As someone who has never watched the NBA draft (or any draft for that matter) in her life until last Thursday, I thought I would weigh my two cents worth of thoughts in the blogosphere.
I am going to break this down into four categories. Hopefully it will make some kind of sense. Remember I am below amateur status and although I love basketball and am a huge Hawks fan, I really don’t know much about the behind the scenes stuff so instead I will just talk about the actual draft in terms of the coverage. I can’t give you insight on who was picked for which team because I don’t know who 99% of them are. So this is what you get from me – the rookie draft watcher.
Now that all the babbling is out of the way here are the four categories: players, announcers, interviews and overall thoughts.
Players
First of all these players are children! 19 years old! Freshmen in college! Okay, okay, I understand that they (well most of them) have raw talent, but I have to wonder if their maturity is really ready for professional sports and the lifestyle that entails. I think I was incredibly shocked at how young a lot of them were. I realize that happens but for some reason it felt like the majority of them were not even able to buy alcohol (legally) and yet here they are becoming professional basketball players, with no college degree, and a lot of money. I did enjoy hearing some of their stories and learning about their playing capabilities.
Announcers
Overall I enjoyed the commentary from the announcers. I think my one gripe was the amount of time spent on some of the players and the repetitiveness of it. I understand that some of the players have more ‘star quality’ than others but I think there should be a limit. For instance, I think that once the next team has chosen their pick, the commentary about the previous pick should end. And they certainly shouldn’t go back to an earlier pick. If a player is chosen in the first round I feel that he deserves the same amount of coverage as the next guy. And let’s face it, there were only a handful of teams that picked with more than a minute left. It may just be my ridiculous fair trait speaking (all things must be equal and all) but that was something that bothered me a little.
Interviews
If you thought I was critical in the previous two categories, hold on to your seats because this is where it gets bad. First up: the player interviews. I totally get that the public want to hear from the newest players on their favorite teams but do the players themselves not prepare for this?! Several of the first picks were either unintelligible, completely ghetto or just plain pathetic. I can understand the emotions of the evening – especially for the first few picks – but come on! Maybe this is the age thing factoring in… I don’t know. But if you know you are going to the draft and either definitely, probably, or possibly will get picked, why can’t you be prepared to talk for 30 seconds about what just happened? What was interesting to me was how the further along in the picks, the better the responses. Strange. Next: family interviews. I’m sorry, but why? Why do we need to talk to mothers and fathers and siblings about the picks? Okay, okay, I know this is a proud moment for them. But what does that have to do with us? I would rather hear more from or about the player himself. His mom telling us that she ‘always knew’ or she’s ‘so proud’ or ‘I hope he buys me new clothes’ does not influence the way I feel about the player himself nor does it tell me how good of a player he is. I think the first couple of picks are acceptable but beyond that, thanks, but no thanks.
Overall thoughts
I realize that most of what I have said has been negative but overall I really did enjoy watching the draft. I thought the timing of it was very good. Although it took some 4.5 hours to complete, it was very efficient and kept moving nicely. Maybe all drafts are like that (I am a rookie remember). I liked most of the coverage of the players. It was interesting to hear a little of their stories as well as learning about the playing stats etc. One thing that was a little confusing to me until I read an article online (see link below) was the persistent booing of David Stern. If you didn’t get it, read the article, it may help. My plan for next year is to do way more research before the draft. (‘Way more’ is an oxymoron in this sentence because I really didn’t do any research this year other than Sullinger because he was thought to be a strong possibility for the Hawks at #23 but instead he went to the Celtics – my second favorite team – at #21). I want to know about the players, the teams, the politics, the money, everything! Look out NBA Draft 2013…my mock draft may end up being the most accurate of all! (Insert loud BAHAHAHAHAHA here)
euphonious jabber 