UNC's draft trio Part One

Am I just crazy or have all the UNC players lost their freakin' minds?!?

Okay, I do happen to be a Tar Heel fan, so my remarks might be a little biased no matter how hard I try not to let them.

6-4 SG Wayne Ellington went to the predraft camp and promptly went 3-10 shooting with zero assists and 6 TOs. One writer said his was the worst performance of the day.

Ellington recovered to have a couple of average days, but nothing that would make you think he's better than the huge number of perimeter players ahead of him like O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon, Brandon Rush, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Chase Budinger and Courtney Lee -- and possibly Shan Foster, Lester Hudson, J.R. Giddens, Jamont Gordon, Sonny Weems and Bryce Taylor.

One mock draft I saw had Kyle Weaver ahead of Ellington. Umm, was anyone watching the NCAA tourney when UNC beat Washington State? Weaver went 3-13, plus 0-3 from deep. Weaver put up 5 assists, which was good -- there is talk that perhaps he would be better suited as a 6-6 point guard since he only shot 36% on 3's.

Any way, back to Ellington. The guy was scoring well through the ACC season, shooting better than 40% on 3's. He was essential to winning the ACC tourney with 10-13 shooting and 24 points.

He continued that play for the first two blowout games of the NCAAs, averaging 18 pts. on 14-22 shooting (63.6%) and 4-8 downtown.

Then the competition got tougher, the pressure was tighter, and Ellington either started to crack under the pressure or picked a really inopportune time for a slump.

Over the last three games, he scored 14.7 pts., but needed a lot of shots to get there.
17-48 = 35.4% overall, 17.6% on 3's.

Plus he was a factor in his team losing to Kansas with his inability to stop whomever he was guarding -- Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins went a combined 9-19 for 22 pts.

Now despite all this, Wayne still thinks he's in good position to be a first-round draft pick.

When I see Wayne play, I'm reminded of Hubert Davis -- and he bounced around a few teams just because of his 3-point shooting. And that's all Hubert did, standing perfectly still and waiting for a pass.

Sheesh, go back to school and work on some power moves and defensive fundamentals, Wayne. Show me a power dunk or a back-down move. Prove to me that you're tough enough for the league.