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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Say Is Ain't So

Today on SI.com, BJ Schecter presents “The draft debate,” in which he breaks down who in the NCAA should stay in college, who should go pro, and which each of these athletes is scheduled to do. While Schecter argues that fantastic players like Afflalo, Hansbrough, and McRoberts should stay in school, he says that both Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert should go pro. What’s more, he believes that both of them will do so.

Jeff Green, Jr., F, Georgetown
Green is long, athletic and knows how to get to the rim. Simply put, he's an NBA player and pro scouts love his game. He's a sure top-10 pick.
What He'll Do: Go

Roy Hibbert, Jr., C, Georgetown
The big man went toe-to-toe with Oden in the national semifinal and actually outplayed him. His offensive game is raw, but at 7-2 he's in demand.
What He'll Do: Go


Given the latest rankings on nbadraft.net, maybe he’s right. That site currently lists both Jeff and Roy as top-10 picks. Jeff is projected as the 7th overall pick and Roy is at number 9.

3 comments:

Diamond_Mike said...

I think that both will sit down with their parents and JTIII and figure out what is best for them. The sports writers have a bias to see players go pro because the turnover keeps things interesting in the college ranks.

This is particularly bad advice for Roy. His game still needs great development, which he will not get sitting at the end of an NBA bench next year. He is not a lottery pick right now but will be after a year in college. It is also not clear to me that Jeff will be a lottery pick. These draft projections do not include the foreign players who come out of the woodwork around draft time and have been taking some of the top slots. Jeff is on the cusp of lottery, I think, and Roy is probably mid first round. After another year, Jeff can go high lottery and Roy can become a lock.

Jester of Magellan said...

Actually, NBAdraft.net does take into account foreign players that are expected to go pro. It may not include all of the individuals that make late decisions, but there is definitely a health smattering in there.

As for a "go pro" bias in sportswriters, I generally agree. But in this piece Schecter definitely lists more individuals that he things should stay in school than those he think should go pro.

Diamond_Mike said...

I know that NBAdraft.net does list some players who are overseas but it simply does not have a fully account of them. I've seen that in years past.