BILAS MUST GO!
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by user NBA Draft Blog
The official draft guru of the NFL is a vociferous, pompadoured man named Mel Kiper, Jr. He never played or coached professional football. He is, by all accounts, a fan that turned his obsession into the most legitimate voice of expertise on the value of amateur football players as prospects for the National Football League. Initially, it’s easy to find Mel Kiper, Jr. as grating, even intolerable. But if you have an interest in football’s draft prospects, you quickly overcome your dislike for Kiper, Jr. and begin to appreciate his wealth of knowledge. He has been doing this for so long, and armed with such well-researched information, we may have taken him for granted. The man provides a critical service to football fans, and the NFL draft would not be the same without him.
Unfortunately, for all of us avid basketball fans, we have no such voice for our draft. In the place of Mel Kiper, Jr., we are asked to listen to the incessant nasal droning of JAY BILAS. He is supposed to feed us in-depth information about the prospects before, during, and after they have been selected by NBA teams. But, Bilas doesn’t seem to be as prepared as we would prefer. In fact, he seems to be less informed than anyone with a more educated knowledge than a casual basketball fan. He regularly speaks of international players in wide, stereotypical regards, obviously having never seen that player to remark on him as an individual. When was the last time Mel Kiper, Jr. was confronted with a draftee he didn’t have a strong personal evaluation of? Bilas is neither charming, nor entertaining, so it is imperative that he provides insight. He subsequently fails at that. Bilas is a college guy preaching about the potential of prospects to thrive in the NBA, something he just isn’t qualified to do. Too often, Bilas sermonizes about a player’s success as a collegian without adjusting his evaluation for projection as a pro player. It doesn’t take a basketball genius to qualify that NCAA success will not always translate into NBA success. We need someone with the ability to project that, someone we trust more than Bilas. To make matters worse, Bilas is flanked by STEVEN A. SMITH and GREG ANTHONY. Smith is a shock-talk antagonist, entertaining (or annoying, depending on your view) but not a qualified voice for this venue. Anthony is likeable and knowledgeable, but he is out of his element here, too often referring to prospects as a coach might. That is a nice change from his cohorts, but it still doesn’t offer the scouting we crave, the kind information that football fans get from Kiper, Jr.
I do not have a candidate in mind to become the new draft guru for the NBA. I just know that Jay Bilas is not the right guy. I suppose the new guru will not have another agenda. His only job will be to create in-depth scouting projections. This means that he will need to understand the reasons that an amateur player becomes a successful pro. That is much more difficult than it sounds, but it is possible. We need a guru. We need our own Mel Kiper, Jr.
Date
Fri 06/30/06, 12:42 am EST
