NBA draft

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Well, the NB draft is over, and notwitstanding the grandstanding of Dick Vitale and Stephen Smith, the Raptors did great.

No other team in the draft got three players who can play next year and the Raptors improved their skill level dramatically. Villanueva, in particular took heat from the ESPN blowhards, and all it showed was their ignorance. He is a big, strong, gifted athlete who played in a winning program, and if history can be accounted for, the last two Uconn draftees looked pretty good in The League last year. Charlie has some questions to be answered, but he has an upside which is far greater than Sean May, and most of the high schoolers who likely will never be great pros. What player in this year's draft doesn't have question marks? Marvin Williams is being treated as the second coming of Jesus, but he wasn't even good enough to start last year. Yes, I think he will be great, but I wouldn't bet the house on it YET.

And Sean may will resemble his father, a better college player than him, who never made much of an impact in the pros. Something about "tweener" "slow foot speed", "unable to defend the permimeter". Sound familiar?

Three cheers for Rob Babcock. If he had taken Joey Graham at #7 and Villanueva at #16, nobody would complain. The bottom line is that Villanueva wouldn't have lasted until then.

NBA final

Well, the NBA season is, at long last, over and I picked the Spurs to win it all. Thank goodness they were able to beat a Detroit team that I really don't like.

Duncan will get the credit (he was named MVP) but, for my money, that series was over early without Ginobli. He was tremendous and made key baskets down the stretch, able to get to the hoop at will. They also proved that they might need another guard by way of the draft as Tony Parker had a horrible series. Perhaps he was just weary from the long season, but the Spurs should be looking for help at the point guard position. Someone like Nate Robinson could be the answer, as could Daniel Ewing, since I rate him a better prospect than Chris Duhon.

As for my beloved Raptors. some mock drafts have them looking at Sean May which would be a disaster. I still love Charlie Villanueva and feel he may move up from a low mid first round prediction. he can be a stud in the NBA.

Raptors and the draft

I certainly hope that some of the mock drafts out there are not true. The Raps need help now and taking a high school player or a European (other than Ukic) would be a huge mistake. I like the idea of taking Villanueva at some stage (preferablyu first) and someone like Antoine Wright or Granger (who I really like). In the second round, look for Nate Robinson and Daniel Ewing, or take a chance on Amir Johnson who could turn out to be a stud. I have little confidence in guys like Vasquez or Splitter (sic) so hopefully they will stick to proven college players.

Can I trust Rob Babcock? I doubt it.