A Draft Do-over

I was watching NBA Fastbreak last night, and the show called for Jamal Mashburn to put on his GM hat and re-draft the top 10 picks in 2009. The idea stemmed from the strong play of late first-round and second-round picks such as Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton down in New Orleans and big DeJuan Blair in San Antonio.

It’s obviously waaaaaaay too early to know how most of the players taken this year will pan out, but it’s always fun to revisit the way things should have gone. The only major issues I had with Mashburn’s draft re-do was he completely neglected Ricky Rubio’s talents simply because he’s not in the league this year, etching him from the top 10, and I thought he overvalued the contributions made by Thornton and Blair and placed them into the top 10, while leaving Thabeet where he was selected. Very contradictory stuff there, seeing as how Thabeet is barely in the league either.

With that said, it’s all kinds of ways to do a do-over. You could re-slot based on how players are playing now, re-draft on what you think players’ long-term potential is now after seeing them 60 to 65 games and having the benefit of hindsight, or you could just pencil in which players would be the best fit based on what we know now. I’m doing a little of all the above. I think.

Actual 2009 top 10
1. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
2. Hasheem Thabeet, Memphis Grizzlies
3. James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder
4. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings
5. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
6. Jonny Flynn, Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
8. Jordan Hill, New York Knicks
9. DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors
10. Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee Bucks.

Jamal Mashburn’s 2009 top 10
1. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
2. Hasheem Thabeet, Memphis Grizzlies (Mash argued the Griz already have Mike Conley.)
3. James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder (Mash said you can’t argue with what OKC has done)
4. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings
5. Stephen Curry, Minnesota Timberwolves
6. Jonny Flynn, Minnesota Timberwolves
7. DeJuan Blair, Golden State Warriors (I forgot Mash’s logic here, but seventh, really?)
8. Brandon Jennings, New York Knicks
9. DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors
10. Marcus Thornton, Milwaukee Bucks (Again, I don’t remember his logic, but 10 is awfully high IMO)

DM’s 2009 top 10
1. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
I don’t care if Big Blake misses all of next season. No one can argue this selection.