RE: Chad Ford on the draft

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm historically bad at identifying good collegiate point guards, but I
have to say I'm scared by Nelson. He looks like one of those undersized
shoot-first point guards. I think he'll make it in the NBA, but he's not
a guy you really want running a team. I'd compare him to Bobby Jackson.
Really good player, but probably not a championship-level starting point
guard.



But like I said, I'm really bad at predicting college points to NBA
points.



Mark



-----Original Message-----
From: David A Wickerham [mailto:aw623@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 1:31 PM
To: Berry, Mark S
Cc: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re:Chad Ford on the draft



Thanks Mark,

Couldn't help but notice that Jameer Nelson has slid out of the lottery
in Fords opinion. Guess its one more manifestation of the four year
collegiate syndrome. This guy has done nothing but win at little St.
Joes. He's the type of player we might be able to get with Detroit's
pick, and could end up being as good as Stevie Blake.

dw



On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 13:06:19 -0500 "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I know some of you hate this stuff. Feel free to ignore it.



This is Chad Ford's latest report on some NBA draft prospects. Some
interesting stuff. Take Jameer Nelson, for example. He's having an
amazing
season at
St. Joseph's and certainly has solidified his status as a
first-round pick in this year's draft. But recent published
assertions that he's a top-10 pick? I haven't heard that
from one
scout. Not even close. Several scouts who didn't like him at
the
start of the season now believe he's an NBA player. But no
one is
saying he'll be a dominant player in the league. His lack of
size
(he measured 5-10 at the Chicago camp last summer),
quickness and a
so-so vertical matter to GMs. I'm not knocking Nelson. I
could see
him rising as high as the mid-first round because of the
lack of
other qualified college veterans in this draft. But top 10?
It just
doesn't mesh with the scouting reports I've read.