Nov 11, 2013
There are a few draft years every fan of the NBA can reflect on as being the best ever. 1984? The year Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton, and some guy named Mike Jordan. Excuse me, but I think Kevin Willis also deserves honorable mention in that class.
Maybe 2003. It seems almost a close second to 84’s class. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and….Darko. Not Donnie, the other one.
But 2013. I don’t know about a lot of NBA fans, but to me I’ve never seen a draft with more mediocre talent in it than the last four years of American Idol combined. (I’m not an Idol watcher, I lost track after Carrie Underwood won.)
So let’s recap 2013 really fast. Trust me, it’ll go quick.
‐Victor Oladipo is probably the only player I saw on the list and actually saw a future in the league. Explosive first step, great leaper, average range for a two guard. Reminds me of Wade as a rookie.
‐Otto Porter. Like this guy a lot for his big game performances. But like any streaky scorer, you get the good with the bad. Good court vision and above average basketball IQ. Hopefully he finds a coach that will let him run the break on the wing.
‐Cody Zeller. Good size, but in the NBA, a 7-footer doesn’t spell automatic success. In today’s game, a big man carries one significant risk: Knee trouble. Hang in there, Greg Oden. I like Zeller’s upside, but his strength and ability to post up are question marks at this point. Patrick Ewing is definitely a good guy to have at practice.
‐Nerlens Noel. The most hyped player last year had two bad things happen to him. We saw he wasn’t as good of a player as everyone thought he was coming out of high school and he blew out his knee near the end of his one and done year at UK. Luckily he gets a NBA paycheck this year, and we hope to see him next fall.
‐Anthony Bennett. Looks like he hasn’t missed many meals since being drafted and has the makings of a Shawn Kemp after 1998. Somebody needs to work on his conditioning and get him to attack the basket instead of shooting twenty footers. If you have a backside that big, you might as well use it.
And here’s one player I respect but don’t understand why every person has immediately considered him being the Rookie of the Year already. Michael Carter Williams.
True, MCW had a great first game as a pro, nobody can deny him that. However, this early in the season there are always games where Rookies can appear as the next best thing. Carter-Williams, if you travel way back to last year, had games at Syracuse last year that made you burrow your thumbs into your temple. He had turnovers in crucial games, including his final game against Michigan. So while I have cautious optimism in his future in the NBA, I think anyone that expects nightly production from him as a rookie might want to shake the magic eight ball again.
Who knows? Maybe this class will exceed others. There could be other rookies who rise later in the season. Though it seems as likely as Brooklyn 99 getting renewed for a second season.
