Ra’Sean Dickey Going to the Ukraine

Georgia Tech’s Ra’Sean Dickey has announced he is giving up his final year of college eligibility to go play professionally in the Ukraine next year.  Dickey marks the third American, joining Josh Childress and Brandon Jennings, to announce he is going overseas rather than play ball in the states next season.  What makes these three unique is that they are passing up opportunities to play in America to play in an international league.

The major difference here though is that Dickey was likely to never play in the NBA anyway.  He looked like a potential prospect after posting 13.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game during his sophomore season.  It has been all downhill since then as he developed acute tendinitis in his knee and saw his playing time dwindle during his junior season leading to him sitting out the entirety of the 2007/08 season.  If healthy he would have seen significant playing time for Paul Hewitt’s Yellow Jackets next season.

My guess is that his knee is not getting significantly better and given that he is not seen as  a legit NBA prospect right now Dickey figures it he may as well move on while he is still healthy enough to play in a professional league.  It is also interesting to see a guy like Dickey move overseas as players of his ilk are what keeps college basketball going.  What is to become of the college game if players like Dickey start jumping ship after two or three seasons if they don’t think they have a real chance at being drafted?  Given Dickey’s decision to move on would North Carolina’s Danny Green consider such a move as well?  Or, does he have his heart set on trying his luck with the NBA before potentially settling on playing internationally?

NBA Draft: Where will J. J. Hickson and Ty Lawson Land?

With the draft quickly approaching and since I live in ACC country I thought I would take a look at where two intriguing prospects from this area (Raleigh-Durham), J. J. Hickson and Ty Lawson, may end up going.  For what it is worth both Yahoo! Sports has Lawson going to New Orleans at 27, NBADraft.net has him going to Memphis at 28, ESPN’s Chad Ford originally had Denver taking him at 20 but has since dropped him out of the first round, and SI’s Ian Thomsen has him going to the Pistons who own the 29th pick. 

Of the 4 Ford’s forecast of him going to Denver and Thomsen’s pick of him going to Detroit make the most sense to me on Lawson.  For the life of me I cannot think of a reason why NO would spend a top pick on Lawson when they already have Mike James and Janerro Pargo who can back Paul up at the point.  Ty Lawson is strictly a PG so why draft someone who is only needed for 10-15 minutes a game?  They are better off finding combo guards who can play the point in a pinch or for short stretches of time as Paul is going to be on the floor 36 to 40 minutes almost every night.

Johnny Dawkins to Coach Stanford

It is being reported that Stanford is set to name Johnny Dawkins as its next men’s basketball coach.  This is an intriguing hire for me.  Dawkins is Coach K’s top assistant and has long been considered a prime head coaching candidate but he has not head coaching experience at any level and has never drawn any real interest from schools out west.  The closest he had come to taking another job prior to now was when Georgetown was a couple of years ago before Georgetown settled on John Thompson III.  He is also considered the hands-on favorite to succeed K at Duke, but I am sure the university would like to see Dawkins cut his teeth at another program before taking the reins one of the two or three most prolific programs in the country.

It is going to be interesting to see what Duke ends up doing here.  Dawkins was K’s right hand man, however it has been speculated by local media that Duke needed to shake up its staff due to the program taking a step back the past couple of seasons and losing recruits they normally would have landed in past years.  It may be a blessing in disguise for Duke as now K can switch the staff up a bit without having to be disloyal to one of his assistants.  My guess is that Duke is going to look for someone who will be an ace recruiter for them to get the talent level back to where it was five or six years ago.

Early Entrants for the 2008 NBA Draft: Part III

-Anthony Randolph (LSU) – A good looking power forward prospect.  Randolph had a strong freshman season for the Tigers and is long, lean, and athletic.  He is a good rebounder and shot blocker with a solid mid-range jump shot.  Randolph checks in at around 220 which means he needs to add a bit of bulk if he wants to succeed at the next level.  Should be a lottery pick if he stays in the draft and could sneak into the top 5 depending on how his pre-draft workouts go.

-Marreese Speights (Florida) – Speights has the build (6-10/245) that NBA scouts love in a low post player.  He played center in college and likely translates to PF in the NBA given that he is only 6-10.  He defends well and is athletic for a guy his size, but he needs to work on his mid-range game and conditioning has been a huge issue with him.  He only played 24.3 minutes a game this past season for Florida and any team looking at him is going to want him to be able to play at least 30 minutes a game.  But since NBA teams love guys built like him he stands a good chance at being a lottery pick as long as he can show teams he is in good shape.

-Ronald Steele (Alabama) – I have a hard time seeing him staying in the draft given that he sat out the entire season with knee problems.  He is likely looking to get in on some of the NBA workouts so he has a feel for where his game stands against his peers.  He probably needs to come back to Alabama for another year to show NBA scouts that his injury problems are behind him and that he can handle playing 30-35 minutes a game.

-Robert Vaden (UAB) – Can shoot it from anywhere on the floor and is a 40+ shooter from behind the arc.  However he is not especially adept at creating his own shot and scoring off the dribble which puts him in the second tier of scoring guards behind guys like O. J. Mayo and Eric Gordon which means he is a long shot to be a lottery pick and a borderline first round talent.  He has the size teams like but lacks the agility and quickness needed to be a starting two-guard in the NBA.  As it stands right now he projects as a player who comes off the bench to provide 3-point scoring and not much else.

-Terrence Williams (Louisville) – This is likely just a case of a junior looking for feedback from the NBA to see what he needs to work on during his senior season to improve his status.  If he stays in the draft he will be a long shot to even be drafted as his offense just is not there quite yet.  He is a good rebounder and passer but struggles to shoot consistently.  He has the size and athleticism to play at the next level he just needs to find some offensive consistency.

Early Entrants for the 2008 NBA Draft: Part II

-Joe Alexander (West Virginia) – A bit of a tweener at forward who had a breakout year for the Mountaineers this year. Unfortunately for Alexander he does a lot of things well but does not excel at any one thing which makes him a bit of a question mark. He could probably use another year of seasoning to improve the consistency of his jump shot. He has not hire an agent as of yet which leads me to believe he will be back next for his senior season.

-DeAndre Jordan (Texas A&M) – Has the build that NBA scouts like at 7-0/255. Jordan is considered an extremely raw talent but one has to wonder why he only played 20 minutes a game with all of the talent he supposedly possesses. He has yet to hire an agent but he is almost a lock to go in the draft so I would expect him to stay in the draft.

-Brook Lopez (Stanford) – Emerged as the top center prospect in this year’s draft after back-to-back standout performances in the tournament. Good scorer and shot blocker but does not rebound as well as should for a guy his size. He is almost assured to be a top 5 pick, combine that with the fact that he got suspended for not going to classes early in the season he is as good as gone.

-Robin Lopez (Stanford) – Brook’s twin brother probably should have stayed in school and not hired an agent. He is not nearly as talented an offensive player as his brother and scores mostly garbage points. He defends and runs the floor well. He will likely
get picked up by someone simply because he is a 7-footer but he projects to be a bench player who comes in to block shots and grab some rebounds.

-O. J. Mayo (USC) – Has reportedly hired an agent. I would have liked to see him play a bit more of the point in college since he is a bit on the small side to play the two guard. Mayo definitely needs to hone his ball handling skills or he is going to struggle at the next level. He will go in the lottery, probably the top 10, simply because he can score with the best of them but he really would have benefited greatly from another year at USC.

-JaVale McGee (Nevada) – Another athlete who will be a project player for the team that takes him. Good rebounder and shot blocker but lacks the size and strength to excel as a low post player in the NBA. Someone will take him and we will watch as he takes up space at the end of the bench and never amounts to anything more than a guy who blocks a few shots and runs the floor.

-Trent Plaisted (BYU) – He is a good athlete and leaper but needs to improve his physicality around the basket since he does not have any sort of a perimeter game to speak of. He is currently pegged to go in the late first or early second if he remains in the draft.

Click Here for Part III

Early Entrants for the 2008 NBA Draft

It is that time of year where underclassmen start declaring for the NBA Draft. While everyone waits on big name players like Micheal Beasley, Derrick Rose, and Kevin Love to make up their minds a few have already made their intentions known. Thus far Brook Lopez and Eric Gordon are the two biggest names to throw their hats in the ring. The following list of players have declared for the draft:

-Ryan Anderson (CAL): Hasn’t hired an agent just yet and all indications are he is a candidate to return to school as he is not considered to be a lock to go in the first round. He has good size and can shoot the ball, however, given that he is not a great athlete he probably needs to bulk up a bit so he can play some in the low post. Has been compared by some to Troy Murphy.

-Jerryd Bayless (Arizona): Bayless intends on hiring an agent and moving on to the NBA. He showed he can score but can he efficiently run an offense from the point? Arizona was considered to be a group of underachievers this year and Bayless seemed to have issues hanging onto the ball. He is not quite big enough to play the two guard. He really would have benefited coming back for another year and actually playing for Lute Olsen instead of Kevin O’Neill. Draw comparisons to Gilbert Arenas but he reminds me a bit more of Monta Ellis.

-Chase Budinger (Arizona): Has not decided whether to hire an agent just yet. Can fill it up with the best of them and has deep range on his jump shot. Budinger needs to improve his ball handling and add some bulk if he wants to survive in the NBA. If he decides to stay in the draft he is probably a lottery pick simply because he runs the floor well, can jump out of the gym, and shoot the three and the NBA values athleticism over basketball skill.

Why Oden is Number One

Now that Greg Oden has declared for the draft the debate is about to rage as to who should go number one. Durant’s backers say he is a special once in a lifetime player who teams cannot afford to pass on. They also say that the game is going away from the dominant big man and more to a guard oriented game.

There are several problems with the latter argument is that Nine of the last 13 NBA Champions featured either Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, or Shaquille O’Neal. The only teams that did not feature a dominant big man were the Bulls, who had Jordan and Pippen by the way, and the Pistons who did have Ben Wallace who is a dominant force in his own right he just cannot score. Shaq has appeared in the last 8 NBA Finals Series winning 4 of them while Duncan has notched three Finals victories. That makes 7 of the last 8 champions who had a dominant low post player. That is why you don’t pass on Greg Oden if you have the chance to grab him.

The mere presence of a skilled big man makes his perimeter players infinitely better. When teams have to collapse on the man in the middle it gives perimeter players cleaner looks at the basket and can open lanes when they penetrate and cheat to compensate for the big man.

Then there is Oden’s defensive presence. One could see how much better Ohio State’s team defense was when Oden was out there. His defensive prowess reminded me of Alonzo Mourning’s heyday at Georgetown.

Oden may never be the offensive force that Durant projects to be at the next level, but Durant does not inherently raise the level of his team the way Oden does. We keep hearing how special of a player Durant is but where was his team the first week of April? Special players elevate their team around them and Durant’s team flamed out in the second round of the tournament while Oden’s played for the National Title.

Random Thoughts

Don’t look now but…

The Knicks are 1-5 since Isiah got his contract extension and were downright embarrassed by the Cavs in a  90-68 loss on Friday.  Good thing for Zeke he locked up that extension before the Knicks go in the tank for the rest of the season.  Although, I do like Thomas picking up Kentucky’s Randolph Morris as a free agent.  If Morris pans out and Channing Frye re-discovers his game the Knicks would have a very formidable young front court of Eddy Curry, David Lee, Frye, and Morris heading into next season.  What was once a glaring weakness for the Knicks could potentially become a strength if things break right for the Knicks.

Kobe’s on a roll but let us not forget he is doing this against five teams that are no serious threat to the crown this year.   A great feat but I am not sure this ups his status as far as the MVP race goes as some are suggesting.  Kobe might be the Most Outstanding Player in the league, but I don’t see him as the most valuable as guys like Dirk and Steve Nash are elevating their teams to an elite status while the Lakers are still struggling in the second tier of the playoffs.  Heck, Kobe did not even go on this run until Lamar Odom got back into the lineup.

Thank God ESPN got smart and finally canned Joe Theismann.  Now I don’t wish ill will on anyone but I don’t see how he kept a job as long as he has as in the booth with ESPN.  I love the addition of Ron Jaworski to the Monday Night Football team.  The game he did last year for ESPN was one of the best called games I have heard in a while and I think he brings a lot more to the booth as an analyst than Theismann ever did.

Call me crazy but I like Florida and Georgetown in the National Championship game next Monday with Florida pulling out the repeat.  All of the pieces seem to be falling into place for the Hoyas and to me they are the best coached team left in the tournament.  This is shaping up to what should be an exciting Final Four.

Cavs Legit?; Papelbon Back to Closing; Schaub on the Move

Don’t look now but…

Are the Cavs really a legit threat to win the NBA crown this year?  I really don’t see it.  The Cavs are LeBron and little else.  They have beaten the Spurs this year, but that was also prior to the Spurs waking up and getting things together here of late.  But, the Suns ran them off the floor both times they played them and the Mavs won both meetings as well.  Also, the Cavaliers have struggled to beat the Pistons this year going 1-2 with the lone win coming in OT.  The Pistons hammered them twice on their own floor.  Lastly, the Cavs are a mere 15-18 on the road this year and generally speaking you need to be able to win on the road to get deep into the playoffs.  Let us not forget that LeBron has yet to show that he can carry a team deep into the playoffs.

John Papelbon is going back to the bullpen for the Red Sox.  I cannot say as I am surprised after reading that Mike Timlin, expected to be the closer this year, was going to start the year on the Disabled List.  This is the smart move for the Sox as teams typically are not willing to part with established closers until it looks as though they have no real chance at the post season.   Papelbon was slated to be the #4 guy behind Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka so this will not hurt them too terribly much as they can easily slide Matt Clement back into the rotation who is not a bad to put in there.

North Carolina’s Tywon Lawson may be playing his way into the NBA’s draft lottery.  I am seeing more and more ratings that have him as the top point guard going in the 10-15 range if he comes out.  After struggling a bit with consistency early in the year Lawson’s game has really come together nicely starting with the last Duke game and continuing on into the tournament season.  He has strung together 6 straight games scoring in double figures averaging 13.5 points per game shooting 51.8% from the field.  The big stat, however, is his 40 assist to 8 turnover ratio during that stretch and he has hit 20 of his 24 free throws which is encouraging for a guy only hitting 69.4% of his throws on the season.

The Falcons finally pulled the trigger and dealt Matt Schaub to the Texans, who promptly signed him to a 6-year deal, for draft picks.  This means David Carr will be playing elsewhere next year.  While Carr struggled in Houston I still cannot help but think the Texans will soon figure out that the offensive problems did not lie in David Carr’s lap.  The Texans did not do a good enough job surrounding their young QB with enough talent to be consistently successful.

Briggs and ‘Da Bears; Be Wary of the Horns; A Couple of NBA Coaching Changes

Don’t look now but…

So, of course, leading up to the tournament this week the dominant topic in the sports world is who you have in your brackets and who you like to make an impact.  The one team I don’t quite understand why everyone is so excited about is Texas.  Now granted they do have Kevin Durant and he is a lot of fun to watch, but when has Kevin Durant ever proven he can carry the Horns over a quality team?  The only non-conference win they have over a tournament team is Arkansas and the popular opinion seems to be that they did not even deserve to be there to begin with.  They lost to Michigan State,  Gonzaga, Villanova, and Tennesse all sort of middle of the road tournament teams.  They split with Texas A&M and could not beat Kansas.  The Longhorns struggled on the road and Durant typically struggles with consistency away from Austin.  They are a good bet to get to the Sweet 16 though as they should not have too many problems with New Mexico State and I don’t know that USC or Arkansas, the potential round two opponents, necessarily deserved bids in the first place.  But, unless Carolina spits the bit against Michigan State or Marquette I seriously doubt they will get further than the round of 16.

Wow, is the Lance Briggs saga in Chicago getting bitter or what?  I cannot believe he is talking about taking out a loan and sitting out the year instead of playing next year.  He says he has played his last snap for the Bears.  I have to kind of wonder who is advising him on this.  One can only assume that Briggs is asking for Urlacher money and the Bears are worried about how Urlacher may react to that as he is the heart of the defense.  As the days go on it just seems as though the Bears are finally emerging from years of mediocrity the team is doing its best to head back.   I still do not understand why they trade Thomas Jones when the players seem to like him better as a teammate and Cedric Benson has yet to show that he can carry the load as a feature back.

So the Charlotte Bobcats will have a new coach next year.  This comes as no real shock since the initial plan was to build up the roster and then have Bernie Bickerstaff step aside and move up to the front office most likely as the GM.  Two names that are coming up are Larry Brown and Paul Silas.  Honestly, neither of those overwhelm me at all.  Paul Silas is just another retread who seems to wear out his welcome within four or five years and has never shown he can take a team to the next level.  Brown would be an awful choice as he seems to have little to no patience with young inexperienced teams.  They need someone who can take the talent that is already there and work with it and Brown wants too much input into who is on his roster.  On top of that I don’t know that you can count on Brown being there more than three or four years given his age and recurring health issues.  Although, being a Sixers fan, I would not mind seeing the specter of him coming back to coach the Sixers going by the wayside.  I’d like to see the Bobcats go with a younger, hungrier coach.

I cannot say as though I am surprised about Milwaukee firing Terry Stotts.  I never understood why they hired him in the first place.  It is not as though anyone thought he got a raw deal when Atlanta showed him the door after the 2003/04 season after the Hawks showed little to no improvement from the previous year.