ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
Great analysis JC, pointing out the ridiculous double standards and lack of reason/ rationale of the caste system.
This was a disappointing draft as usual. Again, for white perimeter players it was an abysmal draft. Last year, Ben Woodside and Lee Cummard were two phenomenal talents that would have surely been drafted if black (and probably both in the late 1st round). Heck, even Chase Budinger who got some notoriety from the media, had a good NBA rookie season and should have been a late lottery pick- fell to the mid 2nd round last year.
This year, the fact that Jon Scheyer didn't get drafted ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTS me. Scheyer will not blow you away in tests at the NBA combine athletically, but he almost won AP player of the year for God's sake and was probably the most important figure to leading Duke to a frekin NCAA championship and scored over 20 PPG in the ACC! Scheyer is a good passer, is a great ball handler and protected the ball better than virtually any PG in the NCAA (assist/ turnover ratio was phenomenal) and has nice shot too. Sure he is not the fastest or most elusive player, but he has great footwork, hands, savvyness, amazing on court awareness and all round court general skills (passing, screen setting, ball handling, awareness, ability to knock down an outside shot etc.). If black I'd predict he would have been picked in the 14th-26th range of the 1st round!
But if you want to talk off the charts athleticism, well how about Chris Kramer? Kramer would be more of a defensive specialist backup PG/ SG 6th, 7th or 8th man in the NBA. However, there were many black "specialists"Â drafted in the late 1st round/ early 2nd round, but note that all of these "rawer"Â specialists had skin pigment. Kramer may have been THE BEST defensive guard in the ENTIRE NCAA for God's sake! The guy is so athletic that he can get garbage points flying to the hoop that cause your eyes to pop out. He is a little raw as a scorer and would be a less than average playmaker compared to "STARTING" NBA PGs, but the guy is a freak defender and can simply run/ jump with anyone and leap to the hoop for high energy lay ups, dunks, ally oops. He will occasionally surprise you with a knockdown mid range or three point shot too, although shooting isn't his forte. There is no guard in the NBA too athletic for Kramer to be put to the task of guarding and a team could play him at backup SG if they had no room in the lineup for him at PG!
Then there is Matt Bouldin, who was even in caste Jay Bilas' top 60 players. I haven't watched him enough to evaluate him, but from listening to JC and reading a bit about him online, I believe Bouldin could have been a late 1st rounder if black, but instead he goes undrafted. What a joke.
And how does Brian Zoubek not get noticed as a defensive specialist center after what he did to help Duke win the NCAA title? The guy has great hands, can block shots, can get some post up points inside and powerful garbage points and rebound as well. He sounds like just the guy who could make a great backup center in the NBA and maybe even become a starter one day if he improves his all round game!
These were just four examples of players whose stock fell dramatically simply for lacking the necessary melanin in their skin.
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
This was a disappointing draft as usual. Again, for white perimeter players it was an abysmal draft. Last year, Ben Woodside and Lee Cummard were two phenomenal talents that would have surely been drafted if black (and probably both in the late 1st round). Heck, even Chase Budinger who got some notoriety from the media, had a good NBA rookie season and should have been a late lottery pick- fell to the mid 2nd round last year.
This year, the fact that Jon Scheyer didn't get drafted ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTS me. Scheyer will not blow you away in tests at the NBA combine athletically, but he almost won AP player of the year for God's sake and was probably the most important figure to leading Duke to a frekin NCAA championship and scored over 20 PPG in the ACC! Scheyer is a good passer, is a great ball handler and protected the ball better than virtually any PG in the NCAA (assist/ turnover ratio was phenomenal) and has nice shot too. Sure he is not the fastest or most elusive player, but he has great footwork, hands, savvyness, amazing on court awareness and all round court general skills (passing, screen setting, ball handling, awareness, ability to knock down an outside shot etc.). If black I'd predict he would have been picked in the 14th-26th range of the 1st round!
But if you want to talk off the charts athleticism, well how about Chris Kramer? Kramer would be more of a defensive specialist backup PG/ SG 6th, 7th or 8th man in the NBA. However, there were many black "specialists"Â drafted in the late 1st round/ early 2nd round, but note that all of these "rawer"Â specialists had skin pigment. Kramer may have been THE BEST defensive guard in the ENTIRE NCAA for God's sake! The guy is so athletic that he can get garbage points flying to the hoop that cause your eyes to pop out. He is a little raw as a scorer and would be a less than average playmaker compared to "STARTING" NBA PGs, but the guy is a freak defender and can simply run/ jump with anyone and leap to the hoop for high energy lay ups, dunks, ally oops. He will occasionally surprise you with a knockdown mid range or three point shot too, although shooting isn't his forte. There is no guard in the NBA too athletic for Kramer to be put to the task of guarding and a team could play him at backup SG if they had no room in the lineup for him at PG!
Then there is Matt Bouldin, who was even in caste Jay Bilas' top 60 players. I haven't watched him enough to evaluate him, but from listening to JC and reading a bit about him online, I believe Bouldin could have been a late 1st rounder if black, but instead he goes undrafted. What a joke.
And how does Brian Zoubek not get noticed as a defensive specialist center after what he did to help Duke win the NCAA title? The guy has great hands, can block shots, can get some post up points inside and powerful garbage points and rebound as well. He sounds like just the guy who could make a great backup center in the NBA and maybe even become a starter one day if he improves his all round game!
These were just four examples of players whose stock fell dramatically simply for lacking the necessary melanin in their skin.