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| Wednesday, April 25 |
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| NBA still an option, but at what price? By David Benezra and Mark Mayemura Special to ESPN.com | |||
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Despite the fact that Darius Miles, Keyon Dooling, Corey Maggette and Quentin Richardson combined to play just a total of nine minutes as the Los Angeles Clippers used their veterans to upset the Portland Trailblazers the other night, more unprepared high school seniors and collegiate underclassmen are contemplating coming out early for the NBA draft.
DeSagana Diop, a 6-foot-11 force at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., lists North Carolina, Virginia, and the NBA among his leading choices. Another 6-11 center, Eddie Curry (Thornwood/South Holland, Ill.), has already committed to DePaul, which continues to recruit players. The Blue Demons, however, are at their scholarship limit, which tells you how confident DePaul feels about getting Curry to come to school next fall.
The 7-foot Tyson Chandler's interest in the NBA is well documented. The two schools still mentioned with the senior at Dominguez High in Compton, Calif., are UCLA or Memphis. Each would offer him the experience and physical maturity he needs to succeed, but he appears to be more interested in languishing on an NBA bench for three to four years. Even 6-7 Ousmane Cisse (St. Jude/Montgomery, Ala.) -- the top power forward in the class of 2001 -- but undersized and with almost no offensive skills is considering the NBA over college. And 6-3 Dajuan Wagner, he of the 100-point game at Camden High School in New Jersey, signed with Memphis but is also considering the NBA.
Among this group, Wagner would be the one player who would have the least amount of difficulty in making the transition. The word is that Chandler is the most likely of the group to enter the draft. Wagner will likely play one year of college ball for John Calipari at Memphis. Cisse will likely choose to attend college, as will Diop. It is heavily rumored that Curry will also come out for the draft.
Chandler is just starting to play with effort, but he is not very strong and is only physical with shorter, lighter opponents -- not the type of athlete he will see night in and night out at the pro level. At the NBA level, Curry is looking at playing few minutes off the bench for a few years and learning to set a lot of picks, but not receive a lot of passes when on the floor. Both would be better served by going to school for at least two years.
Unless they are "hobbyists." That is, players who don't love the game, but love the money -- willing to sit and collect paychecks, polishing up their Nintendo skills when they could have been learning and playing every day in college, getting the skills and maturity that would ensure them of having long, successful careers in the NBA.
We like the fluid athleticism of Chandler. And Curry, with his body, certainly has the upside to be a powerful low-post presence in the league. It just seems a shame that so many players are going to have to suffer the consequences of being not ready to play at the professional level and will languish on the bench. The alternative being crash courses in Berlitz, depending on what part of the world they land in.
Should he stay or should he go? Louisville head coach Denny Crum didn't exactly get a vote of confidence from a meeting with his athletic director. It was more like a let's wait and see what happens down the line type of response. Louisville has been on a steady downward slide for years. But now, it appears that the Cardinals are poised to stem that slide. The early signing of quality point guard Carlos Hurt was huge for a program that is often rudderless on the floor. And the Cards are the leader for Cisse and are doing well with 6-9 Brandon Bender (Male/Louisville, Ky.). Both Bender and Cisse would be able to step in and be high impact freshmen for the 'Ville. A freshman class comprised of Hurt, Cisse, and Bender could give Crum one last hurrah and send him on his way to the Hall of Fame on his terms. Speaking of impact freshmen Vanderbilt is having a very good year with a very young team. Despite the fact that his brother attends Colorado, you would have to believe that it will be very difficult for 7-foot David Harrison (Brentwood Academy/Brentwood, Tenn.) to go away from his family and choose Colorado over Vanderbilt. With Harrison on board, Vandy could be one of the nation's top teams two years from now in Harrison's sophomore season. One of the better unsigned high school seniors took his name off the board the other day. The 6-8 combo forward Nick Curtis (Oxnard HS/Oxnard, Calif.) took an unofficial visit to the University of Southern California campus and verbally committed to USC. Curtis had taken fall visits to Washington State and USF. He had been offered by UNLV and Xavier and was being recruited by Oregon, Arizona State, Marquette and SMU. The appealing thing about the athletic Curtis is that he just turned 17 in November. That gives him a big upside. In committing to the Trojans he joins his offseason club ball teammate, 6-11 Rory O'Neil. The 6-1 combo guard Adam Chiles (Ballard/Louisville, Ky.) is another quality senior still available, although maybe not for long. He will be taking a visit to Kentucky soon, and it is hard to imagine Kentucky not receiving a commitment from Chiles. Cincinnati, Louisville, Colorado and Alabama-Birmingham are other schools pursuing Chiles, who has really put up some strong numbers this season for Ballard. And there is a sleeper out there on the horizon. Off guard Cecil Brown, an athletic 6-3 scorer who can shoot the ball plays at Canoga Park H.S. in Canoga Park, Calif. Brown is leading the Los Angeles City public schools in scoring, and he is a full qualifier. Brown is a high major-level player who has drawn attention from Providence, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton. Quite a player to be overlooked. Mark Mayemura and David Benezra cover the national college basketball recruiting scene, both high school and junior college recruiting, at their Recruiting USA (www.recruitingusa.com) website. Call (818)783-2244 for subscription information.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | |
ALSO SEE Recruiting: The coaching change effect Recruiting: Pretty good leftovers Recruiting: Who got who? Recruiting: 'Jewel' of the islands Recruiting: Bruins get their Bozeman Recruiting: Bear or Bare market for Bruins? Recruiting: Extra work pays off for UK | |
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