Jeremy Lin was not invited to the Portland Trailblazers’ recent workout, but in case you got the news second-hand (e.g., through another cut-up job by RealGM), that is actually good news for him and many other point guard draft prospects. In one fell swoop, and in recognition of the NCAA’s self-serving deadline of May 8, the Blazers did many people a favor by telling these invites that they ought to go back to college. Here were the key take-aways from the article by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian…
“The draft in general is quite strong, to be honest with you,” said Chad Buchanan, the Blazers’ director of college scouting. “I think there are a couple stars at the top and a lot of very good potential starters and rotation guys down to the early second round. It’s a deep draft.”
I might even add that we could see the landscape of the NBA change with this draft. The 2010 NBA Draft is so deep with big men, that we should see a return to more traditional lineups with either two 4’s or a 4 and a 5 in the frontcourt, instead of situations like the post-devoid Golden State Warriors or Atlanta Hawks where you have 6′9″ Al Horford playing center in the 2nd round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
I might add that the Draft is also well-stocked with athletic wings. So, the demand (and supply) with point guards and shooters is very low this year.
Here’s another take-away from the article…
Note: The underclassmen who worked out Friday were E’Twaun Moore of Purdue, Lavoy Allen of Temple, Talor Battle of Penn State, Malcolm Delaney of Virginia Tech, Eniel Polynice of Mississippi, Alex Tyus of Florida and Mike Davis of Illinois. Others working out were Dominic Waters of Portland State, Devan Downey of South Carolina, NBDL player Jeremy Wise, Donald Sloan of Texas A&M and Connecticut’s Gavin Edwards.
Here are my brief scouting reports on each of these players…
Moore — A tallish ballhandler who I really like, but he’s definitely one more year away. Really good passing skills. The return of Robbie Hummel to Purdue’s lineup next year will enhance Moore’s draft stock. He’s the only one in this group that really has a shot for making the NBA in 2011. Also, this is good news for Jeremy Lin fans, as one more pg has fallen off the radar, albeit probably ranked lower than Jeremy to begin with.
Allen, Tyus, Davis, Waters, Wise — Never heard of these guys. And believe me, I cast my net far and wide this season with respect to draftable point guards in competition with Jeremy. I hope to write more about these in the coming weeks before the Draft.
Battle — Too small for the NBA.
Delaney — A great scorer, but he’s being inserted at the 1 because of his 6-foot height. So, he’s a 2 trapped inside a 1’s body. He doesn’t have the right mentality or size to be an NBA 1. I don’t think it really matters if he returns to college. He could perhaps make decent money playing pro overseas.
Polynice — Spitting in the face of Terrico White ballyhooers, I will say that Polynice was, in my mind, Mississippi’s best player last season. He has nice NBA size for a big guard, but he really doesn’t have much skill beyond hustle. Another year in college to develop that skill will be helpful.
Downey — A terrific leader at the point-scorer position for South Carolina, unfortunately he’s too small for the NBA and he did not stand out at all at Portsmouth.
Sloan — A 2-guard, he showed he could score at Portsmouth, but didn’t do so with any flair or athletic prowess, i.e., he didn’t raise my eyebrows on a consistent basis.
Edwards — This UConn big man is just too slow for the NBA. He doesn’t bring anything of note to the table.
And finally, the best news thus far for Jeremy Lin fans, excerpted from the article…
Buchanan said he expects all seven underclassmen at Friday’s workout to return to school.
Once again, thanks to the Blazers for saving a lot of heartache on the part of these players.
Read the whole article: Trail Blazers begin NBA draft workouts | OregonLive.com
In addition, the more highly-touted Jimmer Fredette of BYU also returned to school.