Doug Gottlieb hasn't said anything silly (recently, anyway), so this week's guest on "Analyzing The ESPN Draft Analyst That Focuses On The College Game But Still Likes To Write About The NBA Draft" is Dr. Andy Katz.
Following up on the news that was the Knicks' NBA pre-draft workout this morning, I bring you even more stuff about the players in attendance.
I know, I know - you really only wanted to learn about Stephen Dennis - but there were more players in attendance that Andy Katz thinks are going to be good despite little-to-no draft hype.
First up is Greivis Vasquez, a 6-foot-6 point guard out of Maryland that was famously profiled here.
Katz says of Vasquez:
Greivis Vasquez, Sr., F, Maryland: Vasquez was the ACC player of the year, so he was hardly a non-factor during the conference season. But he has been poorly tossed to the back of the line because he's a senior, and he wasn't billed as the quickest or the hotest name among point guards. He's behind John Wall, Evan Turner (yes, he has to have the ball in his hands to be effective, so put him in with the point guards), Avery Bradley and Eric Bledsoe.
Interesting, yes? Initially Vasquez is listed as a forward by Katz, which, ya know, well, he's 6-foot-6 so he could maybe play forward. Alright.
Then we find out the juicy insider information, though - he wasn't billed as the quickest or the "hotest" name among point guards (No longer do I have to worry about him playing the 3 in th NBA). Maybe it's just because he's a senior, but he was "poorly tossed" to the back of the line (NBA GM's can't even toss things good!) when it comes to draft-eligible floor generals.
Which floor generals, you ask? The usual, mostly-consensus, first round point guards of the class - John Wall, Avery Bradley, Eric Bledsoe and, uh, Ohio State swingman Evan Turner(?)(!?).
So why is one NBA general manager touting Vasquez as the third best point guard in the draft behind Wall and apparently-now-and-still-from-the-previous-paragraph-point-guard Evan Turner? Well, it's quite obvious you see:
Vasquez actually played the position. He's not as athletic as Darren Collison, the former UCLA standout. A year ago Collison was pushed as a possible second-round pick, but he was selected late first and ended up being a valuable player for New Orleans after Chris Paul was injured. Vasquez could end up serving a similar role to a potential playoff team looking for another experienced point.
He's not as athletic as Darren Collison, so he could end up serving a similar role for a playoff team looking for another experienced point! Amirite? Of course, that's also assumming that Kevin Ollie, Speedy Claxton, Antonio Daniels, Mike Wilks, Jason Hart, Mike James, Brevin Knight and all of the other NBA-experienced point guards without jobs are unavailable. Or that being 23 and playing four years of college ball now counts as "experienced" when talking to NBA personnel (regarding the D-League, it doesn't - but maybe if they're straight out of college it will work).
Katz also mentions that a player competing with Vasquez in New York, Dominique Jones, is earning plenty of praise, saying that the "common comment at the Chicago pre-draft camp was that Jones knew how to score big-time against Big East opponents."
Wisely Katz quickly notes that Luke Harangody was able to score against Big East opponents, but then throws in the caveat that "there are shortcomings with Harangody that teams will have to get over."
No such shortcomings with Jones, then, I presume? Not so fast, Scott Schroeder!
"Anyone good enough to get in the lane will play,'' said one general manager. "His jumper needs a lot of work, but what he can do against second-unit guys in the NBA is score. He can help teams that need a scorer off the bench. He really defends and is a better passer than people think. His interview was off-the-charts good.''
A guard without a jumper, and kind of a position, is but a minor hurdle when it comes to NBA Draft prospects.
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