Looks like we've got Williams for sure now, and Smith is the ?. The situation has reversed itself...

Quote:UNC recruits mulling NBA options

4-14-04

By JEFF CARLTON, Staff Writer
News & Record

CHAPEL HILL -- The spring signing period for high school basketball seniors begins today. But a more significant date for North Carolina coaches is May 10. The early-entry deadline for the NBA Draft is 11:59 p.m. that day.

Two of Roy Williams' fall signees, versatile 6-foot-9 forward Marvin Williams of Bremerton, Wash., and 6-6 wing player J.R. Smith of Clarksburg, N.J., could file for draft eligibility by that deadline.

"I'm looking at it pretty seriously," Smith said when reached at his home Monday night. "I want to be a lottery pick. But if I'm not, I'm going to college."

Williams, who could not be reached for comment, has essentially the same mindset, according to Bremerton coach Casey Lindberg. But his Parade All-American senior has not voiced his intentions to go anywhere other than Chapel Hill next year.

"Marvin's in a good spot," Lindberg said. "If something happens where all of a sudden they say he's going to be a top-three pick, then he'll think about it. The worst-case scenario is he has to play for Roy Williams. I mean, geez, what's wrong with that?"

NBA draft analyst Chris Monter says league scouts tell him they're intrigued by the athleticism and scoring ability of both players. But, once all the early entrants and draftable foreign players are known, Monter expects that Williams and Smith will fall outside the lottery range -- the top 13 selections -- in the June 24 draft.

"If you told me three weeks ago that a North Carolina player was going pro, I'd have said, 'Marvin Williams is going pro, huh?'" said Monter, who publishes the Monter Draft News and College Basketball News online. "Then, in three weeks, it was reversed."

Smith wasn't giving the NBA much thought, and vice versa, before he was named the East team's MVP at the EA Sports Roundball Classic in Chicago in late March. He then earned co-MVP honors in the McDonald's All-American Game in Oklahoma City and scored 27 points at the Hoop Summit against top international players April 4 in San Antonio.

One NBA general manager was quoted afterward as saying "he's Vince Carter with a jump shot."

"There's a buzz that's created," said Jimmy Salmon, Smith's AAU coach. "Right now, he's going through that buzz."

Smith said he couldn't have planned for the buzz, but he's trying not to get carried away by it. For the next few weeks, NBA scouts will move past the euphoria of his play in those soft-on-defense all-star games and take a more sober look at his strengths and weaknesses.

While the range on his outside shot has dazzled, Smith admits he must on his defense and ball-handling.

The NBA buzz on Marvin Williams apparently quieted during the run of all-star games. Regardless, Roy Williams and Robinson will visit Monday.

"I had a very good meeting with J.R., his mom and his dad," the Tar Heels' coach said after Tuesday night's team banquet, "and I expect the same thing with Marvin."

Roy Williams, who celebrates his one-year anniversary as UNC's head coach today, has already talked to current sophomores Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants about their NBA prospects. Both players said Tuesday that entering the draft had crossed their minds, but they'll definitely be back.

"I thought about it a little bit, but it wasn't a hard decision," said Felton, who had a somewhat disappointing season after being selected the preseason ACC player of the year.

Said McCants, the league's leading scorer: "I thought about testing the waters. But I feel that my goals coming out of high school were to have my name in the rafters in the front line (of retired jerseys), and I want to complete that goal. And my other goal, in every level of basketball I've ever played on, I want to win a championship. And so far I've done that, except for here."

Though the Heels lost signed recruit JamesOn Curry after he pleaded guilty to felony drug charges last week, their team depth will be much improved in 2004-05. That's especially true if Smith passes on the NBA.

We'll be in good shape for next year, no matter what happens.

-JD

We are going to be right next year boys. We will have talent, we will have depth at most positions, and we will have ballers in each class. I like the mix of big time players and role players that we will have.