2010 NBA Draft: All About The Upside

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and assume that everyone here has followed the past season of NCAA basketball fairly closely, and knows the ins and outs of who can play. Now I'm going to ask that you forget everything you know about these players' skills, and focus on pseudo-abilities such as wingspan, upside, and flexibility. Because it is the time of year where the most incompetent GMs and owners of all professional sports gather and select the future staples of their franchises. It's the 2010 NBA Draft, and like always, Fuerto's got you covered.

1 Wizards - John Wall PG Kentucky As much as I ripped on Wall and the Cats last March, he has all the abilities to become a star in the league. He's a clear cut number one, and unlike busts like Kwame Brown and Michael Olowakandi, he proved he can play elite college ball, and can make the transition to NBA basketball. The sketchy part is that as of posting time, Washington also has Gilbert Arenas and Kirk Hinrich on the roster. Kirk can stay, as he did with Derrick Rose, but for Wall to achieve maximum potential, Gilbert's gotta go.

2 76ers - Evan Turner SG Ohio State I honestly cannot believe that people were pushing for Philly to take Derrick Favors over Turner. With all the speculation on measurements and intangibles, it's easy to forget that while not a great athlete, Turner was the best NCAA player last year. He does have some flaws, mainly his inability to win big games (Siena, anyone?), but he will be a solid starter in Philadelphia for years to come.

3 Nets - Derrick Favors PF Georgia Tech The first true "upside" pick of the draft. Only 12 PPG for a mediocre Yellow Jackets squad, but that's good enough for our new Russian Super Owner. According to Jay Bilas, he needs work on finishing, rebounding, shooting, post moves, and free throws. So, why exactly is that a great pick? Oh yeah, upside and athleticism, that's how you guarantee another lottery pick next year, New Jersey.

4 Timberwolves - Wes Johnson SF Syracuse I think Wes could be a nice pickup, especially if Ricky Rubio ever decides to leave Spain. He plays defense and rebounds unlike any other perimeter player in the draft, and has solid fundamentals. He may never be the best player on the team, but could help out anyone in the league. Johnson's transition could be made smoother by having former Orange teammate Jonny Flynn with him.

5 Kings - DeMarcus Cousins C Kentucky After selecting ROY Tyreke Evans a year ago, expectations couldn't be higher in Sac-Town. With his impressive strength and rebounding, he is the best big man in the draft. (Sorry NJ, but you screwed the pooch with this one). However, this may not be the best fit, as Cousins has attitude problems, and Sacramento has no proven vets or coaches that we know have the maturity to calm him down. As Bilas said, he's as good as he wants to be.

6 Warriors - Epke Udoh PF Baylor It always sucks to have the 6th pick in a 5-strong draft, but G-State will have to settle with the Nigerian big man. Udoh doesn't have great talent, but he can provide a defensive spark with his elite shot blocking skills. Definitely not as good as Cousins, but a pretty solid second level prospect.

7 Pistons - Greg Monroe PF Georgetown It's always a solid idea to snag a big man from G-Town after seeing what Hakeem and Ewing did in this league. Monroe is a great passer, especially, and like Turner, is just a solid overall basketball player. By the way, as a Jazz fan, I am pissed. He would've been a perfect fit under Sloan.

8 Clippers - Al-Farouq Aminu PF Wake Forest His name means "The Chief will Arrive", and the other LA is hoping that a legitimate post threat has arrived. It's not really worth discussing what kind of prospect he is, because as a Clipper, he is unfortunately destined to suck - at least until he can high step out of town in a few years.

9 Jazz - Gordon Hayward SG Butler Courtesy of a 2004 trade made by Isaiah, Utah snags the best white guy in the draft, and it could not be a more perfect fit. Well coached, fundamentally sound, a great BASKETBALL PLAYER, Hayward is ready to make some noise in the NBA. I could not be more excited, as I just ran circles around my neighborhood and changed my profile picture. Heyward, Matthews, and Korver on the perimeter? I smell and NBA Championship!

10 Pacers - Paul George SF Fresno State What the hell, Larry? With Cole Aldrich on the board, you take a 20 year old from the WAC? My guess is that Bird was so rattled by his dream pick getting snatched up by Jerry Sloan that he didn't know what to do.

11 Thunder - Cole Aldrich C Kansas Just one pick too late, Aldrich will at the very least be a funny white guy to laugh at, and his jersey will earn you some decent bro points to own. At the very least, I'm saying a Jeff Foster type player.

12 Grizzlies - Xavier Henry SG Kansas In all honesty, Henry was the biggest disappointment for me in college this year. I was expecting huge things, and they never really happened. With that said, he's a couple years away from being a legitimate NBA threat, but he has shown flashes of dominance which could become the norm in the next few years.'

13 Raptors - Ed Davis PF North Carolina I'm more impressed with the USA chant by the crowd than this pick. I'm not too confident in any player on a Tar Heel squad that doesn't make the NCAA, so I'm not expecting much for Davis. Watch for Bosh to book it for the states, leaving Toronto as a candidate for the top pick next year.

14 Rockets - Patrick Patterson PF Kentucky With the last lottery pick, the Rockets make a great move. Patterson performed in college, and is NBA ready right now. More importantly, he provides a low post presence that Houston has missed with Yao Ming out.

15 Bucks - Larry Sanders PF VCU Milwaukee wins the award for drafting the first player not at the draft. Jay Bilas says he could be as good as Theo Ratliff, which unfortunately might be all that's left in the draft now. Another classic "athletic player", but he did win the CBI with the Rams last year, which could really have helped prepare him for the D-League playoffs.

16 Blazers- Luke Babbitt SF Nevada The second WAC player to go, I think Babbitt is going to be a better player than Paul George. He can shoot lights out, and will be probably be a solid role player for years to come.

17 Bulls - Kevin Seraphin SF French Guiana The first foreigner, I will admit that I know next to nothing about Seraphin. But based on what the "experts" are saying, he won't even come to America for at least 2 years. Judging by this pick, the Bulls are putting all of their marble with LeBron.

18 Clippers- Eric Bledsoe PG Kentucky A point guard who lacks point guard skills, Bledsoe is not ready for the NBA yet. Had he stayed one more year, Bledsoe would have been the best player on Kentucky, and almost certainly a lottery pick. Now he's just another late round pick with numerous question marks.

19 Celtics - Avery Bradley PG Texas See Xavier Henry. Bradley was a big time recruit who didn't impress for the Horns. He's got the talent, though, and is in a system that will get the best out of him. He'll be a good bench player for a few years, and then take over as a solid starter for much of his career.

20 Spurs - James Anderson SG Oklahoma State The Big 12 Player of the Year has been the best player on the board for some time now, and he falls into a great system with San Antonio. In addition, if I've ever learned anything about the NBA, trust the franchise that grabbed George Hill and DeJuan Blair late in drafts recently.

21 Hornets - Craig Brackins PF Iowa State When the Cyclones start getting taken, you know that the quality of the draft has diminished... except for a certain shooting guard that I was hoping would get paired with David West in New Orleans.

22 Blazers - Elliot Williams PG Memphis We've been used to seeing the first Tiger selected a bit earlier, but Williams get put in a Portland team that has a really good young nucleus. He's not as good as Jerryd Bayless, but he could emerge as the sixth man of the future.

23 Wizards- Trevor Booker PF Clemson Booker is the first senior taken, and Washington is banking on him to bring leadership and maturity down low. However, Booker may be too undersized at 6'7 to make an impact in the Wizards' system.

24 Nets- Damion James PF Texas Very similar to Booker, and probably even better, he runs the floor pretty well for a 4, and plays tough on defense. However, James doesn't appear to be the kind of guy who can make a bad team decent.

25 Grizzlies - Dominique Jones SG South Florida After watching Jones in the Big East, one thing is certain: the dude can score. He's aggressive and willing to attack the basket. However, his touches may be limited by ballhogs such as OJ Mayo and Ronnie Brewer. Another decent player in a not so decent fit.

26 Thunder - Quincy Pondexter SF Washington Pondexter played pretty well for the Huskies, but then again, he was playing in the Pac 10. Either way, he won't crack the starting lineup in OKC, but will be set as the backup to Durant.

27 Hawks- Jordan Crawford SG Xavier It's about time Crawford goes, as he had probably been the best player available since James Anderson got taken. I think that this is a sign that Joe Johnson isn't coming back, which means a lot of points for Crawford, but not necessarily as much winning as he got used to here in the Nati.

28 Grizzlies - Greivis Vasquez PG Maryland There's no doubting that Vasquez was one of the best college players a year ago, as he won the Bob Cousy Award over the likes of Wall and Williams. However, the pro game is a lot different, and he won't exactly have an all-star supporting cast around him.

29 Magic - Daniel Orton C Kentucky In the long and glorified history of the NBA, never before has a first round draft pick been wasted on a player who accomplished so little like Orton has. I know that Orlando is in a position to take risks, but it is inexcusable to make this move. Like Bledsoe, he did have a lot of talent in front of him, but it is ridiculous to think that he is worthy of a first round pick at this point.

30 Wizards - Lazar Hayward SF Marquette It's definitely a reach when you take the second best Hayward in the draft, but he did have a productive 4 year career at Marquette. Washington is hoping he will have the same impact 4 year Marquette star Wes Matthews had for Utah last year.

Muskies Crashin the Ball in Indy? Why Not? PART 1

The title of this article infers that I am saying that Xavier is going to go to the Final Four. Make no mistake, I AM saying that: I have it in my pools and I am confident that this team is poised and ready to take SLC by the balls and will live to see yet another week. With that being said, this is Part 1 thus I will discuss the Musketeers first task at hand solely. The task is the West Bracket semifinal game in Salt Lake City, Mormonville vs. the Kansas State Wildcats at aprox 9:37 pm EST.

I said it Sunday night on my drive home from Milwaukee back to Cincinnati when I got on to the national radio show on Maddog Radio. I got on and discussed the Muskies and their chances vs. the very solid K St. squad, and ultimately why I think Xavier is going to take Round 2 this season with them. Xavier started off the season with more question marks than I can remember this entire past decade. New head coach, lost their top three scorers as well as team leaders, and their undisputed go-to guy had sat out an entire year and hadn't played a game with Xavier ever. The beginning of the season produced some disheartening showings by the Muskies (aside from the cake games at Cintas) and many of the X faithful were already talking about next year...even before conference play! (Please note that I was NOT one of these people) Xavier played such NCAA tournament participating teams this season as Marquette, Baylor, Kansas St., and Butler before Christmas, and lost all of them.

By the time Christmas rolled around, Xavier was 7-4 and had not won a game versus a noteworthy team. Little did we know, Xavier played and shot poorly against Baylor and Kansas St. because they are both top-tier defensive teams in the country. Both might I add are in the Sweet 16 (a place were the Almighty Kansas Jayhawks are not). Butler, whom Xavier should have beaten, also is in the Sweet Sixteen and I would love nothing more than to play them for a chance to go to the Final Four in Indy. I HATE BUTLER. I went to that game and it took every ounce of restraint in my body to not knock some Butler douche in the skull. What happened with Butler though as well as an extremely tough 2OT loss at Wake (I attended that game as well) in looking back on it, those losses were blessings. This team I would argue is the most battle tested team in the country. There is not a situation (fair or unfair) that they haven't experienced this year. This team is tough as nails and has the nerves of steel. They were able to take the hard-learned lessons from the first half of the season to end up going into the Swamp of the Gators (another NCAA tourney team) and beat them in a crucial bubble game for UF on the road. Xavier also played a hard fought game at Temple although losing, but were able to prevail vs. Richmond at home in 2OT.

Going 14-2 in the Atlantic 10 was no fluke. Temple and Richmond were extremely good, disciplined teams (say what you want about their NCAA games, St. Mary's and Cornell are still playing!!!) Also, I know you don't give a shit about the NIT as you shouldn't but Richmond and Dayton are in the Final Four of that. Big East blowjobbers, any comments on the A10 now?!

As has been discussed all week, Xavier and Kansas St. have a unique situation in the fact that they have already played this year (and the last couple years. See article concerning K St's bitterness towards X
http://www.statesman.com/sports/kansas-state-xavier-have-some-bad-blood-443191.html ) I watched that game in December in Manhattan and Xavier played without a doubt their worst game of the year. I mean Brad Redford was Xavier's leading scorer (tied with Crawford) at 16 points! That will not be the case tonight. No Way! This Xavier team in March is so much more mature, disciplined, and poised than that vague image of a Xavier basketball that I remember from that game. Chris Mack is not a rookie coach anymore. Jordan Crawford is not a first-year player for Xavier. This team has been there, done that, and they are battle-tested.

A stat that I would be doing everyone who reads this a disservice if I didn't show that sticks out to me like a sore thumb is this:

XU scored 56 points vs K St. that game. It was their lowest offensive output of the year by 6 points (61 v Butler) Since both of those games Xavier's lowest output has been 65 v. Minn and 68 v. Lasalle. WOW.

You tell me if you think this poised and momentus Xavier team is going to put up 56 points again. That game was at K St., tonight is on a neutral court. The Xavier faithful will be there, dont worry about that. They will be loud and they will represent. I can assure you of that. I can also assure you that Jordan Crawford will bring it yet again (27.5 ppg in the '10 tourney), Xavier will play good defense, and they will rebound. Minimizing turnovers as well as keeping Tuto and Crawdaddy at the guard positions and J Love and McClean out of foul trouble will be key. We cannot be relying on Lyons, Frease, and Taylor playing big minutes. We don't want that at all! Lastly, Dante needs to step up and hit a couple shots, make his late game ft's for God's sake! and play good individual defense and rebound.

If we do these things, I think the Muskies are playing Saturday. I like Frank Martin. I think his side job is in the Kansas maffia. I think K St. is loaded and talented. It also is tough to beat a team twice in one year, especially one of the caliber of this gritty and tough 2010 Xavier squad.

With that being said, AMDG, All for One and One for All, In It to Win It, May the Power of X be With You. Stayed tuned for Part II blogowers.

KFW