Monday, June 30, 2008

NBA draft, hoosier basketball, euros

I never mock up nba drafts anymore because sometime in the late '90's I got the clue that there are just too many variables to figure out what's going to happen beforehand. The Bulls are reaping their good fortune, and should be back in the playoffs next spring. The Pacers seem to have accepted a full-blown rebuilding project, which is just as well. Jermaine O'Neal is a good inside player, but I think there's a pretty clear line between him and a guy like KG or Tim Duncan, and I'm not sorry to see him go. Meanwhile, as the dust from the NBA draft settles and the free-agent sweepstakes begin, I was very glad to see DJ White land a guaranteed contract, even if he was immediately traded. Congrats, DJ, all your hard work and loyalty has made you a millionaire. Eric Gordon went in the lottery, as expected, but to the LA Clippers, which is kinda rough. At least expectations should be low for him out there.

In Hoosier basketball news, Indiana snagged a nice off-guard, 6-5 Malik Story, who could basically step in as a starter now that Crawford has left. Although that's all great, Indiana is looking at starting three or more freshmen, a juco, and a former walk-on. My current projected starting five: 6-8 Tom Pritchard, 6-7 Kyle Taber, 6-5 Nick Williams, 6-5 Malik Story, 6-2 Devan Dumes. Off the bench comes: 6-4 Verdell Jones, 6-3 Matt Roth, and 7-0 Tijan Jobe while walk-ons 6-5 Broderick Lewis & 6-5 Kory Barnett will see some foul-trouble/sickness/injury minutes.

Wrapping up the latest on IU hoops, former asst. Jeff Meyer was cleared of NCAA violations, but they added another one for "lack of oversight" and Greenspan got canned. Like all of these management types, he's got a nice golden parachute. The news has been nothing but for IU hoops for a while, and that'll be reflected in the box scores next season. Hopefully, the NCAA won't be too harsh on the school now that the scoundrels have been cleaned out, and the school didn't reap any real benefits or banners from the whole mess.

I've watched a little bit of the 2008 Euros -hey, what else is there to watch these days?- and I'm glad to see the return of attacking soccer. Still, to have a one-goal final was a little disappointing, but I do love to watch country versus country in soccer. Try as I might, I just can't care about club soccer at home or abroad. But I do enjoy watching it on the world level.

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