JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS: is the NBA Draft. The anticipation is more than the event. You look at all the mock drafts and there's all these weirdos out there and then the draft happens and they're just basketball players after all. It's another version of the disappointment that happens sometimes when the potential becomes actual. Now, when the season actually starts--that's when the fun begins.

Anyhoo:

--Most of the giants got taken, except for the Iranian. Pavel got traded to the Mavs right away. They also got Devin Harris for the point guard of the future. I guess--what--Cubes is just going to keep piling on and piling on the talent and giant contracts until the Lakers can't say no? The Shaq "trade me" talk certainly is cooling; Cubes must really want to press the deal while he can.

--The Blazers picked Telfair and two guys from the same Russian team. It all seems appropriate. Though I actually thought the Jazz were going to get all the international players.

--The Magic went with Dwight Howard, and I dunno. It's not a surprise. You know Okafor plays the right way--tonight's mantra--and you don't know if Howard will or not. This seems like the Magic are willing to wallow in the mire for a while. Except they traded for Jameer too, and he knows what he's doing. We'll see what they do with T-Mac.

We'll see what everybody does with everything. I hate to agree with Tom Tolbert, but this draft is so ungradeable, given how much flux the league is in right now. We just don't know how the pieces are going to fit, even at the top of the draft.

Hey. I'm beat. At least my professor liked my crappy obligatory humanities journal. Good night, and good luck.