The NBA Draft is my Super Bowl. I say this every year but it bears repeating. I enjoy the event more than I should for a variety of reasons. But more and more the Draft has begun to let me down. Not just because I’m a Knicks fan. That’s an entirely different problem. Rather, the NBA Draft has become one of the top social media meltdown days of the sporting calendar. An inundation of rumors and speculation flood Twitter, Facebook, TV, and radio. The 2017 NBA Draft had more of these than in recent seasons. In the end, though, most of these faded into nothing and it stripped a bit of juice from the night. We were waiting for a fire but got nothing but smoke.
It all started a week or so ago when the Celtics traded out of the #1 overall pick. Philadelphia gave up less than expected and made it clear they were taking a potential All-Star guard to go with their unending fleet of bigs. Boston didn’t seem too fazed by it. They were adamant that their guy would easily be available at 3. Sandwiched in between those two was the always volatile Lakers. Lonzo Ball, despite his reality show waiting to happen of a family, seemed too easy a pick not to make. The chirps kept coming that they were thinking about looking elsewhere. Then the story that nearly spiked my heart rate began to catch steam.
Could Phil Jackson go fully senile and trade Kristaps Porzingis? Was the only man to skip out on an exit interview with the Zen Master (a “fact” that was debunked several times over these past few days) exiting for good? The Celtics at 3 and Suns at 4 had the most chatter, and both at one point or another seemed to have a decent shot of uprooting the Latvian unicorn.
All this drama surrounding the top three or four picks ultimately led to nothing. Zilch. Nada. Philly took Markelle Fultz as expected. The Lakers took Lonzo Ball at 2. Boston’s selection of Jayson Tatum over Josh Jackson at 3 raised a few hairs but wasn’t an upset in any sense of it. Jackson went one pick later to Phoenix. While these four plodded along, one trade finally happened. However, it had been bantered about for so long, nobody really cared when it finally went down.
Jimmy Butler has seemingly been on his way out of Chicago for three years now. First, it was Boston. Then Cleveland. Houston? CSKA Moscow? OK, I got a bit off track there but seriously, if your organization plays professional basketball, Jimmy Butler has been rumored to be on the way to you via trade. Nevertheless, Butler was finally dealt to Minnesota for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, and the seventh overall pick. That pick turned out to be Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen, a move that was the first perplexing one of the evening. Chicago got fleeced, and then immediately shot themselves in the foot again. They were that kid that gets the last toy off the shelf but somehow breaks it before they even get out of the store. Then once out of the store, they get struck by lightning. (Wow, that got dark real quick.)
It was becoming abundantly clear that all our trade fodder was for naught. At least we could rely on our yearly punching bags to make things more entertaining right? Wrong. Despite my reservations, and that is more me than most, Frank Ntilikina fits pretty damn well on the Knicks. (Now if they could only get rid of that pesky triangle.) Sacramento actually made a really good deal and put three quality pieces together towards actually rebuilding their dumpster fire of a franchise. The Dwight Howard move may be a bit of a puzzler, but Michael Jordan and the Hornets stole the night with Malik Monk at Pick #11. The NBA Draft Gods didn’t even give us that early awkward pick from the stands.
There are still rumblings that deals will be done once the free agency window opens. The Spurs are trying to trade LaMarcus Aldridge as if he is stricken with the bubonic plague. Paul George could end up being the new Jimmy Butler in terms of being rumored to go any and everywhere. Hell, we may even be firing up another LeBron James courting session as the King looks to find his next batch of knights to fight the Warriors. But for now, all we have was a lackluster NBA Draft that left us wanting. The pomp and pageantry were there, but the drama wasn’t. Sure, this may mean NBA GMs are actually learning from decades of mistakes, but what fun is that?