Reflections on the 2003 NBA draft while wondering if anyone took a bigger bite out of the Big Apple than Kirk Hinrich.
In one of those ironic quirks of history, Hinrich experienced one of his greatest moments at the location — Madison Square Garden — of one of the most frustrating moments of his young life.
Do you remember Thanksgiving last year when Hinrich, trying to play through back pain, struggled mightily as Kansas University bowed to North Carolina and Florida in the Preseason NIT? So bad was his back that Hinrich was forced to sit out the Jayhawks’ next game.
Nearly seven months later, Hinrich was back at the Garden where he basked in the triumph of being the first point guard selected in the draft — an astonishing development, in retrospect, when you consider Hinrich was taken ahead of Texas point guard T.J. Ford, the Naismith and Wooden player of the year.
Not that Hinrich had played second fiddle to Ford in the Big 12 Conference. Hinrich, after all, did not play the point for the Jayhawks. Sophomore Aaron Miles did. Yet it was clear the Chicago Bulls considered Hinrich more suited to their offense than Ford — in part, no doubt, because the Bulls do not operate with a point as such.
Still, whatever the reason or reasons, Hinrich being selected one spot ahead of Ford had to be one of the most surprising moments of a draft that contained no real shockers.
With Hinrich and Nick Collison, who went five picks later, both lottery picks, we can close one chapter of the Roy Williams history book at Kansas.
Without question, in the 15 years Williams coached on Mount Oread, his best recruiting class — at least in terms of NBA marketability — was the one he corralled in November of 1998. All three — Hinrich, Collison and Drew Gooden — became lottery picks.
Gooden departed with a year of eligibility remaining and was the fourth player selected in the 2002 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. He now is with the Orlando Magic.
That three-player class, you may remember, was the one that Williams often said restored his faith in recruiting. Still, back then nobody had any idea that trio of future Jayhawks all would become NBA lottery picks.
Did Hinrich and Collison make a mistake by not turning pro after their junior years as Gooden did? In monetary terms, Hinrich and Collison gave up a year of earning power, but they did enhance their draft status by completing their college careers.
Both Hinrich and Collison were projected as middle to low first-round selections if they had bolted along with Gooden in ’02. Based on salary minimums for rookies, they bypassed, let’s say, about $900,000 apiece — that’s an average of the No. 19 and No. 20 picks — but over a three-year period Hinrich and Collison probably will make more money because of their loftier status.
We’ll never know, but at the worst it probably was a wash in terms of overall professional earnings for Hinrich and Collison to remain at Kansas for their senior years.
Earlier in the week, I wrote that no Jayhawks likely would be selected in the 2004 NBA draft. A couple of readers pointed out that Jeff Graves is listed as a middle to late second-round pick on some of next year’s mock drafts.
Graves does possess a couple of attributes the pros love — a wide body and a knack for rebounding. But Graves has to improve his offense and, more importantly, his consistency in order to hear his name called even in the second round next June.
New KU trivia question: Name the only first-round NBA draft choice from Kansas whose son also was a first-round NBA pick. Answer: Norm Cook, whose son, Brian, was the 24th player selected (by the L.A. Lakers) Thursday night. The Boston Celtics made Norm Cook the 16th player tapped in the 1976 NBA draft.
