NBA DRAFT - What was that??!!??

The Italian Stallion has officially arrived!! (He needs a better fitting hat though)Besides the first pick in the draft, no one saw this coming!!! Not in the way it went down for sure... As on draft night there were 15 transactions made. (Portland had a hand in about half of them) People knew this was a weak draft but it was the most active draft in recent memory. Players were given caps of teams they were never going to play for and it happened early and often. There were so many smoke screens thrown up before this draft that I think a lot of the trades didn't need to happen to get the player you wanted. But tonight was all about Portland and how many teams they can tango with...

To give an idea as to what went down at Madison Square Garden tonight I will just say this...

Portland ended up with 4 FIRST round draft picks in Lamarcus Aldrdige, Brandon Roy, Joel Freeland, Sergio Rodriguez. They also got 3 future 2nd round picks, along with Dan Dickau and Raef LaFrentz... (might take a minute to wrap your head around that one as they did all this without a GM in place!)

Not a guy who I would normally quote but it must be said... On his blog Chuck Swirsky said this "Portland buys a first round pick in Sergio Rodriguez....how young are these guys? On their charter flight they're going to serve Happy Meals."

- Toronto was probably a lot more conservative in this draft than many might have thought (or hoped for).
- Philadelphia drafted not 1 but 2 clones of Andre Iguodala (Rodney Carney and Bobby Jones).
- Rudy Gay went slipping and sliding and word is he is going to Memphis but for now he is a member of the Houston Rockets at #8. (His reactions as he watched himself spiral down the board made for good TV though)
- Boston had a very strong Draft as did Chicago in a way even though I still don't agree on the Tyrus pick.
- Isah Thomas is trying to ensure that the Knicks are out of the NBA before his 1 year is up. He reached so far with a guy in the first round who probably could have been had as a free agent!!! I can't even imagine how the guys over at Sell the Knicks are feeling.
- Big up to Denham Brown for getting drafted by the Sonics ... He had a good camp in Orlando and deserved to be drafted.
- What on earth was Golden State thinking picking a player they drafted 4 times over in the last few drafts. Not knocking Saer Sene but do they not have Petro and Diagu and all them bigs... *sigh*

I think there is too much to say and I want to save it because the blog coming tomorrow is going to be action packed as I get a few people (with pretty strong opinions) to help me break down the draft and our reactions.

Blogging the NBA Draft must reads:
Breaking down the ESPN crew's comments during the draft - Awful Announcing
Scott over at Raptorblog did his own live blogging with some gems - Raptorblog
Most comprehensive site for anything to do with the '06 NBA Draft with a live blog - True Hoop