Sports Illustrated Says Etan Thomas & Millard Looks Good

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

 Swap Meat? 

Posted: Tuesday June 20, 2000 05:39 PM

By Ian Thomsen 

Will the ever-troubled Nets trade the No. 1 pick? How high will high
school phenom Darius Miles go? Pending changes in the order, here is how
the June 28 draft is shaping up. 

1  Nets  Kenyon Martin PF, 6'10", 234 Cincinnati/Sr. 
Surest thing in the draft. Will help replace Jayson Williams, who may
never play because of broken right leg.  
2  Grizzlies  Stromile Swift PF, 6'10", 220 LSU/Soph. 
With Swift and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vancouver could have the makings of
a tremendous frontcourt. 
3  Clippers  Marcus Fizer PF, 6'9", 262 Iowa State/Jr. 
Dependable low-post scorer with superior shooting range, he hit 58.2% of
his shots last season. 
4  Bulls  Darius Miles SF, 6'9", 202 East St. Louis (Ill.) High 
G.M. Jerry Krause has secretly lusted after Miles, perhaps the most
exciting player in the draft. 
5  Magic  Chris Mihm C, 7'0", 265 Texas/Jr. 
Some doubt his toughness; will have something to prove after slipping to
No. 5. 
6  Hawks  Courtney Alexander SG, 6'6", 205 Fresno State/Sr. 
Atlanta needs an athletic scorer after experiment with Isaiah Rider blew
up last year. 
7  Bulls  Joel Przybilla C, 7'1", 243 Minnesota/Soph. 
With this shot blocker in the fold, all Chicago needs is Tracy McGrady
to be back in business. 
8  Cavaliers  Iakovos Tsakalidis C, 7'3", 283 AEK (Greece) 
Cleveland will jump at Big Jake, 21, if it's clear by draft day that
he's not contractually bound to AEK. 
9  Rockets  Olumide Oyedeji PF, 6'10", 240 DJK Würzburg (Germany) 
A 20-year-old rebounding whiz gets a chance to play alongside fellow
Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon. 
10  Magic  DerMarr Johnson SG, 6'9", 200 Cincinnati/Fr. 
If it fails to land McGrady, Orlando will need an athletic guard, and
Johnson's size is a plus. 
11  Celtics  Etan Thomas PF, 6'10", 260 Syracuse/Sr. 
Rick Pitino hopes he has finally landed a big-time interior defender and
shot blocker. 

(There were rumors that he was only 6-7, but he measured out at 6-10
  in his sneakers. Still, beware of Syracuse players, and he doesn't
  provide a lot of offense. And he's not a center.) 

 


The Draft's Big Sleeper  
Return of the Lost Continent 

Searching for an anti-Shaq weapon? Scouts, coaches and general managers
from at least 20 NBA teams at the predraft camp in Chicago this month
hoped they had found one as they looked up (and up) at Brad Millard, a
7'3", 360-pound behemoth from tiny St. Mary's in Moraga, Calif. Millard
was nicknamed Big Continent by big-man coach Pete Newell -- but that was
before Millard suffered a series of foot injuries that limited him to 16
games over the past three seasons. "So then I started calling him
Atlantis," says St. Mary's coach Dave Bollwinkel, "because for the last
three years he's been the lost continent." 

Millard was surprisingly nimble during the individual workout he held at
a private health club in Chicago. After a couple of trips up and down
the court he was short of breath, but he exhibited a smooth stroke from
15 feet. All this despite his footwear: low-cut Reebok running shoes. "I
got these out of a catalog from a company in Atlanta two months ago,"
said Millard, 23. "These are the only pair of shoes I can wear. If you
see me walking down the street tomorrow, I'll be in these shoes." 

Big Continent's big feet -- size 23 EEEE -- have been his biggest
problem. After averaging 12.4 points and 7.6 rebounds in 31 games as a
sophomore, Millard suffered a broken metatarsal bone in his left foot
the following October and was sidelined for the season. A year later he
missed all but three games after breaking the navicular bone in the same
foot, and last season an edema around the navicular in his right foot
cost him his final 17 games. Millard blames his woes on the (relatively)
tiny size-22 shoes he had to wear. "If you were a size 12 and you had to
play in a 10, your feet would be pretty messed up too," says Millard's
agent, Bill Duffy. "Brad's father says Brad hasn't had a comfortable
pair of shoes since he was 17 years old." 

"His feet are structurally sound," says Arthur Ting, team physician of
the San Jose Sharks, who had performed surgery on Joe Montana and Tiger
Woods before encountering Millard's Sasquatchian feet. "His shoes
definitely contributed to his injuries. To fix his metatarsal we had to
use fragment screws three times the size of normal screws." 

Other players on the cusp of their NBA dream talk of buying themselves a
huge house or a fleet of luxury cars. "Once I'm in the league," says
Millard, gazing off to the horizon, "I'll take some of that money and
make myself some shoes."