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- LeftMemphisTiger - 05-31-2005 06:52 PM
your guys.
Ten for Tuesday: Unfinished products in for rough draft
Gregg Doyel May 30, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Gregg your opinion!
Spring is when a young man's fancy turns to the NBA Draft. A lobotomy would be better.
For most underclassmen, there's nothing romantic about entering the NBA Draft. Doors don't open -- they close.
Almost 75 college underclassmen and high school seniors entered the 2005 NBA Draft, despite there being only 30 first-round slots -- and the guaranteed contracts that go with them. Don't forget the college seniors in the draft. And the foreign players.
Those are some bad odds, but of course the average underclassman in the 2005 draft knows those odds don't apply to him.
Dummy.
Who were the dumbest of the dumb? Ten for Tuesday isn't afraid to name names.
Duke's Shavlik Randolph averaged just 4.4 points and 4.3 rebounds last season. (Getty Images)
Duke's Shavlik Randolph averaged just 4.4 points and 4.3 rebounds last season. (Getty Images)
1. Louis Williams, high school senior: Despite massive speculation to the contrary, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Williams insists he'll be taken in the first round. He hasn't signed with an agent, which means there's time still to wise up. Given the proper time to develop at Georgia, Williams could make a lot of money in this game. Otherwise, he's risking everything on the immediate thrill -- and ego boost -- of turning pro out of high school. "Dumb" doesn't begin to describe this decision.
2. Bracey Wright, Indiana: One of the most selfish players in Indiana history, Wright turned down the chance to return the Hoosiers to national prominence. Instead he will go into the draft with only one guarantee -- he's not going in the first round. And he might not get picked in the second round. One-dimensional shooting guards who make 32.9 percent of their 3-pointers don't make NBA teams swoon. Wright, who has signed with an agent, leaves behind an Indiana program that -- with him -- could have challenged for the Big Ten title.
3. Shavlik Randolph, Duke: As a junior, the 6-10 forward has every right to enter the draft and use his one free pass to return to school for his senior season. No harm done, right? Wrong. Fair or not, the injury-plagued Randolph already is targeted by opposing fans for failing to live up to the expectations outsiders heaped on him when he was in high school. By entering the NBA Draft after a junior year in which he averaged 4.4 points and 4.3 rebounds, Randolph has waved red meat in front of the wolves. He can still return to Duke for his senior season, but it could be ugly -- really ugly.
4. Brandon Bass, LSU: Bass entered the 2004 draft and then used his one free pass to return for his sophomore season. With no safety net, Bass agonized over this decision before deciding right before the deadline to enter the draft. Now he has no choice but to stay in, despite having little assurance of being picked in the first round. At 6-8, 252 pounds, Bass (17.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg) will have trouble defending power forwards in the NBA, and he lacks the offensive skills to play small forward. Meanwhile, he leaves an LSU team that could have challenged for the Final Four with him in a frontcourt alongside Glen Davis and Tasmin Mitchell. Bass was the SEC's player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year, which proves that book smarts and common sense aren't one and the same.
5. Chris Rodgers, Arizona: Rodgers has been perceived as a self-important head case, and this confirms it. Entering the draft after averaging 5.5 ppg and shooting 37.1 percent from the floor? Who does Rodgers think he is, Shavlik Randolph?
6. Randolph Morris, Kentucky: Here's the worst thing about kids being allowed into the NBA Draft too soon: Sometimes, the silly kid gets rewarded. Such will be the case with Morris, a 6-11 center who averaged 8.8 ppg and 4.2 rpg as a freshman. An NBA team will take him, probably late in the first round, and Morris will think he did the right thing. So will scores of future underclassmen in a similar position. All of them will miss the point that, by entering the NBA too soon, players like Morris undercut their long-term success. Sure, Morris will make some money up front. But instead of developing his game and confidence at Kentucky, he'll get beaten up as an overwhelmed young pro. When he's 35 and looking back on a journeyman career, wondering why he never became an NBA star, show him this paragraph.
7. Monta Ellis, high school senior: A cross between Louis Williams and Randolph Morris, Ellis might or might not be selected in the first round. His odds of fulfilling his massive promise are watered down by turning down college (Mississippi State, in this case) for the pros. How many 6-3 shooting guards have made it big in the NBA out of high school? The closest comparison is 2000 draft entrant DeShawn Stevenson, a 6-5 guard who might have been a star had he developed in college but instead is ... where is DeShawn Stevenson, anyway?
8. Jermareo Davidson, Alabama: A year from now, unless he's misguided enough to stay in the 2005 draft, Davidson will be a junior coming off a breakout season at Alabama. At best he'll be on the first-round bubble for the 2006 NBA Draft, and he'll want to enter his name for exploratory reasons. Unfortunately Davidson used his one free draft pass now, after averaging 7.6 ppg and 7.9 rpg as a sophomore. If the 6-10, low-post beanpole was wondering about his NBA stock, he should have asked me: Jermareo, you have none -- yet. If he wants to enter the draft next year, Davidson will have to close his eyes, cover his nose and take the NBA plunge without a life preserver.
9. Toney Douglas, Auburn: A 6-1 freshman whose scoring average dipped from 19.1 in non-conference games to 14.9 in the SEC, and who had more turnovers than assists against both levels of competition, has no business in the NBA Draft. Not only is Douglas not ready for the 2005 draft, he's probably not going to be ready in 2006 or 2007. Good grief, kid, get some better advisers.
10. Olu Famutimi, Arkansas: What is it with these SEC nincompoops? Famutimi is a 6-5 guard with good athleticism, a decent jumper and no prayer of making a 2005 NBA roster. And he's only a sophomore, so like Alabama's Davidson, he has wasted his one chance to enter the draft and return to school. Next year, if he works exceptionally hard, Famutimi might need to explore his draft options. This year? He needs to explore the motivations of anyone pushing him out of college.
- BayouTiger9 - 05-31-2005 10:29 PM
You did notice that this guy was writing a column for CBS?This is network television 's answer to Newsweek.Of course this could be Rather ghost writing to stay busy. You must agree that he would know as much about a college player's potential as any of the clowns at ESPN.I guess you heard DeepThroat came out today ,no it wasn't Linda it was the one that took Nixon down.It would have been great if he had stayed but the money is too strong of a draw.