With the 2011 NBA Draft now in the books, it's time to hand out 30 grades for all 30 teams.

Starting with...

Atlanta Hawks (B-)

Second Round: Keith Benson

I love this pick, if only because had Benson played at Duke, he would’ve gone in the Top 20. Instead he went to a small school, and fell to the second round. Big guy, good skill-set, I fully expect him to play in the league awhile.

On a different note, what happened to all those Josh Smith trade rumors?

Look, I’m not saying the Hawks had to make a move, but, well, they can’t bring back the same team they had last year either, right? To me, the Hawks are like the old Bill Parcells saying, “You are, what your record says you are.” And right now in Atlanta, what they “are,” is a team that’s peaking as a four or five seed, and never, ever beating Chicago or Miami (or likely Boston) to make it out of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. It could be worse, but it could be a lot better too.

Maybe Atlanta’s brass is ok with that, I don’t know. I just hope for their fan’s sake that “Drafting Keith Benson,” isn’t the end of their off-season moves.

Simply put, this is the strangest NBA Draft I can ever remember. Coming off an epic NBA Finals a few weeks ago, with a lockout looming, and having less star power than the Oakland A’s batting order, this draft is drier than the chicken my sister cooked for dinner the other day. Honestly, why even bother talking about what’s going to happen Thursday night? Especially when its way more fun psychoanalyze LeBron James instead!

Interestingly, I’m not the only who feels this way. I (begrudgingly) listen to sports talk radio every day, and the more I listen to, the more it sounds like the hosts were all sitting around earlier this week and said to themselves, “Oh crap, the draft is this week?” Then they hastily put together a tangent on Jimmer Fredette, before moving back to the NFL lockout, LeBron, or something else (Then again, at least we have Jimmer. If there weren’t a polarizing white guy involved, I don’t know even know if the NBA would bother holding a draft, period).

Either way, after doing a nearly 6,000 word back-and-forth with a reader of my site named Arjun before last year’s NBA Draft, we went ahead and skipped it this year. Arjun is busy with school, and honestly, I just don’t have as strong opinions as I did on this year’s crop of draftees as I did at this time last year. As Arjun said to me, “After the top five we would basically be arguing, ‘My mediocre flawed guy is way better than your mediocre flawed guy.’” Hate to say it, but he’s right.

Of course with that said, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have some opinions on the draft. By now, you should know me better than that.

Here are 10 of them.

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Well NBA fans, the long national nightmare is over. You can all let out a big sigh of relief.

That’s right, after spending the last 11 months watching and waiting, your prayers have been answered. There will be no parade down Biscayne Boulevard and no awkward dancing from Zydrunas Ilgauskas while Pat Riley smirks in the background. Meanwhile, the only people partying until the break of dawn on South Beach will be those listening to old Will Smith albums, and well, apparently Dirk Nowitzki too.

The Miami Heat are not your NBA Champions. Not this year anyway.

But let’s just stop right there.

Because this series- these entire NBA playoffs really- weren’t about the Heat. They were about the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas was the most mentally and physically tough team since the beginning of April, and were the better coached and better prepared team in just about every Finals game this June. Understand Miami didn’t lose this series. Dallas won it. The Mavericks deserving NBA Champions.

So while the rest of the world is reveling in the Heat’s failures, and in seeing one particular superstar have a breakdown usually reserved for contestants on VH1 reality shows, I’m going to stay away from that (For the most part).

Today is about the NBA Champions. Today is about the Dallas Mavericks.

With the 2011 NBA Finals set to start tonight, let's answer some of the pressing questions entering the series.

What’s The Coolest Part Of These NBA Finals?: How about the simple fact that we’ve got the two best teams playing? Is that enough?

It sounds stupid, but think about it: While the Finals are always compelling, doesn’t it sometimes seem like the wrong teams are there? That if one or two plays had gone another way, maybe a different team would be playing for the title? Last year, what if Ron Artest wasn’t in the perfect spot for a put back in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals and the Lakers lose? Would it have Phoenix in the Finals? What if Trevor Ariza hadn’t gotten his steal at the end of Game 1 against Denver the year before? One play in each year could’ve led to totally different results.

Well this year, there are no ifs, ands or buts. Dallas and Miami might not have entered these playoffs as the No. 1 seeds, but have earned their way to the Finals by dispatching everyone in their paths. Each has only lost three games all postseason, and neither went past a Game 5 in either of their last two series’. These two haven’t just been winning. They’ve been dominating.

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Just because I haven't written about the NBA playoffs lately, doesn't mean I haven't been watching. Quite the opposite actually, as this has been as fun a postseason as I can ever remember.

And like everything else, I've got plenty of opinions on what's going on. Here are six, "big picture," thoughts, in my NBA Playoffs Six-Pack.

Enjoy

1. The Heat Are Even Better Than Expected: If you go back through my archives, you know that no one was harder on this Miami Heat team last summer than I was. I wrote not one, but two articles on “The Decision.” A few of my direct quotes on LeBron, were that he’d “always be a loser in the court of public opinion,” and followed that up a few days later by calling him, “A-Rod to Wade’s Jeter.” Simply put, I wasn’t very nice. If this were a second grade classroom, I’d have been put in timeout and had my parents called in for a conference.

So with that as a pretext, it pains me to say this, but: I’m kind of enjoying this run by Miami.

Now understand, that doesn’t mean that I want them to win the title. I was rooting for Boston last round, am rooting for Chicago now (even as the vultures circle overhead) and am still holding out hope that Dallas will be able to take them down in the Finals. To put it bluntly, I don’t want Miami to win the title. Not this year anyway.

For the last four months or so I’ve walked around with a bit of an uneasy feeling in my stomach. No, it had nothing to do with all the Mexican food I ate on my trip to California last weekend, although that certainly didn’t help. Nope, that gnawing feeling, deep down in my gut had to do with Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Weird, right? Why would a sportswriter living in the Northeast make himself sick over a team he had no affiliation with, and a player he couldn’t really care less about?

Well, it all started last summer, when like most of you, a little soft spot developed in my heart for the Cavs and their fans. I wouldn’t quite say I was the fan of the team this past season, but there weren’t many nights I was rooting against them either. As bad as they were, the Cavs turned into my secret little obsession this winter, almost like when a middle-aged homemaker sees an ad in the paper for an abandoned dog, and can’t help but get sympathetic. For a guy with no affiliation with the team, I watched the Cavs more than just about other team in the league. Which wasn't particularly easy, you know, since they ended up with 19 wins and all.

I watched on opening night when Cleveland shocked the Celtics at home, and watched when they jumped out to a respectable 7-9 start. And I still contend that had they stayed healthy and not lost Anderson Varejao and Mo Williams for big chunks of the year, the Cavs would’ve been a fringe playoff contender. You can’t tell me that if Mo and Varejao had played 75 games each, Cleveland couldn’t have been at least as good as the Pacers or 76ers. I just won’t buy it.

We’ll never know that of course, since the Cavs didn’t stay healthy, and fell from fringe playoff contender to simply a basketball abomination. They set an NBA record by losing 26 games in a row at one point, a stretch that lasted nearly two months.

But like everything else on this big blue marble we live on, that losing streak happened for a reason. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

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The most surprising thing about last Saturday’s Heat-Celtics Game 3 matchup didn’t happen on the court. It had nothing to do with Rajon Rondo’s elbow being snapped like a breadstick, wasn’t that- for at least one night- Mario Chalmers was the best player on the floor for Miami, and didn’t even occur a day later when Chris Bosh admitted to being intimidated by the Boston crowd. Come to think of it, the most surprising thing didn’t have to do with the game at all.

Nope the biggest surprise came on the postgame show, where the NBA on ABC studio guys started openly and bluntly talking about the end of the Lakers dynasty. Which was interesting, since the Lakers hadn’t played that night, and at the time, still had a series with Dallas that was on-going.

Of course none of that mattered less than a day later, when Los Angeles fulfilled that prophecy and got waxed by Dallas in the deciding Game 4. And really, “waxed,” isn’t even the right word. The Lakers were beat up, beat down and embarrassed, even more so when Andrew Bynum decided to go WWE on JJ Barea, and to use the words of Mike Tyson, knock him “into Bolivian.” Understand, it’s one thing to lose ugly. It’s another to do it with less dignity than the cast of Teen Mom. Well that was the Lakers on Sunday.

From there, the outrage began again, first in the postgame show, and then into the following day. Magic Johnson said he was “embarrassed for the entire organization,” and Jerry West used similar sentiments the next day on the Dan Patrick Show. Both contended that it was time to blow up this Lakers roster as we know it and start from scratch.

But while the loss was bad, I’ve got to admit that those comments did catch me a bit off-guard.As ugly as things got with Dallas, I was surprised by the curt responses of Magic, West and everyone else who agreed that it was time to take the wrecking ball to the Lakers. Obviously the series was ugly, I get that. But weren’t these the three-time defending Western Conference champions that everyone was talking about? A team which has won the last two NBA titles? A team that won 57 regular season games this year, and could’ve easily won two of the four games they lost in this series? Did I imagine all that? While it’s hard to argue that changes are needed with the Lakers, I’m not sure totally blowing things up is the answer either.

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Although it seems like a lifetime ago, it was actually just last week when I made a proclamation that there was no clear-cut favorite in these NBA Playoffs.

Like most of my bold statements I now look like a fool. Although in my defense, it usually does take more than a week for me to look this dumb.

Then again, how could you blame me? As of a few days ago, this year’s playoffs were shaping up to be like one of those Academy Awards night’s where there are five quality movies vying for Best Picture, but no one knock out, slam dunk, can’t miss favorite. A lot of good teams. But a lot of flawed ones too. 

Going back to Round 1, and starting with the Spurs, Lakers and Celtics...how do I put this nicely…they all umm...looked old. Really old. And even though Boston and Los Angeles went on to win their respective opening series, neither did anything that inspired us to believe they’d be playing deep into June. The Celtics could’ve easily lost their first two games at home against the Knicks, and the Lakers, well, at this point, Kobe Bryant trusts Pau Gasol about as much as I trust the guy selling watches out of his trunk to give me a good deal on a Rolex. Which is to say, not at all.Looking at the rest of the field, Atlanta and Memphis seemed too bi-polar to keep winning; Chicago has slowly learned that giving 100 percent every night in the regular season is great…until everyone does the same in the playoffs; and Dallas has seemingly had the same can’t-get-over-the-hump core since Roy Tarpley failed his last drug test in the early ‘90’s. Finally there’s Oklahoma City, the team that I still think could win the West, and probably will win the West. They just might need to have Russell Westbrook kidnapped to do so.

Simply put, I can’t ever remember a more compelling or exciting first round of the NBA Playoffs. They have may have been this good before, but I definitely don’t remember it.

Really, every series has been exciting, and the level of talent on every team is simply staggering. Quickly looking around the landscape, there's at least been a reason to tune into every series except one (More on that coming). Memphis is better than San Antonio. New Orleans has played the Lakers tough. Despite getting swept, the Knicks easily could’ve stolen two games in Boston. And even Indiana proved that having one starter who is certifiably insane (Tyler Hansbrough) can hide a lot of talent deficiencies. Say what you want about the Pacers, they played as hard as anyone in their first round series with Chicago.

But as we close out Round 1 and start looking ahead to Round 2, who have been the best and the brightest so far? What have been the biggest storylines?

Let’s take a look, by handing out some awards for the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Woah, Holy Crap, I Totally Forgot How Good This Guy Was Award: Chris Paul

A couple of things with Paul.

Understand that this award isn’t about me figuring out that Paul is good. I already knew that. After all, I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid. No this award is about figuring out just exactly how good Paul is. And as far as I’m concerned, he’s still far and away the best point guard in the league.

Now, that’s no disrespect to anyone else, Derrick Rose in particular. The Bulls were one of the great stories in the league this season, and that’s thanks almost exclusively to Rose. Not to mention that as a fan who has always appreciated, quiet, efficient, hard-nosed play (without televised contract signings and firework-ridden welcome parties), this whole season in Chicago has been a breath of fresh air. If I had an MVP vote for the regular season, Rose would’ve gotten it.

If you’re a regular reader of this site, you might remember me starting my post “Decision,” LeBron James article by saying, “If you’re looking for a coherent column on LeBron James…you’ve come to the wrong place.” Well here we are eight months later, and I’m in the same place, but for a completely different reason.

Deron Williams is now a New Jersey Net, you know that. But if you’re looking for me to rip the Jazz from head to toe for essentially waving the white flag on their season, and trading one of the 10 best basketball players on the planet, you won’t get that from me. If you’re hoping that I’m upset with Mikhail Prokhorov for rearranging the future of his franchise for potentially 18 months of Williams before he becomes a free agent, well that ain’t happening either.

The truth is, I love this trade. I love it for both sides, and I love it for all parties involved. I might not love it enough to dance like Elaine Benes, but I’m darn pretty close.

So why do I love this trade? Why do I love it in the here and now, and so much for both teams? Let’s take a look.