Ostensibly Hoops

[hedge]

Kentucky-UNC rivalry extends to NBA lottery bragging rights

Kentucky won bragging rights after beating North Carolina in hoops last season. The Wildcats also claimed the national championship. In search for some late redemption before turning pro, former Tar Heels forward John Henson wishes he and his old teammates could get one last crack at the Wildcats before Thursday's NBA draft.

"They won the championship, so rightfully they get all the attention," Henson said. "Something we wanted to do was win a championship, but it didn't roll that way. But their guys in the draft, our guys in the draft, we should drop everything and play 5-on-5, 4-on-4. It would be a good game."

One way North Carolina could get the better of Kentucky is by having a better showing on draft night. The Heels, though, are already an underdog. The Wildcats should have the No. 1 pick overall for the second time in three years as forward-center Anthony Davis is expected to go to the New Orleans Hornets. Kentucky has another prospect expected to go in the top five in small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The Wildcats have four other draft prospects in Terrence Jones, Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--kentu ... X73..8vLYF

[eCat]

Kentucky-UNC rivalry extends to NBA lottery bragging rights

Kentucky won bragging rights after beating North Carolina in hoops last season. The Wildcats also claimed the national championship. In search for some late redemption before turning pro, former Tar Heels forward John Henson wishes he and his old teammates could get one last crack at the Wildcats before Thursday's NBA draft.

"They won the championship, so rightfully they get all the attention," Henson said. "Something we wanted to do was win a championship, but it didn't roll that way. But their guys in the draft, our guys in the draft, we should drop everything and play 5-on-5, 4-on-4. It would be a good game."

One way North Carolina could get the better of Kentucky is by having a better showing on draft night. The Heels, though, are already an underdog. The Wildcats should have the No. 1 pick overall for the second time in three years as forward-center Anthony Davis is expected to go to the New Orleans Hornets. Kentucky has another prospect expected to go in the top five in small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The Wildcats have four other draft prospects in Terrence Jones, Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--kentu ... X73..8vLYF

Jones has the same problem that Sullinger and Barnes has and that is he really only shows up for big games or if his coach gets in his ass about playing hard. Jones had a bigger stage most of the year than the other two so that worked for him and against him. He had a tendency to want to shoot a 3 instead of get inside and UK was so good he could get away with it. But the kid is a solid pro player, just he could be much more if he dedicated himself like some other guys.

[Saint]

I don't know how any of them will do except Davis, he seems like he'll be a star. But just like the others in the draft, I'll never see them again because I haven't watched more than 10 min. of an NBA game in probably 10 years. lost track of who's won it since Jordan retired the first time. I heard the James kid and his new team won it this time around. he must be a good player but I don't remember him in college. maybe I'm just getting old and my memory's going.

[Gator by God's Grace]

I watched the second half of game 4 and game 5 of the nba finals- i was totally surprised , it was quality basketball.

[Bklyn]

It was a very competitive Finals this year. Basketball played at an extremely high level.

Davis was better than Tim Duncan as a freshman. Keep that in mind when you throw out Sheed comparisons.

[hedge]

I watched some of the NBA playoffs this year and was very impressed with the level of play. A couple of those OKC/Spurs games were barn burners. The second half of one in particular was about as good a half of basketball in terms of back and forth great plays and lead changes as I've seen...

[crashcourse]

davis could develop into a bill russell type of presence

I watched all 5 games--4th qtrs mostly

it was surprising to see some good hard nose defense and 3-4-5 passes per possessions to the open guy. james was very impressive the wholse series. wade made a lot of plays you didn't see on the stats. westbrook played 47 minutes of the best bball you;ll see in game 4 and ended it with the worst minute

thomas robinson will be a 20/10 guy for many years

[hedge]

Henson and Barnes direct some good sass at Dook at the end of this interview (4:30 mark)...

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/draft ... ef:nbahpt2

[Saint]

Davis will be great. He's a PG in a big man's body and will be even more effective in the NBA. Not sure about MKG. I'm surprised the UNC players have gone so high, except, of course, Zeller, who's still on the board at 9 p.m.

[hedge]

Jordan wasn't going to go for another Kwame Brown big man. He looked at the pool and picked the player that looked the most like himself. Not saying Gilcrist is going to play like that, but he's a Jordanesque type of player....

[eCat]

Houston got Royce White and Terrence Jones. Thats a pretty good haul.

Zeller looks to be a Cavalier.

[Saint]

Plumlee to the Pacers where Hansbrough can abuse him in practice

[sardis]

ESPN needs to get rid of that sideline reporter who was interviewing family members last night. First of all, she's not that great looking and she was asking the dumbest questions. Her interview with the 9 yr. old sister of Robinson was a car wreck.

[hedge]

In fairness, many of the interviewees were monosyllabic at best...

[aTm]

So the Rockets got that nutcase from Iowa State? Sweet.

[Bklyn]

They can just charter a bus to take him to games like they used to do for Dolly Parton on tour.

[hedge]

"So the Rockets got that nutcase from Iowa State? Sweet."

Here is nbadraft.net's analysis of Houston's draft (and a link for their draft grades for every team)...

The Rockets came away from the draft with an excellent haul of talent. Jeremy Lamb is a talented shooter whose long arms and athleticism should make him a pest on the defensive end. Royce White is the most unique talent in the draft, and his combination of power forward size and point guard-like ballhandling and passing skills. Terrence Jones has prototypical power forward size to go with small forward athleticism. In a vacuum, it is an A draft. That said, nothing fits with Houston right now, and further moves need to be made to be a team as opposed to a collection of good players. Right now, Houston has Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Royce White, Terrence Jones, Jon Leuer, Jon Brockman, Donatas Motiejunas, and Diamon Simpson on their roster. A team simply cannot have that many power forwards. Even if they wanted to consider White and Morris to be small forwards, they would still have seven power forwards on their roster. The Rockets are accumulating assets and trades will need to be made, but that's GM Daryl Morey's obsession.

http://nbadraft.net/2012-nba-draft-grades

[crotch]

Good reading for Hedge.......Calipari calls Kentucky Basketball program a "Dream Maker".

http://www.lex18.com/news/coach-cal-cal ... eam-maker/

[Saint]

given that all of UK's freshman class would have been lottery picks if they'd gone straight to the NBA, I can't see how UK is a dream maker, other than giving them a chance to win an NCAA title.

[aTm]

It doesnt matter if its true. The only thing that matters is if the idiots in the media and starry eyed 17 year olds buy it.