Desert Classic Mini Report

["Michael J.King Sr." <kingpin@primenet.com>]

Note: My report on actual performances of players is almost non-existent as 
the mood was kind of a just getting to know each other practice.Later.MJK

The first night practice was pretty uneventful but some audience members 
were noteworthy. Many GM's were in attendance and we sat near Elgin Baylor 
and Jerry West. Mr. West had an entourage in tow who dutifully laughed at 
all of his jokes(funny or not!!) Ronnie Lester (Iowa) was the main 
conversation partner of Jerry's and IIRC he is an assistant to the GM or 
some such?? Anyone know?
Anyway they ended up sitting in front of us and one overheard conversation 
between West and Lester was their assessments of A.J.Guyton and Ed Cota. 
Guyton was bringing the ball upcourt most of the night and was noticeably 
not as quick as Cota.Having said that Lester loved Cota over Guyton while 
West stated that Guyton was a for sure # 1 and Cota would go undrafted!! As 
I said pretty uneventful but wicked enjoyable! Around 200 people were in 
the Wells Fargo Arena on the campus of Arizona State University for the 
practice with the majority from the NBA and the media. There were only 
about 20 of us without credentials hanging around our necks.It will be 
interesting to see if thr crowds grow over the next few days as the local 
media especially TV are pretty much ignoring it.The channel I watch had a 
piece on Fenways opening day but zilch on the Classic and it hopefully will 
change for the actual games.Here is a list of who we saw last night(Tuesday):
NAME              POSITION/HEIGHT                   SCHOOL
Vincent Jones         C      6:10                       Jackson State
Jabari Smith           C      6:11                           L.S.U.
Malik Allen             F      6:10                        Villanova
Ryan Blackwell       F      6:7                          Syracuse
Craig Claxton         G      5:11                         Hofstra
A.J.Granger           F       6:9                          Michigan State
Jason Hart             G      6:3                          Syracuse
Eduardo Najera      F       6:8                          Oklahoma
Terrance Roberson F       6:7                          Fresno State
Matt Santangelo     G      6:1                          Gonzaga
Alex Scales           G      6:4                          Oregon
Jarret Stephens      F      6:7                           Penn State
Lavor Postell          F      ??                            St. John's

More guys will show up tonight(Wednesday) A coplete roster is available @ 
http://espn.go.com/ncb/s/draft/deserroster.html

Hopefully tonights practice will allow me to evaluate the kids better as 
last night was really informal and without alot of substance(IMO) but I was 
in nirvana nonetheless just being there and looking ahead to the actual 
games as well as the Emperor (West)of the Evil Empire (Fakers) being in 
attendance!!  I'll be on the lookout for Wallace and Leo Papille(sp) as 
both were prominent attendees last year. Well until next 
time.Later.Mike