Marty Blake, the noted professional basketball scout, always carries a measuring tape. When he’s compiling data on a prospect he wants to know, up close and personal, exactly how tall the guy is. Not what college sports publicists or agents declare, in their zeal to promote the kid, but just how tall the fellow really is. Hustlers are known to fudge.
One case in point is Wayne Simien, the Kansas All-American now being projected to go anywhere from fifth to about 15th in the NBA Draft.
Time was when KU rosters indicated the Leavenworth product was 6-foot-8. Before long, that was stretched to 6-9. Wayne could have heightened that much the past couple of years. Yet there are scouts who think Simien is a “solid 6-7” but no more. So what will television graphics declare at draft time?
Blake also is known to measure the arm lengths of potential pros, since hand size and reach can compensate for an inch or two on the height issue. Should be no problem for Simien. His hands are sufficiently expandable for effective pass receptions and palming for dunks, and his reach is quite sufficient for first-round attention.
Simien shoots the ball well from a variety of positions. He’s a pro muscleman likely to draw a lot of fouls, and he’s a tremendous free-thrower. Lots of NBA careers have been shortened because guys could lure fouls but not convert.
Barring a sudden onslaught of arthritis and failing eyesight, “Big Dub” could clean up at the foul line, as well as hit mid-range pokes to augment his inside thrust. He doesn’t dare get hurt again, though.
The one aspect of Simien’s game the pros question is his jumping ability. Sure, he more than doubled any other Jayhawk’s 2005 rebounding total. Analysts say that resulted from his agility to get good position for caroms. Shot-blocking is not one of his strongest points. If he had been a Hakim Warrick-type of leaper, might Wayne have blocked or at least hindered the Bucknell guy’s last-minute baby hook that knocked KU out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round?
Last season, Simien with all his playing time wound up fourth on the Kansas shot-block list. J.R. Giddens led with 22 swats, C.J. Giles had 19, then came Sasha Kaun with 17. Simien stood fourth at 16. Next were Christian Moody and Aaron Miles at 10 each. What might C.J. and Sasha have done with 15 or more minutes a game rather than Kaun’s 11.5 average and Giles’s 6.4?
There also are reservations about Big Dub’s NBA defense potential, because he’s not a great jumper.
It once seemed that Simien, one of the five finalists for the Wooden Award, would go as high as fifth in the NBA Draft, which could mean a guaranteed three-year contract for maybe $10 million. The Andrew Boguts, Rashad McCantses and such chose to leave college early, and Wayne suffered slippage. With North Carolina’s 6-8 junior Sean May going league, ditto teammates Raymond Felton and Marvin Williams, does that push Simien farther down the pole? Now some think Wayne might do no better than 10th, at best.
If you recall, KU’s Paul Pierce didn’t go until 10th the year he turned pro, and he was quite vocal about his displeasure — because it cost some bucks he’d been counting on to help his devoted mother who’d done so much for his career. No pity for Paul now. At last reports, he was pulling down something like $12.5 million a year as a Boston Celtic. That that doesn’t include a cent for endorsements, appearances and such. The kind of talent Pierce has inevitably will surface, and now he’s a very rich young man.
As I understand it, the top 14 NBA draftees are guaranteed three-year contracts for good money, then negotiators take over. Considering the unselfish devotion of Simien to the Kansas program and his four-year excellence despite injuries that might have wrecked careers for others, I’d love to see him drafted ahead of able but self-serving guys like Carolina’s McCants. But things too often don’t work out for the more deserving.
As the list of early-outs from colleges grows, as more high-school types declare for the NBA and as more gifted foreign players leap into the melee, Simien’s prospects get steadily more iffy.
That’s too bad, because devoted four-year performers like Simien, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison deserve better. It ain’t right, but it’s so.
But this year’s turnout was no slap in the face for the seniors and coach Bill Self. It was a natural fallout from the Bucknell Bummer and that fact virtually everything that could be said by the players was said on that everlasting Senior Night windup. Lordy, if you took all the “man’s” and “ya knows” out of the speeches, they’d have been at least half as long.
People were geared up for a great season and it wasn’t one. Good, but not great. There was an understandable letdown, and it sent a clear message to players that when you don’t achieve you don’t maintain as much adoration. Look it up. This has been going on for a long time. Phog Allen used to make the point by feeding his players a postgame meal of hamburgers rather than steaks when they did poorly on the road.
The 2004-05 Jayhawks had been idolized, lionized and canonized for at least six months. Bitter can swallow sweet when things sour, and that negative six-of-nine stretch run was bitter, for everyone. First for the coaches and players but also for the fans. So they didn’t extend their Senior Night passion past the Bucknell Blunder.
The Bill Self Era really begins next October. You’ll find the faithful as frothy and frenzied as ever because that talent bin looks stocked well enough to provide some terribly entertaining basketball.
That 300 turnout should not be taken too seriously because it didn’t reflect the pride an overwhelming majority of KU fans still have in their darlings.
