Derrick Rose

I’m currently sitting in a cramped 45th-floor room at the Westin hotel in Manhattan’s Times Square that Dime is basically using as storage space for a huge event we’ve got going on with the NBA Draft (details to come). The Pre-Draft Media Day sessions wrapped up not too long ago. The routine at these things is simple: They split the Green Room Guys into two groups for half-hour media sessions, with reporters from all over the world tossing every kind of question imaginable at them. This is my third such event, and the first time that I’ve been here when both the Knicks and Nets have Lottery picks. NOT COOL. Every player spent almost half their Q&A time answering local reporters’ questions about those two teams — how they’d feel about playing for the Knicks, do they think the Nets would take them if they were on the board at #10, can they fit into Mike D’Antoni‘s system, etc., etc. At one point I asked D.J. Augustin, “Have you been asked about any team other than the Knicks?” He laughed and said no … About 10 minutes before Media Day was officially supposed to start, Danilo Gallinari showed up rocking some silver Pradas that I honestly couldn’t tell if they were basketball sneakers or dress shoes. Andrew saw that Gallo was early and pointed out that the kid needs to figure out how this whole “NBA player” thing works … The Lopez Brothers showed up next: Brook had “BL” stitched on the cuffs of his shirt, while Robin had his sleeves rolled up and rubberbands on his wrist. Their assigned tables were right next to each other. Cute. I heard a story from one of the Dime crew about Brook and Robin walking into an exclusive player’s suite earlier today, making a beeline for the bagels, grabbing four monster handfuls of food and then walking right back out without saying a word to anyone … Robin Lopez on video games: “Me and Brook just got Super Smash Brothers on the Wii. That’s our favorite game.” He was also extra-psyched about Sonic and Mario … Michael Beasley was the next guy to walk in, and had a huge media contingent waiting for him. Bease checked out the scene, then looked over and saw about one-fifth of the crowd at Brandon Rush‘s table and asked, “Can I sit there instead?” … Brandon Rush looks a lot like Paul Pierce in the face and talks EXACTLY like Ray Allen, all he way down to his mannerisms and the way he answers questions. It’s almost eerie on the same Kobe-emulating-Jordan scale. Rush had the most “grown-man” suit on today — until Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo walked in for the second session looking like young moguls … O.J. also had some icy earrings, but Beasley’s earrings might have come directly from the movie Blood Diamond. They were gigantic … Beasley, Rose and O.J. had the biggest crowds around them, with Gallinari a close fourth. Anthony Randolph, by comparison, was on an island. One time I looked over and there was literally nobody sitting with him. The last time I saw that was when Cedric Simmons spent lots of quality time with himself before the ’06 Draft. Eric Gordon also had pretty sparse crowds, as did Rush … Darrell Arthur and DeAndre Jordan were originally supposed to be here, but neither showed up for the media session. My guess is that had a lot to do with the fact that both guys are rapidly dropping into the 20′s on a lot of mock drafts … Rose said he stopped answering his phone “a long time ago,” and won’t respond to texts if he doesn’t at least recognize the area code … At his height (5-11) and because he wasn’t wearing anything crazy, D.J. Augustin blended into the crowd almost too well. For a second you would have thought he was just some kid who worked at the hotel … A TV reporter asked Augustin his opinion about “Duh-ron” Williams. Some people never learn … Kevin Love has something of a Jay Leno-ish chin, and he’s visibly lost at least 10 pounds since the college season. One reporter actually said to him, “You play a lot like Wes Unseld — not that you’ve ever heard of that guy.” Actually, K-Love corrected him, his middle name is Wesley because his dad loved Unseld so much, and Kevin grew up watching Unseld tapes … Russell Westbrook is the obligatory “Two cell phones clipped to his hip” guy of this year’s draft class … As the second and final session was wrapping up, a reporter asked Joe Alexander his thoughts on being called “The Mike Mamula of the NBA Draft.” Joe had to ask who Mamula was (a workout warrior who got picked WAY too high in the NFL Draft years back), which somehow led to an exchange between two reporters that ended with one saying “F*** you” to the other …