NBA Draft: Winners and Losers

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The NBA Draft was full of predictability at the top, and chaos the rest of the way down. Here's my winners and losers:

WINNERS

Blake Griffin
His knees are intact. And whether or not the Clips' medical staff screws up another pair, the big man out of Oklahoma gets his pay day. Game, set...match.

Cleveland Cavaliers
Their draft picks, to be blunt, were duds. But by making a trade for Shaquille O'Neal, they are sending a clear message to the rest of the league. No longer will they be let down by Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas -- they're going to be one of the league's most physical teams. Even at 38 years old, Shaq can still put in some solid minutes.

Golden State Warriors
You have to envy Don Nelson's situation right now. On June 25, the Warriors traded Jamal Crawford to the Atlanta Hawks for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton; they followed up by drafting run-and-gun Stephen Curry -- a guy whom the run-and-gun Knicks had been salivating over for weeks. Now, Nellie's starting five looks like this: Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Randolph and Andris Biedrins. That's a big lineup that perfectly fits his style.

Off the bench, you have one of the class's best pure scorers (Curry), two reliable backup point guards (Claxton and Law), long-range shooting (Marco Belinelli) and reliable frontcourt bodies (Ronny Turiaf, Jermareo Davidson). Rumors have circulated about Curry going to the Suns in a deal for Amare Stoudemire, but I say to heck with it.

San Antonio Spurs
Once again, the Spurs thrived by picking up some of the draft's most underrated prospects. Last year, it was Roger Mason. This year, its Pitt's DeJuan Blair, who fell all the way to the second round after being rated as a lottery pick in some circles. His Big Baby-like game will give them a boost. Jack McClinton was one of the NCAA's deadlist shooters, and Nano De Colo will be the umpteenth "development" player to contribute nicely.

Lester Hudson
For the unheralded UT-Martin combo guard to get to this point is a story in itself. Coming from one of the nastiest neighborhoods in Memphis, he had the SEC and Memphis looking into him, but was unable to qualify academically -- check that, he didn't even graduate high school. Instead, he earned his GED in his first semester of junior college, but after two years he couldn't find anybody but UTM to take a chance on his 2.5 GPA. But the man is a scoring savant, registering over 1600 points in just two seasons and leading the nation in scoring average (27.5).

Now, he takes this feel-good comeback story to Boston, where the Celtics might have uncovered a hidden gem. How he fell to them at 58 is a quandary, and now he has the chance to disprove those doubters.

Memphis Grizzlies
For once, the Grizz played it smart. GM Chris Wallace decided to stay put, not trade the No. 2 pick, not play ball with Ricky Rubio's posse, and draft the most gifted shot-blocker since Dikembe Mutombo. Now their starting five looks like this: Mike Conley Jr., OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, Hasheem Thabeet. This is like the 06-07 Celtics without veteran leadership, but without a missing piece. Missouri gunner DeMarre Carroll was a nice late-round pickup, too.

Portland Trail Blazers
Jon Brockman has toughness issues, but the Blazers get a nod here for picking up the steal of the draft, St. Mary's point guard Patrick Mills. How the HELL did this guy fall to 55? They also freshened their Spanish pipeline -- and cemented their rep as the Spurs of the Pacific Northwest -- with their pick of Spanish shooter Victor Claver. The 6-foot-9 Spaniard is expected to stay overseas, but could make an impact in a year or two on an already deep bench.

LOSERS

Minnesota Timberwolves
The Ricky Rubio gamble is already backfiring; the Spanish point guard prodigy was a no-show at the team's introductory press conference, and it appears that Rubio might stay in Spain a few more years. So now they are stuck with Wayne Ellington, a Dutch guy who isn't ready for the NBA, and Jonny Flynn. If they manage to pull Rubio into Minneapolis, expect Flynn -- who I think would have challenged for the No. 1 spot if he wasn't 5-11 -- to be traded. And that would be a shame.

New York Knicks
The Knicks wanted Stephen Curry so bad they could taste it. So when the Warriors swooped in and stole their thunder, they responded by picking up...Jordan Hill? The 6-foot-10 underachiever from Arizona whom everyone labeled as "raw"?

Detroit Pistons
This is a turning point in the Pistons' propped-up "Dumars is a genius" bravado. First, it was Darko Milicic. Then, it was the Iverson trade and hiring Dumars' buddy Michael Curry to run the team into the ground. Now, we have this: three prospects with questions about their toughness on a franchise notorious for a bruising style of play. Austin Daye is nice, but at 195 pounds he needs to put on serious muscle if he wants to bang with the big boys. DaJuan Summers is not quick enough to defend on the perimeter, and Jonas Jerebko needs to develop his perimeter game to be effective.

Sacramento Kings
The one franchise that could play ball with Ricky Rubio's buyout clause decided to play it safe, for reasons I don't understand. They're going to get a nice player in Tyreke Evans, who will go on to enjoy a nice career in the NBA. But I'm of the camp that if you're a perennial loser, you've got to roll the dice because you have nothing to lose. If you lose, you still suck. If you win, and Rubio turns out down the line to be the European Maravich, then you're labeled a "genius".

Charlotte Bobcats
Really? You have the 12th pick, and you waste it on Gerald Henderson? Derrick Brown has an unconventional release that might actually work in a league where Kevin Martin is the face of a dwindling franchise, and Robert Vaden is the Bobcats' next "project" player (man, do I hate that term), but there were so many better players available at No. 12.