NBA Draft and Tribe Live Blogging

Alright, this is my first ever live blog. I know that its the NBA Draft and Bill Simmons does this every year. I don't want to make it too much like Simmons, so I'll be flipping back and forth with the Indians game.

7:15 - Just got home, turn on ESPN... Rachel Nichols. Lord how I hate her. Now they're talking about the Telfair trade. Man how I wish the Cavs got him; ya I know he doesn't have a jumper, but I could imagine him throwing alley oops to LeBron for the next 12 years. Only the 7 pick, Dickau and LaFrenz for Telfair and Ratliff.

7:30 - David Stern calls Madison Square Garden the home of the Knicks, Liberty and the WNBA All Star Game. Awesome. He also calls the crowd rowdy. I agree. I can't wait til the Bulls pick and the Knick fans go nuts.

7:35 - The Raptors take Andrea Bargnani. What does it say that in 2003 the Raptors got Chris Bosh at 4 and this year take Bargnani first. This is gonna be a long night. The Raptors got a pretty nice front line with Bosh, Bargnani and Villanueva.

7:40 - ESPN shows the details of the Chicago-New York trades; at this point Dan Patrick is just egging the Knick fans on.

7:41 - TRADE!!!!! And what a deal it is. The Bulls are swapping picks with the Blazers (2 and 4) while also recieving Viktor Khryapa and cash (I think) in the deal. The Bulls are drafting LaMarcus Aldridge for the Blazers, while Portlan will select Tyrus Thomas.

7:47 - With all this Brian Colangalo "Phoenix East" let it be known that the Raptors point guard is free agent Mike James.

7:48 - Adam Morrison to the Bobcats. I like the pick, I think he'll work really well for Charlotte. I'm not sure how much 'star power' Morrison has. Greg Anthony is talking about how the Bobcats need to sell tickets. Really, Adam Morrison?

7:51 - "He listens to Metallica when he works out. Metallica is coming to Chi-Town!" Huh? Stu Scott? Morrison was drafted by Charlotte.

7:53 - David Stern: "The Portland Trailblazers select Tyrus Thomas from LSU..."
My Brother: "with three kids"

7:55 - ESPN's Draft crew starts ripping on the Blazers moves. Sure they probably could've just taken Aldridge at 4, but its not like they gave up that much.

7:58 - The Hawks drafted Sheldon Williams. Booooring. Columbus's drive time radio guy called this guy "the next Carlos Boozer" Meh, I guess. Though he also said if the Cavs drafted Dee Brown it'd be the second worse pick in Cavs history with Danny Ferry being the worst. I believe he forgot Trajdon Langdon and Lasanga Diop. Also, Ferry wasn't even drafted by the Cavs. He was drafted by the Clippers, held out, played in Europe for a year and THEN was traded to the Cavs for an allegedly drugged up Ron Harper and 75 draft picks. Sheesh.

8:03 - My brother went out for a quick grocery run, TIVO is on pause.

8:15 - Recapping: Wolves select Brandon Roy. I think Roy could be a good pro, this is one of the safer picks in the draft. Celtics, picking for Portland, take Randy Foye. So Portland traded Telfair to pick up Randy Foye. Um... okay. More guards please.

8:20 - TRADE!!!! Memphis trades Shane Battier to Houston for the number 8 pick, which turns out to be Rudy Gay. Patrick starts making the Villanueva-Gay comparisons, I don't agree, some people think Gay is good but isn't a go-to-guy. Villanueva looked like an asshole who didn't give a shit about anything. Sure, both have questions about effort, but Gay's is more about dominance, Villanueva was more about everything. Why would Houston give up having Rudy Gay as a third option? Houston has an old roster the way it is, they could've brought in Gay and not giving him any pressure to perform right away with McGrady and Yao. I don't get it. Battier is okay, but come on, straight up for Rudy Gay.

8:28 - The Warrios selected Patrick O'Bryant a 7 footer from Bradley. Thats too bad, I was hoping Golden State could take another small forward. Dan Patrick just announced a big trade and immediently went to commerical. Thanks.

8:36 - Thunderstorm in Hudson. Meaning my TV is out, thanks Direct TV. I've been refreshing ESPN.com for some time now and the only trade rumor I'm seeing is Chad Forde's latest KG rumor he pulled out of his ass.

8:40 - The sky is orange, I'm gonna try to take a few pictures.

8:57 - Either ESPN or NBA.com screwed up my web browser. So I lost a few posts in there. Also, my TV is about to get back to normal, here's what we've missed:
10th - Sonics drafted Mouhamed Saer Sene, is this the guy they were calling the next Mutumbo? He's from Senegal, like Lasagna.
11th - Magic draft JJ Redick. I like the pick for Orlando, give Howard a 3 point threat to go with his low post game and Nelson's pg skills. 11 was about right for Redick to go.
12th - NOOCH selects Hilton Armstrong from UConn. That makes 19 UConn players drafted in the first 12 picks.
13th - Philly takes Thabo Sefolosha a dude from Switzerland. What the hell? The Swiss?
14th - Utah takes Ronnie Brewer from Arkansas.
15th - NOOCH picks Cedric Simmons from NC State. I know Kenny Roda was a big fan of his.

9:06- Still no word on that trade that Dan Patrick mentioned. Also, ESPN's NBA page is now missing Chad Forde's little KG trade box. Not saying anything is up, I'm just saying...

9:09 - While fast forwarding through my recording (paused due to the rain) I found that Portland has traded the rights to Randy Foye to the TWolves for Brandon Roy. Foye. Roy. Confused yet?

9:11 - With their second pick in the draft, number 16, the Chicago Bulls take Rodney Carney from Memphis. TRADE!!! (I fastforwarded past the announcement. Chicago is trading Carney to Philly for Thabo Sefolosha. Patrick mentioned that Carney got his scholarship to Memphis when Qyntl Woods decided to go pro. Good choice by Woods.

9:16 - Stern is just now announcing the Chicago-Portland deal. Not even David Stern can keep up with this. I barely can keep up and I got Tivo (albiet I'm catching up) and the internet. The Pacers took Shawne Williams from Memphis. I believe this is a new spelling of Shawne for me. I haven't seen that 'e' at the end. I think Chone is my favorite though. Chone. Awesome.

9:20 - Washington takes Oleksiy Pecherov. He's from the Ukraine and Patrick makes another World Cup reference. I don't know how many that is thus far, but I'm sick of it. Washington's first ever foreign pick in the first round. "Not a project, but needs a lot of seasoning.... Polish is still needed... he may stay overseas for another year" Thats good. At least he's not a project.

9:26 - 18 picks. Still haven't had a PG drafted, thats good for the Cavs, right? Right? My Super Ex-Girlfriend wow. That looks good. But there was a Air Supply song in the commerical, well done.

9:31 - Quincy Douby from Rutgers. I don't know much about him, but he's 6-3, so does that make him the first PG taken? It seems to be he's more of a combo guard.

9:33 - ESPN is just torturing Knicks fans now. They have a graphic of Isiah's time as GM and it reads like this:
30 months
25 players traded away
5 head coaches
85-133 (39.o win pct.)
and Patrick keeps going about how they are still paying players who are no longer with the team and all this shit. I love it.

9:35 - the pick.... a trade?! Come on Stern, is this a new one? It's the Philly-Chicago deal. I think he just wanted to make the Knicks fans wait more. Renaldo Balkman? Who? He's a 6'6'' forward from South Carolina. On ESPN's draft sheet under "Must Improve" they have "Offensive Skills". Sounds like a good pick. David Stern informed us that Renaldo is not here tonight, Dan Patrick quickly added, "that's probably a good thing". The fans are no pleased. Heh.

9:39 - The Suns are on the clock and Marcus Williams is still on the board. They don't really need a guard. Its the 21st pick, the Cavs are only a few picks away, if they could grab Marcus Williams....

9:40 - TRADE!!! Kinda? The Celtics are offering to pay the Suns to take Brian Grant off their hands for the 21st pick. So the Suns get cap relief and the Celtics looks to take Rajon Rondo. Patrick says he counts as the first PG taken in the draft.

9:44 - New Jersey is up at 22 and they take Marcus Williams. Dammit. I was hopin he'd fall to 25. Damn, I wish Ferry could've made a move up. "The best passer in the draft" Dammit!

9:48 - flip over to the Indians game, top of the 7th, 2 outs, Cleveland down 3-1. They're goin for the sweep, if they swept the Cardinals... I don't even know at this point. Is the NL that bad? The Tribe has played like shit, I though the Cardinals were supposed to contend for the NL Pennant. There's a giant meeting on the mound, the trainer, La Russa, the infield "looks like a cramp in the arm". Rick Manning is on it. Chris Carpenter is the pitcher by the way. It's rough when the pitching doesn't suck that the Indians only get 1 run. Nice guys, but when the pitching blows you decide to lose 12-8. Ugh.

9:50 - New Jersey had back to back picks at 22 and 23 and they took two UConn guys. Josh Boone was selected at 23. Doesn't have a lot of size, but he should help New Jersey's awesome front line.

9:54 - The Grizzlies select Kyle Lowry from Nova. Blah blah blah the Cavs are up next.

10:00 - Patrick just said that "Portland has been involved in a couple blockbusters" really, blockbuster? Right.

10:02 - The pick: Shannon Brown from Michigan State. Yes! Good pick. A scorer and can play a little point too. Anthony thinks he can start! Start? Over Snow? I guess.

10:04 - ESPN goes straight to the Lakers. Thanks guys. Good analysis. Jim Gray is in LA. I hate that douchebag. Does anyone like Jim Gray? Does Jim Gray like Jim Gray? More Cavs please.

10:07 -Good bye Flip Murray!

10:09 - Lakers take Jordan Farmar. I think he looks like my old high school buddy Chip Hemphill. Also, kinda looks like a hobbit. So he's hobbit Chip. Anthony thinks he can start for them, I guess he's never seen Smush Parker play. Bilas says Famar is okay, but is no Marcus Williams, I think he's just trying to piss off teams who passed on Williams, mostly the Celtics, Pacers and Knicks.

10:11 - Belliard slaps a double to right field, moves Sizemore to 3rd. A base hit here ties it. Peralta is up, lets hope he gets a single for the Tribes sake and for my fantasy team, The Sosa Palmiero All-Stars.

10:13 - Peralta strikes out. Damn. Pitching change. *Pause*

10:15 - TRADE!!!! Another Portland trade. What the hell is goin on here. How can Portland make like 10 trades in one night and still manage to have Darius Miles on their team? I don't get it. This trade is with the Suns (who've made 2 moves tonight as well); the Blazers get the 27th pick, which is Sergio Rodriguez and the Suns recieve cash. Nice. So the Suns make two moves and manage to get no players. Um? Alright.

10:18 - Behold the power of Tivo! I can fast forward through Jim Gray interviewing Mitch Kupchak. Dallas takes Maurice Ager from Michigan State. I like the pick, Dallas adds the leading scorer from the Big Ten. Wouldn't you want to pick up guys like Ager and Famar instead of the risks? I'll throw Shannon Brown in there, everyone on ESPN's crew think these 3 are going to succeed in the NBA. Sure, no one is saying they'll be All-Stars, but all these guys look like their going to play big minutes on playoff teams. Will Patrick O'Bryant get big minutes on the Warriors? Who knows. *PAUSE*

10:24 - Back to baseball. Victor Martinez is up, who is also a member of the Sosa Palmiero All-Stars. This is pretty much the game right here, if Victor or Broussard (or Hafner) get these guys home, we got a ball game. If the heart of the order falls through? Game over. Lets watch.

10:26 - 0-2 count. Victor got it back to 2-2 and got a swinging bunt. The ball takes a crazy hop and everyone is safe! One run in, guys at first and third with 1 out. The DP is still in play, but so is the sac fly. Pitching change... La Russa is bringin in Izzy. *PAUSE*

10:30 - The Knicks are up again, oh goody. "Balkman is good, Isiah's a bum". Heh. The Knicks take Marty Collins. Spike Lee just looks bored. Bilas: well, it's not a bad pick. I think that's the best news Knicks fans have heard all night. "It's not a bad pick." Portland has got back to back picks coming up, Jesus, how many picks do they have tonight? Wait, I have the internet, I'll brb.

10:37 - Izzy walks Hafner. Todd Hollandsworth promptly flies out... wait... David Eckstein hustles and hustles and drops the ball, everyone is safe, tie game!! Aaron Boone comes in and gets a sac fly, Tribe up 4-3. *PHONE CALL*

10:55 - *Phone call over* So Portland got LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Sergio Rodriguez, Joel Freeland (with the 30th and final first round pick). 4 picks in the first round and the first pick in the second. 5 Rookies for Portland. That is awesome. I just hope Darius Miles and Zack Randolph take them under their respective wings. (They took James White with the first pick in the second round.)

11:00 - Tivo has just fucked me over. Two program started started recording at 11. Dammit, I lost all my saved time on the draft and Indians games. Oh well. FYI, Al Gore is on the Daily Show tonight, just a little fyi. The Cavs are on the clock at 42.

11:05 - I dislike ESPN's draft tracker.

11:06 - I really have no clue who they would want here, I wouldn't mind getting Jerry Mcnamara in the 2nd round, but I dunno if 42 is too high or not. Also, Tribe is going to the bottom of the nineth with the lead, I bet Wickman lets at least one guy on, though no one scores. I'm calling a punch out with a man on third to end it.

11:07 - Daniel Gibson, PG from Texas. Really? I thought he was a guy they were lookin at for the 25th pick. Chad Forde said the Cavs were looking at him at 25. Nice.

11:16 - Not nice, Wickman blew the save. Game over.

11:45 - Ejike Ugboaja? I can't find any info on this guy, anyone? Here's what Chade Forde has got:
"Ugboaja is a raw big man from Nigeria who is a long way away. But he has athleticism and size." He doesn't even have a height, just weight, 225.

12:00 - It's been about 5 hours of good times. The by all acounts (me and Chad Forde) it looks like the Cavs had a good draft. By those same accounts it looks like the Knicks didn't. There were roughly 92 trades made tonight, with more than half involving the Trailblazers. The Indians came back from behind late, and gave it away later- nice boys, thats a new way to lose one. And the Cavs drafted a player so obscure ESPN doesn't even have a height listed for him. Awesome.

Hope you all enjoyed my first live blog. I can't wait to see how people grade the Cavs draft tomorrow.