Centers of attention and draft news

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http://www.foxsports.com/nba/home/nba_news.cfm?source=st&cont_id=61015



Centers of attention
May 22, 2001
BY FRANK BURLISON
FOXSports.com


It only seems as if any high school senior 6-foot-10 or taller who can dunk and
chomp on Wrigley's Spearmint at the same has entered the NBA draft.
Almost certainly, Kwame Brown, Ousmane Cisse, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and
DeSagana Diop - had they been so inclined to experience dorm and campus life for
a year - would have made major impacts on college basketball as freshmen next
season.
Instead, Brown, Chandler, Curry and Diop are being fitted for some fancy duds to
wear in the "Green Room" on June 27 with the other probable lottery selections
while Cisse also has a fair shot at being selected in the first round.
But that doesn't mean that any freshmen center we see in a college lineup next
season is a borderline dork.
David Harrison (Brentwood in Nashville, Tenn.) and Rick Rickert (East in Duluth,
Minn.) are 6-10 McDonald's All-Americas who will be freshmen at Colorado and
Minnesota, respectively, in the fall.
Both will be immediate starters and will be among the dominant post players in
college basketball by their sophomore seasons - if they can avoid the likely
temptation of NBA cash for another year.
The biggest surprise - literally and figuratively - in the freshman class in
2001-02 might be 7-0, 265-pound Craig Forth (Columbia in East Greenbush, N.Y.),
a Syracuse signee.
Forth didn't get a lot of hype last summer because he bypassed both the Nike and
adidas All-America Camps.
But it's still tough to shake the image I have of watching him dominate Chandler
head to head in a Nike Camp game during July of 1999 in Indianapolis.
The center coming into college basketball next season with the most potential
for instant - nothing in the college version seems very long term anymore -
dominance is Jamal Sampson (Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif.).
Sampson, to the surprise of many that assumed he'd end up at UCLA or Kansas,
signed with Cal.
He has every bit as much talent as Curry and Diop in the low post (both Brown
and Chandler are more perimeter-oriented in their games) but seemed to miss
about half of his games and more than many practices during his three years at
Mater Dei.
If Ben Braun can keep a fire lit under Sampson and he can avoid nagging injuries
- something rarely the case while he was high school - the loss of Pac-10 Player
of the Year Sean Lampley won't seem quite as significant for Cal.
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<snip>

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Many of the top college and high school players in the country - at least those
who have a big stake in what happens on June 27 in New York City - are at least
part-time residents of Southern California right now.
That's because Los Angeles-based agents Arn Tellem, Jeff Schwartz and Dan Fagan
are representing a large portion of the players who'll be chosen in the NBA
draft's first round that night.
And all three will be holding workouts for their clients at various Southern
California sites for which NBA club's representatives will be invited to watch.
Among Tellem's high-profile clients in the next rookie class are Eddie Griffin
(Seton Hall),
Kwame Brown (Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Ga.), Eddy Curry (Thornwood High in
South Holland, Ill.), Joe Johnson (Arkansas), Jarron Collins (Stanford), Brian
Scalabrine (USC), Earl Watson (UCLA) and Kedrick Brown (Okaloosa-Walton JC in
Florida).
Tyson Chandler (Dominguez High in Compton, Calif.), Rodney White (Charlotte),
Jamaal Tinsley (Iowa State) and Jeff Trepagnier (USC) signed with Schwartz.
Chandler is tentatively scheduled to have a "private" workout for Michael Jordan
- whose Washington Wizards own the No. 1 pick - this week in Los Angeles.
Fagan is representing, among others, Jason Richardson (Michigan State), Gilbert
Arenas (Arizona),
Troy Murphy (Notre Dame) and Kenny Satterfield (Cincinnati).
******
Bouncing around the country:
•  Duke's Shane Battier, the College Player of the Year and possibly the only
senior likely to be selected in the lottery, will be represented by Washington,
D.C.-based Lon Babby.
Babby also lists Grant Hill and Tim Duncan among his clients.
Battier is one of several of the elite prospects that won't participate in
workouts for NBA teams until after the June 5-9 Pre-Draft Camp at Moody Bible
College in Chicago.
•  Stanford fans shouldn't hold out much hope of Jason Collins returning to
school in the fall.
Collins is highly valued by several franchises and isn't likely to last too far
beyond the 20 spot in the first round.
And, although USC junior forward Sam Clancy is a much more "iffy" proposition as
a first-round selection, he, too, appears to be leaning toward not withdrawing
from draft consideration.
•  But at least one of the All-Americas whose name is on the early-entry list -
Tayshaun Prince of Kentucky - will likely be back in a college uniform as a
senior.
His coach at Dominguez High in Compton, Russell Otis, said Saturday that he
fully expects the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year to be playing for
Tubby Smith and the Wildcats next season.
With Prince back in the lineup, Kentucky could survive the loss of sophomore
guard Keith Bogans to the NBA draft and remain a solid Final Four candidate next
spring.
Senior writer Frank Burlison covers college basketball
for FOXSports.com. Send your comments to fburlison@foxsports.com.