ESPN’s Dan Dakich joined Jeff Thurn on Tuesday’s edition of Overtime. 

Dakich (@dandakich) is an ESPN college basketball analyst, and has a radio show on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis. He is a former college basketball coach at Bowling Green and West Virginia.

Dakich breaks down the Minnesota Timberwolves first-round draft pick, point guard Zach LaVine out of UCLA: 

"I would ask: is David Kahn still running their draft? That seems to be a ridiculous pick to me. Look Zach LaVine got benched at the end of year by (Steve) Alford. He's a terrific athlete, and that's great, but my goodness between him and the tenth pick, the Elfrid Payton kid, (Payton) who led the country in turnovers, for crying out loud as a point guard. How is he the tenth best player and how his LaVine the 13th best player? I don't know. I'm not smart enough to understand it. His reaction wasn't really the greatest, but you don't really fault the kid for that, and what he really means. Kids say things, but my goodness, of all the players eligible for the draft, the Timberwolves and I love Flip Saunders, but the Timberwolves draft a guy that was a back-up because he could run and jump? It seems a little crazy to me, but I hope it works out because I love that city and Minneapolis. And I really like Flip."

LaVine is 6'6", and 181 pounds. He averaged 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists last year for the Bruins.

Dakich discusses the top three draft picks chosen last night - Andrew Wiggins by Cleveland, Jabari Parker by Milwaukee, and Joel Embiid by Philadelphia: 

"Well, I think Wiggins is a guy that can score and he averaged 17, most of any Kansas freshman ever. He had 41 in a game. People say he's a defender; I would question his maturity. Remember he's a guy that bumped up to get into the draft. When I saw him interviewed, it wasn't like you're interviewing a killer here..the whole draft was a like college or high school prom. It looked more like a prom to me than a draft. Um, I think Wiggins is going to be a good player. People say Jabari Parker is the most polished; I didn't understand that because he was a horrifically bad defender. But he can play offense. I think the Cavs felt like Parker tanked a workout for them, so they went with a guy that maybe wanted to be there. A guy that could score on the wing. I think both of those kids fell into pretty good spots for themselves, and then Embiid, you know Philadelphia, and their director of player personnel, Courtney Witte, was my college roommate. That's two years in a row they drafted a guy that isn't going to play. It reminds me a little bit of when post-Michael Jordan when the Chicago Bulls drafted Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry; two young bigs that for the Bulls, never really panned out. I don't know. I don't blame them for taking Embiid certainly, and I don't blame them for taking Nerlens Noel last year. But man, at some point, but maybe a year or two away, and their bodies will be fresh. You have to appease the fan, and get somebody to play and we will see how that shapes out as well. Kind of intriguing, though."

To hear more of Dakich’s interview with Thurn, listen below:

Catch Thurn daily on Overtime from 3 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 99.1.

For comments, or story ideas, email Sam at tastadsam@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter @samtastad.

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
loading...

More From KSOO-AM / ESPN Sioux Falls