2009 NBA Draft: Winners and Losers

The 2009 NBA Draft kicked off Thursday night with Oklahoma's Blake Griffin getting picked first by the Clippers, surprising no one. However, the rest of day one proved to have its winners and losers.

Winners

1. Memphis Grizzlies- The Grizzlies are a good, young team who have a roster that is loaded with raw talent. This year marks two years in a row where they have had a solid draft. The Grizzlies had the 2nd overall pick in the draft and didn't waste it by directly picking their biggest area of concern, which was down low. Needless to say they took Hasheem Thabeet out of UCONN. Thabeet will make an instant impact on the Grizzlies' toughness down low. He may not provide instant production on the offensive end but that's OK because the Grizz already have some great offensive talent with OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay, and Marc Gasol. The Grizz also took Sam Young in Round 2, which to me is a huge steal. Young will be a great player off the bench in his rookie season which will add a balanced weapon to the roster.

Pick 1: Hasheem Thabeet (UCONN)
Pick 2: DeMarrre Carroll (Mizzou)
Pick 3: Sam Young (Pitt)
Overall Draft Grade: A+

2. San Antonio Spurs- All three of the Spurs picks on Day 1 were different positions, and they all came in the 2nd round. That didn't keep the Spurs from making some excellent picks, including Dejuan Blair out of Pittsburgh. We all know the style of play that the Spurs like to play, and Blair is going to fit in nicely with that style of tough, defensive-minded basketball. He's going to play great along the side of Tim Duncan. They also added a great three-point shooter in Jack McClinton. McClinton will be a great spark off the bench for the Spurs. Obviously the Spurs are doing something right each and every draft otherwise they wouldn't be a legitment threat for the Western Conference champions every year.

Pick 1: DeJuan Blair (Pitt)
Pick 2: Jack McClinton (Miami-Fla)
Pick 3: Nando De Colo (France)
Overall Draft Grade: A

3. Minnesota Timberwolves- Minnesota was definitely the most busy team having six picks today. They added a ton of talent on including the Spanish sensation Ricky Rubio. Rubio has a great chance at becoming the director of this team very soon. They're obviously ready to go another direction since they traded Randy Foye who was the point guard last season. The only question I have is why they took Jonny Flynn who is also a point guard. There's not room for both of them and all I can think is maybe they plan on trading one of them for something else. They also added some other great scorers in Wayne Ellington and Nick Calathes. I just have to wonder if they went a little to heavy on point guards. All in all still a good draft for the T'wolves who are clearly looking to a few seasons down the road instead of the immediate future.

Pick 1: Ricky Rubio (Spain)
Pick 2: Jonny Flynn (Syracuse)
Pick 3: Ty Lawson (N. Carolina) Traded to Denver
Pick 4: Wayne Ellington (N. Carolina)
Pick 5: Nick Calathes (Florida)
Pick 6: Henk Norel (Netherlands)
Overall Draft Grade: A-

Losers

1. Indiana Pacers- These guys took a huge gamble by selecting Tyler Hansbrough at No. 13 overall. There are a ton of question marks surrounding Hansbrough's game, which has been criticized as not being "NBA-ready" and yet they took him anyway. If Hansbrough proves to be a bust, then this draft will ultimately be a bust for the Pacers. I see Hansbrough being a Mark Madsen at best for his career, which is all well and good if you want that as your first pick. They also took AJ Price out of Connecticut, which also could end up being good or bad. Either way I think the Pacers could've done better.

Pick 1: Tyler Hansbrough (N. Carolina)
Pick 2: AJ Price (UCONN)
Overall Draft Grade: D

2. Milwaukee Bucks- This team had the worst draft by far. Their first pick was the No. 10 pick overall and they took Brandon Jennings out of Italy. This may end up alright but that's still a maybe. Sometimes foreign players look good overseas but don't end up looking so great when they get across the pond and play against NBA's best. Then they turn around and take another small guard in Jodie Meeks. Not to take anything away from Meeks's great season last year, but he left way too soon for the NBA and I don't think he's completely ready for the NBA. He fizzled out greatly towards the end of the season and was a very streaky performer. The Bucks can keep their finger crossed that this draft works out for them, but it just doesn't look to good from my perspective.

Pick 1: Brandon Jennings (Italy)
Pick 2: Jodie Meeks (Kentucky)
Overall Draft Grade: F