Stop the Hype

Ricky Rubio has received way too much attention over the past couple days. The media has treated him like the second coming of MJ and he hasn't played one minute of NBA basketball. It was a HUGE deal that he wasn't selected by the Thunder, then we find out that he may not even play for a year or two? Who is this kid? Now he doesn't show up to the Wolves press conference introducing the new draftees. Forget this kid. Maybe it's not him, but the people around him. Regardless, this kid's ego is growing steadily and we need to keep it under control. He's 18 years old and his biggest worry about playing in Minnesota is that it might be too cold?

The Biggest Winner in the Draft
This question has to be the overall summary of the draft. I have heard analysts say the Cavs were the biggest winner, some say the Spurs, and others say the Magic. When few people are talking about the Clippers and Thunder, it shows how bad the draft really was. It was without a doubt overshadowed by the Shaq and VC trade, but it was still a pretty poor draft. Blake Griffen is definitely the most talented player in this year's draft, but where would he have ranked in last year's draft? I say somewhere in the top ten. The one thing I will be waiting for this upcoming NBA season is for Stephon Curry to prove me wrong. I think both Steph and Hansbrough will be the recipients of the 2009-2010 NBA Flunk Award. I can't see either player's game translating to the big time. But again, I hope both prove me wrong.

As far as the biggest winner of the actual draft was the Clippers. They got the best player in the draft. Other than that, there wasn't much to talk about. I think the overall winner of Draft weekend was the San Antonio Spurs. Not only did they pick up RJ, but they got DeJuan Blair who slipped to the second round. They also got one of my favorite players in the draft, Jack McClinton. He has a little big of an ego problem, but when he gets going, he's a pretty good player. He won't have a big role for the Spurs, but he was a good pick up.

Impact of Michael Jackson in the NBA
Just by checking out some NBA players Twitters, it is obvious that Michael Jackson was a big part of most NBA players. This from Dwight Howard's Twitter following MJ's Death - "today isnt a good day to talk about trades. really not. im sorry. top five mj songs." Now, Dwight doesn't need to talk about the VC trade on his Twitter, but he was so emotional strung out that he released that statement on his Twitter. As far as I go, MJ was way past my musical era, so I won't comment on his impact. But it appears that many NBA players loved him. This from Jamario Moon when asked what his favorite MJ song was (Via Heat.com) - "All of them! I even had the glove, jacket, socks and shoes when I was a kid. My all-time favorite is 'Billie Jean'. He is the original Moonwalker, not me!!".