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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Big-name prospects ignoring NBA camp

By Gary Bedore

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Brandon Rush would have received a lot of attention from NBA scouts had he been able to attend the league's pre-draft camp this week in Orlando, Fla.

The 6-foot-6 KU junior-to-be would have joined Ohio State's Daequan Cook as one of just two projected first-round picks (by ESPN) to compete at the 62-player hoop meat-market.

Most of the top underclassmen in the country who have decided to enter the 2007 Draft decided to skip the Orlando camp after being told by their agents and/or advisers they had everything to lose and nothing to gain by showcasing their skills in pickup games.

Cook is the only projected first-rounder in Chad Ford's Top 100 in Orlando this week. Thirteen players ranked 31 or lower in Ford's top 100 declined invitations, including Arizona's Marcus Williams, Wisconsin's Alando Ticker, UCLA's Arron Afflalo and Nevada's Nick Fazekas. Forty-two of ESPN's top 60 players are not attending.

Last year, just two first-round draft choices emerged from the predraft camp: Renaldo Balkman, tapped 20th by the New York Knicks, and Jordan Farmar, the No. 26 pick of the Los Angeles Lakers.

This is all disappointing and surprising to the NBA, which in an attempt to get prospects like KU's Rush to play, prohibited private team workouts before the start of camp this year.

Rush pulled his name out of the draft last Friday after learning he had a torn ACL in his right knee.

KU's Julian Wright is in attendance in Orlando, but just for physicals and interviews with NBA personnel.

Other top players in Florida for physicals/interviews only: Corey Brewer, Florida; Mike Conley, Ohio State; Javaris Crittenton, Georgia Tech; Kevin Durant, Texas; Jeff Green, Georgetown; Spencer Hawes, Washington; Al Horford, Florida; Acie Law, Texas A&M; Josh McRoberts, Duke; Joakim Noah, Florida; Greg Oden, Ohio State; Jason Smith, Colorado State; Rodney Stuckey, Eastern Washington; Al Thornton, Florida State; Brandan Wright, North Carolina; Yi Jianlian, China; Nick Young, USC and Thaddeus Young, Georgia Tech.

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Comments

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

The NBA needs to learn how NOT to canabalize their resources. This flack with the NBA camp and the players that won't play for fear of hurting their chances is just one example of how they hurt their prospects (& the future of their league) by being so near sighted.

Another thing they should look at would be to raise the age limit of those declaring for the draft. They should look at instituting a policy that college players can't declare 'till after their Jr season. This would help them (the NBA) build a stronger fan-base with people that care about the players who played for their respective schools. Plus, the colleges would be able to recruit better and smarter since they'd have a clear-cut long term plan and their prospects would be able to see who would be hanging around and who would be leaving.

Right now, the NBA is slowly becoming a buffet of no-names surrounded by a small handful of stars.

The 'League' needs to wake up!

May 31, 2007 at 9:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

frompekka2sasha (anonymous) says...

The NCAA and the NBA need to get together and understand that neither of them are getting much benefit with the current setup. If they said you have to play two years, for instance, it wouldn't be a negative for the NBA and would help the NCAA. Then maybe the NCAA could make some exceptions for players testing the market only if the NBA would roll the date of the draft back a few weeks. If they won't do that than the NCAA should change the recruiting period to a later date rather than screw programs who have NBA-caliber players.

Why do these guys not get on the same damn page? It makes no sense.

May 31, 2007 at 10:35 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

The reason that the NBA and NCAA aren't on the same page is that the NCAA refuses to accept that some of their athletes are playing college ball to enhance their professional potential. Dealing directly with the NBA would be to admit this reality, something that the NCAA refuses to accept - after all, they are just amatuers in a billion dollar business.

Plus, the problem with the predraft camp is that you could have looked great over four years (like Alando Tucker) and then play moderately for a couple of days and lose your chance at being drafted. Or you could play ok for a couple years (like Renaldo Balkman last year) then explode at the camp and go in the first round.

May 31, 2007 at 11:35 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jacobpaul81 (anonymous) says...

If the NCAA and NBA want to increase longevity in college players time, and increase participation in pre-draft camps, there's an easy answer. Make NBA declaration a one-time only thing. No get out of Jail free cards.

Currently, If a player stays in the draft, and is undrafted, he still can come back to the NCAA, albeit with penalties. Currently, players are allowed to declare twice, and withdraw once (Rush being the prime example).

If the NCAA wants to keep players longer, all they have to do is say we won't allow you to play NCAA basketball if you declare for the NBA draft. That should really kill the amount of players who jump early, so that only the Oden/Durant's will jump early. More players will stay 3 to 4 years, to get the full benefits of college training and exposure.

The NBA will benefit because the players don't have the option to go back to college ball, so the players will have to attend the NBA camps to gurantee they are picked. If they don't, their stock will drop. Teams are gonna watch who puts out the effort to get noticed, and because the amount of potential draftees participating will drop signifigantly, teams will be able to get a better look at players at the camps. Essentially, if you're not guranteed 1-2 in the draft, you'd have to be at the camp.

May 31, 2007 at 11:58 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KURUSH1530 (anonymous) says...

Rush actually withdrew twice, once in high school and the latter just a few days ago.

May 31, 2007 at 12:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

tis4tim (anonymous) says...

The NBA is truly becoming a global game. David Stern's desire to push his product into places like China and other countries will expand the pool of potential draftees. This will act as a natural check and balance system for American kids who want to declare early. The greater the competition, the more kids I think you'll see staying in college an extra year or two. I hope that's the case anyway.

It's too late now, but the best way to ensure a good product is to control the salaries. No guarantees. If you want a bigger contract next year then earn it on the court. If you suck, you're fired...just like any of us in our careers. These guaranteed Allan Houston like deals are ridiculous and have ruined the game.

May 31, 2007 at 12:37 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Jacobpaul,

I understand your train of thought here, but actually if you can only declare once that makes it less likely that players will go to predraft camps because the guys on the verge either won't declare or won't risk getting exposed at a camp with a couple of days of poor shooting or playing with a bad lineup.

May 31, 2007 at 12:39 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jacobpaul81 (anonymous) says...

Justanotherfan,

I disagree, but obviously it's not a gurantee. Potentially, it could emphasize the importance of the camps to those not currently attending. Why is that? With less players declaring, a possible top 20 pick can show up at the camp, and jump a lot of spots, because of the additional exposure (less players = more evaluation time).

If the guys who are thought to be ahead of him don't show, he could jump them, simply by getting the extra exposure. Teams are gonna get a better idea of what players are really dedicated to getting out their and showing what they got.

Its as much about charecter as talent. Most long term players are not Kobe Bryant. Of the 2 rounds of draft picks, maybe 20 of the guys play for any length of time in the league, and of them, maybe one or two are gonna be a star.

Of course, for this to be successful, the NBA has to show some backbone, and put an emphasis on the camp.

kurush1530,

Rush has withdrawn twice. Notice I didn't say anything about High School. You can declare straight out of high school, and it has no effects on NCAA play. My comment refers purely to declaration out of the NCAA.

May 31, 2007 at 4:07 p.m. ( | suggest removal )