(Update: your 2024 NBA Mock Draft can be found at this link. And for the following mocks go here: NFL, MLB, NHL)
A few years ago, a Twitter user (and we only use the term “Twitter user” because we literally cannot locate the Tweet now) posted “the NFL Draft is porn, the NBA Draft is comfort food and the MLB Draft is stamp collecting.”
He did not even bother analogizing the NHL Draft, and that is hilarious in itself. Here in 2017, his hilariously accurate at the time metaphors are now a bit off. While the NFL Draft is still a huge event it has definitely peaked in relevance. Its importance was overrated anyway.
The MLB Draft is still certainly about as exciting as stamp collecting, but the NBA Draft is definitely not comfort food. It’s more like a mediocre frozen dinner or run-of-the-mill cafeteria fare.
This is coming from someone who has already done a radio and television spot focusing on the 2017 NBA Draft, so if I’m not excited, I can’t see how anyone else would be. I have been on shows in the past where the hosts have told me, right before going live, they don’t care about or follow the NBA Draft.
Let’s try to figure out why the event is inspiring so much apathy.
Balls Don’t Lie
The #1 NBA Draft topic on every sports talks show is Lonzo Ball and his attention whoring father Lavar Ball. The latter of which is the Kardashian of sports. There’s no reason for us to pay any attention to him, other than who he’s related to, and they won’t stop doing whatever it takes to stay in the public eye.
No matter who’s side you were on in the Kristine Leahy vs. Lavar Ball feud, you have to admit, it really appears to have been something that was very likely staged. Think about it, whether you’re a SJW (Social Justice Warrior) or a regressive sexist chauvinist, or anything and everything else in between, think about it. That silliness smelled of Taylor Swift vs Kanye West fake conflict and manufactured controversy for the sake of publicity.
If Lavar Ball hadn’t jumped the shark already by then…I think we’re sick of hearing about the Balls.
It’s Become Pure Duopoly Now
The media tries so damn hard to create the “who will go #1 Guy X or Guy Y?!” narrative that they zero in on two prospects and ignore almost everybody else. Ok, so by that logic why are we even watching then beyond pick #3?
ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla, did a media conference call this week, and a reporter asked him “what things do you see in this year’s draft that we should be looking at because it seems like it’s like a two-person draft so much and then after that it just goes into obscurity in some respects.”
“Obscurity,” is the key word there. It used to be, the NBA Draft didn’t go full on “all guys you’ve never heard of” mode until the late 40s or early 50s. Nowadays that starts in the mid 30s. Why is that? Fraschilla answered it well, and it doing so created the next subhead.
TODAY the NBA Draft equals the MLB Draft and the MLB Draft is BORING
If A=B, and B=C, then A=C
Fraschilla, who works for the very network that televises the NBA Draft, went into detail about how it’s become the baseball draft now, and that’s the most damning of all.
“It’s a good question,” he responded.
“I never get excited 12 months out when someone says, draft since because you learn that it’s very hard for these young players. I don’t care who it is that’s going to go in the Top-10. Very few of these guys are going to have an immediate impact on the NBA because as I’ve said so many times, we watch at the college level is AA baseball compared to the NBA, which is really the Major Leagues.”
Yawn.
Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrringgggggg!
Earlier on the call, Fraschilla explained the analogy in more detail.
“The simple fact is this NBA draft will probably feature 14 or 15 freshmen and one, two, three international teenagers in the first round. And it has become what I said five years ago, and is now cliche: It’s a baseball draft. You’re drafting, for the most part, teams are drafting on potential and for the future.”
No wonder the NBA Draft is dullsville now.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.