NBA Draft a Mess, With Steals a Plenty

The Portland Trail Blazers wasted no time swapping out of the third spot in the draft. They got a deal done with the Utah Jazz before a team was officially on the clock.

Hey, the earlier, the better for that team. More time to think usually means more time to mess things up in Portland. So, how'd they do? Well, they figured the guy they wanted would be there at six, so they made to move to get that guy and a little extra. Not too bad, really — if you trust their talent-scouting abilities. Otherwise, feel free to question this move all the way until the season opens.

They had their eye on Martell Webster, who is probably a good reason for this new age limit thing the NBA has going on. Now, that isn't a knock on Webster. It's a knock on not knowing Webster. The best thing about the age limit is that fans will have more familiarity with a player when he gets drafted.

You're telling fans that this Martell Webster is better and is going to do more for a team than Francisco Garcia? Sounds a bit shaky when you say it out loud, doesn't it? Sounds a bit shaky touting a high school kid who you might not have seen play the game over someone who lived and died in a setting such as the NCAA tournament, like a Rashad McCants.

So that's the setting heading into the NBA draft. What college players get looked over for a high school kid or someone from over seas?

One thing we learned pretty quickly in this draft was that the first impact player was taken fourth. Seriously, Deron Williams over Chris Paul? The Andrew Bogut and Marvin Williams going first and second was predictable because of the size of Bogut and the marketability of Williams, but Paul is a kid that just gets things done.

The second UNC player goes at the fifth spot, with Raymond Felton going to Charlotte. Solid pick, but can you call any of these UNC picks "great?" Certainly not yet, at least. Their upside potential is off the charts, but until they show that they're going to be able to blend into different offenses, you have to question the picks — at least a little.

There's nothing better than ESPN getting quotes from wildly excited Knicks fans saying that their selection has to be Channing Frye. Then it turns out to be ... ah, well, it did turn out to be Channing Frye. What are the odds that Isiah Thomas is on the phone and when he hears the comments on ESPN, changes the pick? I'm guessing pretty high.

The Knicks fans later wanted Chris Taft. Do they even watch basketball in that city? Do they really need another mediocre big man who might not be able to rebound and score down low at this level?

The draft is wacky. The draft is wild.

Who would have expected Charlie Villanueva to go as high as he did? But, then again, someone has to make that bonehead selection so that people have something to talk about, it seems.

Salim Stoudamire doesn't depart until the second round.

It seems like just about every team was botching their early round selections this year. I know upside potential is a big thing these days, but does Martell Webster have that much more upside potential than the shooting guards that played the college game? What will happen to these NBA General Managers next season when they can't draft these guys that no one has heard of? There will be half a dozen teams in next year's draft making awful selections like Charlie Villanueva.

Where do you even begin if you want to talk about "steals" in this draft?

Well, let's start right where the first half of the draft splits. With pick number 17. Danny Granger going to the Pacers. Better pick than most of the picks before him. After Granger? Hakim Warrick, Julius Hodge, Jarrett Jack, Francisco Garcia, Jason Maxiell, and Wayne Simien.

These are all bona fide steals for the bottom half of the first round. While these guys might not be head and shoulders better than the guys taken ahead of them, it does point out just how deep the draft is and just how spread the draft is.

Why mention any of this? These are seemingly disjointed takes on the first round of the NBA draft, right?

The point is that any GM can't just turn their franchise around in this draft anymore. The Toronto Raptors had a very good chance to do so, but their fans will likely leave the draft thinking that they aren't much better.

The rich get richer with the current set up in the NBA draft. It's not because of the age of the players coming out, it's because of the people running organizations that haven't been able to adapt to the influx of high school and international talent.

If the Blazers were a top-notch organization, they would have been able to move down and really improve their team for next season. After this draft, did they look like they have done so? Probably not.

The NBA doesn't need the collective bargaining agreement to step in and say that a kid can't earn his NBA salary, the NBA just needs to begin to market the smarter teams over the teams that value flash and look to sell tickets from season to season. We just saw two teams that play a team game over any single player in the NBA finals. Market that.

Don't assess a problem casually and without really diving into that problem and then slapping a band-aid on it. The band-aid the NBA slapped on is going to get exposed and ripped off next season when things are just as bad as they are right now.

But, if you change the mindset of the decision-makers, then you start to really make a difference.