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JOE POSNANSKI - Columnist

Some NBA teams just don't have a clue

Paul Pierce kept dropping and dropping, and you have to wonder what happens at
these NBA tryout camps. You have to wonder what super, secret scouting methods
would propel a team to select Jason Williams, a 6-foot-1 wild kid thrown off
his college team, before taking Paul Pierce.

But then, the NBA is filled with geniuses, men who looked at Shawn Bradley and
said "Now that's a basketball player." This is a league that has, through the
scientific drafting of high school kids and college players with games as one-
dimensional as characters in a Chevy Chase movie, brought basketball to the
high level where the Utah Jazz score 54 points in 48 minutes in the
championship series. 

Things happen at these NBA tryout camps. Who knows what? Players walk in
dribbling basketballs with both hands at the same time, and they come out as
lottery picks. This Michael Olowokandi guy from England might be a good player
someday -- England, as we all know, is a hotbed of basketball talent -- but
the first pick in the draft? Hello? The guy has been playing basketball for
three years; he was inspired by the movie "White Men Can't Jump." Another
classic Los Angeles Clippers pick. Apparently Woody Harrelson wasn't
available.

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Dallas took Robert Traylor, because at 288 pounds, he's slimmer than he's been
in years. There's a ringing endorsement. The Sacramento Kings remained the
Sacramento Kings by taking Jason Williams. Milwaukee took German star Dirk
Nowitzki, who hasn't even decided whether he wants to come to America.

And only then did the Boston Celtics take Paul Pierce with the 10th pick. Who
knows what they learned about Pierce at the NBA tryout camps ---- but it sure
seemed to average people that he was the purest scorer in the draft. It sure
seemed that he could score from the outside, inside, he could drive to the
basket, post up defenders. It sure seemed that when inspired he could dominate
games a half-dozen ways, with his defense, his passing, his rebounding, his
shooting, his inside strength.

To average people who watched Kansas play all year, he seemed a much better
pro prospect than Kansas teammate Raef LaFrentz, who went third in the draft.
He's certainly a better pro prospect than Robert Traylor, for crying out loud.
("Good hands," scouts say about Traylor, which is true, you should see the
grip he can put on a knife and fork.)

Then, nobody really knows what they're looking for in the NBA anymore. The
league needs shooters, scorers, rebounders, all-round players, but they never
draft those kinds of players anymore, do they? Whatever they're looking for,
Pierce will be a big-time star in Boston for Rick Pitino, who was so happy to
grab Pierce that he probably bought another Kentucky Derby horse. He
absolutely can't miss.

And people will say what a genius Pitino is when the Celtics win 50 games next
year. But, truth is, Pitino isn't that smart. There are just a lot of dense
people running the other teams.

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I love it !

Hank M.