Everyone has an agenda. This may seem like a cynical statement, but that doesn’t make it any less true. For people like Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale, it is obvious they love Duke and coach Krzyzewski. People tell me that Gary Danielson loves Alabama. Troy Aikman loves to agree with Joe Buck. For others, it is somewhat less clear, as I think it should be. While I used to enjoy reading Chad Ford’s speculative articles on the NBA draft, my feelings over the last year have changed and I am not sure I trust his analysis that much anymore. [By the way, if you were wondering what my agenda is: what am I a freaking self-evaluator? My fear is that I am becoming a self-loathing sports fan who is starting to think that sports aren’t really worth the time I, or anyone else, devotes to them.]
There were two glaring examples of things that annoy me in Ford’s chat on ESPN.com last week. The first had less to do with Ford than the predictable reaction to something he wrote. Someone asked Ford about the Cavaliers and he wrote that “Kyrie Irving has been telling people privately he wants out.” It ain’t so private anymore! Now, I don’t know if Irving has actually told people that he doesn’t want to stay in Cleveland (and he publicly stated that he wants to stay), but he plays like someone who is pretty miserable. Irving is lethargic on defense, doesn’t appear to enjoy setting up his teammates, and tends to play hero ball in the fourth quarter (which is something he can clearly do, but it might be better to use the other four assets he has on the court). I wrote about Irving last November, and nothing (particularly the Cavs’ 16-31 record) has changed my mind.
What annoyed me wasn’t that Ford outed Irving as a “Cleveland hater” like LeBron, but how ESPN and other outlets reported the story. Even later in the same chat, someone wrote in to say that Cleveland was melting down over Ford’s comment. He responded, “Yeah, I see Twitter is blowing up about what I wrote about Kyrie. Thought that was fairly common knowledge that he’s been unhappy there.” This isn’t and shouldn’t be a story. First off, Irving isn’t good enough to attract this much attention. Second, the story became one of those things in which the media feeds itself, which may be my least favorite thing about sports. A member of the media makes a comment, then everyone else has to react, even though there wasn’t much of a story there in the first place.
Ford is mainly known for his NBA draft analysis, but he is also a die-hard Kansas fan which seems to color his notes. Maybe part of the reason I overvalued Jayhawks in the past was because I read and believed Ford’s work, but I won’t pass the buck on that one. As I noted last April, Kansas has not produced a legitimate NBA star since Paul Pierce. Maybe that has nothing to do with the program, but it is at least worth noting. Yet, all Ford can talk about is Andrew Wiggins. When someone asked him in the chat if Wiggins had boosted his draft stock in the previous four games, Ford wrote:
There’s a reason I didn’t follow the media line in November (he doesn’t practice hard!) or December (he’s not scoring 30 points a night) and drop Wiggins in the rankings. The raw tools are all there. The work ethic, character and intelligence are there. He was taking more time than Parker, Randle or Smart out of the gate, but had such a higher upside. Now, when schedules get tougher in conference play (and the Big 12 is arguably the best conference in the NCAA this year) suddenly it’s Wiggins, not Parker or Randle or Smart, looking like the franchise player. You have to be patient with 18 year olds and you can’t judge guys by November and December.
Ugh. There’s a stunning amount of lack of self-knowledge in that paragraph. First, Ford is part of the media line. I recognize that there was a large faction of people who jumped off the Wiggins bandwagon as he sputtered out of the gates (see Goodman, Jeff). I was never ready to call him an out-and-out bust, but his lack of production was glaring for a presumptive number one pick (and we don’t even have to mention last Saturday’s game at Texas – seven points on 2-of-12 from the field). People were saying “work ethic, character, and intelligence” about Harrison Barnes. He’s not a bad player, but I am not sure if I’d want to take him first in a draft.
This leads to my final and most lasting issue with Ford’s analysis. He often notes that his rankings are based on what scouts are telling him, not on his own opinion. While this may be true, it also ensures that Ford is never wrong. If a player goes belly up (see Milicic, Darko), then the scouts were crazy about him and Ford was simply reporting what he was told. Now, he may not have held that opinion, but he may have. NBA drafting is an inexact science. I just wish Ford would acknowledge that fact more often.
Perry Missner is a college basketball enthusiast who writes for RotoWire along with several other outlets. He welcomes your comments on Twitter at @PerryMissner or via email at [email protected]
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
