22nd Annual CBA Draft 2007
The Continental Basketball Association 2007 Draft launches before the NBA D-League takes its shot at the college ranks. Without the NBA's blessing, will being the early bird yield the top players remaining?

The CBA Draft is over, and the No. 1 pick is forward Caleb Green out of Oral Roberts University who is slated to go to the expansion Oklahoma Cavalry, if he decides to play below the D-League and in America.

This year's draft was teleconferenced from each CBA city, with the program originating from Pittsburgh, PA at the Holiday Inn Parkway East. The draft was six (6) rounds of ten picks apeice.

The draft really gives the CBA more of a chance to ballyhoo its player picks, and thump its chest to the NBA D-League and the ABA and IBL that these are its players. It also gives CBA teams two years to hold the rights of that player within the CBA, meaning that it's hands off for other clubs during that time period. That may be the one sanction that has teeth.

The D-League, which will roll out in November with its draft, will probably grab the lion's share of Triple-A talents, a fact not lost on the CBA, where the draft geared for that by

The natural order of the draft will be: 1 Oklahoma Cavalry E 2 Rio Grande Valley Silverados E 3 East Kentucky Miners E 4 Atlanta Krunk E 5 Pittsburgh Xplosion   6 Butte Daredevils   7 Great Falls Explorers   8 Minot Skyrockets   9 Albany Patroons   10 Yakima Sun Kings   E= Expansion Club

selecting players who look like they might either not make the D-League or who might be looking for more playing time than the NBA's development arm can offer. Even the draft does not keep the CBA immune from poaching from the ABA either. At least one player, No. 4 pick Chris Holm out of the University of Vermont, might choose to stay home and play for the ABA-Champion Vermont Frost Heaves. As we saw with the Dayshawn Wright problem ("Do the Wright Thing," SZ. 10.18.06), where both Minot and an ABA team drafted the player, these picks are open season.

A five-round college draft was adopted by the CBA in 1985 when the NBA reduced its draft from 10 to seven rounds. The CBA expanded its draft from five to nine rounds in 1988 when the NBA Draft was reduced to two rounds in 1989. The CBA Draft was reduced to eight rounds for the 1991 edition, then to seven rounds for the next six seasons, before being increased to 10 rounds from 1998 to 2000. The CBA did not hold a draft in 2001. The 2002 CBA Draft consisted of five rounds and was increased to six rounds in 2003, which is where it currently stands.

The draft went very well, with some savvy picks, particularly by Minot SkyRockets coach Chris Daleo, who, like the Canadian Mounties, always seems to get his man.

All clubs picked some great players, with whom the coaches either believe that they have an inside track, or a hope, that they can lure them away for either more playing minutes than the D-League will offer, or for less money but more comfort of home than foreign basketball leagues can offer.

To see the full draft, round by round, click on the links below:

Go to: | ROUND ONE | ROUND TWO | ROUND THREE| ROUND FOUR| ROUND FIVE| ROUND SIX |