At some point during ESPN’s draft coverage, Bill Simmons said that this was the most entertaining draft he can remember. I tend to agree. It wasn’t just the theater aspect. While the fans booing Adam Silver for the first time, Hakeem Olajuwon making a guest appearance, the hats that didn’t fit, and the flags hidden under suit coats were amusing, there were really three things that made this draft more enjoyable than usual. 

1)    There is something perversely enjoyable about watching a player drop in the draft.

No one hates Nerlens Noel or wishes bad luck upon him. But when all the mock drafts were being torn up, you started to ask yourself some questions. Did the teams outside the top even take the time to evaluate Noel? Who really had a solid medical opinion on his knee? And more importantly, why wasn’t the real story how far Ben McLemore was falling? 

2)    ESPN’s commentary team was outstanding.

Reece Davis, Jay Bilas, Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons might be my ideal draft commentary team. They had great chemistry, they were insightful, but most importantly, the group was brutally honest.

Jay Bilas on Nerlens Noel – He’s injured and he doesn’t have an offensive game yet.

Bill Simmons on Alex Len – How can a guy fail to be a first-, second-, or third-team All-ACC player and be expected to be drafted this high?

And even ESPN’s other announcers were refreshingly honest. Fran Fraschilla when describing the international players taken with the 59th and 60th picks in the draft – To be honest, there isn’t a lot left at this point.

But it wasn’t just the honesty. It was the fact that no one on the commentary team felt the need to shout at the camera and convince us how smart they are. Often in a draft, the announce team has spent so much time preparing that they want to bash us over the head with their insights and factoids. But Bilas, Rose and Simmons were all willing to react to the moment. Those immediate first level reactions, combined with the honest evaluations made for one of the better draft presentations in some time.

Side note 1: Speaking of commentary, Jay Bilas noted the real story of the day when he acknowledged that Bill Raftery would be leaving ESPN to join Fox Sports One. Big Monday college basketball is about to become must-see TV with Bilas and Sean McDonough now competing with Raftery and Gus Johnson on Monday nights. TV coverage cannot be complacent when viewers have choices, and Monday Night college basketball should reach new heights next season.

Side note 2: Bill Simmons called Tom Penn the Picasso of the touch-screen, and his analysis was brilliant. From breaking down the Knicks lineup problems to the pros and cons of Dwight Howard signing with the Lakers or Rockets, Penn was spot on in all his segments.

Side note 3: The worst part of the production was ESPN’s coverage of the trades. ESPN rarely put up graphics showing trade partners until far after the news had broken on Twitter. If you were just following the coverage on TV, it was very hard to follow who was making each pick. Part of the problem here are the NBA’s careful rules about approving trades on draft day, but there has to be a better way to communicate this information to viewers.

Side note 4: Some people will also probably criticize how ESPN handled Bill Simmons and the trade of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Celtics to the Nets. A large part of sports is always razzing your buddies when their favorite players get traded, but that seemed somewhat out of place on a draft show. 90 percent of the time, I think commentators can remain objective even if they have personal allegiance to various teams, but in the heat of the moment Simmons was far less objective and far more emotional than I would have liked.

Jalen Rose also strayed into this territory when gushing about Tim Hardaway Jr, a fellow Michigan alum. Hardaway Jr. has some serious flaws in his game. He had to work hard to be a passable shooter at the college level, and I think among players on Michigan’s roster last year, he was probably only the fourth most athletic. At best, he’ll hope to be the corner three point shooter Reggie Bullock is right now. But Rose seemed to lose some of his objectiveness when discussing Hardaway. 

3)    It was nice to see the college season validated and the right guys rewarded.

So often in the draft we see guys with high potential but serious off-court issues get picked early in the draft. But this year, there were none of those concerns. Victor Oladipo was drafted second overall, and Orlando honestly thinks one of his biggest assets is going to be his work ethic. Meanwhile players like Otto Porter and Cody Zeller are tremendous teammates and to see them go back-to-back 2, 3, 4, was refreshing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the NBA now values character over talent, but in a draft where there were no can’t miss future stars, teams chose to err on the side of character this year. I cannot argue with that logic.

(Unfortunately, “I’m a hard worker” became the go-to interview comment after Oladipo said it second overall. It should have been Thursday night’s drinking game. “Wingspan” was less popular than normal because as Jay Bilas put it, he was trying to keep America sober.)

Meanwhile, many of the players who fell in the draft were players that college fans did not respect. CJ Leslie, part of one of the most disappointing college teams in the nation at NC State, wasn’t drafted at all. Shabazz Muhammad lied about his age and appeared to be a poor college teammate, and he slipped all the way to 14th in the draft.

And the commentary team didn’t sugar-coat it. Bill Simmons got on Muhammad for not taking ownership for his mistake. Jay Bilas, “Well it wasn’t like his driver’s license said McLovin.” Simmons, “Hey, leave those pop-culture references to me.”

Even the drafts biggest first round surprise was a pleasant one. While Solomon Hill was rarely mentioned as Arizona’s most NBA-ready player, the truth was, on a team filled with McDonald’s All-Americans, Hill was the glue guy. Hill was the player who did all the little things to help the team win. Players like that rarely get drafted, but if someone was going to make a surprise appearance in the first round, a player Simmons’ described as the “Draymond Green” of this draft was perfect.

That’s not to say every deserving college star was drafted where expected. Trey Burke won the college player of the year award, and I think his below-season NCAA tournament performance may have hurt him with scouts. But what Trey Burke did in leading a team of freshmen to the Final Four was truly remarkable. And I thought Jay Bilas had the perfect comment to describe Burke. Burke took 55 shots in the final four seconds of the shot-clock last year, and he was still an efficient player. In a draft devoid of players who can create their own shot (Otto Porter), players derided for no offensive game (Steven Adams, Nerlens Noel), and players who need to be more assertive (Ben McLemore), Trey Burke was incredibly good at creating good shots when the rest of the offense broke down. His fall to #9 was more than a little disappointing.

Still, in an era when surprises are rare, announcers sugar-coat everything, and college accomplishment is often overlooked, this year’s NBA draft was a rare gem.