Andy Charles's NBA Basketball fan blog

While most people know about Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet and the rest of the guys expected to go at the top of Thursday’s NBA draft, what about those likely to be taken later on but who could still offer their new teams plenty of value.

There has been a long list of much-hyped picks who have failed to produce – in recent seasons the likes of Darko Milicic and Danilo Gallinari – so many teams have become wary about believing college and European form too much.

This year’s draft seems to lack a little bit in depth and the second round could see teams taking risks on some deep projects, either to store in Europe for a couple of years while they develop or perhaps in the D-League.

Chief among them could well be Eric Maynor, whose stock has been rising over the last couple of weeks and may see him lift towards the back edge of the lottery if a team decides it wants a pure point guard.

Continue reading "Maynor could be a major sleeper"

If, as expected, he is taken with the first pick of the NHL draft on Friday in Montreal, John Tavares will have the weight of Long Island on him.

The New York Islanders are a franchise coming out of two of the toughest seasons in their history and they need a face – a real star in the making – to be the answer towards finally helping them out of what has been a very dark hockey basement.

But are the expectations of the junior star, probably the biggest name to come into the sport since Sidney Crosby, too high assuming he beats off late competition from Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene to become the No 1 pick.

Although Tavares has put up gaudy numbers on his way to finally entering the draft (a year later than he wanted to) and managed to draw quite ludicrous comparisons to Wayne Gretzky, the transition to the professional ranks is going to be tough, most likely on a team that has forgotten how to win.

Continue reading "Pressure on John Tavares"

Tisdale leaves a lasting legacy

In amongst all the NBA play-off  heroics of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant’s head-to-head clashes with Carmelo Anthony, the NBA lost one of its true characters last week with the sad passing of Wayman Tisdale from cancer at the age of only 44.

Tisdale was one of few people who can honestly claim to have reached the top of two professions, combining a leading career in the NBA and an Olympic gold medal with being one of the leading bass players of his generation.

Tisdale was a great hoopster from his high school days, going on to become an All-American at the University of Oklahoma and then a gold medal winner at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles alongside Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing.

One of the most consistent big men of his era, Tisdale went on to a 12-year long career in the NBA having his best season with the Sacramento Kings in 1990 when his partnership with Mitch Richmond was one of the best in the league.

Continue reading "Tisdale leaves a lasting legacy"

As the hockey-watching world concentrates on the final two rounds of the NHL play-offs, the people of Orange County are again on retirement watch as questions about Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne’s future again rear their ugly head.

For the third season running, the Ducks go into the summer trading and draft season not knowing if two of their prized veterans are going to be around at the Honda Center again next season, and it’s becoming more and more of a worry as the years tick on and the veterans get older.

Niedermayer is coming off a great season, adding 10 play-off points to a 59-point regular campaign and as usual showing the grit and heart that should be expected of a captain.

Likewise Selanne showed few signs of slowing down, apart from one spell out injured, although his chemistry with the Ducks rookies wasn’t quite as strong in the post-season and his best performance came in the sickening game seven defeat by Detroit, when he intriguingly had less ice-time than grinders like Drew Miller and Todd Marchant.

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