NBA/NHL Draft

So the NHL and NBA drafts have come and gone. My favorite teams in each sport were busy so that kept me happy. For the NBA draft I will talk about the Milwaukee Bucks and my hometown Toronto Raptors. For the NHL draft I will talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs and other trades etc.

Lets start with the NBA draft where the Milwaukee Bucks entered with the 10th overall selection. I read plenty of mock drafts to know that either Klay Thompson or Alec Burks would be selected there. I liked both players but I would have also accepted a trade down, which they did. To Milwaukee: 19th overall pick (from Charlotte) Stephen Jackson, Beno Udrih and Shaun Livingston. To Charlotte: 7th overall pick (from Sacramento), and Corey Maggette. To Sacramento: 10th overall pick (from Milwaukee), and John Salmons. Now I'm going to be biased a little here and say the Bucks won this trade. But a lot of analysts say they did too. Jackson is a great addition to the team as he has won a NBA title, can drop 20-25 points a night, and plays good defense. Udrih will be a solid back-up for Brandon Jennings and Livingston should just be a bench warmer but has talent though is also injury prone. With the 19th overall pick the Bucks drafted Tobias Harris out of Tennessee University. From what I've heard he is a tweener of a SF and SG. He's the youngest player in the draft and has a very high upside. I don't expect him to start until maybe next year at the earliest. The 10th pick that the Bucks traded away turned into Jimmer Fredette, the college star from BYU. A lot of fans will be mad at this but he didn't want to play for the Bucks anyway, turning down a workout from the team. Now for the Toronto Raptors. They had the 5th overall pick in the draft and took Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas. Most Raptor fans were mad with the pick because they thought the Raps should have taken a PG like Brandon Knight or Kemba Walker. But I really like the pick, even though he won't be here until the 2012-2013 season (due to contract issues with his European team) there might not even be a season this year so it won't really matter. Valanciunas is not the the stereotypical Euro big man. He's tough, he'll rebound the ball, block shots, and play physical, something the Raptors sorely lacked last year. This probably means that Andrea Bargnani will be moved to PF and if that doesn't work, well, bye Andrea.

Draft Grades:
Toronto Raptors: B
Milwaukee Bucks: A-

Now onto the NHL draft where my Toronto Maple Leafs held the 25th and 30th overall picks thanks to trades from the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins (30th) and Philadelphia Flyers (25th) . There was a trade involving the Leafs before the draft but I'll talk about that after. As we neared the 25th overall pick the Leafs made a trade with the Anaheim Ducks (shocker). To Toronto: 22nd overall pick. To Anaheim: 30th and 39th overall picks. So with the 22nd pick the Leafs drafted Tyler Biggs. I like Biggs. He's a big physical winger with some offensive upside. He's been compared to Kings' Dustin Brown and Bruins' Milan Lucic. I could see Biggs on the PP screening in front of the net, something Leafs fans have wanted forever. Then with the 25th overall pick the Leafs draft Stuart Percy. Percy is a very good defensive defenseman who could be a top 4 guy. He's been compared to Red Wings star Nicklas Lidstrom because of his defensive game and smarts with the puck.

Draft Grade:
Toronto Maple Leafs: B+

Now about the trade the Leafs were involved in. To Toronto: John Michael-Liles. To Colorado: 2nd round pick in 2012 (From Bruins). Huge, huge win here. The Bruins pick should be late and we only have Liles for a year so if he fails we can just let him go. Great trade.

Coming up: other big NHL trades, NHL free agency

Oops!

Well... I kind of haven't posted anything in forever. My baaad. More stuff coming up, including: NBA Draft, NHL Draft, and NHL Free Agency. BOOM.