Thaindian News

The year’s lottery winner and the number one pick in the draft was the Los Angeles Clippers team with odds at winning standing at 17.7 percent. They were‚ followed by the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder third, The Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards.

It is believed that the Clippers who get the first overall pick for the third time now will choose Oklahoma sophomore forward Blake Griffin, who is also the National Player of the Year. Griffin, who stands at 6′10″ and weighs 250 lbs, has been described variously as Carlos Boozer in his heydays and Karl Malone. But perhaps he will do justice to the comparisons when he makes it to at least two NBA All-Stars teams. He had had 30 double-doubles last season with an average of 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds for the Sooners is reportedly the best of the lot of players to be picked. 18-year old Ricky Rubio, who stands at 6′4″ and weighs 180 lbs is a point guard from El Masnou, Spain, and is said to be the second-best after Griffin. However Rubio is not comfortable playing as an isolation player, which has become such a crucial point in today’s NBA, and seems shaky with jump shots.

But the team that picks Rubio will perhaps have to show the kind of patience with him that the Toronto Raptors showed with Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani was billed the number one player in 2006, but he has begun to show his full potential only now, three years after he was picked.

The others are barely good enough to be written about. Teams that go with these stand the chance of making mistakes as were seen back in 2005.