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Saturday, June 23
Updated: June 25, 11:45 AM ET
Time to make their case
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
The arguments don't get heated until Wednesday night when the draft clock starts ticking. But in the final weekend before the draft, debates rage among the NBA executives over what to do with their picks.
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Everyone ends up lobbying for their guy. There are some hotly contested arguments, almost like in a court. You end up laying out your points, step by step. You start a defense for your guy. You end up listing pros and cons. ” |
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— Kenny Williamson
Knicks scout |
Problems can begin when a coach -- with a fresh memory of the latest season -- wants to take a player that can help him immediately, while a general manager might want an unproven talent with more potential. That's when the lead scout, or the player personnel director has to weigh in on the full body of a player's work. That could mean one season in college, two, three or four, rather than the last impression of a workout.
"Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and I might be enamored by someone but someone else might not be," said Knicks scout Kenny Williamson, who is one of the more outspoken scouts and recognized for his brash and honest opinions on a player's ability.
"One guy might have seen the player play poorly and another seen him play well," Williamson said. "Everyone ends up lobbying for their guy. There are some hotly contested arguments, almost like in a court. You end up laying out your points, step by step. You start a defense for your guy. You end up listing pros and cons."
The disagreements start to unfold if scouts don't feel like their opinion is being heard. Williamson said the hope is that the coaches trust the instincts of the scouts and review the full evaluation. Too often, coaches get a first look at a player at the Chicago pre-draft camp and form an opinion on whether or not to draft him from that one game.
"It's unfair for the coaches to go to Chicago and ask them what they think," Williamson said. "We look for improvement and look at how things have changed over time from a freshman to a sophomore or a junior year. You've got to factor in all of those things."
Workouts in the final weekend can make or break a spot or two in the draft but usually don't determine whether or not a player makes a monster jump. That usually occurs in Chicago, which was the case for DePaul's Steven Hunter. He was projected as a marginal second-round pick before anyone saw him. His grade was determined by a lackluster -- and at times weaker -- effort at DePaul. But NBA scouts saw the "improvement" in Hunter in Chicago and noticed a definite strength difference from the last time they saw him in a Blue Demon uniform. Getting a chance to play well against other big men like Ohio State's Ken Johnson gave teams a barometer on Hunter.
"The hardest thing is dealing with the coaching staffs because you're putting names in front of them that they've never seen," said Steve Rosenberry, Seattle's director of scouting. "Our coaches never saw (Stanford's) Jason Collins or (North Carolina's) Brendan Haywood play during the season.
"What you're doing from Sunday to Monday is calming down the divisions. You're either trying to calm down the excitement of a great workout or defend a poor workout. Some guys aren't great workout guys."
It's a tough call with nearly every player in this draft. Coaches who watched St. John's point guard Omar Cook at the Chicago pre-draft camp might be enamored with him because of his ability to control a team. But in an individual workout, Cook's poor shooting habits might creep in and skew an opinion.
Kenny Thomas was a late find for Houston two years ago, but some scouts, like in Seattle, looked at his poor play against Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament as an example of erratic play. That helped complete the body of his work, rather than let the coaching staff simply judge him on a workout.
"The last look is always important but we need to give everyone balance in this last weekend," said Jim Kelly, Toronto's director of scouting. "There's a lot of pressure on these picks, even in the second round. Remember, 54 percent of the second-round picks were in the NBA, too."
That's why teams will use every minute of their allotted time on each pick in the first and second round. They'll make their picks on Wednesday, but they'll be arguing their cases this weekend.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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