With no surprise and being on the clock since winning the draft lottery, the New Orleans Hornets drafted Kentucky’s Anthony Davis. Davis was last years AP Player of the Year, leading his Kentucky Wildcats to a National Championship victory. Davis will look to help the Hornets regain some confidence after a rough 21-45 season. Although Davis is defensively NBA ready, he will need to develop his offensive game to help make a bigger impact on both ends of the court.

The second pick of the draft belonged to the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats finished the 2011-2012 season with the worst winning percentage in league history. With their pick, the Bobcats drafted another Kentucky star, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. This was the first time ever that the top two picks of the NBA draft were from the same school.

Washington was able to land Florida guard Bradley Beal with the third pick in the draft. The freshman guard has been compared to current NBA star and future Hall of Famer, Ray Allen.

Cleveland, who had their eyes on Beal, settled with Syracuse sophomore guard, Dion Waiters. This was a shock to some, considering Waiters did not start a single game for Syracuse last year, but should have an immediate impact for the Cavaliers.

Sacramento fans should be thrilled after drafting Kansas forward, Thomas Robinson. Through all the off court tragedy Robinson dealt with, he still led the nation with 27 double-doubles averaging 17.9 points per game and 11.8 rebounds.

Guard Damian Lillard from Webber State was drafted 6th by the Portland Trail Blazers. Lillard averaged 24.5 points per game, 2nd in the country. Lillard faces a tremendous amount of scrutiny based on the college competition he encountered. However, the 6’3 guard will look to make a quick impact for the Blazers.

Harrison Barnes, North Carolina forward, was drafted 7th by the Golden State Warriors. Barnes led the Tar Heels in scoring last season, averaging 17.4 points per game.

The second surprise of the draft was the Toronto Raptors’ 8th pick, Washington sophomore guard Terrence Ross. Ross, an excellent shooter, was not expected to be drafted so early; however, he can definitely make an impact on the Raptors 28th ranked offense.

Detroit decided to go big with their pick, drafting Connecticut center Andre Drummond. There is concern about Drummond’s youth, being only 18. Also, it was a bit of a surprise considering Detroit already has a young center, Greg Monroe.

The Hornets were back on the clock with the 10th  pick of the draft, and added Duke guard Austin Rivers. Rivers led Duke in scoring an average of 15.5 points per game. Rivers will likely play an important role off the bench behind current Hornet, Eric Gordon.

The Hornets can easily claim to be this year’s draft winners. Combining Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers with Eric Gordon gives the Hornets hope for a very bright future.

July 1st marks the 2nd day of excitement for organizations to make a push from being a good team to becoming an elite team with free agency.

Check out the rest of Round 1 and Round 2

Image Courtesy of  Anthony Davis

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David Stern would never openly admit it to us. Nope, no commissioner would ever even publicly hint at a sense of displeasure, anger or absolute frustration regarding which franchise just received the number one pick in the upcoming draft – especially when that pick is projected to be an absolute can’t-miss superstar the way Kentucky’s Anthony Davis is.

But let’s be real about this; the New Orleans Hornets winning the NBA Draft Lottery on Wednesday night was Stern’s worst nightmare come to life.

If you compound the never before seen sequence of events that took place involving the Hornets and their elite point guard Chris Paul just before this abbreviated 66 game season got underway with the all-time historically atrocious struggles of the Charlotte Bobcats during 2012, nothing could make Stern look shadier to the league’s ever so skeptical fan base, which is now crying out conspiracy.

It all began way back in early December when Stern – thinking not as the impartial commissioner, but rather as the Hornets owner due to the league having control over the franchise at the time – shockingly pulled the plug on a blockbuster three team deal between New Orleans, the L.A. Lakers, and the Houston Rockets for what he justified as “basketball reasons.”

The trade would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers, seven foot forward Pau Gasol to the Rockets, and forward Lamar Odom, guards Goran Dragic and Kevin Martin, forward Luis Scola and the Rockets’ 2012 first round draft pick to the Hornets.

Stern expressed that the transaction was “not in the best interest of the Hornets,” but given that the pieces offered included an immediate first round pick and four players that have proven that they possess very solid NBA talent over the years, no one cared to buy that explanation.

The Lakers said they would work to sweeten the deal in order to completely appease New Orleans; however, Los Angeles’ other basketball team, the Clippers, began to show interest in acquiring Paul.

And from that very moment Stern’s level of trust amongst viewers has inevitably taken the mother of all nosedives.

At this point fans everywhere knew that if the Clippers – the most insignificant team in the Los Angeles sports scene since moving to the city only a handful of decades ago – went on to win this battle, it would be for a reason. What would it be exactly? To finally make them relevant and actually add some spice to a Lakers-Clippers ‘rivalry’ that has always been conquered by the Kobe Bryant-led purple and gold.

So when the Clippers did get Paul for guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 2012 first round draft pick, that only added fuel to their argument. How does that trade sound any better than the one the Lakers and Rockets put together? Oh, that’s right, it doesn’t. Not to mention the fact that the Hornets had to ship off two future second round picks of their own in this deal.

All that did was give the appearance that Stern was attempting to rig the power balance in the West for years to come. The Clippers had their best season in franchise history, finishing fifth in the conference at 40-26. Meanwhile, the Hornets closed out the season with a record of 21-45 – tied for third-worst in the entire league.

Gordon did only participate in nine games all year long with a bone bruise in his knee, so it’s unsure how the team would have performed with him out there consistently. However, he can leave the team this offseason as a free agent, something that should have kept the Hornets from desiring him in the first place.

Farouq Aminu only averaged an inadequate six points and 22 minutes per game this season, and Kaman’s struggles got to a point where the team discussed sending him home or releasing him.

There’s a great likelihood that the team would not have had such turmoil had they just gone through with the initial Paul trade. Odom did have the worst season of his career in 2012, as a result of personal issues stemming from both being a trade piece and a rough offseason, but other than that, Martin, Dragic, and Scola averaged 17.1, 11.7 and 15.5 points per game, respectively.

The Rockets also missed the playoffs by a mere two games, as they posted a 34-32 record.

On top of all this, the team with the worst winning percentage of all-time, the Bobcats at .106, didn’t win the draft lottery? You’re kidding, right?

Too bad Stern can’t force the Hornets to give the pick to the Bobcats. He definitely wanted to after the process made him look like a complete sham.

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Search dogs picked up and followed a suspected gunman’s scent on a road at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the campus chief of police said. Chief David Donaldson stated that the dogs unfortunately lost the suspect’s scent during an overnight search.

Classes have been continuing normally, even though the gunman reportedly fled to the college after a holdup, where he is thought to have escaped by car. The suspect robbed four people at a fast food restaurant and was still on the loose early last Tuesday. Students are allowed to attend classes and walk around the campus freely, but they were told to stay alert and report any suspicious activity they see.

The students that live on campus were advised to lock their doors and be extra cautious. Wilmington police used a K-9 unit and a helicopter to hunt down the criminal, who reportedly wore a red cloth over his face and was carrying a handgun. Extra police officers have been assigned to the campus as well. Dana Fischetti, the school’s spokeswoman, said that instructions were announced that advised students to stay in secure places, not long after the armed robbery.

Two safety alerts were posted on the school’s website, warning students that a gunman may be on campus. The warning was lifted the next day at five in the morning and was used as a “precautionary measure,” according to Donaldson. Police officers canvassed the area and went through the campus’ buildings, including the residence halls.

The college is located on the coastline of North Carolina and is distinguished for its marine research programs. Around 13,000 students attend UNC, and the number has grown since 2002. The school is also sometimes used as a training camp for the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats.

Last August, there was an incident with another gunman on campus. The school’s emergency alert system failed to notify students as the police searched for the suspect of the shooting at a close by apartment complex, which drew concerns from officials at the university. Donaldson had ordered a campus-wide alert to go out through students’ phones and e-mail, but it was never sent.

Officials believe this was due to human error, not a technical difficulty. The university’s emergency alert system also has the ability to interrupt television on campus and alert students through social media outlets. It was first adopted following the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech to alert students of emergencies through many different ways in a minimal amount of time.

KellyNelson / Shutterstock.com

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This year’s NBA draft was an interesting one. Much of the talk going around was that it was a terrible draft in terms of talent. That being said, nobody will really be able to judge any of these players until they are playing in the league for a while, or not playing for that matter.

The draft was also overrun with foreign players compared to any draft of the past. For some reason, people initially give less credit to these players since they haven’t been exposed to the American fans very much. Realistically, we may look back on the 2011 draft as one full of sleepers, but we’ll have to wait for that.

As for now, it seems as if a few teams stood out with the moves they made on Thursday night. Excluding just giving teams credit for being terrible and having top picks, here’s who I thought did the best job on draft day, and they may not be who you think.

Portland Trail Blazers

For me, it all starts with Portland. Far and away the best job on draft day adding players that will immediately have an impact on a team who was already poised to make a deep run in the Western Conference. If not for injuries, Portland may have already found their way to the top of the conference, but now they have some serious firepower. Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez were shopped in a three way trade with the Nuggets and Mavericks. Though both of those players contributed well to the team for years, Portland will be okay without them. Raymond Felton is a great point guard in this league, one that is incredibly underrated. He is a tough defender, great outside shooter, and just flat out knows how to run a team. He brings youth to the point guard position and actually can be a solid two-guard if necessary as he proved last season with Denver. Portland also added Duke guard Nolan Smith and Ohio State guard Jon Diebler in the draft. Smith was one of my favorites in the entire field, and for the life of me I can’t understand why he fell so far. He won a championship at Duke, was a great team leader, and can score the basketball almost as well as any guard that was taken this year. Diebler is deadly from the outside. A Kyle Korver clone, he won’t give you much on the defensive end, but if he gets hot from three, opposing defenses will be in trouble. Not much growth needed here, he’ll be an immediate impact player off the bench. Portland filled in spots that they really needed, got younger, and though they didn’t add any size really, they put pieces around their budding star forward LaMarcus Aldridge to propel them to one of the best rosters around the league. Now they need to do it on the court.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks were disappointing last season to say the least. In 2010 they were able to not only make the playoffs, but make noise there. “Fear the deer” was a motto that was lost last year, but could come back soon after the moves they made. The Bucks made probably the biggest splash of the day by landing Stephen Jackson via trade with the Charlotte Bobcats. Corey Maggette was sacrificed, and though he is a very talented offensive player, he has become somewhat of a trade pawn the past few years. The Bucks were dead last in scoring last year and were absolutely desperate for a shooter to stretch the floor as well as another slasher who could get to the rim and allow Brandon Jennings to be open for more outside jump shots. They got both in Jackson, as well as a great defender. He will prove to have a huge impact on this team, and barring any setbacks, the trio of Jennings, Jackson and Bogut should easily grab a playoff spot. Milwaukee also added Tobias Harris from Tennessee, and Jon Leuer from Wisconsin. Harris is very versatile and should be able to fill in anything they lost in Corey Maggette. As for Leuer, he falls into a similar category as Nolan Smith for me. Not as far as play style goes, but for the intangibles. He found himself in deep runs into the NCAA Tournament with Wisconsin in his years there, and just strikes me as a player who will find his role and contribute in a pro system. I don’t expect either of these guys to be all-stars, but good role players to put around an already solid lineup. Fear the deer next season.

Charlotte Bobcats

So here’s my curveball. Let’s think about this rationally for a second. The Bobcats weren’t going anywhere at all with the team they had. Michael Jordan knew this, and made some of the best decisions in his much criticized front-office career. They traded Gerald Wallace last season, leaving the team destined for a terrible ending to the season. I would have to assume that Jordan had been looking to shop Stephen Jackson for a while now, and only on draft day was he able to find a suitor. Did they get value back for him? Immediate it doesn’t seem so, but let’s look deeper. If a team is trying to completely rebuild for the future, what do they want to do? In the NBA you have two tasks. Get some solid young talent at the hard to find positions, and clear cap space to give yourself some leverage for free agency. They were able to do both in one trade. Corey Maggette is still a solid player in the league, and will at least give fans something to watch for the next two years as their young players develop. Also, he will remain as a trade pawn for them, and an expiring contract in the future which will allow them to have some money to work with coming into a year where the exact cap rules are uncertain. They picked up the number seven pick which they used on Bismack Biyombo from the Congo. He most definitely is all raw athleticism. Standing at 6’9 with an absurd 7’7 wingspan, he will have no problem blocking shots and grabbing rebounds in the league. The Detroit Pistons never minded very much that Ben Wallace couldn’t score the ball when he was winning defensive player of the year awards, and the Bobcats shouldn’t worry either. Maybe it’s a bit early for that comparison, but if he works out, he could be a very nice role player to develop. Now we get to the most underappreciated player in the 2011 draft: Kemba Walker. I can’t say enough about this kid. Talent, heart, quickness, leadership, the list goes on forever. The best player on the best team in the country, and one of the best scorers in the nation to boot somehow slipped to ninth in a so-called weak draft. I will never understand how that happened, but Michael Jordan and the Bobcats will be thanking the top eight teams in the future. He can play on both ends, and will have plenty of time to develop in Charlotte without any unfair immediate expectations. Charlotte was also able to sell their 39th pick, Jeremy Tyler, for cash considerations. Everyone likes cash right? Charlotte is bad for now, but made significant progress on draft night, and now has a definite plan for how they want to go. It’s only a matter of time.

Neither I nor anybody can say who will be good or bad right now in the draft, but speculation is what makes it all fun. These three teams may not be the best in the league, but improved the most in just one night. As I said, time will tell…so long as there is a season next year.

Marty Ellis / Shutterstock.com

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