ALRIGHT... it is official. The 2009 NBA draft is over, and a whole heck of a lot went down. Shaq is gettin' down with The King. WHA?!? Sure, it will be fun to ponder the possibilities, but does anyone really think Shaq is the missing link? Not me. King James will be a HOF'er, no doubt, (maybe much more) and obviously Shaq is a man amongst boys forever, but he is not what this team needed. He is OLD, NBA-wise. He can still contribute, yes, I give him that (like he needs it). But this seems more like a move to get the legendary big man on the same squad as the next incomporable, (can we compare him to MJ? NO! Because he is INCOMPORABLE.) player, in LBJ. David Stern, I hate you. Get too old to do this job already, and quit. Geez. (Patrick Ewing-lovin, leprechaun-lookin', Seattle-team non-supportin, Mark Cuban finin' Sacagawea). BTW, I am a confused, upset, and genrally affected Seattle Sonics fan. You won't find in-depth analysis, pick by pick here. Let the paid journalists do that. Instead, I give you GUT REACTION. 

My gut reaction is that the Orlando Magic traded away a very promising young shooting guard in COURTNEY LEE for the electrifying (no one can deny this, yeah... we all saw the dunk (s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MywyMVCfX6Q TIGHT... and it's nuthin' new.) and aging Vince Carter. This trade was aimed at filling last year's 6th man of the year spot, played by one of my personal favorite NBA players, Hedo Turkoglu, with a proven and well-known scorer. EHHHH. There are many reasons why keeping Turkoglu would have been a better decision. First of all: THE DUDE HAS POISE. How many clutch shots did Turkoglu make in the playoffs this year? A kahundred majillion. Yeah, I know. Not to mention the calm, cool, collected and generally confident-building and "oh-schnap, you got served" type of coolness only a 6 ft. 10 in. white guy fom Istanbul (not Constantinople) could create. The matchup problems this guy creates is unreal. Turkoglu will be a stud for whatever team he plays for, and you should be thanking the Turkish heavens if he lands on your squad. 

Quality 6th men are few and far between in the NBA, and players like Turkoglu, Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are extremely valuable assets, especially when the playoffs come and lax-time is a luxury anyone fighting to be a champion cannot afford. In general, I find the Turkoglu situation unsavory. These guys (the Orlando Magic) had a chance to be champs, and instead of tweaking their squad, (built around Howard, Lewis and Turkoglu... and Nelson.. they have a good team...) they gave up on one of the biggest pieces of the heart and soul of this year's Orlando team. 

Sure, Carter is smiling in the interviews. He gets to play with one of the hottest up and coming players in Dwight Howard. Hell, Phil Jackson even said he would rather have Howard on his team than LBJ, given the choice... Seems obvious, right? The Magic just came away from a Finals appearance. What isn't there to be happy about? The Magic, on the other hand, do have something to be worried about. They just recruited a guy that has shown personality problems in the past (I believe the stint in Toronto showed A LOT about VC), and they gave up any chance of resigning Turkoglu, the GLU (E) of this team. Howard doesn't have the heart to lead a team to a championship. His arms may be bionic, but his will is fragile. He is young and intimitdated. We are talking about the NBA here. These atheletes are trained to win. Certain players go beyond that training, and they are the one's that win championships. Dwight Howard just hasn't found that fire yet. It is a MAJOR CONCERN. Competitiveness is like body hair: YOU GOT IT OR YOU DON'T GOT IT. By the time he has found it, it may be too late, and it may require specialty dyes. I have a hard time believing Howard will develop that fire on his own. He needs proven winners in the locker room (Ewing is there, but he is NOT a proven winner in the NBA). Instead, you get an aging star in Vince Carter, an over-the-hill, although still productive player, who is gleefully and naively latching on to what he thinks is the best shot he has to play for a contending team. SIGH, again. Carter will be a distraction from the work this team should focus on, which is building team chemistry with a healthy Jameer Nelson and an improving Dwight Howard, the most dominant big man in the game. 

ALRIGHT, that being said, I am giving the Lakers good odds to repeat next year. Kobe has shown he has the leadership skills to guide his team through adversity (I believe Kobe had the bulk of that responsibility this year, not coach Phil Jackson. Kobe has become a coach after all these years, and he has honed that skill from the winningest coach in basketball). It is hard to pinpoint what makes the Lakers so good. They are diverse. Sure thay have an aging PG in Derek Fisher, but I'm not going to be the one to doubt the proven icy-veined champion. Besides, they have the athletic and tenacious Shannon Brown waiting to play every minute of an exhibition game like it was Game 7 of the Finals. 

The Lakers main rivals: the San Antonio Spurs. The addition of Richard Jefferson makes them downright scary. Tony parker showed this year that he can carry games and put up big-time numbers on any given night, and a healthy Manu Ginobili is a B-E-A-S-T BEAST. It's no secret this guy can finish competitors off in a hurry. The only question is, can Tim Duncan maintain the dominant performances that he has shown us for so many years? He probably can, but something about Duncan isn't quite the same as the years press on. The champion spirit needs to return to Duncan, they're ultimate spark-plug, if the Spurs are to return the championship to San Antonio. 

It seems like we are all waiting for the fall of last generations greats: Duncan, Nash, Shaq etc... I firmly believe Shaq's champion days are over, but Duncan has a terrific supporting cast, and when healthy, the Spurs are a serious threat. The addition of Jefferson creates terrible headaches for opposing defenses. Virtually every player on the Spurs can score at will or is focused on getting the ball to an efficient scorer (see: DeJuan Blair with the 37th pick). Duncan is an obvious double-team and Parker is liable to slash for a lay-up at any time, so even a well-performing defense will likely see the basketball end up in the hands of effective scorers in Jefferson or Ginobili. I think the Spurs have a good chance if they stay healthy. That is a big if. We saw how they floundered without their mojo Ginobili this year. 

As for the rest of the West, the only other team to fear is the Nuggets. I would like to say the Blazers are in there as well, and they may well be, during the regular season, but I still think they have a few years before we see them advancing further in the playoffs. Ty Lawson was a pleasure to watch in the NCAA, and hopefully for the Nuggets his game will translate well to the NBA. He has an opportunity to learn from one of the most talented and clutch PGs in the league with Chauncey Billups. He could learn a lot. 

Nevertheless, something tells me these Nuggets will not make it to the Western Conference Finals any time soon. Chauncey is the truth, but it seems like his day came and went, as far as championships are concerned. There are too many concerns regarding maturity on the Nuggets. Martin, Anthony and Nene all showed progression and focus during this year's playoffs, but the fact remained that there were more (HUNGRY) grown men waiting to take their championship dreams away from them. I don't think Carmelo, as good as a player he is, will ever be a champion, unless he humbles himself and joins a former championship squad. As I said, I witnessed his progression this year, and it was legit, but I believe he needs mentorship from a champion other than Billups, a perennial almost-champion (minus the one real thing). His next best influence is Allen Iverson, an amazingly skilled loser with a focus on himself. I happen to think AI is a plague to any team he joins and plays on. Bottom line, Anthony is the Nuggets best asset. He is at his best when he is getting his teammates involved and scoring when those efforts exploit the defense. He needs to up his passing game to an LBJ level, (he will forever be in that class of players, whether he asked for it or not, due to his draft year and success... not necessarily a bad thing). Anthony is a special offensive player, but it is hard to find a winning system that focuses on him, especially with all the character issues he has had in the past (the unnecessary stuff... "STOP SNITCHIN"... anybody remember that?). He is on the right path, but he started off in a bad way. Shoot, almost all the Nuggets did. They are the team that got bad grades but still got a well-paying job. Nene is a nice player too, but this squad is just too rough around the edges to win a championship or even a conference finals, especially when you consider the competition. 

Alright, that is my analysis of some parts of the draft, some trades made recently, some of the Eastern conference and some of the Western conference. Trust me, I have more opinions. For one: Why did David Stern stand by while Clay Bennett hijacked the Seattle Sonics? Another one: why did the city of Seattle government fail so miserably to fight to keep our team? These are questions I will ask myself while I begrudgingly continue to follow the sport I love. Thanks for tuning in.- - Michael the Sonics Fan