A few other Chicago notes

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@xxxxxxxxx>]

Apologies if these have been posted already, but I
didn't see them ... 

-  Alabama's Mo Williams (6-2, 189) didn't shoot the
ball that well, but he played aggressively and ended
with five assists and only one turnover. Oklahoma's
Hollis Price (6-0, 165) had six assists and two
turnovers.

Other's didn't fare as well. Arizona's Jason Gardner
(5-11, 194) had five turnovers to his five assists.
Washington State's Marcus Moore (6-5, 208) got the
chance to play the point but finished with just one
assist and four turnovers. He also missed all four of
his 3-point attempts. Jermaine Boyette (6-2, 185), one
of the stars of the Portsmouth camp, proved he can
still score, but is he a point? Boyette finished with
17 points but only one assist. And St. John's Marcus
Hatten had a so-so debut, with four assists and three
turnovers.

No one hurt themselves more than Moore however. "He
messed up big time," an Eastern Conference scout said.
"Everyone wanted to love him, but he just seemed to be
forcing everything. That's not how you prove that
you're an NBA point guard. He can still redeem
himself, but he'll only do it by getting his teammates
involved."

- We said earlier this week that Memphis big man Chris
Massie (6-8, 260) looked like he had a great chance of
bringing home the blue-collar award. He got off to a
great start Wednesday, scoring 14 points on 7-of-11
shooting and pulling down 14 boards (including seven
offensive). The bad news is that me measured just
6-foot-6= without shoes.

- Tim Grover's A.T.T.A.C.K. Athletics had three guys
in the camp, and all of them played very well
Wednesday. Ball State's Theron Smith (6-8, 235) had
the best game of the three, scoring 18 points on
5-of-7 shooting. He hit both his 3-pointers and did a
great job of sticking to the perimeter game. He was a
power forward in college, but he showed Wednesday he's
working on becoming a small forward. Portsmouth MVP
Jerome Beasley (6-10, 237) also played well, scoring
12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and grabbing five
rebounds. And Marquette's Robert Jackson (6-9, 254)
ended with 12 points and nine boards.

- BYU's Travis Hansen (6-6, 200) dropped in another
solid performance. He finished with 11 points on
3-of-6 shooting, hit both of his 3s and grabbed five
rebounds.

"I'm not sure where he gets drafted, exactly," one
scout said. "But there are five or six guys here
who'll stick in the league for 8 to 10 years. He'll be
one of them."

Speaking of Utah's finest, Britton Johnsen (6-11, 212)
turned a few heads with his athletic play on the wing.
Johnsen, a former McDonald's All-American, had a tough
senior season at Utah. He broke his hand, then came
down with mononucleosis toward the end of the season,
causing him to fall off the radar screen. While he
didn't shoot the ball particularly well, he stunned a
few scouts with his ability to put the ball on the
floor and zip past defenders. He had 10 points and
four rebounds in 19 minutes.

- High school big man James Lang (6-9, 316) surprised
a lot of people with his 15-point, six-rebound
performance. Lang knocked around a few people in the
paint and hit 7-of-8 free throws. However, his
measurements killed him. There's no way, at that size
(he's 6-8 without shoes), he can play center in the
pros.

Finally, old friend Sam Smith in the Chicago Trib
reports that the Wolves and Blazers are talking trade:
Sheed Wallace for Terrel Brandon's expiring salary
slot. Thinking being that Portland wants to downsize
salary and make room for Randolph. A Wallace-Garnett
frontcourt would be truly frightening. According to
RealGM, Wolves would have to throw in somebody like
Joe Smith to make this work; that benefits both teams,
IMO. Jeez, Wallace and Garnett in the same frontcourt,
I'm woozy ... Probably never happen, but sheesh ... 

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