Since its inception, one of the great honors in the world of sports has been to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. A great season might not be good enough. This morning, I was struck by the irony of the two covers on the table by my bed.

One featured Vin Scully, the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who has been recognized as the best in the business for, at least, the past 40 years. A guy who can make the dullest game ever come alive with his smooth conversation.

The other cover was Draymond Green, a second year player for the Golden State Warriors who is having a great run in the NBA playoffs. At 6’7”, 245 lbs., he is both an inside and outside player. I mean no disrespect to Mr. Green but he is hardly a hall-of-fame guy yet. Surely, there are those in the sports world who have earned an SI cover for their long-time performance that have as yet to appear.

Draymond has made a contribution to the game in his short tenure. The point is that size is not the factor in the game of basketball that it has been purported to be. Skill, talent and most of all, ability are what counts. The ultra small players, a la Mugsy Bogues, have been trying to get that across for some time. Spud Webb was another.

If you were to be the person drafting for the next year, I suggest that you draft the “best person available.” Golden State is successful with what is considered to be a small team. However it is a talented team. The conventional wisdom has been you need a big person to guard the other team’s “big.” So who is he going to defend?

If you have the opportunity to select a Lebron James or a Magic Johnson, terrific. That’s a once in a lifetime deal. Remember, Sam Bowie was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan and Greg Odom ahead of Kevin Durant, etc. There are very few great centers in the NBA. There is nothing like it was when Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Willis Reed, Walt Bellamy, Wes Unseld, etc., were all in the league. I don’t know where the centers have gone and it doesn’t matter. If the coach has talented players he can figure out how to best use them on the court.

Back to Draymond Green. I loved him as a college player at Michigan State. He’s done a great job with the Warriors. However, he is not the second coming of Michael Jordan. Give him the chance to mature and earn his reputation. Do not create expectations that has someone say “I knew he wasn’t that good.” SI, you can sell magazines without the “hype.” Honor the longevity. Tim Duncan should probably have been on several covers (I am sure he has been, of course).