Draft Prospect Profiles: O.J. Mayo

In the days leading up to the NBA's May 20 Draft Lottery, NYKnicks.com will look at the top-rated players potentially available to teams with lottery picks in the 2008 NBA Draft. We offer these profiles for fans to familiarize themselves with some of the biggest names in the draft. A player's inclusion in this series of articles is based purely on his rankings in the scouting services and mainstream media and does not necessarily reflect the Knicks organization's preferences for the June 26 Draft at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

We continue our series with a profile of USC guard O.J. Mayo, a projected first-rounder according to major scouting services and numerous publications.

Not since LeBron James had there been an incoming college recruit with the amount of press and exposure that O.J. Mayo garnered years before he ever set foot on college hardwood.

Playing high school basketball from the time he was in seventh grade, Mayo had been dubbed by the media as the next big thing in his sport. For a player who averaged 29.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists as a high school senior, the pressure was clearly on, but from the moment he took the floor in a USC uniform, Mayo did not disappoint, living up to the highest of expectations.

A versatile guard who can play both positions in the backcourt, Mayo averaged 20.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists as a freshman in 2007-08. He recorded a 44.2 percent field-goal percentage and shot 40.9 percent from behind the arc.

Mayo also led the Trojans in scoring, steals (51), three-pointers (88) and assists (109), while setting the single-season USC freshman record for points (684) and three-pointers. His total points were the second-most ever in a season for a USC player, and he ranks third in three-pointers in the school's history. Furthermore, Mayo's 20.7 ppg average is the second-highest in history for a freshman in the Pac-10, trailing only California's Shareef Abdur-Rahim who netted an average of 21.1 ppg in 1995-96.

At the conclusion of the season, the 20-year old Mayo was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team, Pac-10 All-Freshman Team, NABC District 15 Team and was honorable mention to the All-Pac-10 Defensive team. He was also in the running for the John R. Wooden and Naismith Awards as college basketball's player of the year while being named a Rivals.com and CollegeHoops.net Third Team All-American and a CollegeHoops.net First Team All-Freshman selection.

These scouting services cite Mayo's greatest strength as an ability to seemingly score at will. Playing with a nasty streak, the 6-foot-5, 210-pounder is considered a fierce competitor who exudes confidence and plays an extremely physical form of ball. While the pundits say his mid-range game needs some seasoning, they also credit Mayo with having killer jump shot from long distance. Still, it is his ability to get to the rim that has wowed scouts.

Mayo is a notable one-on-one player who has been compared to Ben Gordon for his ability to score in bunches. A splendid athlete, those who have covered him note that he is simply too strong and physical for the typical guard to stay with him, and numerous writers have commented on his taking over a game at a moment's notice, even putting his team on his back for long stretches at a time.

The Huntington, W. Va. native, whose full name is Ovinton J'Anthony, scored 30 points or more on four occasions, including dropping a career-high 37 on Arizona State. He failed to score double-digit figures just once in his 33-game career.

Defensively, scouting services say Mayo possesses great natural instincts and capitalizes on it with numerous steals, averaging 1.5 a game. They note his foot speed, saying it allows him to get into passing lanes. He is also said to possess a unique combination of size and strength that makes him a lock-down defender when he puts his mind to it.

Scouting services say Mayo is also capable of guarding either the one or two position at the NBA level, and is particularly effective on the perimeter where he can force the issue. He proved himself on the defensive end of the court in a Dec. 4 overtime loss to Memphis, where he limited Derrick Rose to just nine points and four assists.

Overall, the pundits often describe Mayo as a physical specimen with the ideal NBA body that most every team covets. He possesses the athleticism, versatility, and, most importantly, the talent needed to succeed at the next level after dominating each step along the way. Those who watched him closely at USC say he could be one of the elite scorers in the NBA right off the bat and has the potential to become a special player for years to come.