So whom do the Bulls select in the June 26 NBA draft? Will they have a shot at Kansas State’s Michael Beasley or Memphis’ Derrick Rose? Perhaps someone like Russell Westbrook or a sleeper like Hales Franciscan grad JaVale McGee, a 7-footer whom one NBA executive told me he’d take if he were drafting for the Bulls?
The NBA guys will be filling out their brackets and pools this week as the NCAA tournament begins. But they’ll be looking at something other than which 12th seed can beat a fifth.
The tournament represents the last time the pro scouts will see the college talent in games before the draft. A lot changes when players come in for workouts. However, it’s not always for the best.
In interviews with about a dozen team executives and talent evaluators in the last week, the consensus is that Kansas State’s Beasley will be the No. 1 pick, though without complete certainty. They point out that Beasley has had maturity issues and in the wrong setting could have trouble. Rose, from Simeon, is said to be the consolation prize, though if I were the Bulls and was picking No. 1, that’s whom I’d take.
But pros are reluctant to take a small player No. 1. If you could go back, you’d take Brandon Roy over Andrea Bargnani in 2006 and Chris Paul or Deron Williams over Andrew Bogut in 2005. Plus we’ve seen how much a point guard can mean for an NBA team today in light of rule changes that aid perimeter players. The Bulls are said to be interested in upgrading at point guard, but it remains unclear whether they’ll be in the lottery or make the playoffs.
At their current spot, they’d be in the lottery. Without moving up, they would pick 10th. That likely would give them a shot at someone like UCLA’s guards, Westbrook and Darren Collison, or even Stanford sophomore center Brook Lopez, who could slip as the pros get enamored of the athletic freshmen. One veteran talent evaluator pointed me toward McGee for the Bulls, saying he’d be the best big man from this group in three years.
The chart at right shows an early look at how the pros, with some of my biases included, see the first round of the draft with everyone in college included. This is a first look and will change as players decide to stay in school and move up or down in workouts.
Rockets taking off with Scola
Rarely do everyone’s warnings turn out right, but it looks as if the Spurs, who have been fading and are here to play the Bulls on Thursday, may well regret trading the rights to Luis Scola to division rival Houston, now leading the West and riding a 22-game winning streak.
The Spurs drafted Scola in 2002, but he stayed overseas and was a two-time Spanish league most valuable player and the leading scorer on Argentina’s 2004 Olympic gold medal team. The Spurs didn’t think the 6-foot-9-inch power forward would fit with Tim Duncan. And the Spurs, who remain on a tight budget, wanted to avoid paying the luxury tax. They said they’d trade Scola for the best offer, and they felt it was Houston’s (Vassilis Spanoulis, a future second-round pick and cash).
The Rockets’ winning streak in effect began when Scola became a starter. He has averaged about 12 points and eight rebounds since and has given the Rockets a tough inside presence. The Spurs saved about $10 million, and the Rockets’ season might have been saved. At 27, Scola is the league’s oldest rookie and a legitimate contender for rookie of the year.
Theus gets more from Martin
Sure, Chris Duhon was wrong to leave the Bulls in his apparent depression, but he said something interesting that I always wonder about since it is rampant in the NBA: Coaches don’t talk to their players. Duhon said the brass had not discussed his situation with him, and I hear similar complaints around the NBA, about how little coaches communicate with players. It seems so simple to talk to an employee regularly, since everyone wants to know or be assured they matter. Yet bosses rarely do.
So it gave me further reason to believe Reggie Theus will be a good NBA coach. The Kings have done better than expected this season, but there have been whispers of some internal issues, one between Kevin Martin and Theus. So Theus asked Martin to offer a written list of requests that would help his happiness level and his game. Martin was thrilled.
“I really haven’t worked like this after practice since (former Kings assistant) coach [Pete] Carril was teaching me stuff,” Martin told the Sacramento Bee. “It’s good to be taught other parts of the game. I’m having a lot of fun.” Remember, NBA players are people too.
Mullin a hot commodity
The Warriors picked up their side of the mutual option for coach Don Nelson next season, though Nelson didn’t say whether he’d return. The Warriors might want to worry more about losing general manager Chris Mullin.
Though the Warriors are on the bubble for making the playoffs, they are 17 games above .500 and remain one of the league’s most exciting teams. Mullin has turned it around with a series of savvy deals and has the payroll in good shape after dealing Jason Richardson and not losing a beat so they had money to re-sign Monta Ellis.
Though he has denied it, Kiki Vandeweghe is said to be lobbying to become the Knicks’ president if Isiah Thomas is replaced. Brooklyn native Mullin is hugely popular in New York after his career at St. John’s, and the Nets remain in the process of planning a move to Brooklyn, so they could come calling as well.
The Warriors, meanwhile, are on the way to becoming the first team to lead the league in scoring without Steve Nash at point guard since the 2000-01 Kings. Dallas led the league from 2001-04, and the Suns have led the league the last three seasons, all with Nash running the offense.
Local flavor
Thornton’s Melvin Ely, now with the Hornets, won a championship with the Spurs last season despite not playing in the playoffs. “I bought a safe (for his ring),” Ely said, “and bolted it to the floor.” … The Bulls are in New Orleans on Monday, and another Chicagoan, rookie Julian Wright from Homewood-Flossmoor, is moving into the rotation after a slow start because of questionable shooting. He’s averaging 11 points and 4.8 rebounds this month. … You don’t just open the doors and watch fans come charging in anymore in the NBA. Other than in Chicago, perhaps. The Pacers said general manager Larry Bird would entertain season ticket-holders at his southern Indiana estate this summer. Nets President Rod Thorn will be calling season ticket-holders asking them to renew, and the team will give out signed Julius Erving jerseys for renewals. … “Glad to be back in the Eastern Conference,” said the Nets’ Richard Jefferson after beating Cleveland following five straight losses on a Western trip, including four blowouts and a seven-point loss to last-place Memphis. The Bulls meet the Nets on Tuesday in the meaningless race for eighth in the East.
Layups
All that falling down and getting up is having an effect on Dwyane Wade. At season’s end he will have missed 23 percent of the Heat’s regular-season games in his five-year career. He went out for the season with knee problems last week. … Jason Kidd was shooting below 37 percent with the Nets. In Dallas he is at almost 45 percent from the field and almost 55 percent on threes. Huh? … Pat Riley to South Florida reporters on why he is leaving the team to scout college games: “Someone asked me the other day, ‘Well, wouldn’t you want to concentrate on doing one job good?’ Well, it sure isn’t coaching. I haven’t done that all year. So why wouldn’t I get out and do the job that I’m pretty good at doing?” Sure sounds like his final season as coach.
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sasmith@tribune.com
