Hollinger Can Be Easy And Love

Hollinger's draft ratings for everybody this year so far, including freshman, just came out. I recommend anybody with interest in the draft reading the whole article immediately. There are a couple of initial things that are shocking about it. But let's get the non-shocker out of the way - Michael Beasley appears to be the best prospect in the draft, despite his rather amazing journeys en route to Manhattan, Kansas. Given the season Beasley is having this should hardly come as a surprise. But mostly everything else about the Hollinger list is unexpected.

First of all Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Eric Gordon, Donte Green and DeAndre Jordan all failed to crack the top 20. GM's - don't let anybody say you weren't warned. All those guys might end up being good players in the NBA - but if you're looking for perennial All-Stars you might want to look elsewhere. In a way I'm not surprised. There has been much talk as of late that this draft is deep but not laden with superstars. The downgrading of these freshman sensations makes sense in such a context (this theory is abetted by these players often not looking as good as advertised when you actually watch them.)

Then we get to the next surprise - #2 and #3 on the list are Blake Griffin and Kevin Love. Griffin I have hardly seen (he looks alright), but Love I had already written off as just being Scalabrine with superior passing skills. Well, I guess I was wrong - a score around 700 is far too high for Scalabrine territory. So welcome back into the lottery, Kevin Love. Meanwhile talk of Jerryd Bayless being actually better than the more highly publicized freshman guards is being backed up by Hollinger's data.

So although Hollinger's list is rather unfinished given that only part of the season has taken place, some rather definitive conclusions can already be taken from it. And while many might find the article misleading, I don't feel that way. It very well might be gospel.