Winners & Losers (2011 NBA Draft)

What a draft. Nobody had superstar caliber but everybody was bust eligible. Oh and yeah, Ron Artest changed his name to Metta World Peace. Don't ask me about it.

What I can answer for you is some winners and losers of this draft.

Winners:

- Washington Wizards - They got what Flip Saunders called a "freak of an athlete" in Jon Vesley. They got a lock down defender in Chris Singleton and then a high basketball IQ player in Selvin Mack. Back up PG. Starting SF who can run with John Wall and a guy who prides himself on the defensive side of the ball the most. Yeah, Washington definitely put ski-masks on and robbed the draft.

- Denver Nuggets - Kenneth Faried was a steal for them. The freak of nature when it comes to rebounding will be a huge up grade as well as the addition of Jordan Hamilton, whom I feel could have been Top 15 had he stayed another year in college. Liked the move of getting rid of Raymond Felton for Andre Miller. Ty Lawson is the future for Denver, Andre Miller quality backup.

- Houston Rockets - Adding Marcus Morris and Chandler Parsons were very solid picks. Both can be role players. The addition of Johnny Flynn was a terrific one. The one time Syracuse suffered a set back last year after injury but flourished in his rookie season with the Timberwolves. Him and Kyle Lowery could be a nice point guard combination for Houston with Kevin Martin and Courtney Lee at the 2 spot. Morris will get a good shot to play a lot of minutes with there being a whole at C with the often injured Yao. Brad Miller was traded for Donatas Motiejunas. He won't be brought over until 2013, 2014 but has a ceiling to be a tougher Pau Gasol. Trust me. As for Parsons, has a great ability to create scoring opportunities for himself and with Chase Budinger as their only real small forward, he like Morris, will have a good shot at seeing a lot of playing time.

LOSERS

- New York Knicks - I'm sorry but if there was any team I was upset the most about messing up, it was the New York Knicks. After a season filled with star caliber players combining and a lots of signs of promise the Knicks took a step back by drafting Iman Shumpert. The kid is a defensive minded guy, something the Knicks don't know what to do and as long as Mike D'Antoni is around, won't ever do. Kenneth Faried was the best choice right here for them. They desperately needed rebounding and an inside presence but again decided to do something crazy.

- Cleveland Cavaliers - Yes, the team that had the 1st and 4th pick ended up on my loser chart. The addition of Kyrie Irving was the best one of course, no doubt. Tristan Thompson though, not so much. Kid should have stayed another year at Texas and worked on his offensive game. He's undersized for his position and though he can play defense he will need to step up his low post game since he's just about the only guy that will be down there to do so. Would have taken Jon Vesley at this pick once Enes Kanter was taken off the board.

- Utah Jazz - When will Utah understand that imploding down low won't be effective if they don't have someone to pass the ball? After trading Deron Williams to the Nets which would gave them the #3 spot, Utah proceeded to add another big man even though having Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors and Al Jefferson already in the 4-5 spots. Then skipping on the guy who I thought they should take at 13, Chris Singleton and going for instead Alec Burks. Yeah, not really understanding the idea behind this but again that's why I'm the grader, not GM.

The draft was filled with a lot of mysteries. Some solve able some not even worth mentioning but one thing is for certain..........................this draft sucked.