Jalen Rose has a nice job as one of the top NBA commentators for ESPN. At Thursday night's NBA draft, Rose stretched his credibility to its limit -- and some would argue he went far beyond the limits of reason.

Throughout the broadcast, Rose punctuated the night's events with strange noises and celebrations blurted out-of-turn. But nothing was better than his string of player comparisons, which were a mix of extreme hyperbole and senseless commentary.

His observations often seemed based on nothing but a quick five-second glimpse of an incoming rookie, followed by some excited sputtering of famous names from the NBA's past.

Basically, Jalen Rose turned his job of interpreting the NBA draft into a word association game. It was awful journalism, but great television. And several NBA players chimed in on the performance.


One of Rose's best/worst moments came at the 22nd overall pick, where the Chicago Bulls picked Arkansas' Bobby Portis. Sure, it looked like a good pick, given that some had projected Portis as a lottery pick and he fell all the way to the lower third of the round.

But Rose was quick to overstate Portis' potential. He immediately compared him to Rasheed Wallace, a four-time NBA All-Star who might make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame someday.

The apparent equation Rose used: Portis' height + shooting range + crazy streak = Rasheed Wallace.

So when you break down the math, you can see how easy this game is. But some players still took issue.



In fact, Rose had a player comparison for almost every player selected in the first round. Karl-Anthony Towns? Patrick Ewing! Willie-Cauley Stein? Tyson Chandler! Sam Dekker? Wally Szczerbiak!

Yahoo's Kelly Dwyer offers a simple guide for approximating the strategy Rose was using to assess incoming players:


But if you're expecting Rose to regret his actions, guess again. At the draft's conclusion, he heard the criticism his comments were getting. But no one could ruin his mood:


Congrats to this year's NBA draft class, which, according to Jalen Rose, is filled with future All-Stars and Hall-of-Fame players. Good luck filling those shoes.

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