David Stern and friends
Congratulations on being the nation’s top college basketball player — You may now join the Los Angeles Clippers, the definition of a first-class franchise. That was the fate handed to Blake Griffin, tonight’s top pick in the NBA Draft, as the Clips scooped up the Oklahoma State product and consensus College Player of the Year. The Grizzlies grabbed 7-foot-3 UConn center Hasheem Thabeet second and Oklahoma City took Arizona State’s James Harden third. Sacramento chose Memphis’ Tyreke Evans fourth, while Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio dropped to number five, landing in Minnesota. The Raptors were able to grab USC freshman swingman DeMar DeRozan ninth overall.
Meanwhile, more big news around the league: The Orlando Magic, fresh off an Eastern Conference Championship, set out to destroy their team by acquiring Vince Carter from the Nets for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee. Yeah, that Vince Carter is a real winner — enjoy!
As always, an eventful draft night in the NBA. It’s getting late and I need some sleep though, so check out ESPN’s coverage of both rounds. I’ll check back in soon with analysis on some of the stuff that went down.
