Last night the draft took place, and outside of the Grizzlies getting OJ Mayo, who was originally drafted by the T’Wolves, for Kevin Love, there wasn’t a whole ton of surprise. Here’s a recap of the Top 10.

1.) Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose: This thing was done the moment they landed the No. 1 pick. It’s his hometown, he was the best player in March, and it all made sense. What happens to Kirk Heinrich is up in the air, but this guy will be a star in this league for a long, long time.

2.) Miami Heat, Michael Beasley: Beasley with Marion and D’Wade? Not bad. Not bad at all.

3.) Minnesota T’Wolves, OJ Mayo: He was traded for Kevin Love.

4.) Seattle Supersonics Russell Westbrook: This is the guy I felt would be the steal of the draft, but at the No. 4 spot, is he still a steal? Regardless, he’s going to play lockdown D on anyone that’s got a ball in front of him. Great pick.

5.) Memphis Grizzlies, Kevin Love: Traded for OJ.

6.) New York Knicks, Danilo Gallinari: He’s an Italian guy, one I don’t know much about, but those European players are either great or they bust. The bad news? There’s not many people coming from Europe that play defense, something the Knicks really, really lack.

7.) LA Clippers, Eric Gordon: The one-year Indiana star. We’ll see how he does with the big boys.

8.) Milwaukee Bucks, Joe Alexander: He’s 6′8″, 220 pounds, and they just acquired Richard Jefferson. Where does that put Alexander on the roster?

9.) Charlotte Bobcats, DJ Augustin: Say goodbye to Raymond Felton.

10.) New Jersey Nets, Brook Lopez: Ric Smits, maybe?

It seems Billy Donnovan-esque, but regardless of the feel, the Chicago Bulls, who have the first pick in the NBA draft, don’t have a coach anymore, as was first reported by ESPN.

“This is absolutely mutual,” Collins told the Tribune. “When this first came about, there was a tremendous amount of excitement about this possibility. And I’m losing that. The feeling now is more, ‘Should I do this?’ Once I got to that point, it meant no. I always make decisions yes is yes, no is no and maybe is no.

“Jerry knows me well enough to know the only way I could do this is if I was totally engaged. And I just couldn’t do that now.”

I have an idea: And his name is Isiah Thomas.

The Chicago Bulls went with Doug Collins, who most recently coached Michael Jordan, only when he was in Washington. It’s an interesting move for Chicago, who I personally thought were going to go after a younger coach, someone who was maybe unproven. Collins has a 332-287 career record, and was fired from the Bulls in 1989.

After his firing, the hired Phil Jackson, had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in their primes, and went on to win a thousand Championships. Call it a hunch, but Joakim Noah and Kirk Heinrich probably aren’t MJ and Scottie, and even Phil Jackson couldn’t coach that team to a Championship right now.

I don’t know enough about players who were in college for one year, so I won’t attempt to make a mock draft that will only belittle my sports knowledge. But I will link you here, where ESPN has their 2008 NBA Mock Draft.

While I won’t make my own list, I will ask a couple of questions about this one.

• First and foremost, how in the hell do the Bulls have the No. 1 overall pick? There’s been conspiracy talk for years, and my God, just let us see the freaking ping pong balls drawn. That way, when a team that was supposed get No. 9 actually gets No. 1, we don’t feel like we’re being Tim Donaghy’ed.
• That said, the Bulls have to take Michael Beasley. Derrick Rose will probably be the best player, but they just re-signed Kirk Heinrich to a five year deal.
• Which means, in short, the Heat won, because they’re going to take Rose, and he and Dwyane Wade — barring the guy can stay healthy for a year — will be totally sick.
• No. 3 pick, Brook Lopez. Say hello to Darko Milicic.
• OJ Mayo to Minnesota? The guy will be the worst pick in the NBA Draft. He’s got no sense of what a team is, and he’s one of those guys that will never realize that athleticism will only carry you all the way in high school.
• If the LA Clippers get Russell Westbrook with the seventh pick, they’ll get the steal of the draft.
• Kevin Love to the Bobcats: Charlotte just keeps wanting to add to their list of big name college players that just don’t pan out. Sean May got fat. Love already is fat. May not be the best selection.
• DJ Augustin to the Pacers would fit nicely with Jermaine O’Neal.
• Roy Hibbert to Utah makes more sense than anything, given that Utah plays slow and, well, Roy Hibbert is really slow.

ESPN is reporting that the Bulls are in talks, and it appears the Suns are splitting ways. It wouldn’t be a bad fit, given that the Bulls are a young, energetic squad that would fit well with D’Antoni’s style of play, and the Bulls, young and energetic as they were this year, also stunk.

I hardly doubt he’ll be able to turn Kirk Hinrich into Steve Nash, but the Suns weren’t the Suns until he took over. He’ll get to work closely with Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, Joahkim Noah and Luol Deng, just to name a few. And in the East, as the Hawks have shown, all it takes is 37 wins to make a little noise come May.

Houston Rockets 95, Portland Trail Blazers 86: Tracy McGrady scored 35 points, 26 of which came in the second half, helping Houston push its way to victory against the Trail Blazers. “There’s going to be a team that wins 50 games and doesn’t make the playoffs,” he said. “So it’s a battle out there. I love it.” Houston has a four game lead over the Nuggets, who currently hold the final eighth spot. Houston plays Seattle twice and the Clippers twice, giving them arguably the easiest schedule of teams aiming for the playoffs. Their remaining three games are at Denver, at Utah, and Phoenix at home.

LA Clippers 98, Sacramento Kings 110: Can someone please get Elton Brand out of LA? Or at least send him to that other team in LA? The Clippers lost again, will again have a lotto pick this summer, and again will be bad next year, barring some kind of miraculous turnaround/huge pickup in free agency. The Kings, who are slowly approaching .500 ball, were led by Kevin Martin’s 26 points.

Chicago Bulls 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 98: LBJ had 33 points for the Cavs, but the rest of Cleveland didn’t do much to show up. Since the Cavs acquired Ben Wallace in the trade, they’re only 10-10, and only three of those wins are against current playoff teams.

With no football games, it’s hard to gamble, so, thankfully, we can throw our money away on NBA games that can really go either way. But it’s entertaining, right? And, in short, that’s the main reason we gamble. We don’t do it to win or lose — we do it because it takes an otherwise boring chunk of the night and becomes very, very entertaining, even if the entertainment is accompanied with many hours of grief afterwards. Enjoy my picks. I’m the best.

Last Night: 3-2
On the Season: 41-40-1
How I feel: Finally over .500

Tonight’s Spreads:

Chicago Bulls @ Cleveland Cavaliers (-7): I’m real tempted to take the Bulls here, given that they rested last night and the Cavs were on the road in a close one, but then reality sets in: Chicago stinks, despite what we thought at the beginning of the year, and Cleveland’s pretty good. At covering, too.

LA Clippers @ Sacramento Kings (-8): Tonight feels like a night of picking the home teams.

Houston Rockets (-5) @ Portland Trail Blazers: Check that statement. Go with the Rockets.

San Antonio Spurs 107, Orlando Magic 97: Jameer Nelso and Hedo Turkoglu both left early for the Magic, and the Spurs took advantage. Even without one of their sharpshooters, Orlando still managed seven threes and shot just over 40 percent beyond the arch. San Antonio won their fourth straight game, riding the heels of Tim Duncan’s 19 points nad 15 rebound effort.

New Orleans Hornets 114, Indiana Pacers 108: Chris Paul scored 31 points and had 14 assists, continuing on his ridiculous, MVP-like season. David West led all Hornets with 35 points on 14-24 shooting.

Atlanta Hawks 94, Chicago Bulls 103: How to lose what was once a close game: Score 14 points in the third quarter, as the Hawks did last night. Five players scored in double figures for the Bulls, led by Drew Gooden’s 31.

LA Clippers 90, Dallas Mavericks 103: With Dirk out and Jason Kidd not really doing much since he joined the Mavs, Josh Howard handled the load, leading the Mavericks with 32 points. An interesting stat: Since acquiring Jason Kidd from the Nets, the Mavs are 0-8 against teams that are above .500.

Charlotte Bobcats 106, Utah Jazz 128: The Bobcats looked good, oh, three weeks ago, putting together a nice little winning streak. Since then, not so great. Losing by 20 and giving up 128 also falls under that not-so-great part.

Washington Wizards 82, Portland Trail Blazers 102: Brandon Roy went down after one quarter of play, but the rest of the Trail Blazers picked up the pace. Martell Webster had 23, Travis Outlaw 20, and Jarrett Jack (17) and Channing Frye (10) contributed off the bench for the W. Caron Butler had 19 points for the Wizards.

With no football games, it’s hard to gamble, so, thankfully, we can throw our money away on NBA games that can really go either way. But it’s entertaining, right? And, in short, that’s the main reason we gamble. We don’t do it to win or lose — we do it because it takes an otherwise boring chunk of the night and becomes very, very entertaining, even if the entertainment is accompanied with many hours of grief afterwards. Enjoy my picks. I’m the best.

Last Night: 4-3
On the Season: 29-31-1

Tonight’s Games:

New Orleans Hornets (-5) @ Indiana Pacers: Every time I bet the Hornets, I lose. Likewise with when I bet against ‘em. So you should probably do the opposite here, but I’m saying take New Orleans.

San Antonio Spurs (PICK) @ Orlando Magic: The Magic are best at bombing threes, and the Spurs are best at buckling down and playing defense. Even if it’s dirty, Bruce Bowen style. That said, roll Spurs.

LA Clippers @ Dallas Mavericks (-11): The spread’s a bit high for not having Dirk, but it’s the Clippers. Go with it.

Atlanta Hawks (+4) @ Chicago Bulls: Hawks are suddenly winning again. Let’s see if they can keep the streak alive on the road, where they notoriously suck.

Charlotte Bobcats @ Utah Jazz (-13): Are you gonna bet the Bobcats on the road? Me neither.

Washington Wizards (+1) @ Portland Trail Blazers: Ever since I lost about 10 straight bets on the Blazers, I don’t bet ‘em anymore. So just take Washington. Trust the man who’s gone in debt over going the other way.

Detroit Pistons 136, Denver Nuggets 120: The Nuggets have scored 298 points in their last two games, and they’ve only managed one win in the two. They scored 120 in this game, but there was no defense there: The Pistons shot 60 percent from the field, as well as 60 percent from beyond the arch, with seven Detroit players in double digits. ‘Melo and AI combined for 47 points in the losing effort.

Miami Heat 112, Milwaukee Bucks 106: It was Miami’s first win in the month of March, and possibly their last. Outside of their game against New York on the 27th, the rest of the schedule is pretty tough.

New Jersey Nets 96, Chicago Bulls 112: The Nets scored eight points in the second quarter. EIGHT. If that’s not an indication of how the game ended, well, then you haven’t seen much basketball. The only thing that surprises me is only a 16 point win when your opponent had an EIGHT point quarter.

Los Angeles Lakers 102, Dallas Mavericks 100: The Lakers snapped the Mavs five game winning streak, riding the heels of Kobe Bryant’s 29 point oeffort. Jason Kidd had one point and seven assists, proving just how valuable he is to this team.

Boston Celtics 94, Houston Rockets 74: Not to take anything away from the Rockets, but in their run, they hadn’t played a team of this caliber. Twenty-two wins is impressive, don’t get me wrong; but losing by 20 at home to end the streak is a little deflating. The Rockets leading scorer was Luis Scola with 15 points, and T-Mac only managed eight points on 4/11 shooting. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett combined for 42 points in the win.

Phoenix Suns 111, Portland Trail Blazers 98: Six Suns players scored double digits, and outside of LaMarcus Aldridge’s 31 points, no one on the Blazers decided to show up.