ESPN Draft Grades

[baseline bum]

9. Milwaukee Bucks | Dirk Nowitzki | PF | Germany
*Pick traded with No. 18 overall selection to Dallas for rights to No. 6 pick Robert Traylor.

“Winners: The Bucks
After trading away No. 4 draft-pick Stephon Marbury last year, the Bucks get it right in '98 by stealing the marketable and talented Robert Traylor from the Mavs for an overhyped foreign prospect.”— Shanoff

Everyone thought that was a horrible move by Nelson at the time. I remember listening to Jim Rome's show the day after, and Maverick fans were calling every five minutes, ing about trading a proven player like Traylor for Dirk freaking Diggler.

[T Park]

No one ever said Mavs fan was smart.

[Obstructed_View]

To be fair, it seemed like the Nelsons were spending all kinds of draft picks on some big slow white guy, many times a guy nobody had ever heard of. Loren Myer, Cherokee Parks, Wang Zhizhi, and Bruno Sundov spring to mind. The big talk was that they chose between Traylor and Dirk while passing on Paul Pierce. It's fortunate that they are the only team that can look back now and say they're glad they did.

[Roxsfan]

Analysis: The Rockets had a bizarre night. First they traded the guy they drafted at No. 25, Nicolas Batum, to the Blazers for Darrell Arthur and Joey Dorsey. Then they turned around and sent Arthur to Memphis for Greene. Why they didn't just select Greene at No. 27 is a mystery.

I think they would've been better off keeping Arthur, but they still did well. Greene has upside as a Rashard Lewis-type forward, and Dorsey, if he gets his act together, could be the second coming of Ben Wallace. Both could help them down the road. Leunen? Not so much.


RLWAB--Ray Lewis with a basketball, Dorsey