Just like everyone anticipated, the Los Angeles Clippers decided to pick Blake Griffin with their 1^st overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft held yesterday at Madison Square Garden. Unlike many other players in the draft, Griffin’s body looks NBA ready and he is expected to have enough physical strength to make an impact in his rookie season for the Clippers. During his last year in college, the power forward was able to score 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per game for the Oklahoma City Sooners. However, GM Dunleavy and the Clippers will have to decide whether they want to move at least one of their big men since they now have four potential starting power forwards and centers with Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, Zach Randolph and Blake Griffin.

While Griffin going as first overall pick was fairly obvious, things became more interesting as the draft went on. The second picking Memphis Grizzlies decided to take a risk and go for center Hasheem Thabeet from Tanzania who averaged 13.6 points and 10.8 points for UConn in the NCAA. Although most experts agree on Thabeet’s skills on the defensive end of the floor it still remains debatable whether he will be able to develop into an offensive threat.

Yet, the real surprise of this year’s draft was the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento Kings both passing on the dynamic Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio. Even though it is understandable to some extent that Oklahoma opted to go with James Harden because Rubio was not very keen to play for the Thunder, it is still odd that Sacramento prioritized Tyreke Evans over the 18-year old Spaniard. Either way, the Timberwolves were the beneficiary of Rubio still being around when they had to announce their number five pick which they acquired from Washington the day before the draft. Rubio is projected to be the next Steve Nash if he continues to improve and might become the centerpiece in Minnesota’s rebuilding efforts next year. Subsequently, the Wolves signed Johnny Flynn with their sixth pick which now enhances their roster with two young and talented point guards. Whether they keep both playmakers remains to be seen as trading one of them in exchange for other assets will certainly be tempting.

The remainder of draft class’ Top-10 featured the Golden State Warriors picking Stephen Curry, the New York Knicks signing Jordan Hill, the Toronto Raptors selecting DeMar DeRozan and Brandon Jennings going to Milwaukee. Where as Curry and Hill are expected to play considerable minutes in their first year, shooting guard DeRozan and point guard Brandon Jennings are generally considered to be on-going projects that will take some time to develop their full potential.

You can watch all Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio and the rest of this year’s NBA draft class right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming.