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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s “The Stack” with me, Nathan Stacken. Last blog post of the week and we have plenty on the NBA Draft and a few other interesting tidbits in “The Stack” so let’s get right to it:

1. Kyrie Irving, Derrick Williams go one, two.

The NBA Draft took place last night in New York and as expected, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Duke guard Kyrie Irving first. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who were really trying to shop their pick, kept it and took Arizona forward Derrick Williams. Enes Kanter went number three to the Utah Jazz and then the Cavaliers threw the first shocker in the draft by selecting Texas big man Tristan Thompson. Thompson has the potential to be good, but he is very young and raw. Many thought the Cavs would select Lithuania big man Jonas Valanciunas. He would seem to be more NBA ready, but the Cavs must see something in Thompson that others didn’t. We’ll get to the trades in the next headline.

Other interesting draft picks included the Sacramento Kings getting Jimmer Fredette number ten overall. The people of Glenn Falls, New York, who had a draft party watching Fredette get drafted, will have some long nights ahead of them next season if they want to watch Fredette play. The Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus went back to back at picks thirteen and fourteen to Phoenix and Houston respectively. Duke guard Nolan Smith went to the Portland Trailblazers at pick 21. NCAA leading rebounder Kenneth Faried went to the Denver Nuggets at 22. And Oakland power forward Keith Benson went 48th to the Atlanta Hawks. He is the only the second player from the Summit League that will be currently playing in the NBA. All in all, it was a very interesting night from the NBA draft.

2. NBA trades are very confusing.

As always, there were a lot of trades last night during the NBA Draft. Before the draft started, the Charlotte Bobcats, Milwuakee Buck and Sacramento Kings made a three team swap with the Bobcats shipping Stephen Jackson and a couple other players to the Bucks for the seventh pick and the Kings getting the tenth pick and sending a couple of players and this and that. It’s a confusing trade. What is even more perlexing is that when the players got drafted at seven and ten, they were wearing the team’s hat who had the pick to start the draft, and not the team that drafted them. Fredette wore a Bucks hat when he was selected tenth, but in reality he’s going to Sacramento. The Bobcats selected Bismack Biyombo seventh overall, but he http://www.fannation.com/blogs/creat…ttacks-blogput on a Kings hat since they had the seventh pick and the deal wasn’t yet approved.

How long does it take the NBA to approve these trades? It is really confusing for people watching on TV to see guys put on hats of the team that drafted them for another team. Then there were the usual swapping of players numerous times and at some point, you just have to give up trying to figure out if a team kept their player and wait to see the final results of the draft. It is annoying to try and keep up with all of the deals and I wish there was a better system in place for the NBA to make deals not so confusing. One other trade to note: the San Antonio Spurs shipped guard George Hill to the Indiana Pacers for a couple of picks including the fifteenth overall selection in Kawhi Leonard and a player. Tony Parker did not get traded as everyone thought he would. Thought the Spurs were trying to get younger which is why they would have traded Parker. Guess not.

3. Artest changing his name, Nationals manager resigns.

A couple of other headlines yesterday include the Los Angeles Lakers Ron Artest trying to legally change his last name to “Metta World Peace.” Okay then. Just when you thought his wierdness couldn’t get any more weird, he pulls this out. And Metta World Peace? Sounds a bit hypocritcal considering this is the same guy that started the famous brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills a few years ago when he was a member of the Pacers. He has changed, but the name is a little ways out there.

Finally, Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman resigned yesterday over his contract and not having the option picked up. The Nationals have won eleven of their last twelve games. They are one of the hottest teams in baseball. What makes this resignation so noteworthy is that Riggleman resigned yesterday after the teams 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners. Normally you resign before a game not after. Nationals management should have treated Riggleman better, because he was doing great things with this franchise this year considering they’ve been a last place team for so long.

That does it for me today and for the week. Check back Monday for another edition of “The Stack.” Until then, have a great rest of your day, a great weekend and we’ll see you back here Monday.

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