Prospect Watch: The Plugs

The dust might have settled. But that doesn’t mean the teams will.

When the NBA Trade Deadline blew by last Thursday, the league’s biggest prize didn’t move. But it seemed like almost everything else around him changed. Over the final 24 hours leading up to the Deadline, three-dozen players and draft picks changed hands, pushing the Dwight Howard saga to the side stage – for a few minutes at a time, at least.

Then, in the days following the flurry of trades, the NBA D-League saw the biggest rush of GATORADE Call-Ups it’d seen since NBA teams first broke camp before Christmas. From Thursday through Sunday, six players shot up to the NBA, including two players receiving their first-ever Call-Ups – Springfield’s Jerry Smith (who went to the Nets) and Dakota’s Edwin Ubiles (who ended up in Washington).

All that movement meant one thing: when you shake up a landscape, you end up with some cracks to fill.

And all season long, the NBA D-League’s been up to the task. A year that’s seen a record number of players (28) earn GATORADE Call-Ups has also seen people like Gerald Green, Lance Thomas and Walker Russell, Jr. turn themselves into impact players in the NBA.

And with a few holes remaining – not to mention teams out of the Playoffs hunt with the leeway to give Prospects some run – here are the guys who can fill in next.

Curry’s in the midst of his best-ever season in the NBA D-League. The former phenom has shown that he can do much more than just score (although, at 17 ppg, he’s shown he can still do that, too), dishing out 6.2 assists per game for Springfield this year. Most importantly, he’s done a number in changing a reputation that – largely unfairly – painted him as a ‘character problem’ by turning into one of the most-respected leaders in the league. Others: Will Conroy, Maurice Baker

Ahearn looks like the favorite to take home NBA D-League MVP honors. Yet in a season that saw him surpass the NBA consecutive free throws mark and become the NBA D-League’s all-time leading scorer, he still hasn’t gotten an NBA bid. He can run an offense, stick the open shot and get two points virtually every time he gets to the foul line – but his deficits in size and quickness still speak louder to scouts than everything he’s got counting for him.

Since Walker Russell got the call-up to the Pistons in January, nobody’s come close to matching the assist numbers Russell put up. Except for Conroy. The former NBA point guard will be 30 in December, but, like Russell (who turns 30 in October), his game’s peaking late. Among players who’ve played at least 15 games this year, only Texas’ Antonio Daniels (at 8.5 assist per game) comes anywhere in the vicinity of Conroy’s 9.5 apg average. From Feb. 10 to Mar. 2, Conroy recorded eight straight games of double-figure assists, including 18 dimes in two straight games. Turnovers (3.3 per game) can be an issue, as can his shooting (38.5 percent this year) – although you should expect the lifetime 47.3 percent shooter in the NBA D-League to improve that number – but if an NBA team is seeking a pass-first point, Conroy’s the obvious answer.

Uzoh still has a lot to work on in terms of becoming a true NBA point guard, but his strength and athleticism put him far above anyone else in the NBA D-League, and that could make him an instant lineup insertion for a team looking for lockdown defender. See also: Donald Sloan.

You can take two paths with Dentmon. You can look at the shortcomings – and you don’t have to look hard. Dentmon’s undersized, at 6 feet (maybe in midair), 185 pounds. He turns the ball over nearly four times a game and doesn’t defend quite well enough to make up for it. Or, you can look at what’s even clearer: that Dentmon’s become the most explosive point guard not playing in the NBA right now. He’s returned to the form that made him our No. 1 Prospect at Showcase, scoring 21 points or more in seven straight games and dishing out five or more assists in five of those games (with highs of 35 and 31 points, and 12 and eight assists). Dentmon’s ready for a test-drive. Or, more appropriately, a joyride.

Emmett didn’t see the court much in his stint with the Nets this year, then came back and took it out on everybody in the NBA D-League. He’s scored 23.5 points per game since returning to the Bighorns just before the All-Star break, and he’s still shooting a career-best 52.5 percent from the floor. At this point, it doesn’t look like anybody can cover Emmett in the D-League – the question is whether or not he can cover anybody well enough to earn a spot in Mark Jackson’s rotation.

The man with the record for most points in a single NBA D-League game (53, in 2008) has become a more seasoned scorer and all-around asset in his return to the league. He’s rebounding and he’s defending – all while still putting up 29 points or more in five of his last eight games.

Hayes, last week’s Performer of the Week, has been all over the score sheet of late. His March has featured two games of 26 points and one of 52 (one shy of Almond’s record), not to mention two games of double-digit rebounding and assists.

Going into the season, Kennedy was dogged by questions about how well his knee would hold up after tearing it in the weeks leading up to the NCAA Tournament last year, while a senior at St. John’s. Now, it doesn’t look like even those questions can keep him down. He’s scored 16 or more points (including a high of 29 against East-leading Canton on Mar. 17) in 10 of his last 11 games, with rebounding highs of 11 and 10, to go along with a 10-assist night against Dakota on Feb. 18. Kennedy might already have a job in the NBA if not for his knee. Expect him to find one soon.

With Gerald Green now under contract with the Nets until the end of the year, Millsap’s back in form. After deferring to Green when they were both playing for the D-Fenders – “He was hot, and it wasn’t my job to score anymore … [I wanted to] show people I can play with guys like Gerald who can score, and still get 15-17 points a game” – Millsap’s once again the top scoring threat for Eric Musselman’s team. And, on cue, he’s scored 19.25 ppg over his last four, including a triple-double (20-10-10) on Mar. 3.

Others: Marqus Blakely, Mike Efevberha