KU and the NBA Draft

As Rodney Dangerfield used to say, "I can't get no respect." This is how I felt about KU in the 2008 NBA Draft. KU who won the NCAA tournament back in April, didn't have very high draft prospects.

Brandon Rush, drafted at number 13 with the Portland Trailblazers. Then he was later traded to the Indiana Pacers. This is the same team where his brother, Kareem Rush is a player.

We waited for Darrell Arthur's name to be called. ESPN kept showing Darrell waiting and wondering where he was going to. They even did an interview with him. Then it was reported that Darrell had some sort of kidney problem. It got around the league and his draft status dropped all the way down to number 27!! Once he got drafted, he explained to ESPN that was a rumor about his health. As far as he knew he IS healthy. So New Orleans drafted him and traded him to the Portland Trailblazers. Portland has since traded Arthur to Houston. This is close to where he has family. That MAY be a good trade, especially for Arthur.

We thought for sure the Mario Chalmers would be picked in the first round. As that was the talk of the scouts that he would definitely go in the first round. This is why he didn't return for his senior season. Well those scouts, were either worthless or wrong. Mario was chosen in round 2 and was the 34 pick overall. Minnesota drafted him and traded him to the Miami Heat.

The last pick of the first round, went to former KU player, J. R. Giddens. Apparently he is headed to the Boston Celtics. In my opinion, I can't see how Giddens is supposedly a better player than Chalmers. Go figure!

The 52nd pick in the draft (second round) was Darnell Jackson. The Miami Heat picked him up. Now Chalmers and Jackson are teammates again!! Also joining them is former K-Stater, Mike Beasley (who went 2nd in the first round). That should be an interesting team.

Finally, (we cheered on this one) Sasha Kaun was drafted number 56 to the Seattle SuperSonics. Nick Collison plays there in Seattle. It is also rumored that the Seattle team may move to OKC in the near future. Sasha currently is playing in Russia and is making more money there than he would with the NBA. He is also planning on trying out for the Olympic team for Russia. So we may see him play this August.

Five Jayhawks drafted in the NBA this year. Not bad. But the placing of these players seemed just a little low. Other players from other colleges got picked over the KU players. These were players from little known Rider College (Jason Thompson), several foreign players (from Italy, France, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatian, Congo, Turkey, Australia, and Montenegro) were drafted before the KU players. It doesn't make sense.

Hopefully the guys from KU do well in the NBA! I think I am a Miami Heat fan now, IF there are no more trades.