I feel Ernie did a good job in last year’s draft, though nothing particularly great. Nick Young was an obvious selection after having fallen into his lap. D-Mac was a good find in the second round, but I doubt his contributions to the team will be more than minimal for the next few seasons. The injuries our team suffered last season were horrible, and I agree that Ernie was hamstrung by Abe’s stinginess.

All that said, that was last season. While I was a bit wary about standing pat last season, I was OK with it. This season I think it’s just foolhardy. Most of the league’s teams are in complete makeover mode, with the top two teams having both made major roster changes that brought in impact players in the past year, and Ernie just drafted a guy who at most will help us 3-4 seasons down the road. Not only that, but he reached for the guy, which makes the trade value of this pick even less. Then he goes and sells our 2nd pick. This tells me that he thinks we really don’t need any help right away. I need to reiterate what so many other people have said, that there were players available who already know how to play basketball and were capable of helping right away, and instead Ernie said, “Whatever, I’ll just draft stick boy and see if he works out.” I hope he does too. I’m sure he’s a great kid and would love to see pictures of him in a chef hat dishing food to airmen at Andrews Air Force Base. But he’s not going to bring the current roster closer to a championship, IMO. He may help a future roster to that level, who knows. But there is just no sense of urgency on Ernie’s part, and I just don’t understand it or like it.

I also think it’s foolhardy to simply cross your fingers and hope that the Big 3 stay healthy. All three haven’t been healthy together since 2005-06, when they lost in the first round to Cleveland. So they’re not likely to get and stay healthy for an entire season, and even if they do, they probably won’t be good enough to go any farther than they already have. We need more solid contributors if we’re going to progress, not question marks to hope and pray for. We have maybe a 3-4 season window of opportunity to compete for a championship before Antawn gets too old, but you would never have guessed this based on the way Ernie just handled the draft.

But enough ranting, I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said already. I think I’m over it now, it just took me longer than most people. I hope either Ernie surprises me this summer or that JaVale is much better much sooner than we all think he will be.