Thought I'd do a round by round "retro" diary of OR draft.  Why not?

Though the draft was scheduled to start at noon on Saturday, the draft room actually opened late evening on Friday.   After harrasing a drunken schottsie he finally logged in and took the only player you can draft with the first pick.  I promptly took Wade and draft was off, though at the grueling pace you would expect for a draft (not) progressing before dawn on a saturday.

At 2 AM Schottsie treats us all to following gem via our e-mail thread:

"Yeah between lebron shaq....fo real o fo fantasy but b4 punk jr smith and punk beeesley effed it up we used to rock th crip blood style"  (i say sic sir, sic to the whole damn thing)

Somewhere between 10 and 11 am - the details are murky - Doug shakes the Kentucky Fried establishment by acquiring the 7th overall pick from Frenchlick.   He celebrates with his an IPA.

At around 12:30, Doug again shakes the Kentucky Fried establishment by ignoring the sacrosanct KFBA rankings and selecting Kevin Durant.   He celebrates with his fourth IPA.  Says Doug "There's 1.100 upside here that no other player left on the board has."  Tough to argue that call... I mean is there any way this guy doesn't score 30 points per game this year?  We'll see.  Regardless with his bible thumping center and OKC star, the Trinidad All-Stars immediately ursurp Ciwasko's Oscar Robertson as the pre-season fave.

By the 10th pick, Melo and Al Jefferson are also off the board, much to Ciwasko's dismay.   He needs a guard, but pooh-poohs Tony Parker and Brandon Roy's career years.  "Too many options in San Antonio. Andre Miller will have the ball in his hands."  Dirk is clearly the top player left on the board, but ciwasko turns out to be a diggler hater (or an Amar'e new apostrophe lover?) and goes with the goggled Sun instead.  Only 10 picks in, its already clear "Upside" is going to be the theme of this draft.

The Brewers happily scoop up Dirk and the Colonel takes longer than he should to draft Bosh, the last top tier player left on the board.  Oscar Robertson settles on Brandon Roy as his lead guard, making the choice pick of the second tier.  Everyone else is left to fight over scraps.  

Schottsie pours a shot of Patron Silver to celebrate his rare 1st round keeper.

The first few picks of the 2nd round prove more difficult.

Oaskterdam's GM struggles mightily to choose his poison and eventually settles on Randolph.

ZZRay eventually decides on Gilbert over homeboy Vince Carter.

Frenchlick sends San Juan into a tailspin by drafting Baron Davis one pick ahead of where they had planned to pick up the bouncy guard.   I've been hyping him for 30 minutes now, so its kind of my fault.

San Juan ends up going with Elton Brand which leads into a prolonged discussion of whether Brand or Baron is a riskier pick (even though its very clearly Brand).   Doug is shocked to discover Brand has only posted a 1.000 once in his career (or just as many times as Baron Davis) and we settle on a $5 bet one which will post a better average this season.  This is the easiest $5 i will make all season.

Frenchlick doubles down on a Clipper season, and drafts super rook Blake Griffin.   This is apparently the player San Juan was originally eyeing with the 3.1.   So roeder has now coopted the Goatsuckers entire Clipper strategy.   Maybe they'll fight a cage match to the death over Chris Kaman a few rounds from now.  Seems like anything is possible at the moment.

Still smarting from a rare double Clipper vasectomy, a stung and disoriented Antonio takes uber punk JR Smith with the 1st pick of the 3rd round.   Gotta say I like the Baron-Griffin combo better than Brand-JR, but Al Jefferson easily tips the scales in favor of the Goatsuckers.

Provo finally puts an end to Beasley's weed induced fall from grace, quickly proclaiming that with a little JCPeery TLC and few dozen cupcakes the young forward will be ready for a strong sophomore showing. 

Fort Myers shocks the room by taking Derrick Rose with the 5th pick of the 3rd round.    This is 31 picks ahead of where he was selected in the "Mock" draft  and almost a full round ahead of where I projected Trinidad was going to take him (with the 4.2).

Doug talks me into taking Okafor with the 9th pick and though i debated selecting Aldridge at length, i find myself happy with this pick a week later.   Three extra ppg can add almost 100 points to player's average and I have a feeling Chris Paul is going to do good things for his starting Centers throughout his career.  Let's see how many easy lay-ups Tyson Chandler gets in Charlotte.

Continuing the obsession with upside Ciwasko jumps the gun on Al Horford, selecting him with 2nd pick of the 4th round.   This was after i refused to trade him Okafor for which i was promply labeled a whore.  My pre-draft strategy had been to select Al Horford with the very 1st pick of the 5th round had he been available, which seemed like a reasonable expectation.  I'm not clear whether ciwasko knew i was on picking up a 2nd center and took Horford to punish the Brocheese or whether he still has his sights set on Okafor and figures that Horford will prove a handy trade chip later in the season.  You know, given my man crush on the big Hawk and former Gator.

Centers go off the board like crazy and Bogut, Okur, JO and Nene all get taken.    Brook Lopez, Brooklyn's fabulous keeper, remains my favorite center of the round.

Doug again convinces me on a selection, this time Rudy Gay.  In my increasing state of intoxication i can't tell if he's manupulating me into a shitty team, and the Colonel clearly thinks he has ulterior motives.  He is doug.  Thats what doug does.   Thing is that Rudy Gay was only marginally on my radar coming into the draft.  Don't get me wrong, I love gay. He's got great potential and might be a great NBA player some day.  Its just that Memphis, this year, is going to be an absolute Circus.  With a capital C.  Zach Randolph, Allen Iverson, a midling team no one comes to watch?  Are you kidding me?  That scene never works out.  Players don't play through pain, sitting out with any minor bump or bruise. They get distracted, they go to southbeach, they get stoned.  They start thinking about next season or get mired in coaching and trade controversies.   Last year i stayed away from all Clips in all leagues for this very reason and it served me well.  The year before that i stayed away from all Knicks in all leagues.  And it served me well.  But not this year.  This year i took the plunge into what are sure to be six months worth of gut wrenching Memphis-is-a-joke articles and Allen Iverson tweets.   And I am ok with that.  I think.

And then I took Yao.

Had to be done.

Or so Doug convinced me.  Puff, puff, pass and all that.

As of now I'm expecting Yao (3) to be worth some major keeper currency come january and as along as i can secure me some top shelf talent I'll be thrilled.  But i'm going to be nervous until then.

The Colonel picks up Iggy, whom i had stared at longingly twice in the previous five picks.   Personally I think this was a great pick-up at the 5.2.  

Then everyone goes crazy.

T-Mac and Allen Iverson come off the board.  I am mildly surprised as these guys weren't all that good last year and T-Mac is probably out for the year, but guards are riduculously scarce at this juncture and teams are in need.  I'm sure they would have rather gambled on Tyrus Thomas, Gerald Wallace or Josh Howard.  Right?  

The guard situtation is so barren that Stephen Curry and Tereke Evans also come off the board.  This is the 5th round people!  Too much crack in the room.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Big Z puts up another quite .867 this year and ends up being the best pick of the round hands down.

Ciwasko gives up Jeff Green (8) for the 1st pick of the 6th round and proceeds to take OJ Mayo.  In case you started reading this blog mid way, we're drafting for upside.   Still Oscar Robertson is looking good with Amare, Granger, and Anthony Randolph at forward and Brandoy Roy, Correy Maggette and OJ Mayo at guard.  A nice mix of front line talent and talent with front line potential.

The Schottsie's, anticipating they will draft seven rookies in what is left of this draft, decide to add the veteran presence of Eric Gordon with what amounts to their first pick since the 1st round.

Talent is looking up in the 7th round.  

Younggod somehow gets Shawn Marrion with the 7.2 even though he's clearly 6th round worthy.

San Juan takes Harden and the Colonel picks up Johnny Flynn, who i was confident would be around for the 8.1.  The lesson: Rookies always go early.  They are sexy.

For my money, Oaksterdam's Randy Foye will end up a better selection that both though.

Schottsie starts his historic run on rookies.

With the rookie pool dwindling fast I look to sophomore Danilo Gallinary for my major upside potential.

Two picks later i'm widely mocked for taking Sammy Dalembert, but I don't have a back-up center, centers are about to get scarce and he had a down year and has mid .700s potential.   What's Ray Allens potential?   Or Al Thorton's?

Ladies and gentlemen Hasheem Thabeet!   I have a feeling he's going to follow in the harrowed footsteps of all those other number two picks with midling KF careers... Marvin Williams, Tyson Chandler, Darko Milicic...  and note that he went before all of those players!   This season will be the last time that happens.

For Myers adds a solid back up guard in Kirk Hinrich,  a very nice pick-up this late.

ZZray drafts DeJuan Blair's ACL-Less knees.  For what its worth i think he ends up posting the highest kf average out of this round.  And it might not even be close.

Brooklyn, ZZ's, Frenchlick and New York clean out the young guards with upside leaving Cupey and Grandview to draft retreads Flip Murray and Marquis Daniels.  Ouch.   Nothing says "I'm so trashed i've lost touch with reality" quite like drafting undersized journey men shooting guards that have never posted a .700 in their career and never will.

Its getting late.  We're trashed.  Mrobison declares it to be Darko Time!  

Shots all around.

My strategy going into this draft was "Mine D'Antoni gold".   This is the coach that turned David Lee and Nate Robinson into KF stars last season after all.   Unheralded Knicks that could benefit from the DAntoni touch include Gallinari, Eddy Curry and Jordan Hill. 

I even think Darko has himself a nice bit of D'Antoni upside this year.  

I was hoping Hill (or Darko) would be an option with the 11.2, but now that MIke Miller has fallen into my lap, I have to take him.   Why is everyone hating on this guy?   He's a solid NBA player that's been stuck shooting for shitty teams going nowhere.   Watch. This guy's going to compete and that means a .750. 

Oscar Robertson jumps on Hill.  Bastard!  This will ultimately end up leaving me rookie-less for the draft.

Some nice upside picks go in this round.

I take Eddy Curry with the 10th pick of the round, my last, and promtly pass out.

I rally as the draft is ending but see:

- a couple of nice pick-ups for Trinidad at the top of the 12th - Jerryd Bayless and Demar Derozan

- a good gamble by Schottsie with the 13.1 in Ike Diogu

- some deep sleepers in Robin Lopez and DJ White selected in the 13th by ZZRay and Ciwasko respectively.

- a grab bag of rookies picked up by the Schottsies throughout the last three rounds.

Still kind of surprised Darrell Arthur didn't get picked up until the 14th round.

And that was that.