Re: Eddie Griffin!!! lottery kid...

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Rohan Prashad wrote:

> On a related note, what happened to the Denver Nuggets? I was hoping they
> would finish between 6-10 in the draft to get us a really good player.
> (Their pick is top 5 protected) But right now they are 10-8, beating Philly
> and the Lakers along the way. They'll make the playoffs at this rate. I
> hope they start losing soon.

Last I checked, both the Denver and Utah picks were in the high teens or 20s.
Doh!! The thing is it could actually be a good thing if Boston elects not to
cash in that Denver pick at the first opportunity, since:

1) in subsequent drafts the top-five lottery protection for Denver will
disappear; and

2) 7 out of the 10 top 2001 prepsters (ranked by Bob Gibbons)  have committed
letters-of-intent to attend college. This clearly does not guarantee anything,
but the mini-trend right now is for them to follow in the footsteps of Eddie
Griffin, Zach Randolph and Gerald Wallace (the top three rated prepsters last
year even ahead of Darius Miles) and attend a year of college before making the
big jump to the pros.

2001 Prepsters who have declared for college include 6-11 300 pound Eddy Curry
(#1), 6-4 MJ-esque shooting guard Kelvin Tolbert (#2) and 6-3 point guard
Dajuan Wagner (#5), who scored 81 points in a game last year. The other top
five players at this stage are power forward Ousmanne Cisse from Oak Hill, VA,
and 7-1 Tyson Chandler from Compton, CA. Note that Tyson Chandler (the most
likely prepster to turn pro) is listed at just 215 pounds and may be years from
making an impact, like in the case of Jermaine O'Neil. It could be to his
advantage to sign with UCLA instead of the pros.

On Thursday, December 7th, Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler will meet for the
first time as part of a one-day tournament in St Louis (Shop'n Save/KMOX
Shootout). How Chandler (and Curry) do might go a long way toward influencing
their decision to turn pro. They will both be playing with their own highschool
teams, so the level of execution and comfort zone of the players should be
higher than typical All Star games. Reportedly 23 NBA teams have requested
credentials to watch this showdown between the Compton Dominguez (CA) and
Illinois, Thornwood teams (kind of an "Ali-Frazier", or at least
"Alcinder-Hayes" type of matchup). In advance of the game the Bob Gibbons site
has very mixed reviews of Tyson Chandler (but universal praise for Curry):

"Chandler has the talent to be an immediate contributor in the NBA, he is the
best shotblocker I have ever seen on the high school or college level. He
blocks with both hands and does it so easily, he patiently watches the slasher
rise and without body contact he pummels the shots with either hand away from
the hoop. He also scores with ease and rebounds above and beyond the skills of
most elite post players. Chandler added that UCLA and Arizona were the
favorites to land him, should he not go to the NBA directly. But watch him play
and you will see why we don't think he will ever play college basketball. He is
tremendously gifted."
Clint Jackson, High Major Hoops Atlantic East

"While he's clearly a very gifted athlete, with an amazing upside, Tyson's
skills have not developed the way you'd hope they would -- particularly when it
comes to his low-post game. Frankly, he doesn't have a low-post game...and
we're not sure he's trying to develop one. He looks like a guy who has decided
he's going to play SF in the NBA. He spends most of his time shooting jump
shots these days and when he does go to the low block, he gets pushed out
routinely and stays out on the perimeter. His rebounding was pretty much
non-existent and, overall, he just didn't put out much effort on either end of
the court. Again, he's got a special combination of size and athleticism that
will make him a first round pick in the draft next year, but he needs to start
working a lot harder on his overall game if he wants to be a high lottery
pick."
Greg Hicks, PacWest Hoops

Joe

p.s. Tough loss last night. I had insomnia so I listened in on WEEI. There is
very little margin for error on this team. Walker shot over 50% and nearly had
a triple double, and Pierce caught on fire in the last three minutes. You can't
ask for much more,  yet we still came up short. Defense is really becoming a
big Achilles Heal. As usual, Cedric Maxwell questioned why we need to double
non-scoring threats like Outlaw in the low post and leave open jumpers for guys
like Pat Garrity. Max said that double-teams down low don't get the job done in
the NBA if the opponent sees it everytime. He says you have to mix it up with
straight defense to get any surprise value out of it. Nothing new there.

--------