I didnt even realise that he was declaring for the draft, but good on him. I think he could be a 3rd centre on an NBA team but thats about it. Can definatly block shots but it stops about there.

I'm more pissed that the Bucks got Jimmer Fredette and now they're trading him off in a 3-way trade with Charlotte and Sacramento.

The Bucks need scoring power, they get the NCAA scoring champ and College POTY; and decide to trade him.

FFS. I don't get it.

No. Happy for him and his family.

Holy flippin dog doo! I did not expect to see that! I must admit that I have been a bit of a Majok hater lately but my hat goes off to him. He said he wanted to get drafted, he travelled over there to work out, I expected he would get smashed to pieces. Obviously, he must have what it takes. Congratulations to him and the very best of luck. He put in the hard work and he deserves the opportunity.

Big Marty, the trade was made way before Jimmer was drafted

FWIW he's also currently trending worldwide on Twitter.

Bucks got Stephen Jackson instead - win IF he turns up to training camp

Suprised.. unless he is improved tenfold in 3 months the lakers wasted a pick, even if it was pick 58.

Wow, bit of a surprise but congrats to him.

Averaged 5ppg for the Blaze, says it all really...

The buzz term for this trade is "draft and stash in Europe" but I don't think you could even stash Majok in Europe, not at a Euroleague/Eurocup calibre team anyway...

It doesn't matter if he only averaged 5ppg for the Blaze. His athletic abilities suit the NBA. Stephen Jackson came here and got sacked as he wasn't good enough as an import, I think he turned out alright in the NBA. David Anderson was also average in the NBL but he did okay in the NBA. Derrick Rose only got 15ppg in college which is decent but on stats alone you wouldn't put him as number 1 pick. He ended up not too bad as well. NBA picks on potential talent not solely on stats.

Having said all that Majok might never play an NBA game but to write him off just because he averaged 5ppg is wrong.

His awsome to watch when he was at perth!!! Great talent,needed more court time!!! To prove wat he could do!!! Top bloke, happy for him!!!!! just hope he rocks up for traing that's all!!!!

Well said KingJames.

Majok has physical attributes and athletic abilities suited to the NBA game. These attributes alone will not get him an NBA game, however if he can work hard on his game and continue to improve then who knows. I certainly would not begrudge anyone that opportunity. Obiously the Lakers thought their last pick was worth a chance should Majok finally begin to prove all his critics wrong. Only time will tell whether that is a success or not.

Super shocked alright. If he ever plays for the Lakers then I believe Craig will coach the Crows next season!

Good luck to Ater. He is a long-shot to translate this into a long NBA career, but he's got a foot in the door and anything can happen if he works hard to develop his skill level. He certainly has the size and athleticism to do very well.

Big Marty, as was pointed out above, the Bucks traded the pick before they knew it would be Jimmer. In any case, I doubt they wanted him, because they already have Jennings at PG.

Instead, they took the opportunity to remove two mistakes (Salmons & Maggette) from their roster (bad contracts and chemistry) and replaced them with a very good wing scorer in Jackson and an offensive minded guard in Beno Udrih. Provided Jackson stays fit and buys in, he will fit very well into the Bucks offence. Udrih will also be perfect for the Bucks as he can perform the Ridnour role from two seasons ago, something they missed last season.

With Bogut in the middle and Jennings, Delfino and Jackson all able to shoot the three and drive to the basket, they should be able to crank out a few more points this season. The big question marks for them remain 1) can Bogut get and stay healthy? 2) can they get enough from Gooden, Sanders and Ilyasova at PF?

All in all, I think Hammond has done a good job to repair the mistakes he made last off-season and return it to something similar to the team that was quite successful the season before.

Sorry, did I miss something, Anon, there was that bloke from Melbourne that did alright, I think his name was Gaze, oh Andrew that's right, I think he may have been drafted.

I've been reading this board for a while now and the amount of heat this guy has got along the way. Believe me I didn't think he was much chop either.
But you have to hand it to this bloke. I've read countless forums peoples saying he was deluded for declaring let alone even contemplating any aspirations in the NBA but today he is laughing. So am I.

Gaze wasn't drafted. He was signed as a free agent. Same for Heal and Bradtke (and maybe others?)

People seem to forget Ater didnt actually start playing basketball till he was what? 13-15yrs old or something? So when they talk about potential how exactly can anyone right him off? Give him a few years under his belt playing some pro ball and then you can judge him

Id imagine NBA teams would know more about the potential in players then some so called experts on here.

Given we still have a big guy Aussie spot available, is it worth waiting to see if Majok gets cut by the lakers and offering him a contract with the 36ers, to back up Johnson and Ballinger.

Given he is an athletic rebounder/defender he would be a good compliment to both of them and would bring something different to the team.

Obviously if we can get a Kickert, Jawai, Baynes type sign them and dont wait, but if its the case that the spot is just going to a Vanderjagt/Dowdell type i say its worth waiting and just signing one of those guys at the last minute if we dont get anyone else, or im sure they would even be open to taking a 11th man contract with the opportunity to be in the 10 if we miss out one all of the above mentioned players/fill in for injuries as i doubt they will have too many other offers.

Some , .. like big ads , .. take time to assimilate
individualistic spelling , punctuation, and syntax.

la boy .. who most likely is at this draft,
told us he would be picked , probably by Lakers
and I took his word, skipping blythely over assinine things that others say.

LOL Pot.

Kind Regards

The Kettle

:-)

I am most surprised by my use of LOL in a post. It shall never appear again in a post written by myself.

KingJames your wrong Stephen Jackson got sacked from the Sydney Kings because he broke his foot and would be out between 2 to 3 months so the Kings decided to go and fill the import postion with someone else. Jackson was only 19 when he came over here and after a slow start was starting to find his feet and play well before the injury.

He'll never play in the NBA.

The end of the 2nd Round has just become a joke. No one wants to pay any of these guys, so they take fliers on 1/100 international players they can stash away somewhere, in the unlikely event they turn into something.

Its much better to go undrafted than bottom of the 2nd. Many undrafted players will make rosters, filling niches.

David, Jackson was only 17 when he played with the Kings.

Jackson was 19, Majok could be OK as a perimeter defender of tall forwards, his footwork's pretty good. He's one of those players that even if he was in the NBA, you wouldn't automatically put into the Aussie team.

Jackson was 19 when he was here, and David is right. He was replaced because of the injury, not for any other reason.

yall just hatin.....let the guy play, dont matter if he makes da team or not hes still gonna get paid more than any of yall on here

If my memory serves me correct Stephen Jackson played in the first season for coach Bill Tomilsom and they had a roster consisting of Scott mcgregor, shane heal, Matt Nielsen, Steve Whitehead, Arron Trahair, Bruce Bolden, and the former movie actor of Blue Chips and forgetble import Matt Nover. After Jackson's injury it seemed to go all downhill for the kings, Nover would be sacked because of poor play and the Kings would go through 7 imports during the season. Until finally settleing on point guard Kelsey Weems and can't remember the other import but he was a pretty talanted undersize centre. Kings would fail to make the playoffs and Heal would leave after the season and play in Europe.

"A native of Sudan, he's endured life in an Egyptian refugee camp, racism in Australia and other hardships along the way."

(sigh)

Yeah - got a pretty bad deal in Australia by the sounds of it... Might have done better staying put in the Sudan (this may well be garnishing by the writer - at least i hope so).

It's just popular to try and make out Australians are racist. Harry Connick Jr said so.

And what, 'mericans aren't? Please!

Something about glass houses, throwing, and rocks comes to mind.

Here we go. Another self-flagellator.

Why not just do away with countries altogether? Racism (all along it's very wide spectrum) is a part of the living/human tribal condition. Banging on about it is tiresome especially when you are leaving a warzone for a peaceful - but not perfect (what one is?) society...

The issue with the boat people is not because of the colour of their skin, or because of an inherent racist culture. It's because the practice of people smuggling is illegal, and it makes matters worse when identification documents are intentionally destroyed upon interception. And you're right, the governments still haven't "solved" the issue. Unfortunately, the obvious solution to integrate them in to society is met with more incorrect cries of "racism" by the bleeding hearts.

Just because you watched a documentary last week, it doesn't make you an expert.

How many poms and kiwis arrive here by boat, in the same way the Afghani and Sri Lankan people do?

I have no doubt he did experience racism in Australia, but no more or less than he would have received in any other country in the world.

And absolutely nothing compared to what his family fled in Sudan.

The only way to apply for an Australian refugee visa is by entering Australia. Those seeking asylum have a legal right to enter the country from which they are seeking asylum to claim it.

Quit with the reactionary bullshit, would you? No one said it is acceptable. The conversation started by someone (you?) saying that Australians are racist. The point is, racism/bigotry can occur in any part of the world by any person or culture. Australians need not be singled out with an over the top rant, and not from someone who uses a recent tv social experiment to base their entire argument on.

The problem is going to continue as long as people like you keep trivializing these issues by saying that any time a white person says something, or chooses to act in anyway that is not 1000% supportive of a dark person, they are being racist.

People make comments that people could choose to take offence to based on hair colour, gender, profession, sporting club, religion, political pursuasion, race, family members, and no doubt many more things.

Is it 'acceptable'? Well, that is mostly for each person to decide, as shown by the fact that people will not take offence to something said by a friend or someone they consider 'same', but will take offence at the exact same thing said by someone they dont know.

I played sport overseas and copped what would be considered racist comments. I wouldnt say that racism is a major issue that makes that country a worse place however.

"If Ater has experienced racism in Australia, and I have little doubt just reading through this thread that he would have..."

I'll ask this anonymous freedom fighter to find ONE example of racism in this thread and post it.

My apologies, I thought you may had been previous anon contributions.

I don't think Johnny Sacks comment is saying the racism is acceptable. In the article, the author is trying to make out all the hardships that Majok has endured. We’re led to believe that he fled a war-torn Sudan, possibly escaped with his life (his families too) and has come to Australia. Now, we all lead a pretty privileged lifestyle in Australia, him included, so the issue with the comment from the article is that the author is making out that it was out of the frying pan in to the fire. It’s quite insulting to put any hardship he faced in Australia in the same sentence as his Sudanese life, or even a refugee camp in Australia. You are right, racism is not acceptable, but to put it in the same sentence as being threatened with your life, or living in a disease-ravaged squalor, is blowing the issue out of proportion.

The article contains, in a sentence, a list of hardships Ater has apparently faced. Have you even read it? Do you deny that racism is a hardship that Ater might have had to overcome? Something that might be relevant to his personal story?

I can see that you are naturally suspicious of anything "we're led to believe" about Ater, but you might want to sit back for a second and wonder whether that is your prejudice shining through.

No, I'm not suspicious. I used that term because I don't know the full story of his life and experience in Sudan. I'm not accusing him or anyone else of embellishing on his life in Sudan.
I think you have an issue understanding context. Me reading the article is irrelevant (I have, by the way), I'm not denying racism is a hardship but to compare to a war-torn country or refugee situation, is laughable. It's like saying a an assault victim suffered serious head injuries, a punctured lung, and had his shirt torn.

As I told you, the context was in a sentence where the author was talking about the hardships Ater had had to overcome in his life. It wouldn't matter what 'hardships' they were or how big or small.

Even so, your diminishing someone else's experience of racism in circumstances where you accept you don't know the full story does you no credit. You don't accuse Ater of embellishing his life in the Sudan, but it seems you do in relation to whether he has suffered racism here. How would you know what forms of abuse refugees in Australia might suffer? In any event, since when are there acceptable shades of racism because the victim is only a refugee?

Australia might not be a 'more racist' country than any other. But if you accept that it has racist elements, and you accept that racism is not acceptable, why would you protect those people, and the society that produced them, from criticism? And why should a refugee be in a lesser position than anyone else to raise that criticism?

It appears to me that you are of the view that Ater needs to toughen up and get a thicker skin, just because Australia has provided so much to him? Why? Sorry The Situation, but something in your reasoning just doesn't add up. I am still trying to understand what Ater, or the author if you like, has done which is so unreasonable, and I am afraid you are yet to explain it to me.

In fairness Anon #321812, The Situation has explained his/her thoughts very well. What doesnt add up is that his/her opinion doesnt stack up perfectly with yours.

I dont think serious abuse of others, whether racist or otherwise, is not something that should be accepted. I also understand people taking umbrage at a newspaper report that, probably not intentionally, could be seen as tarring an entire country with one brush.

In your earlier comments you made the assumption that people were against accepting refugees into Australia did so because of the colour of their skin. You appeared to assume that anyone who didnt want refugees was white. Have you considered that was your underlying bias showing through, just as you have accused others?

Seriously, you have a problem with reading things which you wish were there, and you're taking comments I have attributed to the author and turned them in to criticisms of Majok.

Now I asked you to justify your remark that this thread gives you little doubt that he has experienced racism. Your only example (and the only one you could possibly use) is from Johnny Sacks talking about the comment from the author of the article. The conversation from that point has been about the article and I've explained why I don't think the comment is fair. Since then, I have been talking about the article (I believe I have mentioned the author on more than one occasion) so your straw-man approach to the subject is not relevant to me.

A comment is usually only racist if a "white" person said it ;)

Paul, I have already confirmed once that I was not the earlier anonymous poster(s) in the thread. I also assume the double negative in the first sentence of your second paragraph is an error.

I respect the opinions of people who do not agree with me, but expect a cogent and logical explanation to be provided for that view.

I have challenged the Situation to explain why he/she would assume that racial abuse was not 'serious' or an important issue worth of note in the article. The lack of a response is enlightening.

I can understand your concern that the article may be tarring Australia with one brush, but frankly that is a pretty long bow to draw from the words of the article. The article does not say 'all Australians are racist', and in my view cannot sensibly be read that way.

The Situation, I understand why you are getting defensive, but you asked for 'ONE example of racism' in the thread. Now you want more? Even after I explained to you my reasoning that it was the general intolerance and lack of understanding of refugee plight shown in some of these posts that make it an easy jump for me to see that someone like Ater could have experienced racism in Australia? I will leave it to others to form a view on who has a problem with reading things.

As for the rest of your post, I have no problem if you wish to criticise the journalists drafting style. My issue is with apologists who assume without facts that something is not an issue deserving of note. It is very easy to sweep concerns of racism in Australia under the carpet as a non-issue, when you have not experienced it yourself.

So, the Lakers eh?

Attn Moderators: Can someone strip the banter about "Racial Profiling" and put it in a separate thread and return this one back to a NBA draft topic like it was supposed to be.

Back on Topic; considering Majok has been recruited by the Lakers, he's going to be trained up by arguably one of the best franchises around. I think since he's still young and developing, he's been extended a big olive branch. Hopefully things turn out for the best.

"I have challenged the Situation to explain why he/she would assume that racial abuse was not 'serious' or an important issue worth of note in the article. The lack of a response is enlightening."

Just how many times do I need to explain the same thing? Or to ask the question more in line with the current conversation, how much longer will you take my response out of context to suit your own irrelevant rant?

"The Situation, I understand why you are getting defensive, but you asked for 'ONE example of racism' in the thread. Now you want more? "

And this comment just shows why you are not getting the response you deserve. Unless you can point out how I am asking for more examples, please don't bother responding at all. If you're going to continue to take my comments out of context then don't complain when you don't get an answer. As I said, your strawman approach is not relevant to me.

*response YOU THINK you deserve.

Just thought I'd add that in before the small typo was interpreted as an admission that I think he deserves a response, but I'm enlightening him by refusing to provide one.

They've been elsewhere for three days ;)