Most people watch the NBA Draft to see where all the top prospects will end up for the upcoming season and to see if their favorite team will pick someone good. Sports analysts provide plenty of details about technical ability and player rankings in the weeks and days and hours leading up to the annual event.

But as for me, I like to watch the Draft for fun. It’s a night full of weird fashion statements, strange facts, and odd moments. Additionally, the whole event is like a final farewell to all the college players I liked watching in the past year because, well, I don’t really bother to watch the NBA until the Playoffs roll around.

So here’s some of my own 2018 Draft analysis based on things other than technical skill:

The potential pros do their best to look their best for this important occasion every year. Though nobody wore shoes made out of basketballs this time, there was still lots of eyebrow-raising fashion all around.

The Worst Dressed Award goes to Trae Young (Oklahoma) who decided to wear shorts with his suit instead of full-length pants, unfortunately making him simply look like a very tall kid. But I’ll give him points for effort because he explained he was going for a style no one else had ever worn before.

Honorable mention in this category goes to Jaren Jackson Jr (Michigan State) who wore some sort of velour or velvet jacket. I’m still not sure whether the color was pink or brown!

I’ll say Deandre Ayton (Arizona) and Wendell Carter Jr (Duke) were tied for Best Dressed. Ayton, the number one pick, had the Bahamas flag sewn in as the lining for his suit jacket to honor his home country. Carter added flair to his suit by accessorizing with a fancy scarf. His look was inspired by the recent Marvel movie, Black Panther. (Even his parents wore matching outfits for solidarity.)

The Most Exciting outfit, however, was worn by Shia Gilgeous-Alexander (Kentucky). His tan-colored suit was adorned with an embroidered flower pattern, making it the most memorable of the night. It looked like it might have been made from somebody’s curtains, but kudos to him for having the confidence to wear that!

Fashion aside, ESPN likes to share interesting facts about the players when they get selected, adding to conversation topics for the night. Most of the short blurbs this year, however, were just basketball stats or the name of their favorite player.

The only really interesting facts I saw were from Miles Bridges (Michigan State). He listed SpongeBob SquarePants as his favorite cartoon, and apparently he has a tattoo of the Flint, Michigan skyline somewhere on his body.

But the best part of draft night are all the unpredictable moments. No one really expected Jerome Robinson (Boston College) to be drafted very early, but he ended up as pick number 13, one of the highest picks the university has had in a long time.

Another unexpected moment came after Grayson Allen (Duke) got selected for the Utah Jazz. During his interview, new fellow teammate Donovan Mitchell crashed the interview to hug Grayson. It was kind of weird to see a former Louisville player happily hug one of Duke’s most hated players since Christian Laettner. But it’s also nice to see that they’ll probably play well together.

Lastly, of course, the Knicks fans predictably booed their first-round pick as always because Knicks fans are never happy.

Oh well, there’s always next year!

 

Holly Taylor is a Staff Writer for Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact her at holly.taylor@r-cnews.com or by phone at 252-332-7206.