I could have kissed the Penguin.
Check that. I at least could have hugged Bulls GM Jerry Krause for the moves he made–and didn’t make–during Wednesday’s NBA draft. On a stormy night in Chicago, with Sammy So-Long twisting in the trade winds, the sun finally shone on the most criticized man in town.
Way to go, Penguin. You came away with the draft’s most NBA-ready player, with a potential second straight Rookie of the Year, with the one commodity coach Tim Floyd wanted most, with a bona fide, natural-born scorer.
With Darnell Marcus Lamar Fizer, who will have more immediate impact on the Bulls than any other rookie will have on his team. No longer will the Bulls, like Rod Stewart, be stuck in the ’80s. The Bulls [84.8 per game] brought up the NBA rear by a staggering 6.4 points last season. Nineties here they come.
Thank you, Clippers, for taking Darius Miles at No. 3 and leaving Marcus Fizer in Krause’s lap at 4. High-school senior Miles might mature into stardom some day, but that day could be miles and miles away. He continued to blast Krause on Wednesday for making potential draftees take an intelligence test “that was a stupid waste of time. My 10-year-old cousin could have answered those questions.”
Of course, Miles’ test scores failed to qualify him for Division I college basketball. But this all could have been part of agent David Falk’s master plan to con the NBA into drafting Miles as high as No. 1.
As Falk told ESPN Magazine: “We had a potential client whose family didn’t think we could manipulate the draft. Well, we’ll see.”
It wasn’t coincidence that Falk’s No. 1 client, Michael Jordan, began saying very publicly he would take Miles with the first pick. Yet teams that worked out Miles found he couldn’t back up his Iverson-dressing cockiness with his shooting stroke. For now the kid can’t shoot marbles. Maybe he’ll learn to make free throws and 10-foot jumpers, but for the near future he’s more Falk-generated hype than genuine hope.
Thank you, Clippers, for getting clipped again and making Krause’s decision so joyfully simple. “We were pleasantly surprised,” Krause said. At 21, the 6-foot-7-inch, 250-pound Fizer has two tangibles Miles does not: a path-clearing NBA body and the ability to score from anywhere.
As Floyd said recently: “One thing I’ve learned about this league is you have to have a bail-out guy–a guy who can get his shot or get fouled as the shot clock is winding down. Obviously, Michael was the ultimate bailout guy. But that’s our most glaring weakness.”
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No more. Fizer carried a team picked last in the Big 12 to within a bad call of upsetting eventual champ Michigan State at the Spartans’ home-away-from-home, The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Bulls finally have the NBA’s rarest commodity–a player who can draw and beat double-teams.
Moments after Krause took Fizer, TNT commentators Mike Fratello and Charles Barkley were baffled, wondering if Elton Brand would be traded. How, they asked, could two power forwards co-exist? Because they play apple-and-orange games. Brand is a moose who led the league in offensive rebounding. Fizer infuriated former Iowa State coach Floyd and his successor, Larry Eustachy, with his distaste for doing windows and playing defense.
The other day I asked Floyd, whose passion is defense, if he could live with Fizer’s poor rebounding and defending. “Absolutely,” he said, knowing Fizer’s offensive firepower and willingness to improve could neutralize his deficiencies. Floyd is sick of losing 94-84 games.
But now came the cherry on top of Fizer. Is it possible Krause executed this maneuver simply to torture those of us who feared seeing our dinners for a second time if he took 7-foot Chris Mihm? The euphoria over Fizer faded when Krause took his pet stiff Mihm at No. 7. Fifteen long minutes later a trade was announced: Mihm to Cleveland for Jamal Crawford.
Very funny, Jerry.
Many scouts who watched Crawford at Chicago’s NBA’s pre-draft camp were stunned at his point-guard quickness. Pistons personnel director Rick Sund, who runs the camp, said Crawford “showed star potential. His stock has risen faster than anybody’s.”
I even liked the last of Krause’s six picks, 5-9 Khalid El-Amin, who did nothing but lead his high school and college teams to championships. What a night. I give up. Pucker up, Penguin.