Sports: NBA Lottery Picks; info and predictions.

The Lottery picks are in, now lets see how each and every team faired. Keep in mind that this draft was vastly overrated and quite horrible in my opinion, but some teams picked much wiser than others.

1.) Blake Griffin - (PF, 6’9, 248 lb, Oklahoma) Blake Griffin was the first pick of the 2009 NBA Draft by Los Angeles Clippers and for good reason; he is an extremely athletic PF who seems as if he can dunk on anyone in the NBA (if he dunked on LeBron, we may not see the tape). He won countless numbers of awards in his college career and may have a solid career.

Pros: Physically gifted and uses it to perfection.

Cons: Defense and playing with his back to the basket.

Similar to: Antonio McDyess, pre-injuries

Prediction for Career: Borderline All-star or a complete bust since he went to the Clippers A.K.A. Basketball Hell.

GRADE: A+

2.) Hasheem Thabeet - (C, 7’3, 267, UConn) Thabeet was the second pick of the NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. He’s a 7’3 shot blocker who has a raw offensive game and could either end up being a Mutumbo or a complete bust.

Pros: Shot blocking abilities and overall help defense.

Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE!

Prediction for Career: This guy has bust written all over him.

Similar to: Dikembe Mutumbo

GRADE: D+

3.) James Harden (SG, 6’5, 218, Arizona State) James Harden was the third pick of the NBA Draft by The Oklahoma City Thunder. He’s a solid 2 guard to fill in one of the only glaring weaknesses the Thunder have on their roster. He also is as tough as nails and might be a tad small, but will still drive to the rim whenever he gets a chance.

Pros: Fearless and can play off of Westbrook and Durant extremely well.

Cons: A tad undersized and not the fastest guard in the draft.

Similar to: Manu Ginobili

Prediction for Career: Will be a solid player in the NBA for many years.

GRADE: B+

4.) Tyreke Evans (PG/SG, 6’5, 221, Memphis) Tyreke Evans was the fourth pick of the NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. Evans is a Combo Guard (could play either PG or SG), but I would honestly use him as a score first PG on a team like the Kings. They really have no other scoring threat besides Kevin Martin and I don’t see the downside of letting Evans get his feet wet and dismantle NBA teams with his incredible wingspan.

Pros: Very mature body, incredible wingspan and amazing in the fast pace.

Cons: Inconsistent jump shot.

Similar to: Jamal Crawford.

Prediction for Career: Will be a perennial All-star throughout career and has a strong chance at winning Rookie of the Year.

GRADE: A+

5.) Ricky Rubio (PG, 6’5, 180, DKV Joventut [Spain]) Ricky Rubio was drafted with the fifth pick of the NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rubio is a pure passing PG who proved himself during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Many think Rubio will come to the league and be an immediate affect, but I am not sold on Ricky.

Pros: Court vision, ball handling and passing.

Cons: Strength and horrible jump shot.

Similar to: Jose Calderon and Steve Nash before he entered the league (before he had a jumper).

Prediction for Career: Who knows how long it will be before we see Rubio play in an NBA Uniform, but I think he will end up being a role player on a championship team.

GRADE: F (since he won’t even play for the Wolves and is going to remain for DKV Joventut)

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6.) Jonny Flynn (PG, 6’0, 195, Syracuse) Jonny Flynn was drafted with the sixth pick of the NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Flynn is an insanely athletic and fearless player, but when drafted, most people were wondering, “why the hell did Minnesota just draft two point guards?” It might have worked out best that they did draft two PG’s considering Rubio will remain overseas.

Pros: Fearless athletic and can finish around the rim

Cons: Very small and needs to work on his jumper to make it more consistent.

Similar to: I’m going out on a limb here, but I think he could be like Tony Parker.

Prediction for Career: Will have a solid NBA Career, but I don’t know if he will be remembered for anything more than the guy who filled in when Rubio bitched out. Or he can work extremely hard and be the next Tony Parker.

GRADE: B-

7.) Stephen Curry (PG/SG, 6’3, 181, Davidson) Stephen Curry was drafted with the seventh pick of the NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. Curry is an amazing pure shooter who is well trained at making the NBA Three-pointer. I think Curry will come into the league making an impact, but never really get any better.

Pros: Pure shooter and quickness.

Cons: Not a true PG and undersized for SG.

Similar to: Will be remembered for making clutch 3-pointers for a contender, so I will go with Robert Horry.

Prediction for Career: As I said above, he will earn his checks by being a hot hand when you need a clutch 3-pointer.

GRADE: B-

8.) Jordan Hill (PF, 6’10, 232, Arizona) Jordan Hill was drafted with the eighth pick of the NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. Hill is a speedy PF with a great mid-range jump shot. I felt kind of bad for him when the angry New Yorkers were booing him because they did not get Stephen Curry.

Pros: Quick and has a good jumper

Cons: Weak for the PF posistion, but that’s nothing a little fix from Rashard Lewis’s stash won’t fix.

Similar to: Chris Bosh

Prediction for Career: He will be a strong NBA’er for many years to come and could possibly make the all-star team many times in his career.

GRADE: A

9.) DeMar DeRozan (SG, 6’7, 211, USC) DeMar DeRozan was drafted with the ninth pick of the NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. DeRozan is an extremely athletic wing player with the ideal NBA mold.

Pros: An athletic freak.

Cons: Seems disinterested at times and only shot 17% from three last season at USC.

Similar to: Vince Carter.

Prediction for Career: Will have an explosive career and will be a fan favorite

GRADE: B+, if DeRozan taps his full potential, he will be a perennial all-star in the NBA.

10.) Brandon Jennings (PG, 6’1, 170, Virtus Roma [Italy]) Brandon Jennings was drafted with the tenth pick of the NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Jennings is as explosive and flashy as they come and literally dominated the McDonald’s All American Game for High School basketball players before leaving to go play a year in Europe.

Pros: Quick and Confident

Cons: Jumpshot

Similar to: Allen Iverson

Prediction for Career: Jennings is my favorite rookie and I predict he will win the Rookie of the Year award.

GRADE: A+

11.) Terrence Williams (SG/SF, 6’6, 213, Louisville) Terrence Williams was drafted with the eleventh pick of the NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. I, for one, love this pick for the Nets. It adds an athletic wing to play with the young core of Devin Harris, Brooke Lopez and the newly acquired Courtney Lee.

Pros: Defensively sound, a great athlete and he is NBA ready.

Cons: Sometimes struggles to put points on the board, but will need to improve his jumper.

Similar to: Corey Maggette

Prediction for Career: I think Terrence will do just fine in the NBA and is a great pick up for the Nets, or any other team out there, he’s just one of those type of players.

GRADE: A

12.) Gerald Henderson (SG/SF, 6’5, 215, Duke) Gerald Henderson was drafted with the twelvth pick of the NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats. Henderson is going to fit in well with the athletic style of the Bobcats and will most have a great teacher of how to use your athletics in the NBA correctly while playing alongside Gerald Wallace.

Pros: Athletic (this whole draft was athletic, haha)

Cons: Undersized, which also seems to be the story of this draft.

Prediction for Career: Henderson will end up being a journeymen throughout his career, or he can prove me wrong and be a solid player on the up and coming Charlotte Bobcats.

Similar to: His teammate Gerald Wallace.

GRADE: B

13.) Tyler Hansbrough (PF, 6’9, 234, UNC) Tyler Hansbrough was drafted with the thirteenth overall pick by the Indiana Pacers. Hansbrough is a hard worker who may have already tapped out his potential, but a hard worker is all Larry Legend was looking for, I guess.

Pros: Extremely hard worker and will do the little things to help a team out.

Cons: His lack of athleticism and the fact that he is also a tad undersized worries me.

Prediction for Career: Will remain solid in this league for many many years and be a player everyone would love to have on their team, sort of like Joe Smith.

Similar to: A much better version of Anderson Verajao.

GRADE: Even though I love Hansbrough’s game, they could have easily traded down and got him later in the 1st round, so I give this pick a D.

14.) Earl Clark (SF, 6’10, 226, Louisville) Earl Clark was drafted with the fourteenth overall pick by the Phoenix Suns. Clark is a huge SF or a good sized PF, who will provide mismatches for both posistions.

Pros: Versatillity

Cons: No “Go to Move” and doesn’t really have a proper posistion that he will be able to dominate at in the NBA.

Prediction for Career: Solid role player for many years.

Similar to: Boris Diaw.

GRADE: B, good pick for the Suns.

Movies: Stay

Stay is an insanely fast and intense story that takes you into the mind of Psychiatrist Dr. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) trying to save his patient, Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling) ,a young Art Major, who is contemplating suicide. Dr. Sam Foster also has to deal with his own mental problems and his girlfriend's, Lila Culpepper (Naomi Watts) thoughts on the whole situation. Stay has impeccable symbolism and if you get a chance to see the film (watch it twice to understand the concept) you will be able to understand the symbolism by the end of the film. Stay goes through twists and turns that you hardly ever see in movies these days, with an ending you will not believe.

Quote: Your troubles will cease and fortune will smile upon you.

Music: John Legend

John Legend is what I like to consider "A Soul Singer for the Modern Era." As most of you know, Soul music sort of grew into the genre of R&B (which stands for rhythm and blues, but it sounds more like a soft core porn to me), and slowly faded into oblivion. John Legend, birth name John Stephens, was born on December 28, 1978 in Springfield, Ohio and attended The University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, Legend became a management consultant, while sending out demo tapes. One of his tapes just so happen to land in the hands of Kanye West and Legend was signed to the G.O.O.D. Music Record Label.

Legend's debut album, Get Lifted, arrived in December of 2004 and peaked at #7 on the Billboard Charts. In December of 2006, his second album Once Again came out and then his latest album, Evolver, hit the stores in October 2008.

I really like Legend's style and I recommend him to all fans of Soul/R&B/Easy Listening.

http://www.myspace.com/johnlegend

Sports: The Cleveland Quarterback Controversy

As Preseason approaches for NFL Teams and fans alike, there is only one idea going through a Browns Fan’s head; who the fuck is our quarterback? Browns Head Coach Eric Magnini has sort of a tough job right now, he is entering his first year as the Browns’ head coach. He was fired from his last job as the NY Jets’ head coach, but that was a pretty bad situation considering they had to deal with Brett “I don’t want to retire or attend team meetings” Favre, and I feel Mangini got unrightfully fired. But, back to the Browns, who are these quarterbacks Mangini has to choose from?

Brady Quinn is a 24 year old quarterback from The University of Notre Dame, he was born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up in Dublin, Ohio; yep, you guessed it, he’s a hometown hero. The buzz going around Cleveland is that Quinn will most likely win the starting gig for the Browns this year and I can’t say that I’m surprised. Quinn specializes in short passes, which I think Mangini will be using considering we don’t have the most impressive receivers on our roster. The problem I have with Brady is that he’s done absolutely nothing and is overhyped like crazy by Clevelanders. However, his opponent for the starting job has lead us to the Season of Dreams.

Derek Anderson is a 26 year old quarterback hailing from Oregon; he attended Oregon State. D.A. (what Clevelanders have nicknamed him, very clever isn’t it) lead us to “The Season of Dreams” was in the 2007-2008 season, when the team achieved a 10-6 record. Now I know what you’re thinking, 10-6 isn’t all that great, but compared to the other seasons of the Rebirth of the Browns (1999 - Present), that was damn good. D.A. Has a rocket arm and can throw deep down the field, but his short game is rather atrocious and he tends to overthrow the receivers. However, his season last year was rather atrocious; quarterback rating of only 66.5.

In my opinion, neither of these quarterbacks are starter material, but my gut feeling tells me to go with the seasoned veteran, Derek Anderson.

Fashion: Nike Dunk - Then and Now.

THE EARLY YEARS: The Nike Dunk's origins trace

back to 1985, when the shoe was brought in to be the Nike Terminator's twin brother. Apparently Nike had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Quickly, the Dunk became regarding as a Number One basketball shoe amongst NCAA teams. This affiliation was called "The College Colors Program," with representation from teams such as St. John's University, Syracuse University, Villanova University, The University of Iowa, The University of Kentucky, The University of Michigan and The University of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Nike Dunk slowly faded after that.

THE REBIRTH: In the year 1998, Nike decided

it would be a good plan to rerelease the Dunk in a second effort and the first batch was University Colors, but they quickly branched off into different color variations. In the 2000's the Dunk switched to it's patent Nylon tongue with a arch supports that go over your toe line.

When the dunk was reintroduced to the world, Nike had a quickly growing profit because a lot of Teenage - Early Twenties wanted something "Old School" and Nike soared to the top with one of the most popular, if not the most popular shoe in the world.

With the strong support of the body and thick sole, Skateboarders quickly became infatuated with the Nike Dunk and the Nike SB line was born. It is an altered dunk, with a thicker sole to keep up with the everyday life of skateboarders worldwide and hypebeasts that want to look dope. (Pictured Below)

Because of the growing population of Dunkies, there are now custom Nike Dunk Hi's that can run you anywhere from $1,000 - $5,000, including the Nike Dunk Hi Dinosaur JR.'s (Pictured Below.)

THE NIKE DUNK A.K.A. THE GOAT.

Sports: The Cavs

Hailing from Cleveland, I am an eighteen year old man who has never witnessed a championship from my city. The Buckeyes won the championship in 2003, but that isn't enough for a kid who has grown up through pain and heartbreak of being sub-par and even the 2009 Cavaliers who were far from sub-par, and were actually stellar, still decided to let our city down, when defeated by the Orlando Magic.

We met the better team and we were extremely outmatched, and it was yet another moment of disappointment.

But as a Cleveland fan, I know only five words....

THERE IS ALWAYS NEXT YEAR!

And this offseason has been stellar for the Cavs' front office, with the aquisitions of sold wing players Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker. We now have something on the wings we had none of last year, height.

Jamario Moon is a 28 year old, 6'8 SF/SG who had his break out season last year with the Toronto Raptors and after the midseason trade when he went to the Miami Heat, and judging by the press conference, he couldn't have been more happy to be playing along side LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Moon was signed as a Restricted Free Agent from the Miami Heat.

The other wingman the Cavs have acquired this offseason is veteran SG, Anthony Parker. He is a 34 years old and a 6'6 SG/SF who played most of his career overseas on Maccabi Tel Aviv. Parker was a key FA the Cavs were rumored to be pursuing since the Free Agency period started during the NBA offseason. Parker, like Moon, showed a lot of excitement and enthusiasm to be playing the Cavaliers organization.

AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST....

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL

As you all know, Shaq has been on of the, if not THE most dominant player to ever pick up a basketball, and I couldn't be happier that he is a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since LeBron James has never played with a dominant post presence, like Shaq, critics often say he will clog the paint and give

LeBron nowhere to work, but I say FUCK THAT!

Dwyane Wade, like LeBron, has a very inconsistent jump shot, but that didn't stop him and Shaq from winning a ring together. The only worry I have as a Cavs fan, is that the egos of Shaq and LeBron will clash and it will be ugly, but other than that, this could, keep in mind I said COULD be the season of dreams, and I'm not going to let a small market hating channel like ESPN try to make me think other wise. Shaq has hinted that if this season goes well, he'd like to play three more seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and he is on a contract year, mix that with the fact that he wants to be the first to five

(before Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan) and I have a feeling we will be seeing a different side of the old fat out of shape, attention-whore Shaq, we've became accustomed too.

WELCOME TO CLEVELAND FELLAS!

GO CAVS!