Julian goes 13th, to the New Orleans Hornets. Still don't really understand why he flip-flopped and decided to leave; with a dominant junior season (which wouldn't have been hard to envision) he could have gone top five in '08.The upside for him, aside from instant financial gratification, is that he gets to go to a team that doesn't suck, but isn't so loaded that he'd be relegated to the bench, either. Playing alongside Chris Paul and former OSU dunk specialist Desmond Mason isn't such a bad thing.
Congrats, "Noodle!" I miss you already.
On a less cheerful note (apologies--and for the recent silence, by the bye), the Bulls selected Noah. . . .
ReplyDeleteThat presents me with a serious challenge, but maybe Scott Skiles' disciplinary stylings will turn the kid around.
Nice to see Nick & the Sonics get Durant, though it's too bad they traded Allen to do it.
Well, they'd have gotten Durant either way. The talk of moving to OKC is still alive, I notice...
ReplyDeleteAs for the Bulls... at least they didn't trade for Kobe. Or is Noah worse? Tough call.
Hopefully he just gets buried on the bench behind Ben Wallace, P.J. Brown, etc., but I don't know; he's not exactly a scoring machine, but may be a better scorer than any of their other post players.
Too bad they passed on Julian...
I forgive you for your absence, YHD. Less forgivable is the fact that no one besides the two of us has posted since April. (It's not like there hasn't been any news).
Okay, this may seem mean, but I was happy to see this headline in the Chicago Tribune the other day:
ReplyDeleteYou must be Joakim: Shoot! Bulls pick guy who can't.
Back to Deron's point, though: where the heck is everyone? We're signing high schoolers, hearing about Julian's NBA dreams, and only one person in our "nation" wants to talk with me about it?
I want to talk to you Yancy. I guess I am still struck silent by the Oden pick- God what a good stroke of luck getting him. Although- I might have taken Durant. It will be fun to watch the renewed Seattle-Portland rivalry (assuming the Sonics stay).
ReplyDeleteArticle on espn.com today about Self v. Gillespie recruiting. Am I wrong, or is next years class not all that? THe Jayhawks certainly have some needs. I guess a lot will depend on how Rush rehabs- it sucks that we may not have a healthy Rush and lost the scholarship spot.
I think success next year will depend more on whether our big men can score than whether Rush is back to 100% or we pick up a star HS kid. Am I wrong?
Plus Arthur's got a stress fracture in his leg. . . . But that should be a quick recovery.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, I haven't heard anything that suggests that Rush won't be ready for the season--less conditioning, I suppose, but so far it sounds like his recovery is on track.
I don't know, though, about the freshman--rivals.com has Reed at 16th for his position, and Aldrich is #6; that seems pretty good to me, especially considering that we got two all-Americans last year, and they're both sticking around. . . .
In any case, it's nice to hear from you, Oregon Jayhawk. And I agree that the Seattle-Portland games should be fun; glad I'll be nearby to see some the action.
Oh, and I see they've finalized the schedule. Not the best ever, but I trust Deron still thinks it better than last years.
Schedule looks good to me. It won't be the highest SOS in the country, but high enough. We're going to get seriously road-tested.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis, OR. Sasha, DJ and especially DA need to step up and account for the points and rebounds that Julian would have had. Sherron can hopefully compensate for whatever Rush may be lacking if he is lacking.
I think recruiting-wise we're OK at the moment. There's only so many blue-chippers you can squeeze onto one team. The next year will be more important.
"You must be Joakim?"
'Noah' f-ing way is that an acceptable pun.