Law of the Draft

Just to follow up on the Mike Conley Jr. thing, here's what Acie Law IV had to say today in the Denver Post:

"I think I'm the best point guard, cut and dried," said Law, who averaged 18.1 points and 5.0 assists, leading the Aggies to the NCAA Sweet 16 this past season. "Conley's a great player, I'm not taking anything away from him. He led his team to the national championship. ... But I think he had a lot more help than I did. We're going to get the chance to work out against each other, and we'll prove it on the floor."

This quote is fucking great, I love it. Jack touched on what I meant yesterday when he called Conley no Chris Paul. It's not like Conley can't play, I think he'll be a fine pro, I just don't see him being an all-star. Therefore he shouldn't be a top 5 pick. Playing on a loaded team can make it tougher to evaluate how good a player really is. Conley has always gotten to play with Greg Oden, meaning he is always on winning teams. Everybody talks about what a "winner" Conley is, but when you have Greg Oden I think that helps more than just a little. I think it made Conley's career, because if Conley attended Kansas State this year there is no way we are talking about him being a potential top 10 pick in the 2007 draft. The same corollary can be applied to the Florida team, but in this case it is hard to figure out what it means. Jack loves Brewer. I personally think Noah will be the best pro. The majority seem to like Horford better than either of them. And then there is also Taurean Green and Chris Richard. When a college team is this loaded, and we have seen them so much, how is it we can decide which guys will be the best pros? Not one of them stood out over the others in college, and clearly all of them can play in the NBA - so where does that leave us? Perhaps they are all a bit overrated - or underrated. It reminds me of those Duke teams with Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Carlos Boozer. That was a loaded team - and Boozer ends up getting drafted 35th and is easily the best player of the four.

Back to that quote - I think Acie Law IV is the best point guard in the draft. He's cocky in the best sense, has tons of experience leading an upstart college team, and has been Clutchy McClutch Clutch in college. He seems like a cross between Sam Cassell & Damon Stoudamire. That's the kind of guy you can gamble a top 5 pick on. He's not for the C's though, Ainge said last week Rondo was better than any point guard in this draft, and I agree.