The NBA Blog Cloud and the Spurs Draft Picks

Every now and then I like to look in on what the general consensus on something is.  Sometimes I’m blown away, for instance the enduring popularity of American Idol is something that I just can’t get my brain around.  Sure, I watched the first season, but about the time that Justin and Kelly were partying on the beach in their ill-fated movie, I moved on Dawg…like one-hundred million percent on Dude!

Most times though, I get why people think what they think, especially when the group I’m looking in on knows a thing or two about the issue at hand.  I guess you can consider the NBA Blogosphere a somewhat enlightened group when it comes to B-ball (your humble writer excluded of course), so they are as good a group as any to survey and maybe come away with a better idea of what the Spurs will being doing on Draft night this year…it’s a long shot of course, but maybe we find a nugget or shred of information that makes us all that much smarter about something.

So here’s what I did.  I reviewed just shy of 30 mock drafts from different sorts of sites, small ones, large ones, known ones, and unknowns.  So here’s what I found out.  Some 43% of mock drafts have the Spurs selecting a Small Forward with the #20 pick.  The most popular Small Forward in that group was Damion Jones with almost 29% of the guesses.  Does that really tell us anything we don’t already know?  Nah, not really, I think we all realize the Spurs are light in the SF department, and that DJ just might be a good fit down in SAtown.  Let’s hope the Front Office is thinking the same way we all are (on the SF front, not necessarily the DJ tip)…unless they are thinking in a much grander manner that could result in a higher pick, or someone falls into their laps like Blair or Splitter.

As for the Second Round pick, the most common trend I saw was the selection of a project big man (Parakhouski, Harangody, Prestes, Raduljica) though the sample size was smaller because a lot of mocks don’t get into the wild, erratic nature of the Second Round.  One interesting selection I saw was Jordan Crawford at #49.  If this dude is still available, I would think it would be a no-brainer to nab him, but I doubt that happens.

I’ll wrap up by sharing a bit more of my findings.  The most common names guessed at #20 by my fellow bloggers  were: Damion James, Larry Sanders (14%), Luke Babbitt (11%), Solomon Alabi (11%), Paul George (7%), Stanley Robinson (7%).  I think we would all be very happy if one of these names pops up on Draft Night.  Some of the other names I say were: Avery Bradley, Eric Bledsoe, Craig Brackens, Elliot Williams, and James Anderson.

So in conclusion, what I thought might be a valuable exercise most likely was a waste of time, because I seriously doubt the Spurs pick the one player that they could have scouted night-in and night-out in Austin.  They are much more likely to pluck someone out of obscurity to show the rest of the world just how smart they are.  Honestly, as long as they don’t draft Dwayne Schintzius 2.0, I’ll be happy

Business in the front, party in the back