by Jack Serapiglia

Created on: June 27, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Greetings from the couch of my apartment, and welcome to the 2008 NBA draft. Because of the time constraints of a dinner date with my girlfriend in Hoboken, we will only be covering the Lottery portion of this draft. Joining me via text messaging is BBJ. For those keeping score at home, BBJ is a huge Knicks fan. I am in trial separation as a NBA fan, as my team, the New Jersey Nets, are in theory moving to Brooklyn. Trying to perhaps find a new team, this past season BBJ and I bought a mini Knicks package, the highlights of which included Z-bo (aka Zack Randolph) shooting ill advised threes and picking the spread between Eddy Curry fouls and rebounds (the fouls wound up for the season being -0.5). And now on with the show.

4:58 PM: Two and a half hours before the draft starts and BBJ and I are discussing the merits of the big trade of the day, the Nets sending Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee for forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. You would think it was a salary dump in preparation for the summer of 2010, when every big name in the NBA (Lebron, Wade, Carmelo) is up for free agency. But Rod Thorn would let you know you are wrong. On WFAN he tells Mad Dogthat this wasn't a salary dump, that he really wanted Yi. Why can't sports execs just say what they really think? Like when Cashman told the FAN that he wouldn't have made the Abreu trade if Cory Lidle wasn't thrown in. Really Cash? You wouldn't have taken a very good right fielder for a bag of balls unless you got a back of the rotation guy? The whole thing hinged on Lidle? God that annoys me.

Anyway BBJ is laughing at the deal because the Nets got Yi. I try explaining to him that it gives the team flexibility. If Yi becomes a star (I have bought into the Thorn theory for now because I have to) then the team has very good components to surround Lebron with. If not they don't owe Yi much (just his rookie salary contract) and they can part ways. BBJ says you can't do that to a guy from China, that you are going to have to max him out. They are one billion strong and once ran over students with tanks. I forgot about that.

And BBJ goes on to say the Nets still have Vinsanity, so they still have a lot of dead salary weight. But I counter that if you can trade TJ Ford and Jermaine O'Neal, you can trade anybody. Of course, with Isiah Thomas no longer in the league, it becomes that much harder. Come back Isiah! There are still teams that you can help, even if they are not your own.

6:06: This is how bad things are

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