Cooking Up One Heck of a Party

By Adam Kiefaber

The best NBA Draft party this year has to Daequan Cook’s, which will be held draft night (Thursday June 28 at 7:00pm) in Dayton Ohio at the Holiday Inn on Dryden Road.

It is open to the public and has a $20 admission charge. The party is to include Cook and 150 of his closest friends, so it might not be smart to roll over on the carpet laughing if Cook isn’t chosen in the first round.

The atmosphere should be tense since Cook has fallen in most recent mock drafts. Some of the mock drafts have Cook climbing up the first round. However, it should be one interesting party.

“It will be a light atmosphere,” Dunbar assistant coach Albert Powell told the Dayton Daily News. “There will be finger food, soft drinks and a big-screen TV.”

That sounds like Powell, who scheduled Cook’s NBA workouts, is trying to downplay the event.

Here is what some of the mock drafts are saying:
NBA.com (just posted- 6-26)- Doesn’t have Cook picked in the first round
Chris Ekstrand of SI.com (updated 6-26)- Cook going 23rd to the Knicks
Chad Ford (ESPN The Magazine)- Cook going 30th to the 76ers
- (Ford comments ‘…he has no clue on how to play the game…weak work ethic and massive ego.’
Tony Mejia of CBS.Sportsline (updated 6-18)- Cook going 23rd to the Knicks
- (Mejia ranks Cook as the 8th best shooting guard and comments read: ‘he has the skills, but needs more experience. An up-and-down freshman season ended with around the league suggesting he return to school.’)
Gary Parrish of CBS.Sportsline (updated 6-18)- Cook going 24th to the Suns
Jeff Goodman of foxsports (updated one day ago)- Cook going 25th to the Jazz
Peter Schrager of foxsports (updated two days ago)- Cook going 25th to the Jazz
Draftexpress (updated 6-26)- Cook going 22nd to the Bobcats
TSX (updated 6-25)- Cook going 27th to the Pistons

Ex-college coach Fran Fraschilla said, on ESPN radio this past Monday, that he wouldn’t draft Cook in the first round unless he had a “gun to his head.”

It seems to me that most mock drafters are just throwing Cook in the later portion of the first round. Everyone seems to agree that Cook was the best player at Pre-Draft Camp in Orlando, but he wasn’t playing against or with any other first-round talent. Also, his performances at the camp were up and down.

It’s easy to throw Cook in the first round of any mock draft.

However, it could be uneasy to watch Cook on draft night at the Holiday Inn.