NBA Draft Winners and Losers

So, after the 2012 NBA Draft last night, who were the big winners and losers?  Let's take a look:

Winners

- The New Orleans Hornets:  They are big winners because of Anthony "The Unibrow" Davis.  I didn't like the pick of Austin Rivers, and you can read my last post to see why.  But Davis instantly makes them a playoff contender.

- The Washington Wizards:  It was no secret here in DC that the Wiz coveted Bradley Beal.  Thanks to Michael Jordan not trading down, the Wiz got their man.  A starting 5 of  John Wall, Beal, Trevor Arize, Nene and Emeka Okafor is not too shabby at all.  Won't win a title, but can compete for the playoffs if they all stay healthy.

- The Boston Celtics:  They got two talented big men with the 21st and 22nd picks.  While Jared Sullinger may have a health risk, and Fab Melo may have an idiocy risk, they have the potential to be a dominant 4/5 combination.  In 3 years, they could give the Celtics the best draft.  Add in a versatille swing man like Kris Joseph, and they just got younger and a bit better.  You can never have too many Cuse players, damn it!

- Readers of Bill Simmons:  You are going to have a ton of fun reading what he has to say about Fab Melo if the 7-foot moron acts like the idiot he was at Cuse.  Just read his Draft Diary from last night.  It's genius. 

- The Cleveland Cavaliers:  Yes, I am biased.  Unlike Mr. Simmons, and most Cleveland fans, it seems, I love Dion Waiters.  I think he will be a perfect combo with Kyrie Irving.  That will be the best backcourt in basketball within 3 years.  And enough with this "He couldn't start on Syracuse" stuff.  He could start.  He was the best player on the team.  The reason why he didn't was because of the way Jim Boeheim played his rotation.  It is just like why Manu Ginobili was the 6th man on the Spurs for a few years, despite being their most explosive offensive threat.  Dion will be just fine.  Add in Tyler Zeller, a center with good fundamentals who is NBA-ready, and Dan Gilbert's team could be competitive sooner rather than later.

- Thomas Robinson:  He got drafted in the Top 5.  He will get paid.  He gets to support his little sister and his father.  A happy ending to a sad story.

- The Oklahoma City Thunder:  If Perry Jones III stays healthy, they just got a better offensive version of Serge Ibaka.  That is fantastic, especially since Ibaka is in the last year of his contract.

- David Stern:  I don't think I have ever seen someone love getting booed that much.  He is a perfect wrestling heel.  WWE should get him instead of John Laurinaitis.  He has more personality, that's for sure.  Stern is like the Vince McMahon of the NBA.  He is in charge, he loves being the villain, and doesn't care what you think of him as long as the product flourishes.


Losers

- The Houston Rockets:  Didn't they acquire all of those picks in order to try to trade for Dwight Howard or Pau Gasol?  But.. they didn't trade for either...  So now they just added three more rookies to an already young team.  What happened to win now?

- Meyers Leonard:  The center out of Illinois went to the Trailblazers.  I believe my twitter message after that was " Uh oh.  Portland draaaafted a ceeeennnterrrr".  With such a bad history of injury with their draftees at that position, you have to wonder if it already got in Leonard's head.  Here's hoping the curse doesn't apply to him.

- Fans of New York teams:  How painful was it to hold the draft in Newark after the Nets moved to Brooklyn?  To top it off, the Nets and the Knicks proceeded to make stupid picks.  What good does drafting a foreigner do when your team actually needs help now?

- The Miami Heat:  Look, I know the NBA Champions don't really care right now about the draft.  But it would have been nice to see them add some kind of piece to their puzzle to help them repeat.  They did nothing, so the draft is a loss for them.

- Fans expecting a ton of trades:  There were, what, three trades?  None of which had any big names involved?  How boring.  Remember how fun it was when stars got traded on draft day?  When the Celtics got Ray Allen and KG in the span of 15 minutes?  What happened to those days?

- People playing along with the Jay Bilas drinking game:  Bilas acknowledged the game by saying "wingspan" three times in a row, but I didn't notice him saying it once after that.  He's no fun.


Well, I hope that you enjoyed the Draft as much as I did.  If you love your team's picks, be happy!  If you are bummed, give it time.  You never know, I suppose.  Free agency starts on Sunday.  The NBA never stops.