With the #2 or #3 pick the New York Knicks select...

[Jeff Van Gully]

I was pretty bummed about the Knicks tanking the season, just to win a few games down the stretch and hurt their chances at the #1 pick. Still, we had a great chance at picking 2nd or even 3rd, the balls just didn't bounce our way.

i like your question, but this makes no sense. if the balls didn't bounce our way for 2 and 3, they also didn't bounce our way for #1. can't view it both ways. by mathematical definition, winning more games than us did not help the lakers and sixers chances at a higher pick than us. it's in fact, how the balls bounced.

[EDIT: after re-reading the quoted comment, i comprehend better. chances at #1 were hurt, but not #2 and #3, so disregard my comments about that part.]

based on the phil files, it sounds like okafor was #1 on phil's board. probably then towns, then KP, then russell. that's just my guess though. he wanted okafor for the now. towns and KP are guys he sees as future contributors. he liked russell and mudiay in different ways, but russell seemed to have the edge.

i still think the lakers are going to regret taking russell #2. but i applaud them for having the balls to do it.

all this talk about "forced" to take russell is silly, especially for phil. no one doing their jobs in the NBA gives a schidt about what the media and the message board fans think or how they will respond. and thank god they don't.

[moocow007]

Russell struggled because the Lakers were running a ton of poorly constructed Princeton sets that weren't conducive to him thriving in SL. They didn't run him off screens, let him play off ball etc. He had to create almost everything for himself which shouldn't be his role right now. They didn't use him like Ohio State used him. He also shot very poorly, but I think that that was a fluke. Playing with better players should help his game immensely. I'm not going to really judge him until he's had time to adjust to the speed of the game and has a set role. We should know if he's truly a bust by the end of his 2nd season. What I was looking for from these dudes were flashes, and he definitely showed that

I'm not really sure how many Princeton sets they ran though. Most of the time it was Jabari Brown or Julius Randle going one on one and trying to bulldoze their way to the basket. Jabari Brown (especially) was, as I mentioned, channeling his inner Allen Iverson. Statistically looked great but pretty much froze out his teammates almost every time he had the ball. Like I said, that could be a contributing reason that Russell looked so bad. He never got into a groove and didn't get a chance. So, maybe he will improve once he played in a better structured system. But again, he's the 2nd overall pick. He was supposed to be the most ready of all the top guys mentioned. He came in with the biggest attitude of any of the top guys. He should have gone out and showed that attitude and expectation that he came off as being able to do. For him to shrink like he did? Wasn't a good sign. We'll see.

From what I hear on ESPN LA radio, they were running the Princeton offense exclusively on the vast majority of their possessions...which was by design. Mark Madsen was tasked with teaching it to them, and Russell was expected to run a set almost every time down the floor. However, because the offense is really complicated, guys didn't know what spots to be in or when to cut etc so the offense would devolve into dudes like Brown, Clarkson, or Randle trying to go 1 on 1. The expectation is that Russell will look a lot better once he's understood the offense and is also playing with guys who know how to run an NBA offense like Kobe, Hibbert, Bass, and Lou Williams. I thought that the label of most ready was always given to Okafor while Russell was labeled as having the highest upside? He definitely struggled in SL though...no denying that. I also think that he'll struggle a lot in his 1st year, but by the end of his 3rd season I see him averaging at least 15, 5, and 7 on good shooting percentages. The biggest bust to me will be the "steal of the draft" Winslow

Yeah Winslow. Not a fan at all. Wasn't a fan all through his only season at Duke. Not even in the playoffs. Like I said, Winslow isn't the steal of the draft, he's the guy that 9 other GM's passed on. He doesn't have the size or length or top tier athleticism (NBA terms, not college terms) or skill to be what some folks were going crazy on and on about what he could be.