But hey, Chad Ford is like, you know, NEVER wrong. He’s a professor and stuff.

And the Nat’l media’s “They would have gone undrafted!” meme looks sillier and sillier the more one examines it.

Yep.

Especially since the reports (before the draft, not hindsight pieces) suggest that if Fields was not taken by the Suns or the Lakers, he was at least under consideration for their picks, and yet he’s not in Chad Ford’s Top 100? He’s being seriously discussed for picks in the 40s and yet he isn’t in Ford’s Top 100?

And then his lack of a presence in the Top 100 is somehow not a mistake on Ford’s part, but rather a sign that the Knicks made a mistake by taking someone not on his Top 100? ‘Tis Silly.

And the Nat’l media’s “They would have gone undrafted!” meme looks sillier and sillier the more one examines it.

here’s a question: If Hobson had been there at 38, do y’all think they would have gone Hobson/Rautins or Hobson/Fields?

I think the former. Fields had a better chance of falling out of the second round entirely – Rautins definitely would have been picked by somebody.

Chicago gave up “so little” in their salary dump because, you know, they were dumping a legitimate NBA basketball player… something Jared Jeffries is not. Kirk Hinrich is a guy you actually look to add to make your team better, Jared Jeffries is a contract you take back as part of a trade.

Walsh also spoke with the Wiz re: Jeffries last summer if rumors were correct, so he might have known that they had zero interest in Jeffries. Or he might have just been unwilling to wait on the off chance the Wiz accepted a worse trade offer than they got from Chicago.

I think you are forgetting how bad Jeffries is. Total blackhole of offense (can’t score at all AND turns it over 1/2 the times he touches it), and not good enough on defense to make up for that. Walsh spent a year plus trying to trade the guy, so I trust that he hada good read on his trade value.
You also forget that D’Antoni never played Hill, and when he did he reduced him to a spot-up shooter. The #8 pick has a lot less value when your coach makes him look like a bust and publicly questions his work ethic.

Kirk Hinrich is a good basketball player. He plays on both sides of the ball. While Jeffries has to sit in the corner on offense, Hinrich can run the offense and is a strong jump shooter. We’re talking about an 11th, 12th man who is a versatile defender if you put 4 scorers around him vs. a top 5 guy on a playoff team. Hinrich is overpaid, but I don’t think he’s particularly overrated around the league.
Seraphin has a blank slate and “unlimited” potential that teams love. Hill was being treated like a bust by the team that just drafted him while Seraphin has a lot of upside for a 17 pick.

I did think Donnie gave up a whole lot. My worry is certainly that he overvalued T-Mac, which is a bad sign when it come to 2010 free agency secondary options like Rudy Gay and Joe Johnson. I think Washington would definitely have taken good guard and pick over terrible but versatile player and pick that looks like a bust (which I think Hill would have continued to do since D’Antoni used him so poorly).

Based on some of the things I’ve read from him, I don’t think I’m underrating Simmons as an analyst. Like I said, though, I try not to read his pro Red Sox agenda.