FanHouse ChadFord

We sensed the relationship had become troubled in recent months, but that didn't make the divorce any easier to take. ESPN.com's Chad Ford, the man who gave us Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Pavel Podkolzin, Darko Milicic, Mouhamed Saer Sene and Yi Jianlian, has broken up with Europe. The sad news came in the midst of the second annual Ford-Bill Simmons NBA draft face-off:

I call it the Angelina Jolie-Billy Bob Thornton era in my life. It was edgy, different and crazy to like Darko Milicic. From the years 2001 to 2003, the sight of a 7-foot international big man doing crossovers and shooting NBA 3s in an empty gym sent, to quote Chris Matthews, a shiver up my leg.

But it's over. I'm hanging out with the Chris Pauls of the world now. I realized that basketball skills outside of the context of the game just can't translate. I still think international players have a place in the draft, but not young, inexperienced 18-year-olds or soft big men that can't play defense.

Which is why I can't understand why the rest of the league hasn't caught on yet. When I see teams gushing over Alexis Ajinca, a 7-foot French guy who averaged 5 ppg in the French league, the Skita nightmares return.

So fellows, I hear Danilo Gallinari is now single and looking to party. Anyone?

(By the way, as in last year's edition, Ford is absolutely murdering Simmons. Bill has gotten some jokes off, but it's like Garnett vs. Gasol all over again. Just brutal.)

Whew. If Bill Simmons and ESPN were having sex, I would have lots of questions. Perhaps questions I don't want answered, but questions nonetheless. Non-metaphorically speaking though, it would appear, based on the Sports Guy's chat today, that he and ESPN have begun the makeup process and that his little pot-shot-taking foray back into the personal blog world may have given the WWL reason to play nice.

Or as Simmons said, let him back in bed.

Stephen (Nashville, TN): So you do a chat about the Finals, but you refuse to answer any question too probing because it "steps on the preview column." Is this whole thing just a show so we know you and ESPN are still cool?

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:25 PM ET ) I am no longer sleeping on the living room coach. Altrhough [sic] we're still not having sex.

Alright, an actual reason to read the chat if you're not a Bostonian or fan of the Real World (full disclosure: I hate the RW, but that dude breaking down in an alcoholic rage? Hysterical.)

No, seriously. It's nice to see the Sports Guy off the couch, although I find the phrasing of that particularly odd. Isn't Simmons the one who got angry and took of on his own? Because that is the way I interpreted it; not that ESPN told him to write less because they were enforcing his contract, but that he was sick of being censored.

(Standard disclaimer: I like ESPN's Chad Ford, and I think he's excellent at what he does.)

Ford updates his feelings on which NBA prospects are having good or bad NCAA tournaments. The bulk is on point (the Lopezes? good! Eric Gordon? bad). But one passage -- the unsurprising Part III of Ford's crusade against UCLA's Kevin Love -- must not pass without notice. Ford quotes a scout and responds:

"How many big guys can do the types of things Kevin Love can do?" he said. "His skill-set is so complete. He can't really run or jump, but once you get past that ... he's got everything. I think with the proper conditioning, he could be very good."

Sounds a lot like the analysis people started to make about Sean May after UNC won the title. That's worked out well for the Bobcats ... hasn't it?

May has suffered from knee problems during his NBA career, and had microfracture surgery this past summer. But when May has been on the floor, he's been dynamite: about 18 points and 10 rebounds per 36 minutes of play, on efficient shooting. On the floor, May has been a success. Unfortunately, he hasn't been on the floor enough to make Bernie Bickerstaff look smart.

To compare Love to May as a way to argue Love will be a bust is saying you think Love will be as injury-prone as May has been. No matter how much of a draft soothsayer Ford can claim to be, he cannot predict whether a guy will tear a tendon at some point.

There is but one authority on decisions related to when European NBA prospects have reached official bust status, as he is the singular promoter of these mysterious and European children. His name is Chad Ford, and he is ESPN's foremost draft expert. This just happened (in an ESPN.com chat via FD's comments):

Nick (NYC): Is now the appropriate time to label Darko Milicic a bust?

Chad Ford: Yes.

Can't you hear Chad's voice cracking with despair? I adore Ford's work, as any devoted draft nut should. But Chad could not afford another monumental bust after Nikoloz Tskitishvili went thumbs-out. And Darko, as the #2 pick of Joe Dumars -- ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade -- well, his bust has been monumental.

Of course, Ford isn't alone in Darko's dank shadow. Hell, Dumars is among the premier executives in basketball, and he was fooled by sketches. (And I'll admit I figured Darko was well worth the $21 million for three years Memphis shelled out this summer.) But again, Ford's position as the Eurokind expert took a major hit with this one. At least he admits defeat.

Consider this a programming note if nothing else: ESPN is holding an 'interactive mock draft' with scouty Chad Ford and pundity Bill Simmons trading picks and barbs. And seriously, Ford is murdering The Sports Guy. A sampling of Ford's comments following Simmons' plan for the Celtics:

You've lost it, haven't you? [...] The Celtics become a seventh or eighth seed in the East under your plan. Congrats. [...] They say one man's trash is another man's treasure. In this case, your trash is ... trash. [...] You're destroying the team you love Bill. Don't do it.

It's like Sean Salisbury and John Clayton, only with the geek fighting back and without the subliminal homoeroticism.

After reading Brian Berger's Sports Business Radio Blog yesterday, I became a little bit upset. In the post Mr. Berger criticized current Memphis Grizzlies GM Jerry West for these comments following the draft lottery:

"It's like pitching pennies. It's grossly unfair to the team, but I've said it before, I don't think the lottery is fair. I never liked it. I don't think it's a good system at all, period.

"There have been a lot of picks in the lottery that have [failed]. There are two in the lottery this year that are not going to fail. There are two superstars in the draft. I think for the teams fortunate enough to get them, the fortunes of their franchises have changed forever."

Berger categorized the comments as "sour grapes", stating that Mr. West only made the comments because his team lost the lottery. However, being the media watch dog that I am, I know that Jerry West had been urging the league to change its current lottery system long before Tuesday's draft lottery. In fact, in a podcast with Chad Ford back in early April, Mr. West spent half of the interview talking about how terrible he thought the system was.

With Kevin Durant now set to enter the draft, the hype machine is going full blast. Over the last week, we've even heard it suggested that the former Longhorn could become a Jordan-like savior (sorry LeBron, you fumbled that one). Now, in a chat yesterday (Insider only, so you'll have to take my word for it), Chad Ford is saying he'd take Durant over Oden--and LeBron, and Wade, and Bosh, and Dwight Howard, and Melo.

Chad Ford: Personally ... I believe Durant has a chance to be better than all of those guys. If all of those guys were in the draft today ... here's how I'd rank them from a potential standpoint ...

1. Durant
2. Wade
3. LeBron
4. Oden
5. Howard
6. Bosh
7. Carmelo

At first I was positively outraged by this, but now I'm at least beginning to see why this is a debate worth having. There's no telling how Durant's game translates to the NBA, but his combination of size, speed, skill and intelligence is virtually unprecedented. My only reservations are about placing him over LeBron. I know that James's stock is down, and he seems to have some troubling tendencies both in his play and in his personality. Still, with him you've got some guarantee that his game translates to the NBA, and then with additional room to grow. This assumes that LeBron can still capitalize on the room for growth he's got left, but this is about potential, right?