The NBA Draft used to be my favorite day of the year -- I don’t think there is anyone who analyzed and dissected this day more than me. I was doing mock drafts when I was 8 years old.

 

This is my day, until this year.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I still read everything I can get my hands on and try to talk to as many people in the know as I can, but it’s just not the same anymore. The NBA Draft used to be a spectacle: big names, botched picks, far-fetched rumors, ridiculous suits and the always enjoyable game of, "Is that his Mom or Grandma who just hugged him in the green room?"

The Draft started going downhill when the high-schoolers started coming straight into the league. You became less familiar with the names that were being called, and if you don’t get to see the players before they are drafted, it takes most of the fun out of the evening.

 

How excited am I as a Nets fan or a T-Wolves fan if I draft Derrick Favors or DeMarcus Cousins or Wesley Johnson? They all might be future all-stars, but I was only able to watch them for 10 minutes in college. I was never able to watch them grow as players, watching how they played in big games and how they matured over a few years.

This is why the NFL Draft is the juggernaut that it is. I know the NFL is king regardless, but the Draft is so big because we know these players, we watched them for at least three years and got to know them. So when the Chiefs select Eric Berry, I know everything there is to know about him.

 

However, when the Clippers select Luke Babbit from Nevada with the eighth pick, everyone not named Mr. and Mrs. Babbit will be very confused because nobody knows him! He is a sophomore who was second-team All-WAC ... how is this kid good enough to be a mid-lottery pick?

 

It kills me.

There will be some really good players taken tonight, but none should really get you all that excited. I’m not even that big a fan of John Wall, the consensus No. 1 pick who people are fawning over. I just don’t see it. He’s a really good athlete and has a good floor game, but I’m missing what everyone else is looking at. I don’t think he’s even remotely close to Derrick Rose.

 

Tech’s own Derrick Favors is another one. I would have loved to see him with a point guard and a coach, for that matter, to show what he really could do, but he’s at least two years away from contributing on a nightly basis. Good luck with DeMarcus Cousins; that’s a headache I don’t need.

This year is a down year talent-wise regardless, but my one wish if I’m czar of sports is to make college hoops and the NBA Draft what it once was. Keep these kids in school for at least two and hopefully three years and make college hoops relevant again, which in turn makes the Draft must-see-TV again.