ESPN's Thorpe grades the sophomore class, and there is a ton of interesting stuff. There were a lot of good players in that draft, but in hindsight they were not drafted in anything like the appropriate order.

Not surprisingly, Thorpe calls Brandon Roy the pick of the class. Many have written about Roy, but I think Thorpe gets the bulk of it nicely into two paragraphs:

The reigning Rookie of the Year is still at the head of the class. He's not a special athlete, nor a dead-eye shooter, and he doesn't "Iverson" too many people with jaw-dropping ballhandling moves. What he is, though, is a great player, because he's good or very good at everything. He defies NBA scouts' creed of "have to be great at one thing" to be a legit NBA player. Literally, this is a player without a real weakness.

I'm most impressed by his pace. Roy plays at a unique tempo that makes him look slow. But as he goes past guys or creates open midrange jumpers with his handle and timing, we realize that everyone else is moving even slower because he is in total control of his game and the ballgame in general. He may not ever be a league MVP, but a Finals MVP seems like a strong possibility one day. Portland's young bigs and higher draft picks (LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden) are no more important to the franchise's future than Roy is -- that's how special he is.

On the NBA Dish podcast, Chad Ford asks Bryan Colangelo about drafting Andrea Bargnani at the top of the 2006 draft. (After assessing a disappointing sophomore season for the top pick, Thorpe wrote that "with the No. 1 pick, the Raptors may have drafted a Matt Bonner type.") Colangelo gives a long explanation, implies injury concerns were among the reasons some others weren't selected. Colangelo says he stands by his pick. He points out that at the time of the draft, he said he suspected Roy would be the rookie of the year, but has also always thought Bargnani would prove to be the right pick for their team over the long haul.

UPDATE: Thorpe wants to make clear that at the time of last year's draft, he too was convinced that Bargnani was a solid pick. He's not second-guessing the decision -- just saying that now the pressure is on Bargnani to answer questions about his drive, his durability, and how he fits the system. Thorpe is also a huge Matt Bonner fan -- but doesn't think Bonner goes first overall.