The Magic Beat The Draft

Fans celebrate the Magic's announcement that they won't be drafting this year

Hopefully, you stuck around long enough last night to catch the tail end of ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.  If not, you likely feel exponentially more fulfilled with your choice of activity than I do, but you also missed Marc Jackson’s assertion that the Orlando Magic were the big winners of the 2009 draft.  Before you go frantically trying to remember who the Magic drafted last night, let me save you the trouble and just tell you it was no one.  Not a single player.  The Magic avoided Madison Square Garden last night like it was Michael Jackson’s hospital room and they were MJ’s personal physician.  Too soon?  Bah, I don’t care.

Orlando did acquire Vince Carter from the Nets in exchange for Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie, so it’s not like they did nothing.  Still, it speaks volumes about the quality of this year’s draft that the only team that didn’t acquire a single player from it comes off in the best position.  Almost like a birthday party where the cake gives all the kids food poisoning.  Only the kid who is allergic to gluten comes off as the winner.  Finally, the kid who is allergic to gluten comes off as a winner.

Consider the Timberwolves who were on the other end of the spectrum with 4 first round picks.  Rather than drafting every point guard available and then having to worry that one of them is going to flee back to Spain, wouldn’t they have been better off using Orlando’s tactic and staying home to reassure Al Jefferson that they’d be better next year?  At this point, I think it’s funny to visualize Big Al as Michael Clarke Duncan’s character in ‘The Green Mile’ saying ‘I tried to take it back, Boss, but I couldn’t help it.’  Then new Wolves GM David Kahn, playing Tom Hanks’s part, can say ‘I know Al, I know it’s not your fault Kevin McHale’s career is dead.’  For that allusion to play out, I guess Jefferson needs to ‘ride the lightning’ at some point.  But, I guess playing in Minnesota is just as excruciating.

Tags: Al Jefferson, basketball, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, NBA Draft, Orlando Magic

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