I went to New York City for the first time in my life this past spring break with high expectations, and the city delivered in every aspect imaginable.

There’s a certain ambiance about NYC that lets you know you’re in a special place—a place where you feel like something historic happened at some point on every street. You’re in a place that can make you feel alive no matter how little sleep you had the night before. You’re in a place with so many attractions and so much to do that the phrase “I’m bored” isn’t really part of a New Yorker’s vocabulary.

Given all that, it’s surprising to put the words “New York City” and “uneventful” in the same sentence, but that is exactly what the 2010 NBA Draft at NYC’s Madison Square Garden was this past Thursday: uneventful.

Nonetheless, in the 2010 Draft’s defense, as there is with every sport’s draft, there are winners, losers and surprises. While it really isn’t fair to dub a franchise a winner or loser in a draft before their draftees even play a game, let me remind you of something: this is America. Free speech is a right, and with that comes the right for people like myself to put on their knee-jerk “expert caps” every once in a while.

Given said unfairness, rather than pick multiple winners, losers and surprises, I’ve only selected one of each. I have to draw the “ignorance line” at one—I’m not sure I could take myself seriously if it extended further.

Winner: Philadelphia

It’s a well-known fact by NBA followers that there is an extraordinary amount of incompetent general managers in the league. Philadelphia’s Ed Stefanski exemplified this after dishing out a combined $160 million to Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand, which, in the process, royally messed up the team’s salary cap.

I think we were all sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how Stefanski would screw up with the second-overall pick. All we knew is that he would likely take one of three people: Ohio State’s Evan Turner, Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors or Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins. Only one of those picks made total sense here, and, to my surprise, Stefanski pulled the trigger on it.

Kudos to the Sixers for taking Turner, who I believe will be the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2010-11 and have a better career than top pick John Wall.

A big reason why there is so much incompetence in NBA front offices today is because of the change in drafting philosophies over the years. Today, it’s all about who has the greatest potential or upside. Whatever happened to drafting on pure ability?

Turner was hands-down the most polished and proven player in the Draft, and it was refreshing to see the Sixers realize that. He won every major National Player of the Year award by a landslide, and was the only player from a major conference to average at least 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists per game last season. Also, with his versatility and size (6-foot-7, 210 pounds) he can play practically any position other than center. Great pick all around by Philly.

Loser: Memphis

It really doesn’t have much to do with their selections. In fact, I loved their pick of Kansas’ Xavier Henry at No. 12.

An exciting player on the best regular season team in college basketball last year, Henry was highly unselfish and is far ahead of the curve, physically, for a 19-year-old kid.

But it was the Grizzlies’ selection of Maryland guard and Tallahassee “fan favorite” (snicker) Greivis Vasquez at No. 28 that put the finishing touches on one of the most one-sided trades in NBA history.

In February of 2008, the Grizzlies traded power forward Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol (Pau’s not-nearly-as-good younger brother) and LA’s first-round picks in 2008 and 2010.

Since that trade, here is what has transpired: Pau Gasol has helped lead the Lakers to three straight NBA finals appearances and back-to-back world championships, while Memphis has yet to make a single playoff appearance.

Meanwhile, the only remaining pieces from the trade are Mark Gasol, Darrell Arthur (their first-round pick from the Lakers in ’08) and Vasquez. Unless Vasquez is the next Magic Johnson, the Lakers made out like bandits.

Surprise: Ryan Reid

Closing in on the midnight hour of the Draft, I was barely paying attention. I was in the middle of writing a breaking news story for the FSView’s website about Florida State center Solomon Alabi being taken 50th overall by the Dallas Mavericks when I received a pleasant surprise, and thus had to completely reformat my article.

Ryan Reid, the Seminoles’ proverbial “garbage man” for the last four years, was taken by the Indiana Pacers with the 57th pick. Shocked (and slightly frustrated because I had to rewrite my story), I quickly got over it and felt hopeful for Reid.

I’d be willing to bet that, if you asked Reid himself, he probably wasn’t expecting to get drafted. After all, he had a career-high this past season with a scoring average of 6.3 points per game to go along with a marginal four rebounds per game—not exactly the most impressive numbers.

Despite Reid perhaps being the beneficiary of a weak draft class, that doesn’t take away from the accomplishment. A hard worker and all-around good person who did everything the right way during his four years at FSU, Reid has been granted the opportunity of a lifetime.