LJWorld.com

Most Kansas University basketball fans were looking forward to this weekend as a time to reflect fondly on how well things went for Jayhawks in the NBA Draft.

Instead, many of us are puzzled, perplexed and downright angry about some nitwit developments which indicate why the NBA has trouble sustaining meaningful loyalties.

Lots of local chests swelled with pride when KU's Brandon Rush was drafted No. 13 by Portland. General Manager Kevin Pritchard, taking care of a kid from the home stable? Rush barely donned one of those silly identity caps before he was traded to the Indiana Pacers in a five-player deal.

Trades, which involved all five KU draftees, knock a little dew off the prestige lily. The NBA and its people are so good at that.

OK, wouldn't be long before Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers were locked into first-round guaranteed contracts, right? Tension built as name after name was called including a 7-foot-1 "potential" from France; a 6-10 teenager from Spain via Congo; a 6-7 "possible" from France; and a 6-2 guy from IUPUI at No. 26.

Four to go, two Jayhawks still left in the nest.

New Orleans picked Arthur at 27, a big relief after rumors about a kidney problem. If Darrell isn't seething about somebody not doing his job in the sales department, he should be.

By this point, fans were really boiling.

Was the kidney caper reflected in Arthur's draft by New Orleans and then a frustrating hegira to Portland, Houston and Memphis? Even if Darrell is a bit soft and undersized, he's still better than a lot of those picked before him.

Things got terribly tense with three picks left and NCAA hero Chalmers unclaimed.

How many of you wanted to kick in your television screens when J.R. Giddens, once at KU then at New Mexico, was chosen by Boston. Lots of us saw it as an insult to Chalmers, who then had to wait until No. 34, where no contract is guaranteed.

Many of you surely were wringing your hands and tearing your hair out, if there is any, about the bungle on Arthur's health and the slighting of a good kid like Mario, for J.R. Giddens.

Good luck, Boston. You may need it when J.R. gets to roaming Boylston Street, Quincy Market and The Common. Chalmers was selected by Minnesota and traded to Miami, where a good agent might strike a decent deal. But don't use Arthur's shill. (By the way, where's David Padgett?)

By then many KU faithful were miserable and disgusted about Draft 2008. Darnell Jackson deserved to go higher than 52nd, winding up in Cleveland via Miami.

Sasha Kaun blessedly had a couple million dollars lined up in Russia, and nobody was too acrid about his going No. 56 to Seattle and being re-assigned to Cleveland.

He deserves everything good, as do Jackson and the other three Jayhawks in the draft, who all are better than some NBA doofuses think.

Let's hope for miracles. They do happen. When a journeyman like KU's Greg Ostertag can wind up with more than $48.2 million in total salary over 11 years, you know there's a genie in a bottle waiting for somebody.