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Monday, June 25
Old man Woods hopes for big draft day
By Marc Stein
Special to ESPN.com
They're out there, if you look real hard. Five or maybe even six of them
will be summoned to the microphone Wednesday night by David Stern for a
Round 1 hat and handshake.
|  | | Woods doesn't think being a senior should be held against him. |
You heard wrong about college seniors. They're not extinct.
More like a dying breed.
And they're stubbornly banding together as the NBA Draft approaches,
believing -- since no one else does -- that they will be better pros than all
those long-limbed tykes from the prep ranks. At more than one pre-draft
private workout in recent weeks, Arizona's Loren Woods and North Carolina's
Brendan Haywood have huddled to remind each other who "all the true centers"
are.
Those words in quotes? Woods' words to describe himself, Haywood and Ohio
State's Ken Johnson.
"We've been talking about it," Woods said Sunday night, as he readied for
his 10th and final audition Monday, this time with the Orlando Magic.
"It seems like every time we go into a workout, we run into a high school
kid. There's not even that many juniors out there."
No there ain't. The best juniors and seniors from the college class of 2001
have long since matriculated to the NBA. Larry Hughes in 1998. Elton Brand,
Baron Davis and Lamar Odom in 1999. Chris Mihm in 2000.
This isn't new. The steady flood of underclassmen in the draft, throughout
the 1990s, has dripped the talent source closer than ever to depletion.
Almost everyone in the world good enough to play at an NBA level is already
in the league. Which is why no team looking for immediate help looks to the
draft any more. (And why we just laugh when people tell us how much more
interesting college basketball is, an argument based mostly on the
"atmosphere" in university gyms. Puh-lease.)
That said, this week's numbers still make you double-take. Four-year forward
Kenyon Martin out of Cincinnati was the No. 1 overall pick last June, but
one of only 11 seniors to go in the first 29 picks. That's the record low
... until Wednesday, when, no joke, the consensus estimate is five seniors
selected in the first round.
Duke's Shane Battier is a lottery pick. Woods and Haywood are jostling for
the scraps left behind the lanky kiddies: Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddy
Curry and DeSagana Diop. Iowa State point guard Jamaal Tinsley and Southern
Cal's Jeff Trepagnier are the other first-round hopefuls.
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| Davis |
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| Brand |
And? Austin Peay's Trenton Hassell and SMU's Jeryl Sasser are on the bubble.
Maybe throw in Trepagnier's fellow Trojan, Brian Scalabrine. Maybe.
And there you go. Really no one else is threatening. So you can't fault the
seasoned collegians in our game who might suddenly be pining for the days of
oppressive parents, a tube of Clearasil and a citywide manhunt for someone
old enough to buy the beer on Friday night.
"It's not really frustrating," insists Woods, even amid increasingly loud
suggestions that he's sinking out of lottery range toward the 20s.
"If the high school players don't turn out the way [they're forecast], I
think it's going to be more frustrating for the teams. GMs are going to know
me. They've studied me for a long time.
"We [seniors] know all about it," Woods continued, acknowledging the
draft-day youth movement in the NBA reminiscent of the baseball and hockey
drafts. "When you get something new on the scene, there's going to be a
buzz."
Woods knows because he was the buzz once. He went to Wake Forest out of high
school as the heir to Tim Duncan, only to chafe from the constant
comparisons. In subsequent seasons, even after a mostly successful transfer
to Arizona, Woods has learned that the longer you play collegiately, the
more labels you're apt to collect.
With the draft just hours away, NBA personnel types aren't talking about how
Woods was the college game's best big man in March and April, powering the
Wildcats to the NCAA title game against Battier's squad. You only hear about
Woods' two back surgeries after his junior season. Or his Costanzian
penchant for self-loathing. Or the toughness questions. "Soft as tissue
paper," said one Western Conference executive, borrowing that famous Paul
Silas line.
|
“ |
If
the high school players don't turn out the way
[they're forecast], I think it's going to be more frustrating for the teams. GMs are going
to know me. They've studied me for a long time. ” |
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— Woods |
Ten teams have nonetheless been moved to bring Woods in for a look-see: LA's
Clippers, Houston, Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit,
Vancouver, Seattle and finally Orlando. The Rockets, Cavs and Magic would
all seem to be sensible destinations, except for the small caveat that any
of those three teams could move their lower first-round picks. Then what
happens?
"I'm sure a few teams have liked me," Woods said. "I've been able to show
them a lot of things I wasn't able to show in college. Teams can see now
that I can handle the ball inside the arc, do a lot of things offensively
they might not know about. Everyone already knows I can run and play
defense.
"[But] I don't really care what people say about me. People try to tell me
some of the stuff that's out there, but I don't really care. [Teams] who
want to get to know me are going to find out. I'm not at all like people
might say."
Perceptions can indeed change. Birth certificates, at least in this country,
cannot. So we'll soon see how high Woods' stubborn resolve takes him.
Woods doesn't want believe that he'll be the big slipper in the '01 Draft,
but that's what happens to seniors on draft day in the new NBA: Nothing But
Adolescents. College seniors? Might as well be senior citizens.
Around The League
Note to anyone putting together a mock draft in advance of Wednesday's
proceedings: Stop. Don't bother. You're not Andy Katz and it wouldn't matter
if you are, because even the pros don't think it's possible. "You're going
to have a hard time figuring out the first four in front of us," said Golden
State GM Garry St. Jean, whose Warriors hold the No. 5 pick. Adds St. Jean's
assistant, Gary Fitzsimmons: "Nobody really knows who the first pick will
be, and I'm not sure anyone's going to know in advance." Maybe not even
Washington. That's what happens when the top 10 features four high schoolers
and two college freshmen (Eddie Griffin and Rodney White) ... with a load of
nervous teams trying to project who from that quintet will be Kobe or KG
three years down the line.
It's admirable that Orlando is sticking to its principles and refusing to
pay the league's $15,000 fine -- resulting from a $50,000 donation the Magic
made to a Grant Hill charity. It's also futile. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban,
much as he supports the Magic's position, e-mailed Orlando management last
week to let them know that the NBA simply deducts fines from a team's TV
money when it doesn't pay up. Let's just say Cuban is well-acquainted with
fine protocol.
Not sure what to call 'em, but we're guessing the Vancouver Memphians are
wrestling with the Pau Gasol dilemma about now. Grizz management has close
ties to Gasol's agent, Herb Rudoy, which could well mean Gasol won't last
beyond No. 6 in Wednesday's proceedings. The flipside: Can the Grizz really
sell an unknown foreigner to its new barbecue-loving public, even if Gasol
is the best choice? Drafting for PR reasons is never recommended, but we can
just as easily envision Van./Mem. going for Battier if the old fogie slips.
And Austin Peay's Hassell, a Tennesseean, at No. 27.
The best foreign-based player bound for the NBA is actually an American,
not Gasol. Nate Huffman, the former Central Michigan center, is back in the
States this week to audition for the Warriors -- with the Sonics, Suns and
Heat also said to be lining up workouts. Huffman is arguably the top player
in Europe after leading Israel's Maccabi Tel-Aviv to the Suproleague title,
and -- as with Marc Jackson last season -- has considerably more polish than
all the draft-eligible youngsters because of his time spent overseas. It
won't be easy getting him home, though, because Maccabi is offering no less
than a tax-free million to keep Huffman there. Huffman insists that he won't
come to the NBA for the league minimum; he's insisting on a salary-cap
exception.
Rich get richer: LA's two-time champion Lakers don't have a pick in
either the first or second round Wednesday, unless they decide to acquire
one during the draft. Here's a hunch they'll scrape through.
Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular
contributor to ESPN.com.
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MARC STEIN ARCHIVE
Spain's Gasol ready to shine stateside
Wojnarowski: Griffin's past catching up to him
Hughes: All about potential these days
'Radmanovic' a name to remember
Katz: White rising with each workout
Lure of stardom can glitter like fake gold
High risks with drafting high school players
May: Wizards, others should be thinking trade
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