NBA Basketball Betting: 2008 NBA Draft Preview

NBA Draft: Who's Out, Who's In?
A trio of freshman declarations has made this draft class one worth paying attention to

April 24, 2008

By Mike Halford
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

While it might seem a little early to start talking about the National Basketball Association 2008 Draft – hell, the NFL Draft is still three days away – it's really an opportune time to do it. The NBA regular season is still fresh enough in the minds of non-playoff teams; the postseason is young enough for a lack of compelling storylines to have been written yet.

With that in mind, let's break down the key players for the 2008 NBA Draft.

Guys Who Rightly Declared

Michael Beasley, Freshman, Kansas State

There's little doubt that Beasley will go first overall. In keeping with the basketball tradition of always going big over small, the K-State phenom edges out Memphis point guard Derrick Rose as the top prize. The 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game averages don't hurt either. People are wary that he'll end up like Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson, who averaged 30 and 10 at Purdue with a similar build and game to Beasley’s. But Robinson was a two-time All-Star who averaged 20.7 points per game over his 14 year career – hardly anything to laugh at.

Derrick Rose, Freshman, Memphis

Had he done nothing all season and just played in the NCAA tournament, he'd still go No. 2 overall.

Rose has a real chance to be a Jason Kidd-Chauncey Billups hybrid, something we saw as he tore apart quality guards like Darren Collison, D.J. Augustin and Drew Neitzel on collegiate basketball’s biggest stage.

Kevin Love, Freshman, UCLA

Love's game doesn't translate well into the NBA. He's a lot like Sean May, who bumped and banged and butted his way to MOP honors as North Carolina won the 2005 National Championship. A wide posterior and soft hands are great at the college level but not so much at the professional one. Still, Love did the right thing by striking when the iron was hot. Had he gone back to school, he'd have allowed skeptics to pick holes in his game.

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