Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Vanderbilt Hotline: One day til Draft Night, Edition

Despite tomorrow's looming NBA draft and the prospect that SEC Player of the Year Derrick Byars will be selected in the first round, there is almost no Vanderbilt news. DB's hometown paper, The Memphis Commercial Appeal has a story by Scott Cacciola about Derrick's work-out journey over the past 4 weeks.

The City Paper's Nate Rau mentions DB in passing, but only to highlight how there are other players in this year's draft from the Middle Tennessee area.

Finally, Brett Hait's SEC Notes in today's City Paper look at Boyer in the District's favorite coach Houston Nutt, Kentucky players getting high before their championship game in 1983, and a general league wrap-around.

Lock it Up extended their winning streak to 4 last night with a 12-3 win over a team whose name I have already forgotten. While robbed of a chance to get up one last time, our novelist left fielder gunned down a greedy runner looking to extend a single into a double to end the game. The novelist will be missed, although if you want to help him move this Friday (he'll pay), email us and we'll pass on the word. Lock it Up is now 4-3 coming down the home stretch of the season.

17 comments:

jamiecarroll said...

In that Tennessean article today about the draft, it said that Cage and Skuchas were going to try to play overseas. Cage I can kind of see, but Skuchas?

Stanimal said...

On the eve of draft day, let's look at the current projections for DB from three sources.

Chad Ford seems to think that DB will go #25 to the Jazz. I like DB in Utah. Deron Williams, DB, AK-47, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur would be a solid line-up that would fit DB's strengths.

NBAdraft.net has DB going #20 to the Heat. I don't think this is all that bad either, although in the next couple of years the Heat are going to need to do something about their age. I think DB could at least be competitive with Eddie Jones for a starting spot at Small Forward and could benefit greatly with defenses focusing on D-Wade at the other wing.

SI agrees with NBADraft.net's assessment. Though I must say that Chris Ekstrand's belief that the Hawks will take Nick Young at #11 leads me to question the man's credibility. He also said that Billy Knight would draft Brandan Wright at #3 "just because the Hawks have done it every year". What an idiot.

In my mind either of those teams would be good for DB, because he'd be asked to fill a role right away but there wouldn't be absurd amounts of pressure on him to produce big numbers. It seems to me that both places provide him the opportunity to most effectively adjust to the pro game. I would imagine DB can provide a similar level of production to the players currently filling the respective roles with those two teams, and it would make them younger at those positions. All in all, I'd be happy if DB went to either.

Anonymous said...

where is everyone watching the Draft??? Porters?

Douglas James said...

Shea Stadium......I expect text updates Da Bomb!

Anonymous said...

Shea huh, home of the never will bes. But at least they are the best team in NY.

Stanimal said...

NOBODY is going to comment on Derrick Byars?

Douglas James said...

Never will be's? Reyes already is my friend. Wright is having a down year is still hitting .290....and don't forget we have Pedro coming back to be out 5th Starter!!!!!!! I'm not saying World Series this year but "Never will be" is quite an overstatement. That being said DB to the Nets baby (soon to be Brooklyn Nets that is)

Stanimal said...

Salary Cap on Baseball teams for the love of god

Douglas James said...

As crazy as it sounds I totally support Stan's idea though it would end up costing the Mets....more important that a salary cap is 1) a minimum salary teams can spend on their teams. Owners of teams like the Marlins, Twins, Royals and Devil Rays spend little to no money even though they are owned by some of the richest owners in baseball 2) A requirement that 75% of funds from luxury taxes must be spent on players salaries. I'm ok with the Mets, Dodgers, Yanks and Sox paying luxury tax for their huge payrolls but shouldn't that money be spent to help the Royals, not go in their owners pocket?

Bobby O'Shea said...

In looking at the draft board, I think DB could go as early as #15 to Detroit (he is the kind of player that Joe Dumars is sure to love) and as far down as #25 to the Jazz. With that said, I don't see him dropping past the Knicks at #23.

Douglas James said...

Chauncy Billups just opted out of his contract so Detroit will be looking for a Point Guard to go along with Rip.....

Bobby O'Shea said...

Douglas James, are you now saying that Acie Law goes 15 to the Pistons?

Stanimal said...

Acie Law is going #11 to the Hawks. Billups opted out of his contract, but he wants to stay in Detroit, he just wants to get paid more (smart move because he's one of the best PGs in the NBA).

That being said I think Derrick it's difficult to predict where Derrick will go because to my knowledge his stock hasn't changed very much over the course of the pre-draft camps, which is not neccessarily a bad thing. That being said I think he'll be taken as a "best player available" for any of those teams at the lower end of the first round. I don't think anyone feels he is the answer at 2 or 3, but they certainly feel as though he will be a productive swingman in the pros.

As for our baseball discussion, it is really sad that we have to even consider implementing a minimum salary, but you're right, it should be done. I'm not big on the luxury tax idea because I don't think its the responsibility of teams like the Yankees, Mets, etc. to fund the improvement efforts of crap teams like the Royals. However, I do think its bogus that teams like the Mets and Yanks can spend ridiculous amounts of money when teams like the Braves are capped by their ownership. It doesn't allow for an even starting ground for teams and while it doesn't guarantee success to spend big, it certainly makes it easier to fill in the gaping holes.

Seamus O'Toole said...

I just find it amazing that 3 of Florida's starting 5 are pretty much guaranteed to go top-10, and it's not out of the realm that they could go top-5. Pretty positive that's never happened. UNLV got #1, #9 and #12 in 1991. Has anything else come close?

Anonymous said...

The Mets won't make the WS this year. That's a fact.

Law would be great at Detriot but won't be on the board that long. He's to damn good.

If anyone is interested the Washington Post is having a NBA draft discussion at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/06/22/DI2007062200832.html

starts at 11 am.

Stanimal said...

North Carolina had 2 top-10 picks in 2005 (Marvin Williams and Raymond Felton) and then 4 in the top-15 (the aforementioned, Sean May, and Rashad McCants).

There have been a few other times where teams have had two lottery picks in the top 10, and more than you would think where teammates were the second and third pick (2004 UConn with Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, 2002 Duke with Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy) and then in 1998 Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter went 4 and 5.

Jordan and Perkins went 3 and 4 in 1984. There's several more where two players went in the first 10 picks.

The closest that I can find (going all the way back to 1955, you know I'm damn bored at work) is in 1976 when three Indiana players went #2, #7, and #11, with Scott May, Quinn Buckner, and Bob Wilkerson (if any of you can tell me the teams they were drafted by without wikipedia, I'll give you my respect).

Seamus O'Toole said...

Stanimal:

Give our intern a break. He's gotta be exhausted from looking up all that information.