Big Cactus, King of Pop take air out of NBA Draft
Berger: Rue Rubio pick?
NEW YORK -- The official overshadowing of Thursday's NBA Draft started earlier in the day with the news that the aged, 450-pound Shaquille O'Neal was being traded again, this time to Cleveland, for a bottle of Aquafina and box of strawberry Pop Tarts.
The overshadowing continued with news about the death of Michael Jackson.
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| Because of the news of the day, Hasheem Thabeet and his fellow draftees are lost in the shadows. (AP) |
"Can't believe that he's dead," Blake Griffin, the No. 1 overall pick, said of Jackson.
"I think a bunch of the guys are pretty stunned," Tyler Hansbrough said to me in a quick moment after he was picked 13th by Indiana. "It's something some of the players were talking about. Everyone knows Michael Jackson. I don't care who you are. It's pretty shocking."
The draft was insignificant. No one cared about the draft. Not on this night.
It's not necessarily a feeling of sadness over Jackson's death. He was a strange, brilliant man with a dark side. It's just shock.
"Michael Jackson, 50, died yesterday in Los Angeles as sensationally as he lived, as famous as a human being can get," wrote the Washington Post. "He was a child Motown sensation who grew into a moonwalking megastar, the self-anointed King of Pop who sold 750 million records over his career and enjoyed worldwide adoration."
• CBSNews.com: Michael Jackson dies
It's not the NBA's fault its big night was relegated to the fine print. No draft can compete with O'Neal and Jackson. Hell, the Beatles can't compete with Jackson, so how is James Harden supposed to?
The draft was reduced to insignificant rubble by a series of events both in and out of the NBA. First, the O'Neal trade. Even though O'Neal has an ass so big it crosses three state lines simultaneously, his star power still dwarfs any of the draftees. O'Neal casts a large shadow over the sport.
Then, Vince Carter was dealt out of New Jersey. Carter was one of the more overrated players in recent NBA history, but he's still a big name.
Jamal Crawford was next. He was traded. Amare Stoudemire might be traded in a matter of days.
• Griffin No. 1 pick | Draft Tracker | Trades: Shaq to Cavs | Carter to Magic
The veterans, not the first-rounders, were ruling the day. The young guys were backups on a night they usually owned.
(The draft also wasn't helped by the xenophobic rants by New York fans in the audience. When Ricky Rubio, from Spain, was selected by Minnesota, fans began chanting, "USA! USA!" It's one thing to be proud of America -- it's another thing entirely to be unwelcoming to a foreign player.)
The trades themselves sent a massive signal about the quality of this year's draft. Outside of Griffin and Stephen Curry (and maybe Rubio) few players in this draft were worth the attention. When Hasheem Thabeet is the second player picked, you know the draft is weak. Thabeet's best offensive move was signing up for Twitter. His offensive skills are so subpar, he dreams of becoming Dwight Howard.
Minnesota drafted three point guards and, even though they'll trade at least one, it seems like Matt Millen is running that franchise.
No, this was not a great draft, in any way. And it wasn't going to be, because the caliber of talent was mediocre at best.
And then Jackson died.
Do you remember when O.J. Simpson fled? It happened during the New York-Houston NBA Finals and NBC interrupted its coverage to show the infamous white Bronco slow-driving down the freeway with 700 cops in pursuit.
That's what this night was like. It wasn't as dramatic -- there was no made-for-TV chase but many sports fans who would've watched the draft exclusively were likely, at least, flipping back and forth between David Stern announcing the picks and the massive coverage of Jackson's death.
On Friday, the only people who'll be speaking about the draft are hardcore NBA heads. The rest of the nation will be talking about Jackson.
It's no shame to be overshadowed by O'Neal and certainly by Jackson. It's happened to the best.
