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5/31 ..interesting
article i was reading today on the fear of bucks fans in drafting
"a big white guy".. you might think that the whole white-black
issue is old hat in the nba.. but the fear of ending up with the
next big white dud is certainly a legitimate one for nba fans..
bucks fans have to be worried bogut is the second coming of bryant
"big country" reeves.. in fact, their stats from their sophomore
year in college stack up favorably.. reeves averaged 20 & 10 while
shooting 62% from the floor, bogut averaged 20 & 12 while shooting
62% from the floor.. but bogut has one great thing going for him
that players like reeves or todd fuller did not.. he's an
australian!.. and as we know, foreign white big guys are not quite
as shunned in nba circles.. but forgetting bogut, let's take a
look at the highest drafted white american-born nba players over
the past dozen years or so.. 2004=luke jackson, 2003=chris kaman,
2002=mike dunleavy, 2001=troy murphy, 2000=mike miller, 1999=wally
szczerbiak, 1998=raef lafrentz, 1997=keith van horn, 1996=todd
fuller, 1995=bryant reeves, 1994=eric montross, 1993=shawn bradley..
i could go on and on, but the point of this list is to show that
white americans selected with the first pick in the draft simply do
not become all-stars.. in fact, christian laettner is the last top
american-born white guy (drafted in 1992) who has played in all-star
game.. and it's not like before laettner, the track record for the
previous 10 years is good either.. in fact, by my account, the
last highest drafted american-born white guy who was a legitimate
nba star was tom chambers.. drafted back in 1981.. which amazingly
enough, was the year i wa born.. so perhaps we can somehow pin the
curse of the white big-man on my entrance into the world.. though
unfortunately for me, i'm not the typical white big man (which
wouldnt be so bad), but the typical white little-man..
5/27 ..we're in
the process here at chn of beginning to put together our preview
for the 2005-06 season.. we'll be starting our 144 teams in 144
days feature shortly before the nba draft.. i've been spending
time with preview writer extraordinaire joel welser about the
ranking of our top 144 teams.. one thing is clear already, this
season is up for grabs.. while our #1 team is pretty much a lock
right now, #'2 through 25 are pretty much a mess, and probably
won't be finalized until we know officially who will return next
year.. take duke, if shavlik randolph returns, duke is a lock for
#1, but without him.. just kidding, duke is a lock even if
randolph goes pro and gets picks 7th in the international biddy
basketball league where he belongs.. i think randolph went to the
keith van horn school for toughness, but at least van horn has
game.. one team that will be very hard to place is north carolina..
you always like to show some kind of respect to the reigning
national champion, but it's pretty hard to place carolina in the
top 25.. hansbroguh is good.. but roy williams will simply be
sitting and waiting all year for his already stocked 2006
recruiting class to show up.. even a team like saint joseph's the
previous year who lost nelson and west returned more talent than
carolina this year.. frogetting tough teams to rank, a tough
conference to figure is the new cusa.. with washington back,
memphis is the clear class of the revamped conference, but do they
have any more top 25 potential teams?.. uab, utep, and rice are
nice.. but you kind find a handful of better teams in each of the
mac and the mvc.. news out of the mvc is that illinois state star
lorenzo gordon will be out for the season due to academic
reasons.. the juco to all-mvc stud was the conference's best
pro-talent, and without him the redbirds roster is extremely
thin..
5/25 ..it's always
interesting each year to see how the results of the nba draft
lottery changes the order in which guys are picked.. marvin
williams is arguably the most talented player in the draft, but
with the hawks now picking second, it seems like williams might
now drop to third.. the hawks only strength (if you can call it
one) is with the smallish forwards like smith, childress, and
harrington.. adding williams into that mix doesn't really make
sense, so paul seems like the logical pick for them.. this works
in the blazers favor who already have invested in a young point
guard like telfair, and can now get lucky by having williams fall
to them.. things get even more interesting after that with new
orleans and charlotte falling to 4th and 5th.. the hornets need
everything, but they're main decision is between deron williams to
play point or andriuskevicius as a future big man.. the serbian
big man certainly has much more potential than williams, and has
the chance to be an impact player in this league.. but the hornets
might opt for the safe choice as they try and put a product on the
floor worth paying for.. with okafor on board, charlotte doesn't
really need andriuskevicius, but they could use a point guard like
williams.. depending on if williams is available here, the bobcats
main decision will be between the illinois point guard or high
school star gerald green.. like andriuskevicious, green has twice
the star potential than williams does, but charlotte might opt for
the safer option.. picking after charlotte, utah will most likely
take whose ever leftover out of williams, andriuskevicius, or
green..
5/24 ..today is a
make or break day for many nba teams.. the nba tightened up the
lottery a few years back to make the percentages weigh a bit more
heavily in favor of the worst teams, but there's still that
unfortunate chance a team like atlanta could slide out of the top
three.. in my eyes, this has always been a 3-horse draft (with
gerald green being a two-legged horse at this point), and the
difference between taking bogut or marvin williams at 1 or 2 and
someone like deron williams at 4 or 5 is huge.. it will be
interesting to see if a team like new york or los angeles gets
lucky and causes all the conspiracy theorists to come out of the
woodwork.. north carolina picked up another nice 2006 recruit this
weekend in philadelphia-are guard wayne ellington.. with the
exception of 2005 stud tyler hansbrough, roy williams has been
stockpiling guards and small wing-forwards.. expect unc's next
signing to be a stud 2006 big man in the mold of a vernon macklin,
darrell arthur, or spencer hawes.. with ohio state still in the
running for the indianpolis duo of greg oden and mike conley, ohio
state has a chance to put together one of the best recruiting
class in recent memory.. they already have one of the most
impressive players in the class in daequan cook and shooting guard
david lighty.. even though it's early, cook could be a potential
nba early-entry to next year's nba draft so long as david stern
allows under-20's to enter.. thad matta certainly has things on
the fast track at osu regardless of the specter of ncaa
infractions..
5/21 ..great quote
in the papers today which highlights what scouts think of shavlik
randolph.. trying to positively describe all the players the nets
worked out yesterday, gm ed stefanksi said of Randolph.. "Randolph
is .. well-schooled." That response sounds more like a question
than a compliment.. the Nets are also about to work out uconn
recruit andrew bynum.. out of all the potential high school
prospects, bynum is probably the least talented and the least
highly thought of, but at 7-0, all that goes out the door.. the
fact is he's been steadily improving for quite some time, and
unlike andray blatche, teams see him as one of the few
prototypical centers in the draft.. i still can't see a team
spending a first round pick on bynum at this point, but his stock
does seem to be rising.. i'll be out of town for the weekend,
checking out a college graduation.. depending on the wireless
situation, i may have a more complete update later on today and
tomorrow morning.. i'll leave you this morning to suggest
that louisiana-lafayette's tiras wade may end up being one of the
bigger surprise picks by the time the draft rolls around.. he has
no chance at the first round, but when you consider how nba teams
like athletic forwards in the mold of a donta smith from last
year, i expect wade to move into the low 40's by draft day..
5/19 ..our
coverage of the nba on chn usually begins and ends with the nba
draft, but the potential of a lockout needs to be discussed for a
second.. its a quick discussion: a lockout is simply the last
thing anyone associated with the nba needs, players or coaches..
the league already struggles with its image right now, with its
playoffs tucked away on tnt or espn late at night, while its
players are off beating people in the stands.. players have a very
hefty minimum salary able to support a quality lifestyle in any
city in the world, and their maximum salaries are stuff of
dreams.. you have to believe david stern to some extent when he
says the big-time agents are behind this as much as anything.. no
doubt the elite few players and agents do lose money by having
their salaries maxed, but the losses of a few players should not
be driving force behind a lockout.. the nba player's union seems
to mimic or government in that respect, the will of the top few
always seems to trump the needs of the masses.. luckily though,
the lockout would not come into effect until after the draft, so
their should be smooth sailing in terms of our coverage of the
draft.. in fact, the threat of the lockout could help bring extra
media coverage leading up to and after the draft, so perhaps we
can get some extra viewers because of it.. of course there's also
the possibility that with a lockout next season, it only helps the
popularity of the college game, and conversely the popularity of
this very website..
5/17 ..reggie
theus' new nmsu squad picked up an interesting transfer in 7-0
center martin iti from charlotte.. iti actually flirted with going
to the draft after his freshman season in which he averaged 6 ppg,
5 rpg, and 1.2 bpg. After returning to college, Iti started
last season putting up improved numbers in the early
non-conference schedule before falling out of favor with coach
lutz.. still, this is a major coup for theus, who has no chance of
signing such potentially dominant talent on the recruiting trail..
what do you make of the rex chapman allegations?.. i have no doubt
that what he is saying is true.. but i think its bad policy to
make broad accusations of what university officials did.. in all
situations, not just such as this one, making accusations which
are not confined to specific individuals or specific groups of
individuals simply ends up causing innocent parties to be
embarrassed or scrutinized.. still, considering how generally
shunned such interracial dating is in society as a whole, let
alone kentucky in the mid-eighties, it seems a forgone conclusion
that chapman would have been scrutinized.. lastly, as an aside
which has nothing to do with basketball.. someone needs to give
the marketing department at mercury a raise for hiring the woman
who has been featured in their recent commercials for the montero
and the mountaineer.. i've never really had an inkling to buy a
mercury before, but now..
5/16 ..nothing
too big in the news today, so i decided i'd write a little
something on the top incoming college point guards.. while the nba
continues to raid the college pantry, luckily point guards are
like the sugar-free candy of the pantry.. unless its ridiculously
good sugar-free candy, i'd rather stay away from it.. here's my
top 6 incoming freshman
point
guards.. at the top of the list is duke-bound greg paulus, who
will be duke's next great point guard.. forget sean dockery,
paulus is already a better point guard and should be ready to feed
jonathan clay redick from day one.. the only real issue with
paulus is his ability to score in the half-court, but duke has
more than enough weapons for him to focus on what he does best:
passing the ball with the precision of the all-american
quarterback that he is.. for my taste, byron eaton of oklahoma
state is the second best floor general out there.. you just have
to lough this kid's stocky build and his toughness.. eaton comes
from one of the top high school programs in texas, lincoln hs in
dallas.. in 3rd place, i'll go with alaska-born point guard mario
chalmers, who is considered to be #1 or #2 by many analysts..
chalmers is a can't miss prospect, and bill self should be ready
to have him replace departed point guard aaron miles from the
outset.. chalmers is more of a scorer than the two guys i've
listed above, and also a better nba prospect than those guys
because he's a bit longer and can score the ball.. 4th i have to
go with unlv-bound jovan adams, who for my money, is almost
equally as good as kansas' chalmers.. adams played at the same
high school as gerald green, and this partly limited his ability
to put up huge numbers there.. but like chalmers, adams can do it
all, pass, defend, and shoot, even with range from three.. because
he's heading to the mwc, he has perhaps the chance to have the
biggest impact of anyone in the nation, and should help lon kruger
get the rebels on track.. in the 5th spot, i like arizona recruit
jp prince.. cousin of the pistons tayshaun prince.. like tayshaun,
jp is very long and lean, and at 6-7 his length for a point guard
is highly intriguing.. a similar body type as the clippers high
school to pro prospect shaun livingston.. prince was a kid who got
substantially better each of his years in high school and has been
a relatively late bloomer.. most likely, he'll spend a lot of time
on the bench this year behind mustafa shakur, but by the time his
college career his done, he has perhaps the most pro-potential of
any of these guys because of his height.. i really like louisville-bound
andre mcgee, and will put him 6th in the nation despite being
ranked lower by many scouts.. mcgee was an early-bloomer as
compared to a lot of these guys, but his game seemed to stagnate
over the previous season or so.. don't worry about him being
ranked out of the top 100 on rivals.. this kid's athleticism is
second-to-none..
5/15 ..i'm no fan
of bob huggins.. but how can anyone be a fan of cincy basketball
without bob huggins.. from a pure win-loss standpoint, buying out
huggins' contract could be disastrous for the bearcats program..
with the move to the big east, uc faces their biggest challenge
yet, putting an even bigger importance on recruiting the top
talent.. by making it clear that they will not extend huggins'
contract, it will be even harder than it already is for huggins to
recruit on an elite big east
level.. thus
it seems that uc has put itself in a tough position right now, one
that huggins can use as leverage.. if they don't buy him out, they
risk the program making an extremely tough transition to the big
east as huggins loses his ability to attract top level talent.. if
they do buy him out, they risk returning to the pre-huggins dark
days, but at least they can get a new coach in fast enough who
will have the full support of the university.. it seems they have
to take the second track at this point, and need to raise their
buy-out offer to get it done.. so is this one of those drafts,
where all the various early-entrants has made it better than
expected and deeper than usual?.. not really.. even though it
seems that the perception is that this draft has somehow improved
in recent months, this is more to do with the media hype machine
than anything else.. no matter how you break it down, you still
have about 4 or 5 bona fide big time players in this draft.. bogut,
paul, marvin williams, and green.. granted this draft might
produce more late first round and second round picks who become
solid role players, but in the end, people judge a draft by its
stars..
5/13 ..i very
rarely come across newspaper articles which are worth reading, but
david ramsey of the colorado springs gazette has an interesting
story today about the salaries coaches make.. the premise of the
article is to wonder whether its odd that college coaches get paid
hundreds of thousands of dollars to coach kids who make nothing..
the article itself was nothing special, but some quotes by
princeton head coach joe scott intrigued me.. first off, i hate
when coaches
actually
spew out the garbage about how
truly selfless and valuable college coaches are too society.. when
comparing his job to a wall-street business man, scott said "Who's
taking on that responsibility to make the world a better place?,"
and then answered, "coaches." Lets be honest folks, this is
pure delusion. No disrespect to coaches, but the fact is
that you are not getting paid to mold men, but to win basketball
games. Just as coaches will willingly tell their players
anything to get the players to perform well, so do coaches tell
themselves that what they do matters in order to provoke them to
do their best. Which isn't to say that wall street
businesses men are doing selfless jobs, but lets break down sports
to what they really are. Ways for men to simply feel good
about themselves by stoking their competitive egos, and helping
them gain status in life, so they get what it is they are looking
for. Of course, these days, sports also provides
entertainment. College coaches are really no more teachers
of life values than acting coaches. Of course, college
coaches are in a position to have a great influence on men's
lives, this can not be doubted, but by no means are they there for
that purpose, nor are they judged based on how they influence
lives. I can only imagine that over 50% of college coaches
think they are helping their kids, but are truly pulling back
progress in society depending on what values they teach.
Lastly, I want to add that it simply not true, no matter what a
scholarship athletes says, that they play basketball for nothing.
College costs a heck of a lot of money, and the athletes are
getting what is worth in some cases a $40,000 commodity for free.
Ask some kid who pays his way through school if college kids are
paid anything, and the answer is of course they are. Ask
some kid's parents who pays for his kids way through school if
college kids make anything. The answer is of course.
Scholarship athletes are paid to the value of over $100,000 at a
minimum for their years in college, and this is worth a lot more
than the academic background of these kids would warrant if they
couldn't play basketball..
5/12 ..with two
days to go before the nba entry deadline, we'll see a few more
surprise names pop up on the radar.. to we see high school big man
keith brumbaugh declare, but he will ultimately decide between
florida, florida state, or southern cal.. another top recruit who
has yet to make his decision is big man uche echefu out of
montrose christian in maryland.. i first saw echefu play at last
year's primetime shootout in trenton (link),
where he reminded me of a player in
the mold of
louisville's juan palacios.. at the time echefu was a fringe top
tier prospect, but right now he's set to decide between unc and
florida state.. i expect him to choose unc in the coming days, and
should form an imposing frontcourt alongside tyler hansbrough from
day one.. while echefu is sometimes listed as a power forward,
he's really more of a pf, and the incoming center class is truly
abysmal at this point.. uconn recruit andrew bynum is really the
only 5-star prospect who is purely a center.. and for my money,
the only other pure center with a chance to make a real big impact
on the college scene is oklahoma state recruit kenneth cooper..
cooper isn't the best out there right now, but he's known for
being very coachable and having a good work ethic.. the cowboys
look thin upfront right now, but cooper should be relegated to the
bench for awhile behind aaron pettway, and incoming juco recruit
mario boggan.. boggan was a highly touted recruit out of high
school, ultimately signing with florida and playing for a year,
before heading to chipola college in florida..
5/11 ..from now
on, you can reach chn by typing in collegehoops.net.. this url is
more compact, straight-forward, and should be easier for everyone
to remember.. obviously randolph morris will be back at kentucky
next year, and he has a chance to play himself into a 1st round
pick as soon as next year.. this kid could be looking at averaging
14 points and 8 or 9 boards a game next year.. somewhat
interesting article on scout.com today about the state of college
point guards right
now.. the
two players i expect to jump to the head of the class this coming
year are daniel gibson and darius washington.. i expect jack to
return to georgia tech, but these two kids have even greater
potential than jack ever had.. especially washington, who could be
looking at averages of 19 ppg, and 5 apg.. speaking of memphis,
they just signed a local nj prospect in 6-10 hashim bailey..
calipari's never been known to sign the kids with the best heads,
and bailey recently scored a 780 on the sat's.. he'll need to get
the up to an 820 to be eligible.. a former nj to memphis recruit
sean banks is working out down in florida, preparing for the nba
draft.. if banks goes in the 2nd round, which it appears he will,
it will be a steal for whoever takes him.. the fact is, banks has
the same talent potential of some of the players who will be going
between 10-15 in the draft.. of course banks has been a head case
since back in high school, but he'll certainly be worth the risk
in the 2nd round..
5/10 ..i'm
back after a much needed vacation.. when you cover college
basketball, the nba draft, and high school recruiting, there's
really no break in the season.. first, some quick thoughts on the
nba playoffs.. we should just fast-forward to two weeks from now
when the spurs will face the suns, and the heat will face the
pistons.. anyone who suggests otherwise is just kidding
themselves.. steve kerr has developed into a real solid
announcer.. on the flip side (pun intended, flip saunders belongs
on the bench and not in the booth.. i've been thinking about
throwing my name into the hat
for the nba
draft.. lets be honest, there's really no incentive not too.. the
media shouldn't even bother to report the names of half the guys
who enter.. most do it just to get there names out there, and any
ink wasted on these guys will just encourage everybody and their
mother's to enter.. speaking of mothers, i hope any of you mothers
out there had a nice mother's day.. sad news yesterday with the
passing of western kentucky's danny rumph who passed away during a
pick up game.. these type of stories are always a bit disturbing,
as it shows you just never know when even the most harmless of
activities can prove fatal.. i was surprised in my absence to see
that bracey wright had signed with an agent.. he must know
something that we don't.. or he is just tired of mike davis like
the rest of the hoosiers faithful.. i was also surprised to see
depaul snag richmond's jerry wainright.. i thought the demons
would go in a younger direction, and the 58 year-old wainright
certainly isnt a new kid on the block.. you have to love guys like
wainright though, who have worked their way up the coaching ladder
from small jobs in small high schools.. always makes me want to
think about heading out to some of the local high schools and get
my foot in the door before its too late..
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