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AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS
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AC's Wagercom 2006-2007 NBA Picks Season Record
Wins: 107 Losses: 101 Ties: 2
NBA Picks Winning Percentage: 51%
Record updated Saturdays and Mondays
Contact AC at ac@wagercom.com or post your questions/comments on the Wagercom Message Board
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AC's outlook on the NBA is an entertaining original column featured here at Wagercom. If you are prone to NBA betting or even just an NBA fan, make sure you come back often to read his articles and free NBA Basketball picks against the spread. AC will be providing us with a weekly outlook during the basketball season including free NBA Basketball picks on some of the weekend games each Friday and Saturday.
Our NBA expert AC has had 3 consecutive winning seasons picking NBA games against the spread for a combined 317-281 record yielding a 53% winning percentage which would have won you money including the VIG. AC does this out of the kindness of his heart and for the naked pictures of your girlfriends you send him as a token of your appreciation. So enjoy the columns and the picks..
AC'S NBA DRAFT RECAP & ANALYSIS:
The NBA draft is over and teams have now restocked with young talent for the upcoming season. We saw some gambles (Yi Dingaling), some marginal players slip (Josh McRoberts falling to 37 when he may have been a lottery pick last year), and some draft day trades (Brandan Wright to the Warriors). However, the most exciting news of this draft was Danny Ainge’s desperation move in acquiring Ray Allen (more on this later, in fact about two thousand more words on this later) and Isiah Thomas’ hail mary by giving all of us the gift that keeps giving by bringing Zach “two times anal” Randolph to New York City. Bringing Randolph to New York City is like hiring Michael Jackson to run a boy’s elementary school in Thailand or a Sonoma winery hiring Vin Baker to be their tour bus driver. This is the same Zach Randolph whose High School Coach once said “I just don't want the day to come where I pick up that paper and it says he shot someone, or that he was shot. Every day that goes by that I don't see that, I feel good.” (you can read the whole article here, which is a must). So thank you Isiah for bringing Zach to New York City where it is impossible to get in to trouble, right? This promises to be the best story line in the NBA.
Now on to the picks.
1. Greg Oden-Portland Trailblazers: This was the right pick. Oden is going to be a better pro than he was a college player because both of his wrists will be healthy and he will play hard every night which only about 1/3 of NBA players do. His upside is Hakeem Olajuwon and his downside is Alonzo Mourning, which seems like a more than exemplary range. Add in the fact that he seems like a nice, goofy guy (Mike Conley was quoted at the draft saying when he first met Oden, all Oden wanted to was watch cartoons and Conley “wasn’t down with that”), and the Trailblazers have a phenomenal player with the potential to be a fan favorite. Well done all around.
2. Kevin Durant-Seattle Supersonics: This was probably the easiest pick in the history of the NBA. Beating Gerald Green in a game of Jeopardy or having worse grammar than Magic Johnson would be harder than picking Durant at #2. Durant is an amazing scorer who can hit shots from outside, inside, and from just about any angle. He is an immediate 21 and 7 guy who could blossom into a 35 point per night scorer. He is that good. His upside is a taller Kobe or a more dangerous Dirk and his downside is the Big Dog Glenn Robinson. So as long as Durant doesn’t stop trying and start drinking once he signs his big contract, he should be a dominant force for years to come.
3. Al Horford-Atlanta Hawks: Great pick for the Hawks since they are so short on forwards (except for the fact that their prior four first round draft picks have all been forwards, but I digress). Horford is a classic motor guy who does everything well and brings energy. I don’t know how advanced his low post game is but he should be a beast on the boards, on defense, and get the obligatory 10 points per game just on follow ups. If Horford can develop an offensive game on the blocks, he could be a star.
4. Mike Conley-Memphis Grizzlies: The only thing stopping me from declaring this as a great pick is the fact that Chris Wallace made it. I thought Conley was the best player on Ohio State last year which is huge praise considering they had Oden and considering Conley was a freshman point guard. He just seemed to always be in the right spot, make the right pass, or hit the big shot. I am excited to see the Conley-Chris Paul, Conley-Tony Parker, and Conley-Deron Williams match-ups for years to come. Plus I am excited to see just how Chris Wallace is going to mess this up.
5. Jeff Green-Seattle Supersonics: I debated leaving this space blank in reference to the final 10 seconds of the Sopranos since Danny Ainge trading this pick symbolized the death of the Celtics. However, I don’t want to slight Jeff Green. The Sonics took the first reach in a draft stocked with talent. I am not sold on Green as he doesn’t do one thing particularly well. His upside is Richard Jefferson and his downside is every other crappy NBA player. I mean, is he really much better than Jared Dudley? He’s going to need to put a lot of work into his jumper and is going to have to be ok with deferring to Kevin Durant. In all, not a bad pick, but at #5, why not take Corey Brewer?
As for the Celtics trading this pick for Ray Allen, I guess I should address it here. While I am happy the Celtics’ didn’t keep this pick and select Yi Dingaling (who is going to be a bigger bust than Mimi Rogers’), I don’t see how adding a 32 year old shooting guard coming off of surgery on not one, but both ankles is worth 10 years of Corey Brewer or Jeff Green or Brandon Wright (should I go on?). Plus, Ray Allen also missed 27 games in 2003-2004 for an ankle injury so this last surgery wasn’t just a one time occurrence.
Danny Ainge is now on I believe his 8th plan in four years and Boston is stuck with a team who has a 45 win ceiling which is the same kind of team Danny inherited, blew up, blew up again, and blew up again. With Pierce, Ray Allen, and Al Jefferson, the Celtics defense will be as porous and wide open as Paris Hilton’ vagina.
Plus, there is officially no more than a 3 year window until they have to rebuild again since a 35 year old Ray Allen and a 33 year old Paul Pierce are not going to get it done. So Boston now has a potential injury in Ray Allen, are banking their entire front court on Al Jefferson who missed almost 2 years with a sprained ankle and conditioning issues, and as of now will be going into the season with Kendrick “5 points, 5 rebounds” Perkins as their only non-injured center even though Perkins got a free pass last year for having plantar fasciitis.
This is just awful. Danny is constantly fixing his mistakes (Blount, Lafrentz, Banks, Szczerbiak) by taking on others’ mistakes instead of just doing the reasonable thing. Does anyone think the Celtics are in better shape now than they would have been if they had just kept last year’s #7 pick and taken Brandon Roy and then taken Corey Brewer this year (assuming they still would have been in the lottery)? Isn’t an Al J., Pierce, Roy, Brewer foundation better than the fantasy basketball core of Al J., Pierce, and Ray Allen who not only don’t fit well together but play defense like it is going to give them AIDS (they must think Shawn Kemp somehow slept with defense)? In short, f u Danny Ainge, f u.
6. Yi Dingaling-Milwaukee Bucks: I just looked it up and Dingaling is actually Chinese for Milicic. This is not just a bad pick, this has the potential to be an historically bad pick as Yi doesn’t even want to go to Milwaukee (though do you blame him?).
As a point of reference, here are the leading rebounders in the Chinese professional league from last year:
1.Brandon Crump 14.4
2.Babakar Camara 13.6
3.Soumaila Samake 13.5
4.Chris Porter 12.9
5. Herve Lamizana 11.4
5. Yi Jianlian 11.4
I believe Brandon Crump, the #1 rebounder, averaged ~6 rebounds per game when he played at Tennessee (no joke). So Dingaling's 11 rebounds would translate to about 4 had he played NCAA division 1 basketball.
Here are the leading scorers:
1. Anthony Myles 32.1
2. Gabe Muoneke 31.6
3.Tang Zhengdong 28.1
4. Brandon Crump 27.4
5. Wang Zhizhi 26.6
Wang Zhizhi averaged 4.4 points per game in 6 NBA seasons. I believe Anthony Myles averaged 10 ppg in two years at Xavier. Dingaling averaged 24.8 which would probably translate to 8ppg at Xavier.
So Milwaukee drafted a guy who would go for 8 and 3 at a marginal NCAA division 1 school. Oh and the kicker is, he is likely 22, not 18, and he may be as old as 25.
The most disappointing thing about this though was that Milwaukee didn’t stretch and take Babakar Camara or Herve Lamizana in round 2.
7. Corey Brewer-Minnesota Timberwolves: All Brewer did in college was be the MVP of last year’s Final Four and the player that got the two time NCAA championship team going when they needed it. He plays solid defense and despite his marginal shooting percentage, he hits big shots when they count. He was 7-13 from 3 in the Final Four this year and 5-9 from 3 in the Final Four last year, so despite the small sample size was 12-22 in 2 years in Final Four games despite shooting only 33% from 3 for his career. Brewer can play, this is a great pick (and hopefully I don’t look back at those words in 3 years and cringe).
8. Brandan Wright-Golden State Warriors: I was all set to make the obligatory Jordan drafting UNC players joke with witty references to Walter Martin, Dave Popson, and EZ Eric Montross) but then MJ traded Wright to the Warriors for Jason Richardson. I am not sold on Wright as anyone that coasts in the college game is going to suffer from huge intensity problems in the NBA but Golden State is almost the perfect team for him. Wright excels in running the floor, scoring on the break, and getting putbacks. Golden State’s up-tempo game should fit Wright’s style. There is a 50% chance Wright winds up being a bust but a 50% chance he winds up being Shawn Marion minus a jumper, so I guess this is a good gamble.
As for MJ acquiring Jason Richardson and his huge contract, really? Was Kwame Brown not on the trading block?
9. Joakim Noah-Chicago Bulls: I am one of the few people it seems who really likes Noah. He is a 7-footer, who can run, jump, pass, and defend and he would have been a top 3 pick in last year’s crappy draft. Despite the fact that he looked like Sean “Diddy” Comb’s manservant got into a fight with a poodle and lost, Noah is a solid all around player. How many 7-footers have the athleticism and success record that Noah has? Not very many. And for the critics who say he has no offense, well he really didn’t need to try to take over games offensively in college given the quality of team on which he was playing. Do I think this is a great pick for the Bulls? Probably not as they are pretty stacked up front, but do I think this was the best player available? Yes.
10. Spencer Hawes-Sacramento Kings: Here is a list: Chris Kaman, Nick Collison, Curtis Borchardt, Troy Murphy, Michael Bradley, Chris Mihm, Joel Pryzbilla, Mark Madsen, Scott Padgett, and Raef LaFrentz. Those are the last ten tall US born white guys picked in the first round of the draft. That is what I wrote in 2004 for Robert Swift. So add Swift to that list and you get my point. Some people really like Hawes, but I am sticking with history.
11. Acie Law-Atlanta Hawks: I am a big Law fan. He is like a younger Sam Cassell in that he has huge balls to not only take games over in the stretch but to be successful at it. I would be a bit worried with his defense as in the tournament he looked like he had the lateral quickness of Acie Earl, but the guy can ball. Is it possible Billy Knight made two good picks? I am missing something here, right?
12. Thaddeus Young-Philadelphia 76ers: I have to admit, I haven’t seen many of Thaddeus’s games but I love the name Thaddeus. Plus there is the added bonus of Young going to Philadelphia which has the highest murder rate of all big cities since his name is an anagram for “Guns Youth Dead.” Well played Billy King, well played.
13. Julian Wright-New Orleans Hornets: After Yi Dingaling, Wright promises to be the next biggest bust in the draft. He doesn’t do one thing well, other than lack intensity. Seriously, Kansas didn’t go anywhere with Wright and I expect New Orleans to be similarly challenged.
14. Al Thornton-LA Clippers: I believe the Clippers selected Thornton because he is old enough to remember when Elgin Baylor played in the NBA. Thornton will turn 24 during the season which means he is among the most “NBA ready,” but you have to wonder about a guy who really only dominated for one year while playing against guys five years younger. On top of that, his voice sounded like he put a “banana in tail pipe” if you know what I mean so he should be happy about going to West Hollywood and being old enough to not get carded.
15. Rodney Stuckey-Detroit Pistons: All I know about Rodney Stuckey is that for a guy who supposedly had academic problems, he spoke the best English out of any of the draftees. No idea if he can play, but at least he’ll be a good interview.
16. Nick Young-Washington Wizards: My favorite part about Nick Young comes from this ESPN article:
"But to meet the NCAA's academic requirements, Young, a special education student, had to elevate his GPA and SAT score. He'd have only three chances to bring the latter up to 820, and he came up short on the first two." Maybe Etan Thomas can teach him some poetry. I also loved the fact that he wore a jacket and pants that didn’t match, maybe he is color blind too.
17. Chris Washburn, I mean Sean Williams-New Jersey Nets: As John Lucas says, “His issue is, he just wants to smoke some weed sometime.” The fact is, he likes it so much that he got thrown off the BC team not once, but twice, which is almost impossible to do. Think about it, 90% of all college athletes smoke pot and how many of them get caught once, much less more than once? Williams must be the dumbest stoner in the US. So add a million dollar contract and likely New York City and you get a disaster waiting to happen. He could be a Marcus Camby type player but most likely will be out of the league in two years.
18. Marco Bellini-Golden State Warriors: The highlight reels looked impressive and you have to be excited about a guy whom Fran Fraschilla complimented by calling him a combination of Vinny Del Negro and Brent Barry. As an aside, if anyone ever calls me a mix of Vinny Del Negro and Brent Barry I will punch them in the balls.
19. Javaris Crittenton-LA Lakers: Maybe LA really is an anti-semitic town. Why else would the Lakers draft a point guard when they drafted Jordan Farmar, the greatest Jewish point guard alive, in last year’s first round? Is Mel Gibson now running the Lakers.
20. Jason Smith-Philadelphia 76ers: He averaged 16 points and 10 boards on a team that went 6-10 in the Mountain West conference. Plus you might want to re-read the Spencer Hawes analysis. Great pick Billy King, he and Shavlik Randolph will have some epic battles in practice.
21. Daequan Cook-Miami Heat: This is completely perplexing. Daequan averaged 9.8 points per game as a freshman but over the last eleven games he scored 2, 2, 9, 1, 5, 9, 3, 4, 9, 2, and 2 points. That is worth the 21st pick? Was Randy Pfund too busy watching Shaq’s Big Challenge to draft this year?
22. Jared Dudley-Charlotte Bobcats: I am firmly on the Jared Dudley bandwagon. He can shoot, pass, dribble, rebound, is almost always in the right spot at the right time, and was the ACC player of the year. How is Daequan Cook better than Jared Dudley, heck how is Jeff Green better than Jared Dudley? It is bizarre. So Dudley is a little slow, big deal. I haven’t been this sure about a BC player since I proclaimed that Troy Bell would be an all-star, so as always, I am an idiot. While I like this pick, Charlotte is the wrong team. They already have Gerald Wallace and Adam Morrison at SF so I am not quite sure where Dudley fits in, but I guess that is what happens when MJ makes the decisions.
23. Wilson Chandler New York Knicks: You got me on this one. Chandler is so good that he dropped 11 points in a 49-39 Depaul loss to the mighty Northwestern Wildcats. I have nothing else to say.
24. Rudy Fernandez-Portland Trailblazers: Other great Rudys: Rudy Tomjonavich, Rudi Johnson, and Rudy Huxtable.
25. Morris Almond-Utah Jazz: I am just praying to Moses, Jebus, and Ala Abdelnady that if they make a movie of the life of Morris Almond, Morris Chestnut will get the leading role.
26. Aaron Brooks-Houston Rockets: He’s short, quick, and doesn’t shoot particularly well so the Rockets will now hope to replace Rafer Alston with a shorter, crappier version of Rafer Alston. Makes sense, no?
27. Aaron Afflalo-Detroit Pistons: I don’t quite know what to make of Afflalo. He seems slow at times and doesn’t dish the ball particularly well. He has the size to be the defender people think he can be but I think it’s more likely he joins Charles O’Bannon, Toby Bailey, and Tyus Edney, in the UCLA-CBA hall of fame.
28. Tiago Splitter-San Antonio Spurs: Finally someone takes Splitter who has declared for and pulled out of the NBA draft for each of I believe the past 19 years. He has been the cock tease on the nads of NBA GMs for way too long.
29. Alando Tucker-Phoenix Suns: I really like this pick. Wisconsin was not a good team and yet they still managed to win games because Tucker was a beast and just took games over. I don’t care if he can’t shoot, he’ll find a way to contribute through his hustle. Well done Phoenix.
30. Petteri “The Dish” Koponen-Portland Trailblazers: With the final pick of the first round the Blazers roll the dice on another Euro. The only thing I know about Petteri is that he plays for a team called the Honka Espo Playboys which sounds like a porn movie made in a clown school, and he is from some country called Finland. On the bright side, he only needs 716 NBA points to over take Hanno Mottola to become the highest scoring Fin in NBA history which undoubtedly translates into many “suihinottos” in Helsinki.
Round 2: As always, this is the speed round, 2 sentences or less
31. Carl Landry-Houston Rockets: The Rockets add an undersized power forward to go with their undersized point guard from round one and what I can only assume is their undersized GM. Actually, I looked it up and Daryl Morley, the Rockets GM, is six foot four so I guess there is no good explanation.
32. Gabe Pruitt-Boston Celtics: See how hard it is to replace Delonte West? If Pruitt can dribble with his right hand, he will already be 50% better.
33. Marcus Williams-San Antonio Spurs: I am pretty sure the Nets drafted him last year. Can someone look into this, I think we need a ruling?
34. Nick Fazekas-Dallas Mavericks: See Hawes, Spencer and Smith, Jason.
35. Glen “Big Baby” Davis-Boston Celtics: The value of IHOP franchises just went up 50% in the Boston area.
36. Jermareo Davidson-Charlotte Bobcats: It took me four times to correctly spell his first name. I’m not sure how that is relevant, but just thought you all should know.
37. Josh McRoberts-Portland Trailblazers: Maybe he left Duke early because he wasn’t smart enough for the course work, after all, why else would he have made the moronic decision to come out early this year or not come out last year when he would have been a lottery pick? That said, I like this pick for the Blazers, worth a shot down here, I mean who else were they going to take, Kyrylo Fesenko?
38. Kyrylo Fesenko-Utah Jazz: The estimable Fran Frischilla described this 7 foot Ukranian as an “Aaron Gray type” which is interesting because Aaron Gray was actually still on the board. If Utah wanted an Aaron Gray type, why not just go with the real thing?
39. Stanko Barac-Indiana Pacers: Stanko wins the annual Dan Dickau-Linas Kleinza name that most sounds like a venereal disease award. For example, “boning that skank left me with some nasty Stanko on my Barac.”
40. Sun Yue-LA Lakers: Isn’t this the chick Woody Allen married?
41. Chris Richard-Minnesota Timberwolves: First Corey Brewer, and now Chris Richard, which means Lee Humphrey must be anxiously awaiting a call from Kevin McHale. I actually like this pick, kudos and hizzah.
42. Derrick Byars-Philadelphia 76ers: Upholding the great tradition of Vanderbilt players in the NBA like Jeff Turner and Billy McCaffrey has to weigh on Byars.
43. Adam Haluska-New Orleans Hornets: We’ve now reached the point of the draft where teams have stopped trying. Haluska has as much chance of contributing in the NBA as Zach Randolph does of becoming a Rhodes scholar.
44. Reyshawn Terry-Dallas Mavericks: The only way this makes sense is if Reyshawn is Jason Terry’s brother or if Michael Jordan was somehow named GM of the Mavericks. Otherwise I am baffled.
45. Jared Jordan-LA Clippers: I was all set to make fun of the Clippers for drafting a white point guard from Marist and then I read this column. Call me intrigued.
46. Stephane Lasme-Golden State Warriors: I will now list all of the successful six foot seven shot blockers in the NBA: (you get my drift).
47. Dominic McGuire-Washington Wizards: I wonder if he will be on the guest list for Gilbert Arenas’ next birthday party or if he will be working for the catering company.
48. Marc Gasol-LA Lakers: In a move to appease Kobe, the Lakers add Gasol. They just fail to tell Kobe it’s Marc and not Pau, but those are just minor details.
49. Aaron Gray-Chicago Bulls: I wonder if the Ukranian Fran Frischilla described Gray as the “Kyrylo Fesenko type?” The thing about Aaron Gray is not only can’t he jump, but he is slower than a one-legged pot smoking turtle.
50. Renaldas Seibutis-Dallas Mavericks: We are now officially at the point of the draft where Dick Vitale loses it because of all of the Euro players drafted. An annual event for which it is worth the wait.
51. JamesOn Curry-Chicago Bulls: I don’t understand the capitalized O in JamesOn. Can someOne explain?
52. Taurean Green-Portland Trailblazers: I really like what Portland is doing by surrounding Oden with good guys from winning programs. No idea if Taurean makes it, but good pick.
53. Demetris Nichols-Portland Trailblazers: My draft sleeper. This guy can fill it up, nice pick again Portland, you have come a long way from the Viktor Khrypa/Sergey Monya first round of 2004.
54. Brad Newley-Houston Rockets: Somewhere Ben Pepper is proud.
55. Herbert Hill-Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers swapped my boy Kyrylo Fesenko for Herbert which now makes four Kyrylo Fesenko references in this draft analysis. I just thought you should know.
56. Ramon Sessions-Milwaukee Bucks: In honor of Yi Dingaling, Sessions is also threatening to not report to Milwaukee.
57. Sammy Mejia-Detroit Pistons: The second player from a Depaul team which lost 49-39 to the Northwestern Wildcats gets taken in the NBA draft. In other words, don’t buy that Mejia Pistons jersey just yet.
58. Giorgos Printezis-Toronto Raptors: I love that he was sitting in the audience wearing a suit that looked like it was right out of a mid-1980s Miami Vice episode. I am thoroughly intrigued.
59. D.J. Strawberry-Phoenix Suns: The “Daryl, Daryl” chants from the MSG crowd were priceless.
60. Milovan Rakovic-Orlando Magic: I just looked it up and Milovan is Serbian for “Mr.” while Rakovic is Serbian for “irrelevant.” Well done all around.
So there you have it, sixty picks, several trades, a complete remake of the Trailblazers, a further screwing up of the Celtics, and Zach Randolph in New York City. In all, a spectacular night for all non-Boston fans.
Editor's Note: Check out AC's "ASK AC" column during the off-season and please keep those questions (and naked girlfriend pictures) coming in.
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