Donte Greene declares for the NBA draft.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse freshman forward Donte Greene has declared himself eligible for the NBA draft.

Greene says he made the decision after discussing his future with his family and coach Jim Boeheim.

He led the Orange in scoring at 17.7 points per game, fourth-best in the Big East. He also averaged 7.2 rebounds and led the team in blocks to earn All-Big East rookie team honors.

Boeheim was not available for comment.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/...id=3338322


Greene clearly will be an NBA player someday, and he may be good enough now, but I'd imagine there's too many college players coming out with better resumes. He's never even played one game in the NCAAs. He must be following Carmelos foot steps, without the national title, of course.
He could be just exploring the NBA's interest in him- nothing wrong with that. He needs to come back and make himself a household name.

Fine. With Devendorf and Rautins in the lineup, we aren't going need a 6'11" three-point chucker who the other team defends with a 2-guard.

And more minutes for Rick Jackson is a good thing.

zibby Wrote:Fine. With Devendorf and Rautins in the lineup, we aren't going need a 6'11" three-point chucker who the other team defends with a 2-guard.

And more minutes for Rick Jackson is a good thing.

I agree. Greene is the player that is most replaceable right now. We would be in some serious trouble if it were Paul Harris that was leaving. He creates tougher matchups for the competition than does Greene.

Did he sign an agent?

Jose_Jalapeno_on_a_Stick Wrote:Did he sign an agent?

Not yet. He wanted to, but Boeheim convinced him to wait a short while. I think he is as good as gone. I wish that he would come back for another year, as he needs to improve in a few areas, especially defense, and being able to work around the basket.

NBADraft.net has Greene as high as 15th. That's no guarantee of course.
Greene is not the 15th best player leaving college this year.

http://www.nbadraft.net/

DraftEXpress sums up my feelings about Greene going pro after his freshman year:

"He won’t be rolling into the NBA on the red carpet (with the huge endorsement deals and marketing hype that goes along with that) though—he’d need another year in college to achieve that most likely."
"Defensively, it’s never easy to evaluate Syracuse players because of how heavily they rely on their zone defense. There might be some question marks about how he’d be able to defend NBA small forwards, though, considering that he at times struggles to stay in front of players attacking him off the dribble, getting stuck flatfooted on the perimeter."

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Donte-Greene-1066/

IMHO one more year of college with some kind of accomplishment would more than pay off for Greene in the long run. He'd have a longer, more respected career in the NBA. Right now he can't defend anyone and he's not an "automatic" scorer. If he rides the bench somewhere for two seasons his NBA career could be shorter than his potential college career and then what's he going to do? Greene is good but he's not going to start in the NBA his rookie year and the big guys in the league are not going to let a kid with his underdeveloped talents and soft-reputation dominate. They want to keep thier jobs and Greene's not a well rounded enough player to knock anyone off their spot.

Freshman Derek Rose going pro is one thing. Greene going pro is a whole nother smoke.

Donte is sooo not ready for the NBA. Hopefully he is just testing the waters.

zibby Wrote:And more minutes for Rick Jackson is a good thing.

Just in case you forgot, I thought you should be reminded...I CALLED IT!!!