28) Dallas, Maurice Ager, SG, Michigan State

29) New York, Mardy Collins, PG, Temple
30) Portland, Joel Freeland, PF, Gran Canaria
31) Portland, James White, SG, Cincinnati (highest pick ever for a former Ze recording artist)
32) Houston, Steve Novak, SF, Marquette
33) Atlanta, Solomon Jones, C, S. Florida
34) Clippers, Paul Davis, C, Michigan State
35) Toronto, P.J. Tucker, SF, Texas
36) Minnesota, Craig Smith, PF, Boston College
37) Minnesota, Bobby Jones, SF, Washington
38) Golden State, Kosta Perovic, C, Partizan Belgrade
39) Milwaukee, David Noel, SF, North Carolina
40) Seattle, Denham Brown, SG, UConn
41) Orlando, James Augustine, PF, Illinois

ClipperBlog’s Kevin on the Knicks’ 20th pick, Renaldo Balkman :

Both Justin (who had to go up to the Egyptian for some function) and I saw Renaldo Balkman live at the Great Alaska Shootout last Thanksgiving weekend. Balkman had a nice game against Marquette, but seemed to find himself out of position on the floor constantly — which is a product of not having a position. He turned the ball over eight times against eight assists and was in foul trouble throughout the invitational. It’s a lousy pick for the Knicks who, unless they’re wed to Nate Robinson, could’ve used Marcus Williams. Watching Balkman for a full week from the fifth row in Anchorage, there was nothing that screamed NBA career, even thought he shot at a high percentage against the likes of Alaska-Anchorage and Monmouth.

Spalding has introduced a new, official composite ball for NBA useage. Aside from giving Will Leitch the excuse to use the line “You’re Not With Me, Leather”, the Association’s Brett Edwards might not be purchasing one in the near future.

The features of the new ball include “a new design and a new material that together offer better grip, feel, and consistency than the current leather ball,” as well as “moisture management that provides superior grip and feel throughout the course of a game.”

Whatever. Funniest part of the press release is where they assure us that the ball has been tested thoroughly, by using it in All Star Weekend activities, and the fact that “NBA retired players Steve Kerr and Mark Jackson participated in testing the new ball as well.”

Oh good, with Mark Jackson testing it we can see how the ball will perform when handled by an overweight point guard who makes crosses to praise God during game play, and with Kerr testing it we know that the ball handles well when used by a slow white guy who can’t dribble and just jacks up 3s. Hell, if that was the criteria, they might as well have had me test it.

Of the Sonics’ selection at no. 10 overall, Saer Sene, Supersonic Soul’s Paul Merrill writes,

Wait a minute, didn’t we already draft this guy? Like four times? I guess you can never have too many 7-foot “projects” that no one has ever heard of.

Raptorblog’s Scott Carefoot sounds like he’s ready to check out one of the CBC’s many entertaining Wednesday night offerings :

Russ Granik comes out to announce the second round of the draft for the last time. He always reminded me of the stripper that comes on stage after the feature dancer and right when last call is announced. I’ve always kind of felt a little sorry for him.