And to premise this a bit, I’m not knocking Delfino’s apparent decision to stay put in Russia just because I think he should be playing in the NBA.  People do what’s best for their situation and, you know, to each his own.

So as I’ve read more and more at different places about Delfino’s Russia-NBA saga I’ve come away with the opinion that Delfino was never really satisfied with playing in the NBA, and was never truely hell-bent on proving that he even had the goods to stick with the big boys for the long haul. That’s what I’ve been most irritated by since the end of the Delfino era in Detroit.  It’s not so much that he’s not playing in the best league in the world, it’s about how he conducted himself while in the NBA that has always irked me.

Something LeOrest published on his blog The Inside really had me thinking, “that sounds about right”.

“Last but not least. it looks as if Carlos Delfino will remain in Russia and not return to the Raptors. He is apparently aggravated that the Raps are ONLY offering him 4 million a year. He wants 5, dead serious. What a guy, does he comprehend that the NBA Salary cap has lowered for the first time in 24 years. This figure does not get the picture when it comes to economic recession does he. Hey Carlos, you only averaged 9 ppg in the NBA and we were playing you 30 minutes. So why don’t you get off your high horse and be thankful for this offer because you deserve less. I say forget about Delfino and get a guy like Matt Barnes, who actually knows his role on a team.”

I especially found the part about knowing your role on a team extremely evident in the case of  Delfino. 

The guy had/has tons of all around skills, but had a swelled ego and a nagging sense of entitlement following him everywhere.  Thus he had little concept of his role on the team.  Or he just could never accept his role for what it was.  Either way, you get the gist.

Remember when Billups took Delfino out to dinner before the 2006 season to ask Delfino  “Are you with us or not“?

That’s never a good sign when a teammate questions your desire like that.

Delfino might have heeded the message for a short time as the above link suggests, but it seems as if not a whole lot has changed in the bigger picture.

2000

1^st, 14th- Mateen Cleaves

2^nd, 44th- Brian Cardinal

Cardinal turned out to have a better career than about half the players drafted in the first round, including Cleaves, sadly.

2001

1^st, 9th- Rodney White

2^nd, 38th- Mehmet Okur

Rodney has not appeared on NBA soil since 2005, mainly because he was allergic to defense, but probably because he’s a few cards short of a full deck too. He has played in places such as Puerto Rico, China, Spain, and Italy. Was waived by Maccabi Tel Aviv (good Euroleague gig) in early December last year.  At least Detroit didn’t get stuck with Kirk Haston, drafted 16th by Charlotte. Now that would have been disastrous…

2002

1^st, 23rd-Tayshaun Prince

On one hand, give it up to him, Tay has a gold medal, he did “The Block”, and he has played more NBA basketball games than anybody else on God’s green earth over the past 6 years or so. On the other hand, it has come down to a simple what have you done for me lately? Answer: You scored how many points and grabbed how many rebounds in the playoffs?!?!?

(faints)

And to think they missed out on Dan Dickau.

2003

1^st, 2nd- Voldemort

1^st, 25th- Carlos Delfino

2^nd, 58th- Andreas Glyniadakis

Voldemort in his earlier days (espncdn.com)

– I used to read Harry Potter. I stopped at like the fourth book.  The above is what I figured Voldemort would look like.  Little did I know…

 – Frankly, Delfino is virtually just like Sasha Pavlovic, but with more attitude, the kind coaches don’t like though (explains his short stay with Detroit). Carlos is one of the most talented players not in the NBA currently, for what it’s worth.

 – Andreas the Greek giant never played a game for Detroit, but he played 13 of them for Seattle, starting 4. I used to have a blast saying Glyniadakis, but eventually ended up just referring to him as the “7 foot Greek guy”, until I forgot about him altogether about 2 years ago.

2004 

2^nd, 54th- Ricky Paulding

And to think they passed on another great Gonzaga point guard (Blake Stepp).

2005

1^st, 26th- Jason Maxiell

2^nd, 56th-Amir Johnson

2^nd, 60th-Alex Acker

– Maxiell saw his numbers and minutes plummet this season. Maxiell’s inability to be a consistent offensive weapon (i.e. hit a jumper) and his lack of size for a power forward really limit his effectiveness against most squads. Maxiell can make up for his shortcomings by playing his absolute hardest, though that’s something that wasn’t seen as much as we would have hoped this past season. I guess babies everywhere are enjoying Max’s relative mellowing, but after a 20 million dollar contract, a mellow Max just does not cut it.

– David Lee and Brandon Bass were available at 26 mind you.

– Sort of unfair to call Amir Johnson a bust at 56, but that’s what it’s coming to. It irks me to think of all the trades Joe D passed up because of Johnson.

–On a random side note, there are plenty of undrafted players in 2005 currently in the league. Some of them include

Jose Calderon, Chuck Hayes, Kelenna Azubuike, Josh Powell, Ronnie Price, Shavlik Randolph, Fabricio Oberto and the one and only Will Bynum.

2006

2^nd, 60th- Will Blalock

Will played a total of 166 minutes with Detroit in 14 games, 166 minutes more than anyone ever thought he would play in the NBA. Call me a stickler but maybe taking a flyer on a tall (taller than 5’11 at least) foreign player would be a better idea than drafting a lil’ point guard with marginal potential. Oh, wait, maybe Joe D just drafted the wrong lil’ point guard instead, considering the lovable and lightning quick Jose Juan Barea was available. Doh!

2007

1^st,15th- Rodney Stuckey

1^st, 27th- Arron Afflalo

2^nd, 57th- Sammy Mejia

Both first round picks look like great value players, especially Arron. Day in and day out you know what you are going to get from him: hard work, a positive attitude, and a will to play defense. The jury is still out on whether he can be more than just a 12-15 minute rotational guy, but like I said, at #27, he was a nice value.

2008

2^nd, 32th- Walter Sharpe

2^nd, 46th-Trent Plaisted

2^nd, 59th- Deron Washington

– Walter Sharpe’s potential is why I wouldn’t draft Austin Daye (topic for a future post). Too many projects already on this team, though Sharpe has the tools in my opinion to be a very solid NBA player, so it may be worth the wait.

– This Deron character can really jump and had Renaldo Balkman type hair at Virginia Tech. Deron played in the Israeli premier league this year, totaling 14.8 ppg (31% from downtown) 7 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 27 games. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the league someday, he sort of reminds me of former Clipper (05-07) and current Mav James Singleton. Singleton played overseas for a few years, improved his jumper, played great defense, won some awards, and overall made a nice impression. Ultimately the key for Deron is if he can improve his shooting.

—–

That wraps it up folks.  Thanks for making it this far.  I’ll post some links and some original 09 draft thoughts in the coming days.

Happy Mocking! 

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