NBA Lottery selections: Chicago dude has no shame

I'm with you on that one.

 

Thirded. Looks like a lot of projects in his lottery predictions.

 

This killed me from Ford, as he picks Kevin Love to go to the Bobcats:

Dude, just sack up and call him a white guy. It's really, really lazy for basketball writers to pretend all white guys are the same kind of player. I'm waiting for someone to call Love the new Larry Bird.

 

Please don't laugh. Given how horrendous the Bobcats have been run from Day 1, this would fit right in. One of the few bastions of intelligence in Charlotte, Bernie Bickerstaff, is no longer with the franchise.

 

FWIW, I've been contemplating it further (no reason for me to do it sooner; I never thought the Bulls had a chance in hell of getting the No. 1 pick), and I'm starting to lean toward Rose.

 

But you were so strongly for taking Beasley, which to me wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for Chicago. Why the change of heart?

 

I've been thinking about Beasley more than Rose. I know what Rose brings. But there's some red flags that Beasley brings, and locker room turmoil is the last thing the Bulls need at this point. The only downside of taking Rose is it forces the Bulls to move Hinrich, which will be tough given his contract and the fact that he sucked last year.

 

Didn't know Beasley was a bad locker room guy.

I've always said if I ever had the chance to build a professional team that two kinds of players I'd steer clear of were ones with work ethic questions and ones with attitude questions. No. 1 what makes you think a fat contract is going to make a player who never worked hard to begin with decide to hit the weights or watch extra film. No. 2 if a player has caused a distraction or lockerroom issues before what makes you think they won't do it again.

Personally I like Rose. It's hard to find a point guard that can do that much for his team. And, like a quarterback, the ball usually starts in the PG's hands, which with Rose is a good place for a team's O to start. And to top it all off the NBA, like other pro sports, is a big copycat league and everyone saw how much Chris Paul did for the Hornets. Not saying Rose is that kind of player yet, but there's no reason to think he couldn't be down the road.

 

I've been a Beasley guy for a long time, but I wouldn't fault anyone for taking Rose. He's talented, can do it all, and has proven that he can put aside his own ego and take a back seat for the good of the team. So many times, you hear debates about who should have been taken 1 or 2. In this case, the Heat are in the same win-win position the Sonics were in a year ago. No one will ever second-guess the pick, because they got the other slam dunk in the draft.

Re: Minnesota, I could see the T-wolves taking someone like Brook Lopez. They got guards, so a big man like him would make a ton of sense. Though obviously, I'm most curious to see where Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush, Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson (and maybe Mario Chalmers, if he stays in) go, to see who else's bandwagon I need to ride.

 

Beasley is not a bad locker room guy. He has "character" issues because he did a bunch of childish stuff in high school. Childish like draw on his principals car with a sharpie because he thought it was funny, not childish like boot a basketball and walk off the court like Mayo.

He may be immature, but he's not immature in the way that will tear a team apart. The guy isn't a primadona. He's a big kid.

 

To anyone questioning Beasley's work ethic, ask yourself this question. How many players actually challenged Beasley? Pretty much every time he stepped on the floor he was the best player, which means he didn't have to work as hard as everybody else. But don't let that fool you.

Case in point, KS was playing my school, Winston-Salem State, in a meaningless game around the holidays. He pretty much breezed through the first half with 12 points. But one of our players blocked his shot and called the guy overated. He comes out in the second half and puts up 28 points to finish with 40.

Once he gets to the league and is challenged, he'll produce.

 

Not a whole lot of NBA knowledge on this thread.