go somewhere that he can be a 6th man/backup point guard, and can basically become a Ben Gordon or Jamal Crawford type player. Recently, Kemba hung out at the AXE Lounge (click here for video) and answered a few questions about his favorite sneakers, pre-game music, etc. One of our favorite questions was what UConn player he most admired. He said Rudy Gay was his favorite (Daily Onions is cool with that), but then said the player he admires most is Ray Allen (Daily Onions loves that). Kemba shows us he is smart, not only by finishing his degree in three years, but also by showing respect to the best shooter the game has ever seen. We'll let him slide w/ his answer to who he was rooting for in the Finals.

• Foreign Exchange: There is a possibility that 5 foreign players go in the top 15 tonight, and 3 of them could be selected in the top 6. Is there the next Dirk Nowitzki somewhere in that crop, or is there the next Darko Milicic. That's the risk GMs will face if they roll the dice and pick one of these guys early. It seems like the recipe for success with a lot of the international players is drafting them, keeping them stashed away for a year or two, and then bringing them over after a few more years of seasoning in their overseas league. Our favorite international player this year is Bismack Biyombo. Not only is his name really cool, but he is 6-9, 243 lbs, and has the potential to be another Serge Ibaka in a few years.

• Baby I Like It: Just when you thought we couldn't incorporate an Enrique Iglesias song into an NBA Draft preview, we go there. Here are some other players that we like, and are rooting for to get drafted into good situations: Kawhi Leonard (athletic as heck, great defender, can put the ball in the bucket, and was a joy to watch as part of the SDSU squad last year); Kenneth Faried (he's the next David Lee/Taj Gibson....you'd take a guy like that on your team any day, he'll be a great rebounder/energy guy); Tobias Harris (we wish he would have stayed one more year in college, especially if he would have chosen Syracuse over Tennessee...so much potential here, hopefully he doesn't rot away on someone's bench); Jimmy Butler (No, we didn't include him just for the Butler jokes, but he's another tough player w/ a lot of heart and can do all the little things for your team, would be a great fit for a perennial contender, also glad that he isn't playing for Marquette anymore); JaJuan Johnson (most likely a second rounder, but had a breakout senior season at Purdue, he can do a lot on the court and actually stayed in school for 4 years); Chandler Parsons (good to know that if MGMT ever breaks up, he can still be successful playing basketball); Shelvin Mack (he's from Butler, we love Butler, and we think Shelvin would be a great addition for a good team like the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, etc).

• Iggy Outta Here: As a 76ers fan, we know that tonight could be the end of the line for Andre Igoudala in Philadelphia. We are completely fine with that. He is a better fit for another team, and could be great for a contender, as a #3 option and lockdown defender. He is just one of the many names out there being discussed in trades tonight, along w/ Monta Ellis, Steve Nash, Lamar Odom (and Khloe?), Tony Parker, Johnny Flynn, and so on and so on. The Sixers have the 16th pick (aka Who the Hell Knows What Value You Can Get Here), but we hope they are wheeling and dealing to unload Iggy, move up in the draft, or bring in some help in the middle. 

There you have it. Everything that you needed to know about what Daily Onions was thinking about going into tonight's draft. T-minus 7 hours until the fun begins.

16 Sweet Things To Look Forward To: Part 1

Just 16 teams left standing today, but a few days from now there will only be four. Here is what we are excited about seeing over the next two days, 16 things to be exact. To make sure you don't get Daily Onions-coma, we'll give you eight today and eight tomorrow. In no particular order, eight things to look forward to in tonight's four games.

1. Jimmer: We might have said in no particular order, but Jimmer is always at the top of our lists. In Round 1 he had 32, in Round 2 he had 34, do I hear a 36 for Thursday night against Florida? Bottom line, Jimmer has been a joy to watch this tournament, just as he has been all season long. Hopefully the SI cover jinx won't affect him this week, but either way, this is a pretty sick cover picture. Will Florida be able to contain him? That is the question. In case you don't remember, these two teams met last year in Round 1 of the Tournament...and no, the Gators could not contain Jimmer, as he dropped 37 in the Cougs victory. Expect a pro-Gators crowd down in New Orleans, thanks to its proximity to the Sunshine State. Plus, I'm not sure if BYU students are allowed in the city limits of NOLA.

2. Brad Stevens: If Jimmer is our favorite player, then Brad Stevens is by far our favorite coach. Is it a coincidence that Daily Onions was born the day after we spent a night watching Stevens in person against Loyola back in early December? Probably not. We complimented Stevens in our first post for his sideline demeanor and the way he interacted with his players. That rang true once again on Saturday night at the end of the Butler-Pitt game. With such a bizarre ending, Stevens was calm, cool and collected (we'll call him the anti-Mike Rice), which trickles down to his players. You can tell his guys love playing for him, and there are plenty of top high school recruits out there that will as well. The real question becomes, when does he leave Butler? We don't think he leaves for any of the openings now (Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, Mizzou), but instead waits for his dream job  -whatever that might be - We are thinking textbook, traditional college basketball programs like a Duke or an Indiana, etc. With those two schools well off with their current coaches, Coach K and Tom Crean (another Daily Onions favorite), maybe Stevens will indeed stay at Butler for years to come, and bring the Bulldogs to a perennial top 10 team, all while staying cool, calm and collected.

3. Fab 5 Revisited: Two weeks ago we had the Fab 5 documentary air on ESPN, last week we had Duke squeak by Michigan, and if all goes well Thursday night, we could have Steve Fisher and Coach K meet in the Elite 8 with a trip to Final 4 on the line. Talk about things coming full-circle. The NCAA Selection Committee may have screwed up a lot of seeding in this year's tournament, but they have helped Jalen Rose and Co. in keeping the Duke-Michigan/Fab 5 era story lines going throughout the tournament.

4. Kyrie: There was no question that Duke was the best basketball team in the country this season when Kyrie Irving was healthy. A freak toe injury caused him to miss the majority of the season, and he saw his first action since mid-December in Duke's opening round games. His only made FG on Sunday proved to be the game winner against Michigan. Now he's had another few days of practice and should have his "sea-legs" back for Thursday's game. We don't think Kyrie will be back to 100% quite yet, but he should be better than he was last weekend, which makes Duke that much tougher.

5. In the Zona: If you haven't seen Derrick Williams play yet this season, (a) what have you been doing all year? and (b) tune into tonight. The 6-8, 241 lb sophomore is one heck of an athlete. His 3-point play won the game for the Wildcats on Sunday, while his blocked shot against Memphis saved the day in Round 1. What is he going to do for an encore....walk on water?

6. Zebras: How do you like your officials, one's with with a quick five count and a quick whistle, or ones that don't know the correct back court violation rules? Regardless, unfortunately refs were taking quite a lot of heat after the first weekend of the tournament. Throw-in the debacle at the Big East tournament and it hasn't quite been the officials' month. It should be interesting to see if there are any noticeable differences in this round's games - officials calling things a little tighter/looser, possibly a few more end of games conferences/reviews with the other officials on the court to make sure they got it "right". In any case, let's hope head of officials, John Adams isn't prominently featured in the studio shows like he was last weekend.

7: Bo Knows: We know that Bo Ryan knows where the best place to vacation/retire is, the beaches of....NEW JERRRRRSEY. He also knows a thing or two about Midwest basketball. Before coming to Madison, Ryan was the coach of Milwaukee, and before that he was the coach of UW-Platteville. We'll see just how much Bo knows about Midwest basketball when he has to deal with the Butler Bulldogs. This game probably won't be the track meet that UNC vs. Washington was, instead it will be closer to the Wisconsin-Penn State Big Ten tournament game that had a combined 70 points. Wisconsin may be favored by 5 points, but Butler has figured out a way to win games in March, both this year and last. The Duke-Arizona game might be the more exciting later game, but make sure your you have you eye on Butler-Wisconsin down the stretch.

8: Huskies Run: Saw this interesting stat that means absolutely nothing on the Twitter Machine about UConn. The Huskies are 0-7 since 1992 in NCAA games held in their opponent's state. For the geography majors (from UConn), San Diego is in California, as is Anaheim, where Thursday night's game will be held. That stat aside, can UConn's magical March run continue? The Fighting Kemba's won five games in five days to capture the Big East Tournament Championship, they dismantled Bucknell, and then sent Cincinnati home. Thursday night they'll be in unchartered waters, taking on San Diego State in their backyard. Let's see how the cross country flight and "road game" works out for the dogs this time around.

Happy watching and we'll see you tomorrow with eight more sweet things for Friday night's game.

I Got Five On It

Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a basketball game about to start and you need to compile a team from this year's group of college kids. Make sure you fill each position and you might as well pick a coach as well. What do you do? What do you do!? Here's what I do:

C - Jared Sullinger (Freshman, Ohio State): Best player on the best team in the country right now. Sure, I'll take him on my squad. A dominant force in the low post and a good rebounder, also provides some bulk inside to make up for any smaller forwards.

Johnson (center) would be celebrating a lot with this team.

PF - JaJuan Johnson (Senior, Purdue): He's 6-10 and just 225 lbs. He's long and can score from anywhere on the floor. He's developed a nice turn around jump shot, and has shown he can make the big one when needed (hit the game winner against Penn State last night, after leading Purdue with 26 points against WVU on Sunday). On the defensive side of the ball, he can lurk on the weak side and provide a nice shot blocking presence.

SG - Jimmer Fredette (Senior, BYU): Jimmer fever is sweeping the nation, and he leads the entire NCAA Division 1 in scoring. It's a shame the majority of the country doesn't get to see him on a daily basis, but make sure you do some Jimmer homework before the tournament starts, as he will be sure to be a human highlight come March. Let's just hope Gus Johnson or Bill Raftery is announcing his games because we are guaranteed a couple of "From the parking lot" and "Whews" when Jimmer steps on the court.

PG - Kemba Walker (Junior, UConn): Daily Onions hasn't always been the nicest to Kemba Walker. We've acknowledged the good and the bad, but the more and more we watch him we realize that he's got "it". Like when he hit the game winner last weekend at Texas, and then did it again on Monday against Villanova. We still think he shoots a little too much, and might get a little out of control, but he can make it when it matters.

I struggled finding a SF, so I am going to play it safe and go with Kyle Singler (Senior, Duke): He's won a national championship, he's a hard worker, and he'll do anything on the court to win the game.  I can see him taking a back seat to Kemba, Jimmer and Sullinger getting a lot of the shots, and not complaining/worrying about it. Always good to have a do-it-all, unselfish player on your squad.

I'm a little worried about playing with only one basketball, and that's why I am taking Coach K to lead this team.  You have to be impressed with what he's done with USA Basketball over the last 3 years. Getting all those superstars to buy in and play together. We'd need that same game plan with this team.

Who's got next?

The Weekend that Was

Kemba was kept in check for only so long. (AP)

-Kemba Walker reads Daily Onions! Or at least that's what I am telling myself, after he went out and willed UConn to a win on the road at Texas. Using my post last week as bulletin board material, Kemba was 8-27 shooting and he scored 22 points, including this ridiculous shot as the shot clock was expiring at the end of the game. He also hit the game winner in overtime and grabbed 9 rebounds. Big time win for the Huskies, and they get Rutgers and DePaul next.

-Georgetown continues to baffle me. I want to like the Hoyas and possibly pick them as a team to go deep into the tournament, but late game situations have been killing them of late.  Despite having an experienced PG in Chris Wright, the Hoyas turned it over on their final four possessions of the game against West Virginia. For the game, Wright had 5 turnovers and 2 assists...not really what you are looking for from your floor general. G'town drops to 1-3 in the Big East and now has to host Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. On the flip side, huge with a capital U, win for the Mountaineers. Exactly what they needed after dropping two of their first three conference games.

-University of Kentucky fans took out their frustration on the Enes Kanter decision on a New York Times writer, and then watched their team lose on the road to Georgia, 77-70. Hey UK fans, your team might be young and immature, doesn't mean you have to be.

-As predicted on Friday, Villanova knocked Cincinnati from the unbeaten list. Other notable results from the weekend: Penn State knocked off Michigan State, Colorado beat 8th ranked Missouri, Notre Dame beat St. Johns, Kansas needed overtime to win in Ann Arbor, and UCF dropped their first game of the season at Houston.

-Coming tomorrow: Daily Onions starts to breakdown the games that are a part of the upcoming Big E Hoops Weekend.

You Can Get With This...

Or you can get with that. Not sure what's up with the song-themed titles this week, but hopefully this one is more enjoyable to have stuck in your head today. A few random thoughts from the sports world to get you through this hump day.

-For those of you that saw the movie The Fighter (which we highly recommend), it looks like Tony Allen opted for "head, face, head, face" instead of "head, body, head, body" in an altercation with OJ Mayo. Really? You both make a crap load of money playing basketball for a living, but you feel it necessary to get in a fight over a card game on a team flight. You guys are teammates, remember? Really? Grow up.

Sidney, left, looks like he's done this before (AP Photos)

-In other teammates fighting news, Renardo Sidney of Mississippi State was reinstated to the team after a altercation in the stands with team captain Elgin Bailey last month at the Diamond Head Classic tournament in Hawaii (Seriously, who fights in Hawaii?). Sidney is the same kid that was a high school All-American, but then had to sit out all of last season due to NCAA eligibility issues. He had played in just two games this season prior to the fight, scoring 31 points total. So the high school All-American is back with the team, and the junior captain who averaged 5 ppg, 4 rrpg so far this season is.....transferring. Oh, ok. Makes sense.

-I'm not sold on Kemba Walker. I said it when UConn lost to Pitt last week, and now I will say it again after they lost to Notre Dame last night. Not sure exactly why, just a gut feeling. In his first two years on campus, he was an erratic point guard/2-guard that was an atrocious shooter from the outside. He's improved that part of his game and has been great this year. Its pretty tough to find flaws in his game, especially when looking at his stats this season (26.7 ppg, 5 rpg, 3.8 apg, 2 spg, 2 topg, 48% FG, 84% FT). The fact the Huskies next leading scorer only averages 10 ppg, worries me a bit (or makes me smile, as a Syracuse fan). Maybe its my anti-UConn bias that can't give Kemba the credit he deserves, but I don't think the shoot-first PG will bring the Huskies a Big East title, or a deep run in the tournament. He was unstoppable early on when UConn beat Kentucky and Michigan State.  Now as the season progresses and the tough get going in Big East play, UConn has dropped its last two.

-Pittsburgh finally played its first "true road game" last night and squeaked out a 4 point win at Providence. The Panthers could be 17-1, when Syracuse comes to town for the finale of Big E Hoops weekend.

-It was awesome seeing Andrew Luck dominate on Monday night in the Orange Bowl - kid is the real deal. Then last night, another exciting BCS Bowl game as Ohio State held off Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Let's keep the momentum going and watch the National Championship game between Auburn and Oregon tonight, or even tomorrow night. But no, we'll wait another 5 days until that game (Monday, January 10th). Come on BCS, if you aren't giving us a playoff, at least give us a favorable viewing schedule.