We can officially say goodbye to Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers and "Shady" Arthur, all drafted last night along with seniors Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun.
It was not necessarily a great night for the KU guys overall, with Brandon as the only lottery pick (going to Indiana); Shady falling all the way to 27 before getting traded 3 times (!), finally landing at Memphis (I think); and Mario falling all the way out of Round 1 (picked even below J.R. Giddens!) and ending up with the Miami Heat, where he may join DJ.
Looks as if Shady and Mario could have benefited from staying in college another year, no?
Any thoughts on the careers these guys may have? I think they can all contribute, even Sasha and DJ. The other three could be starters, maybe minor stars on the level of Hinrich -- but no superstars in the bunch, I think.
Still, Mario and DJ have a great opportunity to excel as role players in Miami alongside Beasley and D-Wade. Watch out for that team next season...
By the way, what happens to Kirk now that the Bulls picked Rose at #1? Stay tuned.
And Scott, if you're still out there, what did you think about CDR falling so far? I was shocked by that one.
ReplyDeleteMario responds to dgl:
ReplyDelete"I’m just happy to be in this situation. If I had it to do all over again, I’d do the same thing. I’m just going in with a great mind-set, and I’ll be ready to play.”
Well, okay.
It's almost like the thing that made them such a great team (that's *team*, just to be clear) hurt them in the draft. Individually, we're just a little more "meh" than we (I?) thought.
Of course, I wouldn't trade last season for ten #2 picks.
Worth mentioning that KU tied (Florida and UCONN) for the most players drafted in one year. So there it is again--success for the team.
(And although a trade seems reasonable, I think Chicago would be wise to stick with Hinrich and Rose.)
I can't blame Mario for leaving, esp. since some people had been projecting him to go a lot higher.
ReplyDeleteI just think the NBA puts too much emphasis on height -- that seems to be the only reason you'd pick J.R. over Mario.
At 6'1", Mario is considered to be at the optimum height for a point guard, but since he ended up ceding the PG position to Russell and Sherron at KU, he's considered an undersized shooting guard instead.
But any scout who actually watched him play, on both ends of the court, against a bunch of the guys drafted ahead of him -- Rose, Mayo, Augustin, Bayless -- ought to have figured out that his measurements don't really mean a thing. He's just a great all-around player -- great basketball IQ, with basically no weaknesses.
It seems almost a guarantee that he'll be a better player in the league than J.R.
Speaking again of dear departed Mario, Pat Forde of ESPN ranks "the shot" as the 4th biggest in tournament history, just behind Tyus Edney in '96 (against Mizzou! Hah!) and Keith Smart in '87 but just above Michael Jordan in '82. (Not sure why Jordan would go below Smart, but I'll take it).
ReplyDelete#1 is Christian Laettner, of course... But isn't it great that now we'll have a KU moment that gets replayed endlessly on the CBS promos?
(Yes, I'll answer my own question... It's great.)
Great indeed. NIce find, dgl.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the NBA, any thoughts on Brandon Jennings? Jacob Leibenluft of Slate walks through an interesting thought experiment regarding the possible effects of his decision (or rather of his decision setting a precedent).
I'm inclined to agree that the NCAA won't be hurt too badly (and may benefit insofar as players will be likelier to stick around, and less likely to be scandal-plagued), though it sure was fun having guys like Durant and Beasley in the Big 12.