Crossroads

So the NBA Draft Lottery just went down and the first overall pick went to the Portland Trailblazers. Not only that, but the second overall pick went to the Seattle Supersonics. This is the first time I (or anyone else for that matter) has ever thought this, but the sports Gods are shining on the Pacific Northwest tonight. When you look at this draft, the Western conference has three of the top four picks and the top two overall. This is the same conference where the five sees this playoffs might have been favored over the one seed in the East.



Since the end the Chicago Bulls dynasty, the West has won six of the eight championships (not including this season). When you look at this season, five out of the best six teams reside out West. As far as young talent goes, while the East has Lebron, Wade and Dwight Howard, the West has Carmelo, Amare Stoudamire and two of the best young point guards to come into the league in a long time in Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Now you go and put Greg Oden and Kevin Durant in the West. Tim Duncan and KG are still only in their prime, as are Kobe, T-Mac and Dirk. Unless something drastic happens, the NBA will be dominated by the West for the next 10 years.



The Blazers all of the sudden go from a team with some nice young pieces, to a future dynasty. Oden fits perfectly onto that roster. His presence will allow Aldridge to score and Roy/Jack to create. In addition, he will bring that young team together defensively. Now all they have to do is wait for Darius Miles contract to expire and figure out what to do with Zack Randolph. Right now though they are filled with young players both on the perimeter and down low. They caught an incredible break with this pick, and are set up to reap the benefits for years to come.



Durant in Seattle is a much weirder fit. To me, that roster has long been one of the weirder put together in the league. They don't really have a great point guard and are soft inside. Ray Allen is a perennial all-star, while Rashard Lewis seems to be stuck on that all-star cusp. Do I think Durant can come in and all of the sudden this can be on of the most exciting teams in the league? Without a doubt. Can they win? I am not so sure. Allen is no youngster, and the rest of the roster is a mish-mosh of talent. Durant will definitely have a chance to succeed in Seattle, but it is not set up nearly as nicely as it is for Oden in Portland.



The biggest losers from tonight? Boston, Memphis and Phoenix for sure. Memphis dropped from one to four, Boston dropped from two to five and Phoenix went from possibly having a top 10 pick, to no pick at all since Atlanta rose into the top three. The biggest winners are obviously the top three. Seattle and Portland will get Durant and Oden, while Atlanta keeps their own pick, while also gaining Indianas' pick at #11. It will be very interesting to see what Atlanta does, whether they take Conley Jr at three, wait to take Acie Law IV at 11 or figure out some sort of a trade scenario.



Like most of my NBA thoughts, I will bring this all back to the New York Knicks. With the West looking like it will continue its dominance, my Knicks will have a better chance of getting into the playoffs next year (Heat a year older, Indiana deeper into rebuilding, Boston losing out on top 2 pick, questions in Jersey, etc.). With that I will get to hear more about how Isiah is on the right track with the Knicks to get them back to "championship level". Shoot me now. See Celtic fans, at least you won't wake up tomorrow and still have Isiah as your coach/GM. You will have Ainge though as your GM tho, so you can kill yourselves as well.



One last thought....Can someone tell me why the Bulls were at the lottery instead of the Knicks? I know the Knicks traded them their pick, but it was the Knicks pick. How much better would it have been to have Isiah Thomas sitting there while he waited to see how the ping-pong balls fell? If somehow the Knicks (Bulls) moved up in the draft we could have seen Isiahs' snakeinthegrass smirk increase as it got closer to number one. It probably would not have mattered because MSG would have put some ridiculous spin on that it was a positive, etc, etc, bullshit, etc.



Anyway, the lottery was more fun than usual because of the tremendous talent on top and the potential heartbreak of teams like the Celtics, which turned out to be reality. Now I can look forward to a another fluff filled offseason for my Knicks. Whoopie.



STKAFI