NBA Draft for ACC players

Boy this is a down year for ACC star power.

Three years ago, UNC had four players taken in the top 16 spots: Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May.

This year, the entire 12-team Atlantic Coast Conference has only nine players even considered for drafting in the 60 picks, and only Ty Lawson is considered a lock for the first round.

The others are (in alphabetical order):

• Wayne Ellington, UNC
• James Gist, Md.
• Danny Green, UNC
• J.J. Hickson, N.C. State
• James Mays, Clemson
• DeMarcus Nelson, Duke
• Sean Singletary, Va.
• Deron Washington, Va. Tech

I'm basing this list not on my own merit, but on who was invited to be measured at the draft combine in Orlando recently.

By the way, there were some interesting observations from these measurements.

Ty Lawson is indeed 5-11. Some wondered if he might have been measured that way in shoes, but he's really that tall, so he's not like 5-9 Nate Robinson. However, he did have the shortest wingspan and the shortest standing reach (which is more telling than just regular height because it gives a clearer picture of how far you can stretch up to get a rebound).

DeMarcus Nelson is shorter than listed in media guides, but has freakishly long arms.
Generally speaking, a person's wing span is very similar to his standing height.
I, for example, am exactly the same. I stand 5 feet 10 1/2 inches tall, and my wingspan is exactly the same.
DeMarcus, on the other hand, stands 6'1" (not 6'3 or 6'4 like he's been listed on various websites and TV pregame shows) but has a wingspan of 6'10. Say what??? His span is NINE INCHES longer than his height???

Think about that. When he drops into a defensive crouch and spreads his arms out to contest an entry pass, he covers 4 inches wider PER SIDE than Ty Lawson -- even though he's just 2 inches taller.

J.J. Hickson was invited to take part in Orlando games, but he didn't want to play. He told the NBA he'd come down to be measured, and the league said basically, "Well then, don't bother."

I'll put up the combine numbers in my next post.

UNC draft trio Part Three

I feel for Danny Green. I really do.

He seems like a nice enough fellow. He plays the game with energy and enthusiasm. He isn't afraid to perform an embarrassing dance before tipoff just to get his teammates loose.

His father went to jail under circumstances that raise suspicion -- was he just associated with some bad dudes or was he really involved in dirty dealings?

His dad got out of prison partway through the 2007-08 season and likely is far behind on paying bills and having a nice place to stay.

When a son has athletic ability and dreams of stardom, the idea of making a lot of money to support the whole family must seem like a godsend.

But now is not the time, Danny.

When you're thinking about a pro prospect, you must consider what his specialty will be. What will he do on a consistent basis to merit a roster spot?

Danny's best ability is an odd one for a man just slightly under 6'5 barefooted.
Danny is a great shot-blocker. The best I have ever seen under 6'6.
Maybe my experience isn't as vast as someone else's, maybe there is another who is better, but I haven't seen that man play yet.

He averaged 1.2 blocks per game, which sounds just so-so, but consider that (A) he played only 22 minutes a game; and (B) many of his blocks came on running down a play from behind. Some shotblockers pad their stats because they are long and just have to hold their arms up. Danny does his work with hustle and great leaping ability.

How high exactly can he jump? I'd like to tell you, but Green wasn't able to work out at the draft combine in Orlando. He was nursing a sprained ankle that came a couple of weeks earlier during a pickup game.

He played in the camp games, but admitted he was slowed by a laundry list of problems: the ankle, a sore hip, sore elbow and a hairline fracture in his wrist.

And he played with all that going on? See my earlier post on Ty Lawson ...

Danny said he would try to go through a few workouts with teams, but if he continued to be slowed by injuries, he would pull out of the draft and return to school.

Look, I know he's frustrated. He wants to help his family. He wants to show everyone what he's capable of doing after spending three years coming off the bench. He wants to get out from under the 6-9 shadow of Tyler Hansbrough.
I can understand all of that.
But he needs to show everyone what he can do in a starting role.

If Ellington stays in the draft -- which looks like a good possibility -- then Danny becomes a starter with Marcus Ginyard sliding over to the SG spot. And then he and Marcus could hear Dickie V screaming some more about how much he loves the G-and-G boys.
What better stage to showcase your skills than on a team that will be on TV repeatedly next season?

Will it happen? Probably not. If money is really such a big deal, Danny may just opt to play in Europe next year to show what he can do.

UNC draft trio Part Two

Tywon Lawson

hu-boy. Where to begin ...

Well, let's start with the arrest. He was in Chapel Hill a few days ago. Had a beer or two and then got in his Caddy with the music blasting full tilt.

Now it's 2:30 a.m., and you're 20 years old (too young to drink in N.C.). Do you sneak on home and hope you don't get caught, or do you crank up the music so loud that you invite a traffic stop?
No, wait. Don't tell me. Umm ... loud music???

Now, does this hamper his draft hopes? Not if it's the Portland Jailblazers or the NFL's Oakland Raiders, but wouldn't other teams be put off by this?

Headline reads: Director of NBA scouting says Lawson's draft status unaffected by incident

Marty Blake, younger brother of Methuselah, projects Lawson as a first-round pick, and his arrest for drinking and then driving won’t affect that.

“It’s not going to make any difference. I think this is an isolated case,” Blake said.

Wait, wait. No it's not. Sure, this is the first time he's been arrested for underage drinking, but police reports show he's been pulled over for excessive speeding three times in the past year. 80 in a 65 zone, 70 in a 55 zone, and 68 in a 45 zone.

And it's not just that he "feels the need for speed" to paraphrase Top Gun, but that he missed his court dates on all three. He had his license taken away because of his repeated failures to appear.

Now this goes beyond a little college naughty-naughty. He's shown an open disregard for authority. Do you think THAT is going to get better when he's pulling down a million a year?


Okay, there are worse thugs out there. Duke center Sheldon Williams was one of five high school players named by police as taking part in a gang rape of a 20-year-old woman in Jan. 2002. The woman refused to testify even though there were other witnesses.

Somehow Sheldon was never charged, and Coach K welcomed him to school with open arms. Hmm, interesting isn't it? Never showed that side of Duke basketball in Coach K's American Express commercials.

I also have this vague recollection of Sheldon being accused of assault for grabbing his girlfriend by the neck, but my attempts to discover that via Google have failed.


So, does Tywon deserve to be drafted midway through the first round?

Not so fast. More harmful than his police file is his health. Is he really fragile or is he wimpy?
ACC fans were wondering that for the second half of the ACC season.

Okay, the guy rolls his ankle. No broken bones, but a solid ankle sprain.

Been there, done that. In fact, I've done it at least three times to each ankle. One was a partial tear of either a tendon or a ligament (I forget which -- it was 15 years ago), and my foot turned purple from blood pooling up from the tear. So when I say I know sprained ankles, you can believe me.

Now, no one called Tywon's injury a "high ankle sprain" which is worse and takes several weeks to heal. His was an ordinary sprain, which hurts to walk on for about three days and hurts to run on for a few days more. Now, making quick cuts like you'd do on a basketball court takes a couple of weeks of healing. Three at most. But Lawson missed a full month.

Coach Roy Williams spoke a little too honestly to the press, and I bet that ticked off the whole Lawson family, but the truth is the truth. Ole Roy said that some young players who have never been injured just don't know how to handle the pain. They think they have to be completely pain-free before they can resume practice.

Ouch! The truth can be painful at times, and the truth is that Lawson should have come back sooner, but either he was worried about returning too soon and risking his NBA draft status, or he is the type of person who simply heals slower.

Lawson told one sports reporter that he played the second half of the season hurt. That's pretty troubling to me if I'm an NBA general manager. Is this guy gonna be watching from the bench like Greg Oden?

He only played in one game at the Orlando pre-draft games. He claimed a hip pointer, though some thought he was just sitting it out after one solid performance.

Then during workouts for individual teams, he sprained his ankle again and had to skip a trip.


And let's not forget that the guy is only 5'11 barefoot, which makes it harder for him to cover those 6'2 and 6'3 PGs that line many NBA rosters. Sure, he's quick and has great leaping ability, but he has short arms, which means he can't reach up or out to the sides as far as other PGs when trying to prevent entry passes to the post.

How short are his arms? Well, I'll save that for a later post, but let's just say they were the shortest of all the players measured.


I wish Tywon well because I know he won't return to college for his junior year. I wish he would though, and not just because I root for the Heels. He has yet to show me that he can really run an offense. He blew by defenders in the open court, but he is quite inaccurate with his passes. So many times this past year I've watched Ellington and Green curl around a screen to receive a pass, but the ball is just enough offline that the catch-and-shoot are thrown off-rhythm.

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.