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Clippers Will Take Griffin, Grizzlies Should Pick Hansbrough
Published by MoonDog on May 21, 2009
The Los Angeles Clippers have had the top pick in the NBA draft twice over the span of their existence, selecting Danny Manning in 1988 and 10 years later choosing Michael Olowokandi in the 1998 draft.
After Tuesday’s draft lottery landed the Clippers with this years number one pick, Los Angeles wasted little time in announcing they will take Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin.
“Clearly, we’re taking Blake Griffin,” Clippers General Manager and Coach Mike Dunleavy said in a telephone interview from Barcelona, Spain.
“This guy is the No. 1 pick. We’re extremely excited. He’s the guy.”
There wasn’t much of a question the Clippers would do anything other than take Griffin, the consensus top-rated player available.
Dunleavy, though, wasn’t about to be coy in the wee morning hours in Spain and erased any shred of doubt about the team’s intention in the draft June 25 in New York.
With the Clippers announcement, Memphis can now focus on whom they want to select with the second pick.
For my money, the Grizzlies have another no-brainer similar to the Clippers choice. If Memphis wants to take the next step towards regaining respectability, they should take Tyler Hansbrough.
Hansbrough may not be the second best player available, but he’s exactly the type of player Memphis desperately needs.
The Grizzlies have lacked interior toughness throughout the history of the franchise but can now address that issue by selecting the 6-9 power forward from North Carolina.
With last year’s addition of Marc Gasol, Memphis added a piece to the puzzle that was lost when Lorenzen Wright left via free agency after the 2005-06 season.
Gasol’s physical style and the Grizzlies’ athletic perimeter players eventually began to mesh, as Memphis showed signs of improvement towards the end of the regular season.
Coach Lionel Hollins instilled discipline and a dedication to defense which helped Memphis win seven of their last 12 games, a modest improvement by most standards but a huge step forward for the Grizzlies.
While many consider Spain’s Ricky Rubio to be the best player available after Griffin, Rubio doesn’t fit the Grizzlies’ most pressing need.
Moreover, if the Grizzlies want to find depth at the point guard position, they’ll have additional picks in the draft at No. 27 in the first round and No. 36 in the second round to accomplish that.
Memphis will also need to find depth behind Gasol, with Darko Milicic proving to be a failed experiment after the Grizzlies signed him to a three-year, $21 million deal following the 2006-07 season.
Hansbrough’s fundamentally sound game, adequate jump shot and ability to get to the free throw line will compliment Memphis’ youthful core of Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, Hakim Warrick, Mike Conley, Jr. and Darrell Arthur.
Gasol’s interior presence and Hansbrough’s hard-nosed style of play translates well to the defensive side of the ball. He’s tough to back down and rarely leaves his feet on ball fakes.
He’s a tenacious rebounder who will help Memphis take advantage of their potentially explosive transition game.
Draft experts will almost certainly list others above Hansbrough, but the intangibles he’ll bring to the Grizzlies will be a huge piece to an improving puzzle.
With a few more quality players, Memphis could again become relevant in the tough Midwest Division and might actually have enough to make a legitimate playoff push next season.
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