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As usual, the suspense had nothing to do with who would go in the first round, but rather where the players would wind up by the time they woke up the next day.
To some, the wheeling and dealing that goes on during the NBA draft — swapping draft picks, swapping players, swapping the rights to someone else’s draft pick — is exciting. To me, it’s just plain silly.
If you want a player, pick them, or make a deal to pick them. Don’t pick them, then have them pose for photos in your cap while you say they are the best thing since sliced break, then trade them two minutes later for the right of first refusal to talk to the agent of the future grandson of another team’s janitor.
Just think how much fun draft night was for former Kansas player Darrell Arthur. By the time the night was over, Arthur had been the property of four teams — drafted by New Orleans, then traded to Portland, Houston and then Memphis.
Instead of waiting in the green room at NBA draft headquarters, Arthur should have just had his picture taken wearing every team’s cap and said “Call me in the morning to tell me where to go.”
