Joakim Noah didn't disappoint fans who wanted to see him in a crazy outfit. AP

By Ty Hildenbrandt, SI.com

The biggest problem with a deep NBA draft is that nobody screws up. I mean, it's possible, but the likelihood of someone picking a worthless tomato can is drastically reduced. Quite honestly, that makes things strangely anti-climactic. Almost the way a draft should be if there isn't an epidemic of mismanaged organizations. Go figure.

So, Thursday night was sort of a glimpse into the future, or at least another world -- a bizarro draft, of sorts. Everything went as planned. Nobody veered from the script. Oden, then Durant, then everybody else. And, if only for one night, it looked as though (almost) everyone knew what they were doing, and the Eastern Conference wasn't being run by former Enron executives.

But, even if it was the most boring draft in years, there were still a few noteworthy observations. In fact, let's hand out our own brand of hardware to Thursday's most deserving people...

The Craig Sager "Standout Suit" Award

To Joakim Noah, who stood out like a sore thumb on a night of otherwise conservative attire. The Vegas odds for Noah winning this award had to be about 1:3000, and he delivered. Noah's outfit was a perfect mix of Lloyd Christmas' suit from Dumb and Dumber, Vincent Gambini's second-hand tux from My Cousin Vinny, and those plaid shorts that go for about $50 in Hollister stores around the country. We've come to expect this sort of thing from Noah, who's been known to show up, um, oddly dressed at other marquee events -- you know, like ones at the White House -- but it still never gets old.

The Merriam-Webster Annual "Cruelty To Adjectives" Award

To Jay Bilas, who earned this honor in 2006 and would appear to be an iron-clad lock to win it from now until eternity. In fact, the formula for this year's coverage seemed to include 90 seconds of a gushing Bilas following every single pick. It was back to basics for the analyst, who tapped the well that made him famous and trotted out more references to "high-character guys," "wingspan," and "great motors" than ever before. He also took a page from last year's broadcast and forged several inventive catch phrases -- last year, Adam Morrison "couldn't guard a bank with a machine gun;" this year, Josh McRoberts was "more 'Robin' than 'Batman'." Most important, we've finally reached the point where we can anoint Bilas the basketball version of Mel Kiper Jr. And that's an accomplishment.

The Randy Moss "Straight Cash, Homey" Award

To the Phoenix Suns, who sold out their first pick for the second straight year, this time to Portland for some of Paul Allen's money. Last year, I joked that Phoenix made the same move to fund a few summer internships, the Steve Nash MVP banquet and a new wet bar in the locker room. But this year in the midst of the deepest draft in years -- I don't know -- maybe they're looking to add air hockey and foosball tables, too.

The Lloyd Bentsen "Snappy Comeback" Award

To the witty Bulls fan who proudly waved a sign reading "Thanks Isiah" before Chicago's selection of Noah at No. 9. You'll remember this pick from the now-infamous trade that sent Eddy Curry to the Knicks in exchange for the New York's dignity. Funny how the two franchises have gone in complete opposite directions since. If you're the general manager that just gift wrapped Tyrus Thomas and Noah in consecutive drafts for a team within your conference, what does it feel like to see that sign?

That said...

The Andy Dufresne "Shawshank Redemption" Award

To Isiah Thomas, who miraculously dumped Steve Francis' contract, acquired a major low post presence in Zach Randolph and refrained from doing anything outrageous for five full hours. Until Thursday night, this didn't seem like a realistic expectation. But what's fair is fair. Zeke truly shed his image and, if only for one night, gathered enough steam to move up to No. 24 on Kelly Dwyer's top 30 list of personnel guys. Now, the real question is whether this move was a case of a blind squirrel finding a nut or a managerial genius purposely acting a fool for the last decade to play rope-a-dope with other GMs. Though conventional logic leans heavily in favor of the blind squirrel, we must give credit where it's due. Isiah did well.

Speaking of which...

The Isiah Thomas Honorary "Bonehead Move" Award

To Michael Jordan, whose draft day tactics most closely resembled a college student playing NBA Live '07 than a real, actual, front office executive maneuvering a draft. In fact, if you're a Bobcat fan, the six most terrifying words to appear on your television all night must've been "Jordan actively involved in the Draft." First, Jordan showed his inner Dick Vitale and added to an astounding array of ACC all-stars by snagging Brandan Wright and Jason Dudley. Then, he traded his first-round pick (Wright) to the Warriors for Jason Richardson who is guaranteed $51 million over the next four years and probably isn't the franchise player Jordan is looking for. We all know about MJ's mishaps in Washington, this was right up there.

The John Mellencamp "Overexposed Musical Score" Award

To The All-American Rejects, which found themsevles at the beginning and end of every commercial break on Thursday night, much the way Mellencamp's Our Country song nudged its way into every Chevy commercial ever conceived and became the basis for a nationwide marketing campaign.

The Matt Millen "Try, Try Again" Award

To Billy Knight, GM of the Atlanta Hawks, who has woken up to the same song and dance -- forwards -- for the last four NBA drafts. It's like this poor guy's stuck at the blackjack table, forced into hitting on hard 16's year in and year out. That's enough to drive a man crazy. This year, it was Florida's Al Horford getting the call, not because of ignorance, but sheer positioning -- Horford was simply the best player available at No. 3, and Mike Conley Jr. was too big of a project for a team that needs as much experience as it can get at the point. Horford was probably the right pick here, but that doesn't mean we can't giggle at the Hawks' predicament.

The Dikembe Mutumbo "Public Speaking" Award

To Yi Jianlian, China's darling and new Milwaukee Buck, whose interview with Stuart Scott was a few boo yahs short of being halfway coherent. Now, it is worth noting that Yi's mumbling English is already infinitely better that most of our Mandarin Chinese, and that is certainly an admirable trait, but only minutes after Fran Fraschilla called him "hip hop" like 50 Cent, I couldn't help but laugh at the general awkwardness of the interview. Plus, the mere fact that Yi wanted nothing to do with Milwaukee was icing on the cake.

Ty Hildenbrandt can be reached at tyhildenbrandt@gmail.com