The Future

As I peered into the 2010 NBA Draft, as I always do early, I was curious about the prospects. John Wall is apparently the future. Picture Derrick Rose finishing every shot, they said. Fine. You think that, don't you? You do. And you have every right. But Donatas Motiejunas is the prize. Donawhat Motiewho?

The patterns have aligned once more. I ran some tests with the draft chart again. Last time on The Pattern segment we determined the following:

a) that 2008 was better than 2003.
b) that Kevin Love is the future.
c) that Blake Griffin is the future.

The specific way that you predict the future is through playing styles. How did I know Orlando was going to the Finals? Because they were a clone of Louisville. The brackets aren't the same, so I had to gauge it a little. How did I know Kevin Love was the future? Because, as you'll find, he's not only numerically consistent, he's also the one proven star in the 2008 draft that can't be matched to a 1996 or 1994 player.

Go ahead. List all of the significant players in each draft. I did as follows: the position, the pick, the team that drafted him. MJ is SG3Bulls. Karl Malone is PF13Jazz. Dale Ellis and Rolando Blackman are both SG9Mavs. Go figure.

The 12 year theory held true, for a while. 1992 resembled 2004. 1993 resembled 1985. That was odd, because that was an 8 year differential. That made sense, however, because it was the same distance on the board. 12 years is two years right, one decade up. 8 years, on a year ending in a number greater than 2, is two years back and one decade up.

But then I figured out that 1984 was most like....1970. Archibald wreaks of Stockton, considering they were both picked late. Lanier wreaks of Olajuwon. Pistol Pete, considered the greatest player up until that point (that wouldn't change until Bird and Magic went at it), was Jordan-esque in terms of the incredulosity of his moves. Tomjanovich and Barkley were both Rockets, both big rebounders. So I had a problem. I had fourteen year distances, twelve year distances and eight year distances. I couldn't draw any more connections. I had to figure out what 2010 was.

Technically, 2010 should be representative of 2024, 2022, 1998 and 1996. Since we know nothing about 2024 or 2022, let's work with 1998 and 1996. 2010 prospects line up as follows:

John Wall- Derrick Rose-y. FL.

Ed Davis- Elden Campbell? BANG.

Derrick Favors- Amare Stoudemire? BANG

Cole Aldrich- Artis Gilmore with the Spurs BANG

Willie Warren- ? SC

Donatas Motiejunas- Dirk Nowitzki GL

Al-Farouq Aminu- Donyell Marshall VS

Greg Monroe- 6'10" Shawn Marion VS

The one that matches up is Motiejunas and Dirk. Dirk was drafted in '98. As it happens, the best player in 2010 is the fifth pick, a forward. As an international player, it's unlikely he'll get much coverage and he'll end up with the same pick he started with, which, right now, is from five to ten. Robertson was 1. Erving was 12. Jordan was 3. Bryant was 13. Love is 5. What I missed earlier was the best of the fifties, which was 1958. The best player in '58 was Elgin Baylor, at pick #1. So, 1.1.12.3.13.5 is the pattern. What that would indicate to me, on a hunch, is that 5 repeats. Match five with Motiejunas' expected pick and the year Dirk was drafted, and you have DMoney as the future.

Prediction #4: DMoney is the future, take 3.