Whitey’s world: NBA Draft

Earlier this week, I was talking to my grandmother on the phone when I said something to the effect of, “I can’t wait until my favorite day of the year on Thursday.”
Before I could say another word, Granny Gloria said, “The NBA Draft.”
Granny Gloria, who has lived in New York City all of her life, is quite familiar with my excitement, er, obsession, with the draft. As a lifelong Knicks fan, she has basically watched me experience the full gamut of human emotions every year since I was about 14 when I first attended the proceedings at Madison Square Garden with a group of friends. The Knicks took current ABC broadcaster Mark Jackson that year.
The draft rollercoaster goes something like this.
First, there is the hope that the franchise, which hasn’t won a championship since 1973 (the year I was born), will select a player who can help change our fortunes.
Next comes the doubt that is experienced shortly after the Knicks select the player who, usually, isn’t the guy everybody was hoping or expecting them to take.
Finally, a few months later, there is the disappointment after it becomes clear that the Knicks have botched things up yet again.
Tonight, I’ll be glued to the television as my team — which hasn’t had a draft pick make an All-Star team since Jackson in 1987 — hopefully makes the right choice.
If Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ general manager, wants to call me for some advice, I’d be glad to help. As a college basketball beat writer for a school that competes in the ACC, he could probably do a lot worse.
Donnie, if you’re reading The Daily Progress on-line, listen here: Do whatever you have to do to draft Davidson star Stephen Curry. Trade your No. 8 choice plus ANY player on your roster for him.
Curry has everything that we, er, you, need. He is a deadeye 3-point shooter who would fit perfectly into coach Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offense.
Last year, your team took more 3-pointers than anybody in the history of organized basketball. The problem was that the guys you had shooting them — Chris Duhon, Quentin Richardson and Larry Hughes, to name a few — were brutal.
Curry could change all that.
But the 6-foot-3, 181-pounder is more than just a shooter. He’s got high basketball IQ, not to mention great pedigree — his father, Dell Curry, was one of the best 3-point marksmen in NBA history.
In addition, Stephen is good buddies with LeBron James, who everybody knows you are going to be recruiting like crazy when he becomes a free agent next summer.
The cherry on top of getting Curry would be that he’s a great kid. Two years ago, I did an interview with him. What struck me most was that he seemed to have an inner confidence and competitiveness.
At every level of basketball, Curry has been told that he’s too small or unathletic. Even Virginia Tech, the place where his father starred, didn’t offer him a scholarship.
“They saw me as a little scrawny high school kid who wasn’t physically ready for the ACC,” Curry said.
As a freshman at Davidson, Curry averaged over 21 points. He was second in the nation in freshmen scoring behind only Texas’ Kevin Durant, who now plays for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder. “Coming in, I definitely had a little chip on my shoulder to try and prove to myself that I could play on any level — not so much to other teams, but to myself that I could do it,” Curry said.
Donnie, this is exactly the kind of player we need desperately. He is the anti-Eddy Curry (you know, the overweight center by the same last name as Stephen — but no relation — who you’ve been paying millions to do nothing for the last couple of years).
Donnie, while I’ll be devastated if Stephen Curry winds up with another team, I understand that you have to have a backup plan. To that end, let me say this: You can’t go wrong with an ACC player.
For some reason, teams are completely sleeping on a number of ACC talents. In most of the mock drafts that I’ve seen, players like Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague and North Carolina’s Ty Lawson aren’t being picked until the mid to late first round.
Out of all the players that I’ve watched in person, I think Teague is being most overlooked. Here is a guy who can, at times, be unguardable. At 6-foot-4, he has great size for a point guard. He is super quick. And, he can shoot the ball.
Last season, New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul — the former Demon Deacon who is already a perennial NBA all-star — said Teague was one of the best offensive players he had ever played against.
That’s not a bad endorsement.
The crazy thing about the NBA draft is that guys you’ve hardly ever seen play — such as Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio or former McDonald’s All-American Brandon Jennings — are somehow ranked ahead of college players who have competed in one of the toughest college basketball conference’s in the country.
And, you’ll have to explain to me how a guy like UCLA’s Jrue Holliday, who averaged only 8 points per game and who didn’t even play point guard for the Bruins, is suddenly considered one of the best playmakers in the draft and a sure-fire lottery pick.
Speaking of Holliday, Donnie, I’ll be extremely bummed if he ends up a Knick. Ditto for Memphis guard Tyreke Evans, who I think is extremely overrated.
If you’re dead-set on taking a guard and you can’t get your hands on Curry, go with Teague, Lawson or Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn, whom I saw rip Virginia up on two occasions.
Donnie, whatever you do, don’t pick another Kenny “Sky” Walker, another Frederic Weiss (instead of Ron Artest) or another Michael Sweetney — former draftees that can still make any Knicks fan gag.
Care to see a grown man cry? Just give me a draft featuring the likes of Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins (the Knicks 2006 selections).
Donnie, I beg of you: Please select someone who will make Granny Gloria and I proud.