2007 NBA Draft Notes

4:36 – The Portland Trailblazers take Greg Oden #1, as everyone already knew. One can’t help but make Bill Walton comparisons with Oden. Hopefully he won’t have the injury problems that Walton did.

4:39 – Stephen A. Smith is the most annoying analyst I’ve ever heard. “You can’t teach 7 feet.” What does that even mean? Arrgh.

4:41 – Just announced – the Sonics trade Ray Allen for the #5 pick, and select Kevin Durant 2^nd overall. This is just awesome news. The Sonics are going to take Jeff Green 5^th overall, and they get Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West in the trade as well. It’s a great way to rebuild the team around Durant. The Sonics, I’m assuming, are going to start Durant, Green, Watson and Wilcox. Still need another guard though…I don’t see how a Watson, Ridnour combo at guard would work. Collison, I’m assuming, will be on the bench. I guess the Sonics could go with Watson, Durant, Green, Wilcox, and Collison…playing Green as a 2 and Durant as a 3. It would be a small lineup but there’s no way they score fewer than 100 points a game that way.

4:48 – The Hawks take Al Horford third…so this is like…I dunno…the 14^th year in a row that the Hawks have selected a power forward…when Mike Conley was there for the taking...This is like the Hawks passing on Chris Paul all over again.

4:52 – Memphis takes Mike Conley, the best player available, 4^th overall. Great pick by the Grizzlies.

4:57 – Boston takes Jeff Green, who will go to Seattle with West and Szczerbiak, for Ray Allen. I am seriously pumped right now. With Durant and Green, there is finally a chance to save basketball in Seattle (although I do have some issues with Green…his no show in the final four amongst other things).

5:04 – Milwaukee takes Yi Jianlian 6^th overall…this is a bad pick all the way around…first off Milwaukee took a big man, Andrew Bogut, first overall just two years ago. Secondly, Yi was opposed to playing in a city that wasn’t a big market…last time I checked Milwaukee wasn’t a big market. Or a medium market. It’s gonna be hard for the Bucks to sign Yi.

5:10 – The more I think about it, the more I’m bummed out that we didn’t get ANY potentially great players from Boston (other than Green of course). Sczcerbiak is essentially a 6^th man at best with a huge salary ($11.775 M next year). West is a fairly young kid who could end up being a good starter, but probably won’t. With Sczcerbiak’s contract, I’m sure Seattle will try him out as the 2 guard, but I don’t know how long that will last. Opening day lineup for Seattle will probably be Watson, West, Green, Durant, Wilcox; Watson, Sczcerbiak, Green, Durant, Wilcox; or West, Sczcerbiak, Green, Durant, Wilcox.

5:11 – The T-Wolves take Corey Brewer 7^th overall, an alright pick, but I don’t think he’s going to turn into the superstar that a lot of people think he will.

5:17 – Let’s see how badly MJ messes up yet another franchise with the 8^th pick.

5:18 – The Charlotte MJ’s select Brandan Wright 8^th overall. A surprisingly good pick. I think Wright has a chance to be a really great player in the league.

5:20 – Chicago is on the clock. Grab Noah. Grab Noah. Grab Noah. Grab Noah. If Chicago takes Noah, they are instantaneously the team to beat in the East.

5:23 – Stephen A just threw out Spencer Hawes’ name as a potential draft choice by Chicago. Take my word as someone who followed Hawes at UW last year: don’t.

5:24 – NOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5:25 – The Bulls officially earn the right to be the Eastern Conference team to get swept by a Western Conference team in the 2008 NBA Finals.

5:32 – Sacramento took Hawes 10^th overall. Upside potential. That’s the worst thing you can draft on in the NBA. How often has a player with “upside potential” panned out? Not often.

Rule #1: Don’t draft on upside potential

Rule #2: Don’t draft tall, white guys

The Kings broke both of those rules. Jay Bilas: “You can’t get caught up on a couple of things he doesn’t do well.” You can’t? Why not? If they are important things (and I’m pretty sure blocking and rebounding are important for centers), then you can most certainly get caught up on them.

5:38 – Whoa. Atlanta just took Acie Law IV 11^th overall. I totally did not expect Law to go in the lottery. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great pick. I absolutely love Law, and I’m absolutely shocked that Atlanta made a pick that makes sense. I still probably would have gone with Mike Conley 3^rd and someone like Julian Wright 11^th, but the Law pick makes the Horford pick at 3 make far more sense.

5:41 – The Atlanta Hawks’ new jerseys are horrible. Just horrible. Why, oh why, do teams do things like this?

5:46 – Philadelphia takes Thaddeus Young from Georgia Tech? What? Billy King is officially the worst GM in the NBA. I can’t wait to read what Bill Simmons writes about this.

6:00 – Had to be away for a bit…I come back to find New Orleans take Julian Wright 13^th (great pick) and the Clips take Al Thornton (great pick). So far only one truly atrocious pick has been made (Thaddeus Young) and, of course, the most atrocious GM of them all made the pick.

6:05 – STUCKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6:05 – Detroit makes my favorite non-Seattle move of the draft so far, taking E. Washington’s Rodney Stuckey 15^th overall. Rodney Stuckey is a guy who can energize an old, tired Pistons team.

6:10 – The Wizards take Nick Young from USC 16^th overall. Not sure if this is a good pick. I think Young is wildly overrated.

6:14 – The Knicks have agreed to trade Steve Francis and Channing Frye to the Trailblazers for Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau, and Dan Jones. Let me just say…what a horrible trade for the Blazers. Why would they do this? Why would they want to put Stevie Franchise around Greg Oden? Why would you trade Randolph for…at most…50 cents on the dollar? I honestly don’t understand this at all. Easily the worst move in the draft so far. Great job by Isaiah Thomas though…wow never thought I would say that.

6:16 – The Nets take Sean Williams 17^th overall. Classic “guy with personal problems but great talent” pick. Definitely a risk to take at #17.

6:22 – Golden State takes Marco Belinelli 18^th overall. I don’t know much about Belinelli, who is from Italy, so I’m not sure whether or not he is a good pick at this slot.

6:27 – The draft has really begun to slow down…great entertainment for the first 2 hours or so, but now it’s really bogging up. I want Stephen A to stop speaking. Seriously.

6:28 – Mark Jackson just pulled a “you’ve got some ‘splaining to do” on the Los Angeles Lakers. High five very nice!

6:29 – The Lakers take Javaris Crittenton from Georgia Tech 19^th overall. Good pick for L.A.

6:35 – Miami takes Jason Smith out of Colorado State 20^th overall. Smith is a big, solid power forward. He has a nice 10 foot jumper and he’s very basketball smart. Oh, and he’s white. Gotta throw that in there right?

6:38 – Interview with GM Mitch Kupchak: “I have no power. Jerry Buss controls everything I do. Shoot me. Shoot me now.”

6:41 – Philadelphia’s 2^nd pick of the 1^st round – they take Daequan Cook from Ohio State…Rich Bucher is reporting that Philadelphia is trading Cook and cash to Miami for Jason Smith…umm this is weird. Why wouldn’t Miami just take Cook at 20? The owner needs the extra money or something? Very strange stuff. Oh…and of course…Billy King is an idiot.

6:45 – Yay! Charlotte’s on the clock! Another MJ pick! Gotta love the MJ picks! (Cut to Kwame Brown crying in a corner somewhere).

6:47 – The Charlotte MJ’s take Jared Dudley! Amazing! MJ makes a pick that doesn’t suck! Again! I’m stunned!

6:51 – According to Spike Lee, “Zeke knows what he’s doing.” Nuff said.

6:52 – The Knicks select Wilson Chandler from DePaul as the 23^rd pick. Spike was right.

6:58 – Phoenix drafts Rudy Fernandez from Spain as the 24^th pick. Once again, I don’t know much about European players. Bucher is reporting that Fernandez may go to Portland in a trade.

7:05 – The Jazz take Morris Almond from Rice as the 25^th pick. I like Almond a lot. A 6’6” 2 guard who can score. Not the best defensive player, but a guy who will be able to average 12 points per game right out of the gate.

7:06 – I’m kind of hoping that Josh McRoberts falls to #31 so Seattle can grab another big guy. I’m not a huge McRoberts fan, but he’ll be a solid backup, and he’s a name that anyone following basketball has heard of. Oh, and he’s white. I want either McRoberts or Afflalo for Seattle. Hopefully we can get one.

7:13 – Somehow I missed the 26^th pick. Shows how much I’m paying attention at this point. The Rockets drafted Aaron Brooks out of Oregon. I like the pick, as Brooks was very good in his years at Oregon.

7:17 – Reports of talks between Seattle and P.J. Carlesimo to be Seattle’s new head coach. Personally, I’d prefer Rick Carlisle.

7:19 – Detroit takes Aaron Afflalo with the 27^th pick. Damn…I was hoping he dropped to Seattle. Good pick by Detroit though (maybe a little high, but still a good pick).

7:30 – Alright I missed #28 too…don’t really care…Phoenix just picked Alondo Tucker at #29…I’m zoning out here. Probably won’t write too much more. Just the Seattle pick and then anything after that I find remotely interesting.

7:45 – Getting ready for Seattle’s 2^nd round pick. Seattle selects Carl Landry from Purdue. I’m very disappointed in this pick. We don’t need another undersized forward. With guys like McRoberts, “Big Baby” Davis and Nick Fazekas out there, I’m bummed that we went with Landry.

7:46 – YES!!!!! MJ makes the HORRIBLE move I’ve been waiting for!!!! Trading Brandan Wright for Jason Richardson???? WHAT IN THE HELL??? MJ is seriously making a run at Billy King and ‘Zeke to be the worst GM in the NBA…and he’s not even a GM!

8:08 – Alright I’m done. Nothing else interesting is happening. I’m going to play Zoo Tycoon 2 now, because I’m awesome like that.

Top 10 Film Actresses of all-time

1. Katharine Hepburn
2. Meryl Streep
3. Bette Davis
4. Ingrid Bergman
5. Geraldine Page
6. Olivia de Havilland
7. Jane Fonda
8. Jessica Lange
9. Greer Garson
10. Maggie Smith

This is my list of who I consider to be the 10 greatest film actresses of all-time. There are many actresses in this current era of film who are simply too young to have compiled the oeuvre of the actresses listed below (Kate Winslet being the best example - she is probably in the next 10, and is only an oscar win and a nomination or two away from jumping into the top 10). There are actresses who did most of their work overseas, and as such it is very difficult to objectively judge them in comparison with actors who worked in the United States (Liv Ullman being the best example I can think of here). Then there are actresses who are still working, but experiencing a lull in the quality of their work (Jodie Foster is the prime example here - she is clearly in the top 20, and 15 years ago anyone making a list like this would have guaranteed her arrival on it within five years. She is still only one or two great performances away from jumping into the top 10, but she needs to get serious about her acting again if she's going to do it).

I am completely convinced that the top four on this list are the four greatest film actresses of all-time. No one can convince me otherwise. Katharine Hepburn has to be #1. There is no other way around it. Hepburn won 4 oscars, and was nominated for 12 academy awards in all. The most impressive thing about her 12 nominations is that all 12 were for "best actress in a leading role." Meryl Streep may have had more nominations, but not more "leading role" nominations. Go through Hepburn's list of films, her work is mind blowing: "Bringing Up Baby," "Holiday," "The Philadelphia Story," "The African Queen," "Suddenly, Last Summer," "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Those are films she didn't win oscars for. Hepburn is the Sugar Ray Robinson of actresses: she's the best ever and it's difficult to even present an argument stating differently.

Meryl Streep is #2 on my list, although really Streep, Davis and Bergman could be 2a, 2b, and 2c. I gave Streep the nod based on her 14 oscar nominations (11 as a leading lady) and 2 wins (a leading win for "Sophie's Choice" and a supporting win for "Kramer vs. Kramer"). Other classic Streep films include "The Deer Hunter," "Adaptation," and "Silkwood."

Bette Davis won 2 oscars (for "Dangerous" in 1936 and "Jezebel" in 1939) and was nominated for 11 overall. As with Hepburn, all of Davis' nominations were for lead roles. Her best performances were in the classic "All About Eve" and the eery and disturbing "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Ingrid Bergman won 3 oscars (for "Gaslight," "Anastasia," and "Murder on the Orient Express"). She was nominated for 7 in total, 6 in a leading role ("Murder on the Orient Express" was a supporting nod). Her greatest role, however, came in "Casablanca," quite possibly the best film ever made. Throw in a great performance in Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" and "Spellbound" and Ingmar Bergman's "Autumn Sonota" and (Ingrid) Bergman is clearly one of the top 4 actresses of all-time.

After Hepburn, Streep, Davis, and Bergman, the list gets a little more difficult to put together. I could see any of the #5-8 group switched around in any order. I could see #9-10 off the list altogether.

I put Geraldine Page at #5 because she was nominated for 8 oscars, won 1, and perservered through 32 years and 7 nominations before finally winning for "The Trip to Bountiful" in 1985. Her performance in Woody Allen's "Interiors" is brilliant. She managed to take average movies like "White Nights" and "The Pope of Greenwich Village" and make them more than watchable. Page also happened to be the best actress John Wayne ever worked with in "Hondo."

Olivia de Havilland is my personal favorite actress of all-time and she quite possibly deserves to be ranked higher on this list than she already is (I purposefully put her as low as I felt was justifiably possible because of my bias towards her). de Havilland was nominated for 5 oscars and won 2 (for "To Each His Own" and "The Heiress"). Her most memorable performances, however, were as Melanie "Gone With the Wind" and Maid Marian in "The Adventures of Robin Hood," two of the best films ever made.

Jane Fonda, #7 on the list, was nominated for 7 oscars, winning 2 for "Klute" and "Coming Home." However (maybe you are beginning to see a trend here), her best roles came in the classic "On Golden Pond" (with Katharine Hepburn) and "The China Syndrome." Of course, who could forget the brilliance of my personal favorite movie of all time, "Barbarella"?

Jessica Lange won 2 oscars, for "Tootsie" and "Blue Sky." She was nominated 6 times, including twice in 1983. My favorite Jessica Lange film is "Big Fish." It was probably not her best performance, but watching the film, one notices the subtleness with which she can portray virtually any emotion. I particularly enjoyed her in "Cape Fear" as well.

Greer Garson won the oscar for William Wyler's "Mrs. Miniver." She was nominated for 7 oscars. Her best role was probably in Mervyn LeRoy's "Random Harvest" as Paula Ridgeway. Garson was also excellent as Elizabeth Bennett in the 1940 version of "Pride and Prejudice" (although Keira Knightley blew Garson out of the water relatively recently). Garson put together a long, solid career, although I wouldn't expect to see her on this list more than 5 years from now. One could probably convince me to take her off the list today (along with Maggie Smith), given a strong argument.

Dame Maggie Smith was in a battle with Dame Judi Dench for the final spot on this list. Smith won out based on a more robust career resume than Dench (although Dench has clearly been the better performer over the last 10 years). Smith won 2 oscars, for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "California Suite." She was brilliant as Desdemona in Laurence Olivier's "Othello" (although I must admit watching Olivier in "blackface," in 1965 no less, is kind of disturbing...also, if one doesn't know that this version is simply a filmed play, they could be very confused). Smith put on another great performance in Robert Altman's "Gosford Park." And who could forget her role as Granny Wendy in "Hook" or Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" series?

There needs to be a special mention here for Falconetti, a theater actress in the early 1900s. She made only one film, "The Passion of Joan of Arc," but her performance in that film is so brilliant that many critics, including Roger Ebert, have called it the greatest performance in the history of film. Watch "The Passion" and you will understand why.