10 Things on my mind after the draft. The introduction of "Thoughts on the Side... What If?"

So as I sat down in my seat in section 425 of Turner field for my first game in almost a decade (Last time I went to a Braves game was in 2000), I excitedly awaited the first pitch and my first bite into a nice juicy hot dog. The sun was shining brightly and the wind was like a cool breeze that complemented the hot sun. I actually almost forgot about the draft.

Despite the loss, it was good to be back
at Turner Field. I've got a new
approach on baseball. Go Braves!

Not entirely...

I quickly grabbed my phone out at the end of the first inning as we were already down 2-0 to the rich and spoiled Yankees and saw that Blake had not officially become a Clipper yet. Seconds later, I press the refresh button and there it is, #1 overall Blake Griffin. "Surprise surprise" is the title on the cover of ESPN go.

As the baseball game continues, so does the draft. With the first 9 picks done with, I notice that there are many of the top point guards remaining and I am excited to possibly see Jennings, Holiday, Lawson, or Maynor become a Hawk.












The search for a new point guard
continued as the draft offered plenty
of fresh talent to choose from.
Going into the 10th pick, we seemed to be in
quite a good position.

Jennings becomes a Milwaukee Buck at #10... Fat chance of getting him. What was I dreaming about?

Psycho T gets snagged early at #13 and I'm cheering like a drunk fan (Which I was not), relieved that he would not be in the equation for our first round pick. I did tell myself that I am going to feel very stupid if Hansbrough somehow does explode onto the NBA scene as a star. Best of luck to you, Tyler, but I don't want to risk seeing you waste the Hawks' draft pick.

One of the best to
ever play in the
collegiate level,
Tyler Hansbrough
shows more than
enough hard work
and passion for the
game. He can be
very successful in
the NBA as long as
he wants it to
happen. I still don't
want to see him
him in a Hawks uni.

A little later, the 76ers are on the clock and plenty of my favorite point guards are still remaining as I excitedly tell my friend that I am going to order a Jrue Holiday Hawks jersey as soon as his name is announced. I think to myself that with "Kid 23" (Lou Williams) and Andre Miller likely to return to the 76ers for 2009-10, the Sixers will be looking at other positions to draft for.

Before I can press the refresh button, I get a text from a reliable source alerting me that Jrue was just taken off the draft board by the 76ers... What?! I guess Andre Miller isn't in the picture for Philly anymore. At least I think...

I'm pretty confident in our shot at getting either Lawson or Maynor seeing that there is just one pick left before our turn and these rebuilding Timberwolves have already taken two point guards in Rubio and Flynn at #5 and #6.

Another text comes from the same source that was the bearer of bad news and it reads, "Lawson is gone"... How can it be... The Wolves traded for these first round picks only to draft all point guards? What are they trying to do, sabatoge the draft?!

Jeff Teague is the newest member
of the Hawks and he looks to help
the franchise as he seeks out becoming
the next big thing at point guard.
Please let him be our Chris Paul, please...

My least favorite point guard comes up on the screen of my phone next to the Hawks logo as Jeff Teague is drafted at #19... I stare at the screen as I read his name in my head...

Of course, Teague isn't such a bad take at #19. He IS a point guard and that's the position I wanted us to draft. I just had other plans that's all. I'm thinking this is a mulligan on our failure to draft Chris Paul in 05 so we snag a different Wake Forest point guard in hopes of making up for the past mistake.

3 things about Teague concern me...
#1 He can have a very sore attitude at times and could cause drama in the team locker room or the front office. Let's hope that never happens.
#2 He has "upside". All our players have upside. Just no one ever develops it in Atlanta...
#3 He isn't too interested in the defensive side. Point guards with solid + defense lead to success.

On a positive note, Teague has a very quick first step and has quite an impressive vertical for a point guard. His shooting isn't too shabby either. Let's hope that I'm completely wrong about saying not to take this guy and he lights up the "Highlight Factory".

At this point, I give the Hawks a C+ on draft day for picking up a point guard in the first round that has a lote of "UPSIDE".

I thought maybe we could snag another point guard in the second round if we can find ourselves a sleeper pick at the position. Sort of a way to put insurance on the Teague pick. With potential first rounder Patty Mills still around while the 40's teams are picking, I'm anticipating a possible pick up of the St. Mary's guard at #49. By this time, I'm already in my car headed home after a dreaded 11-7 loss to the Yankees. (Darn you Derek Lowe) As I settle onto my couch just in time to watch the Hawks make their pick live, I am excited to see that Mills is still on board and he should be our dude.

"For the 49th pick in the 2009 NBA draft... The Atlanta Hawks select Sergiy Gladyr..."

I'm sorry, who?!!! Who the heck is this cat... I don't know too much about the European leagues but I just couldn't see how this was the best choice for us... Hawks draft day rating: C
You lost your plus atlanta. With Patty Mills, I would have happily said B-, but nooo, we had to get the European kid that weighs about the same as I do and he's got 5 inches on me!

Let's hope the Hawks pick do a little more than what I'm expecting out of them. Prove me wrong!!!

10 things on my mind after draft day

#1 Congratulations to Taylor Griffin who was taken at #48. The older brother of Blake Griffin isn't as good, but it sure is nice to see him get an opportunity to play in the NBA. He is a hard worker and should have a better career than most people are expecting out of him.

#2 The Timberwolves did all this work to get 4 picks in the first round and 6 picks overall. At #5 Rubio (Should pay off), at #6 Flynn (Wait, I thought you already got your man at point), at at #18 Ty Lawson (You JERKS! You just had to take our point guard. You already got two new point guards today. What the heck are you trying to do??? A trade...), at #28 Ellington (That's a little better). You traded for the 6th pick to get Flynn? Look at who your bigs are! Grab a young big man or trade that useless pick for a solid big man already in the league. Saw the "genius" T'Wolves gm's interview on ESPN about his draft choices and he seemed confident that the draft went very very well for them. Think again buddy. It's either Rubio or Flynn... Not both...

#3 Whenever there was a trade with the draft picks, the guy who announced it (not David Stern) couldn't have made it more awkward... There was always a moment of silence after he would announce the trades...

#4 Why were there so many foreign players that were drafted... Half of them are just going to go back to the league they played in last year after the amount of playing time they get in 2009-10. Sorry but not everyone can be Dirk Nowitzkis or Manu Ginobilis... We have to have some Darkos and Nikoloz Tskitishvli's as well. That's a very hard name to spell and pronounce by the way. He was drafted in '02. Yeah I don't know what he does now either. And don't ask me how to say his name...

#5 Alade Aminu out of Georgia Tech went undrafted tonight, unfortunately. Along with a few other college cats that could have made some noise in the NBA, these few undrafted should look to sign onto some NBA teams through free agency. I would very much like the Hawks to sign the hometown man, Alade Aminu at the minimum cost available. It would help us with our lack of size and it won't hurt our salary.

#6 Congratulations to the former Norcross star Jodie Meeks, who finally go picked up in the early portions of the second round at #41. I hope for the best as he represents sweet Georgia.

#7 The 76ers have a young gun in Louis Williams and now have the bright young star in Jrue Holiday who has one of the coolest, catchiest names in the NBA. Will they resign Andre Miller? If not, I highly advise the Hawks to sort out some kind of deal to snag Andre Miller.

#8 Vince has a new home in Orlando and has nearly taken up the remaining cap space for the Magic. Hedo will probably have to find a new team. Marcin Gortat, will they resign him? If not, Rick Sund, call this guy's agent ASAP! He is a big man ready to take the spotlight!

#9 What's the next big trade going to be? I hope it happens soon.

#10 Would it be cliche if I said some tacky rhyme scheme consisting of something like, "and let's go back to #1". I don't know... I was just wondering, "What if Taylor Griffin does better than his little brother in the NBA? What if TAYLOR gets the ROY award?" I mean, he IS older... It could happen.

Before I end this one, I'm going to start writing about "what if's" whenever I can get a chance. It'll be like my "side column". Something like that. Don't have a nifty title for it yet so give me a sec. I wish I could put on some theme music like when Kenny "The Jet" Smith gets that music playing on TNT when they do his little extra program...

Anyways...

"Thoughts on the Side. What if?"

Let's back track a couple of days to game 2 of the NBA finals. There are just a few seconds left in regulation in Staples Center as rookie Courtney Lee catches an alley opp off the inbounds. He misses the gamewinning layup. Rewing a couple seconds... "Courtney Lee catches the inbounds... LAYS IT IN! Series tied at 1-1! We're headed to Orlando as the Magic snatch homecourt advantage!" Magic win game 2 as they did in real life. (Just go along with it) Game 4.. The Lakers are on mark for a big comeback. Trevor Ariza is a whole different man as he lights up the floor in the second half. Trevor Ariza hits a big time clutch three near the end of regulation to tie the game. Rewind... Ariza hits off the back iron and Howard grabs the rebound. The outcome is completelely different as Orlando wins by a margin of 7 as Fisher doesn't even get that last second three to take the game into overtime. Orlando is up in the series 3-1. Eventually, after a hard fight by LA, Orlando takes the series and celebrates by going to Disney World.

The difference maker in the series was a layup and a few
three pointers. One little change, and the NBA world
could have turned out a lot different this week.

So what happens now? No pity parade for the Clippers. No Jimmy Kimmel special with most of the Lakers squad. The Magic are ecstatic as the new world champions of basketball and look to defend the crown in the 2009-10 campaign. So what do they do? They keep the team that made it happen, resign Turkoglu and draft a rookie in hopes of maybe getting a sleeper in the lower end of the first round. Lamar Odom goes elsewhere, without interest in resigning with the Lakers. Trevor Ariza goes crawling back to the Magic in search for a possible negotiation for a mid level contract. Kobe Bryant is stumped for the second straight season and panics with time running out the prime portion of his life. He doesn't see a future in LA and goes elsewhere to sign a fresh new contract.

STOP. But the Magic DIDN'T win. Courtney Lee choked on the layup in game 2 and Ariza hit the game tying three in game 4 to lead into Fishers clutch shot, finally leading to a Lakers 4-1 series domination. As a result, Kobe and his crew confidentally say on the Jimmy Kimmel special that the team will return in search of defending their title. The pity parade is prepared for the Clippers and the Lee gets the boot as he gets sent off to the Nets along with Tony Battie and Rafer Alston. The Magic search for a new solution as they go way over the luxury tax by bringing in Vince Carter.

Vince won't have
to deal with figuring
out how to get past
Superman anymore.
Except in practice...

"What a difference a day makes."

Feel free to offer up some suggestions for my next topic on "What if?". Maybe a new title for it wouldn't hurt either.

-Jason C