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Look At All This Talent
talent / n. 1 special aptitude of faculty (talent for music). 2 high mental ability. 3 a person or persons of talent.
The 52nd annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) held in Portsmouth, Virginia, passed with a collection of NBA general managers, scouts and agents talking more about the players that were not in the tournament then the 64 seniors that participated in the four day event.
Danny Ainge has three picks in the first round of the 2004 draft, and in the process many have criticized the importance Ainge has put on what is considered a weak draft talent wise. As the weeks pass however, the pool of declaring players has gotten to a point that many GM’s and scouts are saying this year could turn into an exciting group of players to choose from.
A Western Conference GM was quoted as saying “The NBA drafts are like June brides, in October nobody likes them, but when June comes around everybody’s in love.” This has been a common sentiment among many NBA personnel who were down in Portsmouth. The GM continued “With all the international guys and high school players there is a chance that we could look back in a couple of years and say this draft was one of the great ones, but I couldn’t tell you with any certainty that there are more then two players who are sure things.”
What is a sure thing? If all the NBA personnel knew the answer there wouldn’t be as much turn over in the league with their jobs or the coaches they employ. One Western Conference scout said it is getting harder every year, “The league has had to change its approach to scouting players, more scouts, more miles and more mistakes.” The same scout whose team has been successful the last few years said a team’s record really has nothing to do with the approach to a draft. “It’s about drafting talent no matter what the record or what the need, just ask Detroit.” The scout was referring to the Pistons selection of Darko Milicic, the 18 year old Serbian selected 2nd over all last year ahead of Carmelo Anthony who has only played 4.7 minutes per game this year and has been the ridicule of the media and fans who want to label Milicic the next Sam Bowie. Many of the NBA people laughed when asked about the public’s perception of Milicic. A scout who had spent two years watching Milicic in Europe had this to say about him, “Darko is going to be great, he could really be a Junior in high school right now in the states (he turned 18 a week before last years draft). He can shoot, play the 4(power forward) or the 5, (center) has a mean streak and he doesn’t even shave, people need to relax.”
Not only does a GM need his fan base to have patience he had better hope that his ownership has the same patience. An Eastern Conference GM made this analogy when comparing fans of his team to the owners who sign his check, “Owners are like fans that have the credentials of a beat writer. They want instant gratification; you have to win, unless of course you’re the (Los Angeles) Clippers.”
The pressure for success does not have that much to do with what players are selected for a certain team. The Los Angles Lakers have drafted three upper classmen: Brian Cook, Luke Walton and Kareem Rush, with their last two drafts, one would assume because they are a championship caliber team that this is the strategy of the Lakers, to get guys they don’t have to wait around and develop while they go deep in the playoffs each year, not true. A scout with Lakers had this to say about this perception, “Everybody thinks we only take guys that can play right away, but Shaq can’t play forever, if we were in a position to take a highly touted high school kid, we would.”
It all comes back to talent. Jerry West is known for stockpiling talent. NBA people believe West does this so he can trade three guys for one star, or in this year’s case, build the deepest team in the league, the Memphis Grizzles.
If talent is so important then why are all of these NBA executives spending time in Portsmouth? An Eastern Conference GM defended the PIT, “You don’t have to draft somebody out of Portsmouth for this event to be beneficial, I might pick up a guy later next year because of an injury who never gets a minute, but he’s there at the end of the bench providing my coach with more talent.”
Ainge was quoted on a Boston Radio station (1510 The Zone) when asked about his three major trades during this season. “We have a lot of options and I’ve said from the beginning, this is about acquiring talent, changing our style of play and acquiring talent and once we acquire talent we can then start worrying about how the pieces mesh.”
The number of players declaring for the NBA draft increases with each passing day, some make sense like PG/SG Ben Gordon others leave NBA scouts scratching their heads: see Trevor Ariza (freshman UCLA). As the names pile up, so does the talent level and Ainge should have plenty of talent to choose from.
Fast Breaks
The 52nd annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) held in Portsmouth, Virginia, passed with a collection of NBA general managers, scouts and agents talking more about the players that were not in the tournament then the 64 seniors that participated in the four day event.
Danny Ainge has three picks in the first round of the 2004 draft, and in the process many have criticized the importance Ainge has put on what is considered a weak draft talent wise. As the weeks pass however, the pool of declaring players has gotten to a point that many GM’s and scouts are saying this year could turn into an exciting group of players to choose from.
A Western Conference GM was quoted as saying “The NBA drafts are like June brides, in October nobody likes them, but when June comes around everybody’s in love.” This has been a common sentiment among many NBA personnel who were down in Portsmouth. The GM continued “With all the international guys and high school players there is a chance that we could look back in a couple of years and say this draft was one of the great ones, but I couldn’t tell you with any certainty that there are more then two players who are sure things.”
What is a sure thing? If all the NBA personnel knew the answer there wouldn’t be as much turn over in the league with their jobs or the coaches they employ. One Western Conference scout said it is getting harder every year, “The league has had to change its approach to scouting players, more scouts, more miles and more mistakes.” The same scout whose team has been successful the last few years said a team’s record really has nothing to do with the approach to a draft. “It’s about drafting talent no matter what the record or what the need, just ask Detroit.” The scout was referring to the Pistons selection of Darko Milicic, the 18 year old Serbian selected 2nd over all last year ahead of Carmelo Anthony who has only played 4.7 minutes per game this year and has been the ridicule of the media and fans who want to label Milicic the next Sam Bowie. Many of the NBA people laughed when asked about the public’s perception of Milicic. A scout who had spent two years watching Milicic in Europe had this to say about him, “Darko is going to be great, he could really be a Junior in high school right now in the states (he turned 18 a week before last years draft). He can shoot, play the 4(power forward) or the 5, (center) has a mean streak and he doesn’t even shave, people need to relax.”
Not only does a GM need his fan base to have patience he had better hope that his ownership has the same patience. An Eastern Conference GM made this analogy when comparing fans of his team to the owners who sign his check, “Owners are like fans that have the credentials of a beat writer. They want instant gratification; you have to win, unless of course you’re the (Los Angeles) Clippers.”
The pressure for success does not have that much to do with what players are selected for a certain team. The Los Angles Lakers have drafted three upper classmen: Brian Cook, Luke Walton and Kareem Rush, with their last two drafts, one would assume because they are a championship caliber team that this is the strategy of the Lakers, to get guys they don’t have to wait around and develop while they go deep in the playoffs each year, not true. A scout with Lakers had this to say about this perception, “Everybody thinks we only take guys that can play right away, but Shaq can’t play forever, if we were in a position to take a highly touted high school kid, we would.”
It all comes back to talent. Jerry West is known for stockpiling talent. NBA people believe West does this so he can trade three guys for one star, or in this year’s case, build the deepest team in the league, the Memphis Grizzles.
If talent is so important then why are all of these NBA executives spending time in Portsmouth? An Eastern Conference GM defended the PIT, “You don’t have to draft somebody out of Portsmouth for this event to be beneficial, I might pick up a guy later next year because of an injury who never gets a minute, but he’s there at the end of the bench providing my coach with more talent.”
Ainge was quoted on a Boston Radio station (1510 The Zone) when asked about his three major trades during this season. “We have a lot of options and I’ve said from the beginning, this is about acquiring talent, changing our style of play and acquiring talent and once we acquire talent we can then start worrying about how the pieces mesh.”
The number of players declaring for the NBA draft increases with each passing day, some make sense like PG/SG Ben Gordon others leave NBA scouts scratching their heads: see Trevor Ariza (freshman UCLA). As the names pile up, so does the talent level and Ainge should have plenty of talent to choose from.
Fast Breaks
- The consensus among GM’s and scouts was that this draft is wide open after Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard. If Luol Deng makes himself eligible many people at the PIT felt Deng would go number three.
- Another GM thinks the draft order will all be sorted out by the time June comes around. “There is more uncertainty right now about who’s in and who’s out, it won’t be by that way leading up to the draft, the lottery caliber players will be identified like it usually is.”
- Howard vs. Okafor? A Western Conference scout had this to say; “I love Okafor, I’m an Okafor guy, I don’t know too many scouts that aren’t. With that said I’d still take Howard.”
- Many high school kids are holding up the process. J.R. Smith who is committed to UNC has impressed a few scouts with his performance in the McDonalds and Hoop Summit games, one scout felt Smith would forgo joining the Tar Heels but that NBA team should be warned. “He’s (Smith) a knucklehead. Roy Williams might think he’s losing out but in the end he’s avoiding a huge headache. I don’t think Smith is a kid who’s going to listen in college because he’ll feel he should have gone in the draft all year, or at least he will be thinking that as he hoists up thirty footers.”
- Look for Antoine Walker to be shopped heavily this off-season. For one year at 14 mil. left on his deal for next year, Dallas will look to package him to finally get a big guy who can play more then 15 minutes a game. As far as Walkers next deal, an Eastern Conference scout had this to say, “Walkers going to be a mid-level guy for the rest of his career.”
- Regarding which high school kids are going to declare in the upcoming draft, an agent who represents a kid who will remain nameless until it becomes official offered this opinion, “They’re all coming out, who wants to wait around in College and become the next Darius Rice.”
