– Brad Newley The Rockets seem to have an untoward number of draft picks who never play in the NBA, as well as an uncanny knack for accumulating unwanted draft rights from other teams. They currently have nine unsigned draft picks, most in the NBA, and while quite a few of them weren’t their own picks, Newley was. The Australian guard spent his first two years after being drafted in Greece, but moved to Turkey this summer to play for Besiktas. He has averaged 16.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in Turkish league play, while upping his three-point percentage from 32% last year to 43% this year. Newley missed two months of the year due to injury, but it didn’t take him long to pick up from where he left off. In fact, his only single digit outing of the year was in the season opener. – Jared Newson Jared Newson is a kind of small but very athletic swingman out of Tennessee Martin (perhaps more famous for Lester Hudson), who made the Mavericks’ training camp roster in 2007 after a strong summer league performance for them. This is his fourth professional season; he spent two of his first three in Germany, and one in Australia. Martin spent this year in the D-League, split between the Sioux Falls Skyforce and the Bakersfield Jam. Between the two of them, Newson has averaged 23 minutes, 9.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, shooting 47% from the field and 30% from three. – Drew Nicholas Maryland alum Drew Nicholas is playing his second season with Panathinaikos, last year’s EuroLeague champions. Functioning as a shooting specialist, Nicholas is averaging 10.0 points in 19 minutes per game in the Greek league, alongside 10.9 ppg in 27.0 mpg in the EuroLeague. He is shooting 42% […]
Part One Part Two 03.30: Discussion is taking place about why DeJuan Blair continues to fall, and about how not having any ACLs is no doubt the cause behind his falling draft stock. I’ve got news for you, analyst’s panel – intercourse his knees. He didn’t have any ACLs last year, and he rebounded better than all but one other player in the draft. This isn’t an ability he’s going to lose any time soon. He might not have a very long career projection on those pins, but it’s not like DeMarre Carroll and Taj Gibson are going to have ten-year careers, is it? Just draft Blair and end the charade. 03.30: Also, before you go on about how he’s merely a rebounding specialist, may I remind you that we just witnessed a shot-blocking specialist get picked second overall. Teams need specialists. Teams don’t need Taj Gibson. (I’m still a bit mad about this, as you might be able to tell.) 03.31: Adam Silver comes to the stage to a far bigger cheer than anyone before him. It’s a beautiful thing. Incidentally, why does the number #31 pick get five minutes to decide and not the two minutes that second-round picks should get? 03.32: At #31, Portland picks a power forward, and it’s not DeJuan Blair. Despite needing a physical power forward after a season of LaMarcus Aldridge, Channing Frye and Travis Outlaw, and despite their rebounding being almost solely reliant on the genius of Joel Przybilla (so says I), they pass on Blair for another finesse power forward in Jeff Pendergraph, who gives them nothing that they don’t already have. In fairness, Portland were the best rebounding team in the league last year, so it’s not like they need a prolific rebounder. But they could still use a physical […]
