Reaction and Recap: First Round
The one consistent thing about the 2012 NBA draft were the boos echoing throughout the crowd toward David Stern. The 2012 NBA draft was initially full of surprises, especially with Dion Waiters being drafted 4th to Cleveland and MKG being drafted 2nd to the Bobcats. Kentucky took the draft spots 1 and 2, with Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, ushering in the first the time players from the same team were drafted first and second. The UK fans on twitter including myself went nuts.
Thomas Robinson’s story is extremely admirable as he held off tears being drafted at 5th. Damien Lillard went 6th being the first point guard to be drafted. Harrison Barnes went 7th to Golden St. I am personally curious to see if his NBA career will be better than his NCAA career, and to see if he pans out to be better than Anthony Davis and MKG.
Terrence Ross went 8th, passing up Austin Rivers and Andre Drummond. Andre Drummond went 9th taken by the Detroit Pistons. The waiting paid off for Austin Rivers as he was drafted 10th. The best thing for his basketball career happened…..he was able to team up with Anthony Davis in New Orleans. Doc Rivers was extremely excited about joining that elite class of father son draftees, with Doc being drafted 29 years ago.
Jeremy Lamb went 12th to the Houston Rockets. Kendall Marshall went 13th, possibly replacing Steve Nash who is currently looking to get out of Pheonix if they do not bring player into the organization to make them better. John Henson went 14th to the Bucks.
At this point the score for those keeping count UK: 2, UNC: 3, UofL: 0, and Duke: 1
Maurice Harkless went 15th to the Doug Collins led Philadelphia 76ers. Royce White ended up being drafted 16th. So far the Rockets have picked up Jeremy Lamb, which is a questionable pick (I will explain later) and Royce White who said the most confident thing I have heard a player say in a while, “I am the f*cking best”
Tyler Zeller went 17th which, tops off the UNC draft class, of four players selected within the first 17 picks. Terrance Jones followed going to the Houston Rockets at 18th. Houston has had somewhat of a sketchy draft. Jeremy Lamb and Terrance Jones have had the tendency of checking out of games, and Royce White has had off the court issues as well as anxiety issues. Those are not the end all be alls in determining a player’s future production but to draft the same type of players with all three of your first round picks has me scratching my head.
In the first trade of the night, Tyler Zeoller went to Cleveland for the 24th, 33rd, and 34th pick which seems like a lot for an unproven rookie.
Andrew Nicholson went 19th. Boston picked Jared Sullinger at 22nd, which in my opinion is an excellent pick…”Low risk, High Reward”. Boston followed that pick with a very questionable pick in Fab Melo. John Jenkins went 23rd overall to the Atlanta Hawks.
Duke had a late first round pick; at 27th Miles Plumlee went to the Indiana Pacers. Perry Jones dropped all the way to 28th to OKC, due to speculation of knee problems and his lack of assertiveness on the court. Marquis Teague went 29th to Chicago to possibly act as a backup to Derrick Rose. Festus Ezili finished off a fairly bland first round class.
The NBA draft did not live up to the ultra fashionable classes of past initially, but as the begin rounds went by, players really began to show there personal style with modern italian fit suits, mixed with a ton of plaid.
Biggest Winner: New Orleans Hornets
1st Round Scorecard: UNC: 4, UK: 3, UofL: 0, Duke: 2, Vanderbilt: 2
Overall the NBA draft is what it is every year, exciting through the first 10-15 picks and then dramatically drops off. I suggest just airing the lottery picks, with more video packages. 2 hours is extremely too long for the first round to be televised. After the lottery picks, most begin to tune into other programs or just stop paying attention. Just my two cents from a moderately entertaining 2012 NBA draft.
Sceenshots taken by Reece from ESPN
