Several reasons why the NBA Draft is inferior to the NFL Draft

by Dan Kadar on Jun 27, 2009 4:26 PM EDT

Watching the NBA Draft, it's clear why the NFL Draft is the premier player selection process.

That's saying a lot considering Chris Berman has nothing to do with the NBA Draft. Let's ponder the reasons why the NFL Draft is superior:

1. The wait is the hardest part: It seems like just about every player in the NBA Draft will need time to develop. Seemingly only about five for 10 of the guys drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft will make an impact as a rookie. Almost no second round picks will matter ever. If I drank every time Jay Bilas talked about a guy needing to develop, my body would be decaying by pick 15.

2. Week night: Really, having a draft on a Thursday night is a bad idea. It's too tempting to just watch reruns of The Office and 30 Rock. Hopefully the NFL doesn't change formats so drastically and has the first rounds of the draft on week nights.

3. Bilas is no Kiper: Jay Bilas is an excellent college basketball analyst. But he's not a presence like Mel Kiper. The other nice about Kiper is that he doesn't seem to have an agenda. Sure, he prefer Maryland and the Baltimore Ravens, but Bilas overtly praises the ACC. Jeff Van Gundy and Marc Jackson, however, are outstanding.

4. Too soon: Didn't the Los Angeles Lakers win the championship a week and a half ago? One of the best parts of the NFL Draft is the anticipation between the Super Bowl and the last week of April.

5. Rodrigue Beaubois: David Stern couldn't even correctly say the name of the 25th overall pick. Beaubois will probably never play in the NBA and he was a first-round pick. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia page!

6. Ric Bucher: Seriously, what's that guy made of, wax?

7 Picks for sale: Need some cash? Sell away your future. Just like a hooker!

8. So many in attendance: Really, why was Christian Eyenga, the 30th overall pick at Radio City Music Hall? Even Stern seemed puzzled watching the Congo native lumber through the crowd.

9. The lottery: Not rigged at all.

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Comments

Point By Point.

1) This is absolutely true. The NFL is fortunate to have the quickest turn around of prospects to impact the highest level.
2) This is an easy fix and one that I hope the NBA will enact sooner rather than later.
3) I like Bilas more than I like Kiper. The thing about that comp is that Jay is a college basketball guy covering the draft, while Mel is just a draft guy. Jeff Van Gundy is quickly becoming the John Madden of NBA announcers, which means many will love/like him and I hate him. Marc Jackson is just blah.
4) They should make more time between the end of the postseason and the draft, but at least this helps NBA teams avoid the zone in which the NFL is at – where combines and workouts are overshadowing seasons of production or lack their of.
5) Didn’t the Falcons select some kid named “Faver” at some point? Beaubois has been compared to Leandro Barbosa, so I think he’s got the goods to at least show up in the NBA at some point.
6) Meh.
7) Selling picks and the like is a by-product of the soft-cap system in play in the NBA. It’s also due to the extremely limited roster space on teams.
8) Honestly, I’d rather have too many guys there so that there isn’t a Brady Quinn moment. Ideally, none or all would be there…
9) Maybe at some point, but how do you explain Oklahoma City not getting the #1 pick and Sooner star Blake Griffin if that was the case? That’s a rebuilding franchise in a new city with a solid enough shot at winning the lotto that could have used the hometown kid.

"A player who conjugates a verb in the first person singular cannot be part of the squad, he has to conjugate the verb in the first person plural. We. We want to conquer. We are going to conquer. Using the word 'I' when you're in a group makes things complicated." ~ Wanderley Luxemburgo, 1999

by ejruiz on Jun 28, 2009 12:52 AM EDT reply actions

Not to berate the NFL

I’ll go through this point by point and throw in some of my points later.

1) It seems like the NFL is the outlier in the “Big 3” sports. Major League Baseball teams usually take a couple of years to let players develop, but I think that is due to the large number of teams that are in the minor leagues. I think that each MLB team has like four or five minor league teams. There are just a ton of professional baseball players. The NBA does have some immediate impact players, but like you said, most teams do take time to develop their players.

2) I personally don’t mind that the NBA draft is on a weeknight, but then again I don’t have any reason to wake up before like noon so I could stay up as long as it takes. Also, the NBA draft only takes a handful of hours, not two days.

3) I don’t care for many ESPN “analysts”, I feel as though I can do better. I mean I know that the Memphis Grizzlies is a team that needs talent, and I don’t think that Matt Jones is the best player from his draft.

4) I like that the NBA draft is before their free agency period and think that it is nice to get it out of the way.

5) I don’t know anything about the player, but it seems like the talent overseas for basketball is ridiculously better than the talent overseas for football. I’m sure that if there were football players overseas that could play in the NFL, sometimes their names would be mispronounced too. It was a tough name.

6) Who?

7) Agree with ejruiz. Plus I’m jealous because MLB can’t trade picks.

8) I don’t have a problem with it. If I was going to be drafted, I would want to be there too.

9) The lottery, while dumb, adds some intrigue for teams that aren’t in the playoffs during the playoffs. But, yeah, it needs to go.

One thing that the NFL can learn from the NBA is the five minute time limit per pick. C’mon. The first twenty teams have four months to decide on who to take. If you can’t figure it out in that amount of time then you probably shouldn’t be an NFL executive. I think that I can make a good pick in fifteen minutes just by watching ESPN during the time between the Super Bowl and the draft. I mean you can throw up tent mock drafts in that amount of time, I should think that an NFL executive with a full staff at his disposal can make at least one before the draft.

by rg scorch on Jun 28, 2009 3:33 AM EDT reply actions

about point number 4

it does make sense…nfl draft, college players done playing in january and draft in april…a 4 month wait pretty much

in nba, they end in march and draft in june…3 month wait…so wait is a lil less but its just how the seasons work out…its not like ht coollege players just ended there seasons…they have been waiting for a while…

by EveryHoustonTeamRox! on Jul 1, 2009 6:14 PM EDT reply actions

1. Age. In the NFL you have to be three years removed from high school so you’re more developed while the others take you out of high school or in the NBA after one year. In the NHL you can draft a player and let him develop in college then come play in the league or in the minors (which I’m in favor of all sports doing).

2. The NFL is the only weekend draft. The others all start on weekdays.

3. I don’t like how ESPN has Chad Ford as their draft guy but is nowhere to be found on draft night which I don’t understand he does their chats and the combine but not the draft? if they employ Lou Holtz to do the NFL draft I’m switching to the NFL network.

4. I like the draft sooner. The anticipation of any draft kills me. It’s like crack I need it NOW! Hell lets have it now.

5. Let’s hear Goodell say Ndamukong Suh.

6. Yes I do believe he is.

7. If you can’t afford a 1st round pick you should probably sell the team. I’m talking to you Robert Sarver.

8. I agree they don’t need to be there. By the way ejruiz there was a worse Brady Quinn situation, in the 1998 draft Rashard Lewis lasted to the second round. Seeing a high school kid who supposedly was promised by his hometown team to take him with one of their three 1st round picks and didnt just sit there was emotional. Brady Quinn has NOTHING on Rashard Lewis.

9. Completely rigged. I love my Bulls but no way in hell did we deserve Derrick Rose although I’m glad don’t get me wrong. I think they do it to prevent “tanking” which is understandable.

Draft guru in training.

by tj.hendricks on Jul 19, 2009 5:11 AM EDT reply actions