The 2011 NBA Draft all goes down tomorrow night in New York City. Once again the Class of 2011 is loaded with a ton of Underclassmen, sprinkled with some Seniors and International players. Highlighted by the likes of Kyrie Irving from Duke, Derrick Williams of Arizona, Ernest Kanter from Turkey, Jimmer Fredette of BYU and Kemba Walker from the National Champs the University of Connecticut. Although this draft is really lacking on "Superstar" talent, it may still turn out to be one of the more interesting ones. A lot of big names have been rumoured to be a part of "Draft Day" trades. Players such as Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Josh Smith, Tony Parker and Kevin Love have all been mentioned in talks amongst teams trying to get a higher pick or unload heavy contracts. Without any big time trades during the draft, I don't see many of the bad teams really improving too much thru the draft. I know i'll be interested to see what my Lakers will be doing with their 4 picks in the 2nd round, it's like they're picking from a "Dollar Menu" and McDonalds.
This will be the last bit of NBA action that we'll see for a long while. With NBA Owners and Players Association being miles apart on the upcoming new Collective Bargaining Agreement (supposedly even further apart than the NFL), we may not be seeing any NBA games till the earliest January 2012. Which means there will be no Summer Leagues in Orlando or Las Vegas, all players will be locked out of team facilities and more importantly no one will be getting paid. It's definitely going to suck for the Class of 2011 rookies, to be drafted and not get paid. Many of them may have been better off staying in school.
So soak it ALL in tomorrow night because it looks like it's going to be a LONG offseason full of NBA Games reruns on NBA TV.
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