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Last look at NBA in '08 Saturday, Jul 5, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Some random thoughts about the NBA before shunting aside the league until a slow day early in 2009: -The Chicago Bulls are out on a limb with their new hire. No, not No. 1 pick Derrick Rose of Memphis. The man on the spot is Vinny Del Negro, the Bulls' new coach. Del Negro's previous coaching experience is zero. In a league where it seems like every new coach is a recycled product, this guy is fresh out of the package. His experience consists of being a role player for five teams during 12 years in the NBA and playing a couple of years for an Italian team. In Chicago, the Bulls have been criticized by some for taking more than seven weeks to make the hire and for going for somebody who will work cheaper than others. His $2 million annually is only low by NBA standards. Del Negro says he can be successful. What else can he say? But, Boston coach Doc Rivers, Indiana Pacers executive Larry Bird, and former Dallas coach Avery Johnson won coach of the year honors although void of coaching experience. -Along those same lines, Phil Jackson's two-handed clutch of championship rings didn't seem to mean much when his Los Angeles Lakers went against Rivers' Celtics in the NBA finals. According to some, Jackson's wisdom and experience would swing things for the Lakers. Interesting that the series turned in the fourth game when the Celtics rallied from 24 down to win in L.A., and take a 3-1 lead. So, it must have been Rivers' half-time speech that did it. He said he told his players: "We were getting great shots, and we were going to continue to get those and they would go in. But we would not win the game unless we defended and made plays." Wow. Both inspirational and analytical. -Rose's selection is a reminder that college teams usually need a star to make the NCAA Final Four. This year, five players from the semifinalists in San Antonio were taken in the first round of the NBA draft. During the decade, the 36 teams in the Final Four have had a total of 42 players selected in round one of the draft that followed. This year, North Carolina was the only semifinalist that did not have a player picked in the first round and three of the stars from the team that swamped Arkansas in the second round withdrew from the draft in the final hours. The return of Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green will make the Tar Heels one of the favorites in 2009. In 2007, the semifinalists had a total of eight players picked in the first round. The 2006 draft was a bit out of the ordinary - only semifinalists LSU and UCLA sported first-round picks. The other two teams were George Mason, the darling of the tournament, and Florida. The Gators' strength showed up in '07 when they repeated as national champions and three of their players were among the first nine selected. That year, Final Four teams Ohio State and Georgetown also had a total of three players picked in the first six. Arron Afflalo of national runner-up UCLA was taken late in the first round. During the last eight years, at least three of the semifinalists have had a player picked in the first round of the draft every year except '06, and early in the decade many of the would-be stars were picked straight out of high school. This was the third draft since the rule was changed to require athletes to do a year on a college campus, which is a joke. A dozen freshmen entered their names in the draft and 10 of them were taken in the first round last Thursday night. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
