There's been some talk that bloggers and a Lexington, Ky., TV station have made reports that Florida head basketball coach Billy Donovan will take over the vacant head coaching position at the University of Kentucky.

I understand Kentucky has a storied history, what with seven national titles and countless all-americas. But that mystique is gone. The Kentucky job isn't the "it" job in college basketball anymore. If it was, coaches would be flocking to Lexington to visit with UK officials to talk about the position.

Donovan would be insane to give up what he has in Gainesville. He's on the verge of winning back-to-back national titles, a feat that hasn't been reached since Christian Laettner was relevant, Grant Hill had a high-top fade and 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners still hung from the rafters in Ann Arbor. Yes, Florida is and will always be a football school. I could understand Donovan possibly wanting to make the move to be The Man at a high profile basketball school. Donovan has more appearances in the Final Four the last seven years, three, than UK has in the last nine, one.

While it's perplexing to determine why Donovan would leave Florida, it should be no secret why Kentucky is hot on Donovan's trail.

Florida and Donovan have beaten Kentucky six straight times. No other coach or school can say that. That has to eat at everyone in Lexington, from admistrators, to coaches, to players and fans. I've learned Kentucky backers seem to have a sense of entitlement when it comes to basketball. How else can you explain the firing of a coach, Tubby Smith, who averaged 26 wins a season in Lexington. Smith's dismissal, to me, is the equivalent of Oklahoma letting Bob Stoops go.

You can't tell me that had Tubby won at least two of those six meetings with the Gators, Smith wouldn't still have his job? John Cooper won 10 games  a year in Columbus, but he couldn't beat Michigan. He was let go because of that. That's not to say OSU pursued Lloyd Carr, but the reason behind the dismissals seem to run along the same lines.

Of course, Donovan should listen to the offer. But he'd be an idiot to leave what he has built. Kentucky should go another route, though, and not try to steal a coach because it can't beat him.

             It's rare the fanbase of a team that had a high draft pick at the end of a season and won a title the following season would want to see a draft redone, but that's exactly what Detroit Pistons fans have been clamoring for since David Stern walked up to the podium June 26, 2003, in the Theater at Madison Square Garden and uttered the now infamous words, "...the Detroit Pistons select...Darko Milicic...."

All I've heard from countless fans, who have seen the guys drafted around Darko become all stars, Olympians and contributors on playoff teams, is things like, "We coulda had (insert all-world player's name here)."

Sure, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars had plenty of options with the pick, which the team got by way of a trade involving Otis Thorpe (!). His team just finished up a campaign where it won 50 games and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Detroit had a solid backcourt (Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton), a blossoming swingman (Tayshaun Prince), a defensive beast in Ben Wallace and a bench that featured solid veterans (Corliss Williamson and Jon Barry).

What the Pistons needed was a four man to complete their starting lineup. They would acquire that power forward, but not through the draft. Detroit picked up Rasheed Wallace after the 2004 all-star break and rode its starters to the 2004 NBA title.

Two-and-a-half seasons later, Ben Wallace is in Chicago, Billups may opt out of his contract, Rasheed Wallace isn't getting any younger and the bench is thin. This is where the Darko pick would come in handy, right? You'd think, in his fourth season, Milicic would have turned into a solid, nightly contributor in Motown, right? Well, Darko was traded, along with expendable point guard Carlos Arroyo, to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato (no longer with the Pistons), and a top-five protected 2007 draft pick or a top-two protected '08 pick.

So let's play a game of "what if." The '03 draft turned out to be one of the deepest in history, being mentioned in the same breath as the '84 draft (Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton) and the '96 draft (Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Stephon Marbury, Jermaine O'Neal). Darko was the second pick on the '03 edition of the draft. The second pick in the other star-studded drafts hasn't panned out how GMs and owners hoped. Sam Bowie's 10-year career was injury filled and Marcus Camby (selected number two by the Toronto Raptors in 1996) has turned into a serviceable big man, but not what Isiah Thomas hoped when he drafted him.

Waiting a few years to re-do or grade a previous draft is always a good idea, IMO. Who would have thought Josh Howard and Leandro Barbosa would have turned into stars after their rookie campaigns?

Number one in 2003 was a no-brainer. Cleveland was set to take LeBron James with the first selection. It gets interesting past that point, though, so we'll start with the second pick. The draftees' original spot is in parentheses.

 

 

1.      Cleveland Cavaliers - LeBron James (1), St. Vincent/St. Mary's High School. Original pick: James

2.      Detroit Pistons - Chris Bosh (4), Georgia Tech.  A number of people have said Detroit should have taken Carmelo Anthony here, but the Pistons already had a small forward in Prince. Dwyane Wade may have fit here, too, but his minutes may have been minimal behind Hamilton and Billups. Many people have said Milicic didn't display any passion or work ethic, which led to him not getting any burn. I think Bosh, Anthony and Wade would have earned some PT. Original pick: Darko Milicic

3.      Denver Nuggets - Dwyane Wade (5), Marquette. We all know Denver took Anthony in the spot four years ago. The 2006 Finals MVP could have worked out for the Nuggets, though. With the 46th pick, Denver could have chosen the undrafted Udonis Haslem, Wade's teammate in Miami or the undrafted Marquise Daniels. Haslem has stayed healthy throughout his career, which is more than I can say for Nene. Haslem may have not commanded a $60 million deal the way Hilario did, either. Original pick: Carmelo Anthony

4.      Toronto Raptors - Carmelo Anthony (3), Syracuse. Could drafting Anthony have kept Vince Carter in Canada? We'll never know, but this pick could have given the Raptors a wing tandem for the ages. Haslem was also still on the board when Toronto picked again at 52. Original pick: Bosh

5.      Miami Heat - Josh Howard (29), Wake Forest. The best defensive player on the list takes a huge jump from his original position. I don't know if Howard would have led the Heat to the second round of the playoffs the way Wade did his rookie season, but Howard's all-around, unselfish game would have meshed well with Shaq, assuming O'Neal would have still signed with the Heat. Milwaukee point guard Mo Williams was available at 33, as well. Original pick: Wade

6.      Los Angeles Clippers - Chris Kaman (6), Central Michigan. Kaman was selected here by the Clippers in the '03 draft. He fit a need with the departure of former number one pick Michael Olowokandi. Kaman parlayed a couple solid seasons into a $50 million re-up before injuries put him on the shelf for much of the current season. Original pick: Kaman

7.      Chicago Bulls - Kirk Hinrich (7), Kansas. Hinrich was originally selected here by the Bulls in 2003. The Jayhawk fit a need after '02 pick Jay Williams pulled a Rothlesberger before you could call it that. Hinrich has been a key cog in the Bulls' resurgence, helping lead the team to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Original pick: Hinrich

8.      Milwaukee Bucks - T.J. Ford (8), Texas. Ford was selected here by Milwaukee and fit a need following the departure of Sam Cassell to Minnesota and Gary Payton to the Lakers. Ford was having a solid rookie campaign (7.1 ppg, 6.5 apg) before he suffered a neck injury. Ford was traded to Toronto for Raptors 2006 lottery pick Charlie Villanueva. Ford has piloted Toronto to the top of the Atlantic division and the three-seed in the Eastern Conference. Original pick: Ford

9.      New York Knicks - David West (18), Xavier. The 6'9," 240-pound West had a quiet first two years with the Hornets, but West had a breakout season last year, averaging 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field. Yes, I'm sure having Chris Paul helped, but West seems like a hard worker who'll do anything to make it in the League. Original pick: Michael Sweetney

10.  Washington Wizards

11.  Golden State Warriors

     Either of these spots could have gone to two players: Boris Diaw (21) and Luke Walton (32). Diaw couldn't get off the bench in Atlanta, yet he has been a major part of a Phoenix team that has re-introduced "Showtime" to the masses, even garnering Most Improved Player honors at the end of the 2005-06 season. Starting at center for Phoenix that season in the playoffs, Diaw averaged 18.7 points, 6.7 boards and 5.2 assists. Walton has blossomed into one of the better all-around young players in the league. His adept passing skills have been put on display in Phil Jackson's triangle offense. In 48 games this season, Walton has more than doubled his career scoring (5.1 to 11.4 ppg), and assists per game averages (2.3 to 4.5). The original picks in these slots, Jarvis Hayes and Michael Pietrus, have shown flashes at time, but haven't played at the level of Diaw and Walton. Original picks: Jarvis Hayes (Wash.) and Michael Pietrus (GSW)

12.  Seattle Supersonics - Udonis Haslem, Florida. I considered slotting Darko here, but Seattle has had a pension to take bangers the last few years (Reggie Evans, trading for Chris Wilcox). Haslem went undrafted in 2003, after playing overseas in 2002, but has worked his way into the starting PF spot in South Beach for the foreseeable future. Haslem isn't flashy, but he's a big body who isn't afraid to mix it up in the post. It also helps that he can hit an 18-foot jumper consistently. Original pick: Nick Collison

13.  Memphis Grizzlies - Leandro Barbosa, Brazil. As of March 27), Barbosa is averaging 17.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 32.4 minutes per game. Barbosa is widely considered at the favorite to wint he Sixth Man of the Year award. The speedy Barbosa could start on a number of teams, but he's happy with his role in Phoenix. Ironically, one of his teammates, Marcus Banks, was selected in this spot originally. Banks rarely sniffs the court in Phoenix. Original pick: Marcus Banks

Yes, the fortunes of a number of teams could have been changed had the draft when as I see it. But, hey, hindsight is 20/20. Can you imagine a lineup of Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Bosh? The Chris Webber deal would have been uncalled for, or Webber would have been relegated to a sixth man role. Now, Detroit has to worry about losing its starting power forward and center in a year or two. I can see Piston fans using old battery acid for eyedrops.

But they're not the only people I'm worried about. With the number of second overall picks that have done squat in the League (Bowie, Steve Stipanovich and Milicic come to mind), I'm going to say a prayer for both Greg Oden and Kevin Durant on draft night.

Sorry, Brendan Wright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's the most famous phrase I have been subjected to at numerous points of my life. After that fight Saturday night-let's not call it a brawl, please-I had an inkling that the inevitable suspension of NBA leading scorer Carmelo Anthony would push the Nuggets to swing a deal for Allen Iverson to stay afloat in the tough Western Conference. Well, it happened. Allen Iverson, who spent 10-plus seasons as a Sixer; who suffered countless bumps, bruises and injuries for that team; who, along with head coach Larry Brown, willed a team of cast-offs and journeymen to the 2001 NBA Finals; who, like Kevin Garnett, had become disgusted with the less than mediocre cast he had been surrounded with, is now a Denver Nugget. The West just became that much more interesting. The trade just went down, and all I'm hearing from talking heads is that AI won't get along with George Karl. I can understand the reasoning behind that: Old School and New School, yada, yada, yada; but think about this: who'd Sixers GM Billy King enlist as a consultant in his mission to trade The Answer? Brown. Larry Brown was hired as a consultant in Philly last week to help in the trade process. The same Larry Brown who, supposedly, couldn't deal with Iverson during his tenure in Philadelphia. Why do I bring this up? It's connected to the color of Iverson's new uni. Carolina Blue. Karl and Brown are boys from Tobacco Road. Brown saw that Karl would be losing his two leading scorers, Anthony for 15 games and J.R. Smith for 10, so he decided to help his boy out a bit. You don't think Brown, Iverson and Karl haven't been on three-way already working things out? Iverson will be able to thrive in the more wide open West. Honestly, he could still have more mileage left on his body if this deal had been made a couple years ago. This deal should help Denver stay alive in the West playoff race until Melo comes off his suspension, and I don't think he and AI will have trouble meshing together once the latter returns. Anthony, only in his fourth year in the league, will be the best player Iverson has been paired with. The difference between he and the likes of Larry Hughes and Jerry Stackhouse is that Melo really doesn't need the ball at all times to be effective. His game has changed this season. He is less reliant on his J and more willing to hit the post and body his man for a high-percentage shot. He's willing to bang in lieu of staying on the perimeter. I don't think putting the two together will get Denver to the finals. I'm not even sure it can propel them past Utah in the Northwest Division. But would you want to see (likely) two of the top 5 scorers in the game in a seven-game series? That's thinking a little far ahead. What about some of the great individual match ups this gives us for the next couple years. Iverson/Paul Iverson/Nash Iverson/Davis Iverson/Parker Iverson/Alston (for the streetball heads) This move could jumpstart AI's career. It also signals Philly's willingness to "start over" for the second time in 14 years. Remember what happened after Charles Barkley left the City of Brotherly Love for the Land of the Rising Sun in '92. Philly didn't sniff the playoffs for nearly a decade. Who was it that brought the Sixers out of the ashes? The Little Dude with the cornrows. Now he's gone, too. I wonder if the League will freeze the envelope for Philly like they did for the Knicks in '85.

NOTE: Let me get this out of the way. I graduated from MSU, but this isn't me giving it to U of M fans. It's fact. I won't lie, though, just as much as Michigan fans wanted John L's "reign" at State to continue, I hope Tommy Amaker becomes Ann Arbor's version of Joe Paterno. Anyway... The University of Michigan has a motto. "The leaders and the best." Their fight song has a line that reads, "The champions of the west." But the school's fans aren't champions when it comes to supporting their hoop squad. Last season, U of M (22-11, 8-8 Big Ten) ran a two games for one ticket special. At one point in the 2005-06 Big Ten season, the school was giving away NASCAR paraphernalia to get people to come watch a game at Crisler. In a year where it was thought that Tommy Amaker's crew was primed to get a ticket to The Dance, the Wolverines had just four sellouts (13,751 "fans")--UCLA, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Indiana on Senior Day--in 16 home games. The Victors had two other near sellouts: 12,788 for Ohio State and 13,164 for Illinois. In three home NIT contests, 7,257 butts were in the Crisler Arena seats. U of M was going for its second NIT title in three years. It's not a national championship, but it's better than what they were during the Avery Queen/Josh Moore era. How does a program that has such a great history fall to this level? How does a university that produced Cazzie Russell and the Fab Five* drop off of the face of the basketball globe? I know the school had numerous sanctions and investigations. I know Go Blue had to get rid of some banners. I know Maurice Taylor can't step foot on the campus until 2012. What I don't know is why people don't turn out for the games. It can't be because of a small fan base. Around these parts--I live in Westland, which is about 20 minutes east of A-squared--Go Blue is king. I go out to watch MSU games and cheer for my alma mater and I'm one of maybe three or four Spartans in the joint. I know an entire family from Clarkston that has season tickets to both the Big House and Crisler. No one in the family ever misses a game, not even the 80-something Grandma. They drive at least an hour to every game. One of those family members holds a degree in supply chain management from Michigan State. I can't say she hates State's sports teams, but she doesn't really cheer for them. She thinks she holds no ties to the school on the Red Cedar River. On numerous occasions I've told her she should have just gone to Michigan. Her athletic allegiance would make much more sense that way. Not all Wolverine fans, or fans of several schools, are like this, though. I hear so many people say, "I'm just a football fan." And from mid-October on, State fans say, "I can't wait 'til basketball season." If you're going to support a school, support it all year round, not just during the fall or the winter. I don't consider those people real fans, though. I don't get it. Fans of the winged helmet will fly, drive, bike or walk miles to watch Chad Henne and Mike Hart play in a bowl game. But the school that sells the most merchandise in the country can't get 14,000 people to go watch a basketball game? It hasn't gotten much better since last spring, either. Through nine home games this season, the team that starts Dion Harris at point guard (!!!) draws a little more than 8,400 people a contest. The Wolverines couldn't even draw 9,000 for a matchup with Eastern Michigan, which is 15 minutes away from the U of M campus. Go Blue's two biggest crowds? About 9,500 for Delaware State, and 9,078 for Maryland-Baltimore County. None of these games took place during finals week. I don't think some huge snowfall has hit Washtenaw yet this year. So what's the problem? I know the numbers are down a little at Breslin this year, too, but this is awful. Purdue and Penn State finished in the bottom three of the Big Ten last year. A game between those two bottom feeders drew 12,664 fans to Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. What does that say about the U of M "fan base?" Not much. And a lot at the same time.

After coming out of the gate at 0-4, the Dallas Mavericks downed the Minnesota Timberwolves, 93-87, for their 10th straight win. So much for that "Finals Hangover." Yes, there seemed to be some cause for concern about the Mavs coming out of the block. After a tough opening night loss to San Antonio, Dallas followed that with a 31-point loss to Houston, a three-point L to Golden State and former head coach Don Nelson and an 18-point loss to the L.A. Clippers, who are currently mired in an early season funk themselves. There was no concern in Mavs' camp, though. No blog entries from owner Mark Cuban. No public tirades from the Little General, head coach Avery Johnson. Dallas has found its groove. During this streak, the Mavs have won pretty, scoring 119, 115 and 111 in wins over Phoenix, Memphis and Chicago, respectively. The've also came out on top in some battles - an 85-73 win over New Orleans/Oklahoma and an 89-84 W over the Grizzlies. Dirk Nowitzki - 27 ppg during the run - and the rest of Johnson's crew have shown that the touhgness he has instilled in the group hasn't subsided. It runs deep. Dallas could have easily folded when it lost Josh Howard for eight games early on, but instead, the Mavs went 7-1 without their swingman. After years of being stuck in purgatory, Dallas has officially become a playoff team, meaning the regular season is somewhat insignificant. That is a term that has been reserved for teams such as the Pistons and Spurs, but the Mavs have crashed that party. The streak could continue for the better part of the week. Dallas' next four are against Toronto, Sacramento, at Washington and at New Jersey. Not exactly four teams setting the world on fire right now. It gets a little tougher after that, as the Mavs host Detroit, who I picked to face off with Dallas in the '07 Finals, Dec. 7. That test is followed by a home meet with Denver and league-leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, a matchup at 12-3 Utah and a home contest with noted Mavs killer Kobe Bryant - 62 points in three quarters last January - and the Lakers. Those are four tough tests, no doubt. But I can't see Dallas being phased by anything else this season considering how the campaign began. Even at 0-fer for the first week of the season, I knew the Mavs would come out of that spell and remain one of the L's best. It's safe to say they knew it, too.