God Bless Danny Ferry
While everyone's fired up about the upcoming NBA Draft (as Roger Brown would say, word is that Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr. could each go in the top three picks), tonight's a good time to take a look back at what may have been the best move of last year's NBA Draft: Danny Ferry's drafting of Daniel "Boobie" Gibson in the second round.
With Larry Hughes on the bench for most of last night's Cavaliers-Pistons game with another injury, Gibson came through with 35 big minutes, netting 21 points to go along with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. I suppose it doesn't mean that much to say that Boobie Gibson has been the best rookie in the conference finals (isn't he the only rookie getting significant minutes?). Nevertheless, Ferry scored major points in my book by getting Gibson -- a player who essentially won the game last night (along, of course, with LeBron) -- with the 42nd pick in last year's draft. Apparently there may have been something going on behind the scenes, given that Gibson had first round talent but only worked out for the Cavs (one assumes that Ferry told Gibson they'd pick him if he were available, and if he wanted to play with LeBron James it would be a good idea to stay at home after his Cavs workout).
Anyway, Ferry's gotten a lot of heat for not adding any pieces around LeBron (besides Hughes, I guess). Give him some credit though for finding Boobie. Here's hoping the Cavs can pull off the upset tomorrow in Detroit to take the 3-2 series lead . . . .
