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2006 Pre-Draft Camp: Day 3 Notebook
By Melanie Curtsinger

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GAME FOUR - Team Four 94, Team One 78
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. (June 8, 2006) – Six players reached double figures as Team Four downed Team One 94-78 in game four at the NBA Pre-Draft Camp at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. J.P. Batista (Gonzaga) led the winning team with 16 points, followed by Renaldo Balkman (South Carolina) with 14 and Curtis Stinson (Iowa State) with 13.

The two squads stayed close early, as neither team garnered more than a four-point cushion until a 12-4 run pushed Team Four’s advantage to nine, 34-25, with 6:48 left in the half. They held on to a 10+-point lead until UCLA’s Jordan Farmar took over in the closing minutes, scoring a basket to cut the lead to six, 45-39, grabbing a rebound off of a Stinson miss and assisting a Pops Mensah-Bonsu (George Washington) dunk, and then beating the buzzer with a 15-foot jumper to trail by only four, 43-47, at the break. Mensah-Bonsu, Terence Dials (Ohio State) and David Noel (North Carolina) contributed six points a piece to Team One, while Taquan Dean (Louisville) and Paul Miller (Wichita State) finished the half with 11 and 10 points, respectively for Team Four.

Iowa State's Will Blalock
Balkman, Stinson and Batista made sure the late first-half comeback came to an end quickly, however, combining to score 15 consecutive points midway through the second half to give Team Four their largest lead of the game, 74-57. Team One couldn’t manage to get any closer the rest of the way, as Team Four walked away with the biggest margin of victory thus far during camp. Both Balkman (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Batista (16 points, 10 rebounds) finished the game with double-doubles.

NOTES FROM GAME FOUR: Team One made it to the line a whopping 39 times during the game (18 more than Team Four), but only managed to make 24 of them (61.5 percent)… As to be expected from the games, both team committed almost 20 turnovers each, but Team Four was able to capitalize more on the miscues, turning 19 Team One turnovers into 27 points… With each team alternating players about every five minutes, the bench scoring was comparable to the starters’ figures, as Team One’s second unit outscored their first with 44 of their squad’s 78 points. Farmar (14 points) and Villanova’s Allan Ray (15), who both came off the bench, were the biggest reason for the margin, as they were the only two players for Team One to reached double figures.

SCRIMMAGE ONE: Renaldo Balkman (South Carolina) was all over the place during the day’s first intrasquad scrimmage between members of Team Four. The forward grabbed two rebounds, took a charge, registered a block and made the game’s winning field goal to lead his teammates to a 10-8 victory in the nine-minute scrimmage. Taquan Dean also chipped in five points, hitting on two-of-three field goals.

South Florida's Solomon Jones
SCRIMMAGE TWO: Eric Hicks (Cincinnati) made the most of his only two points, lifting his blue squad to a 15-14 victory over the rest of his teammates from Team Two. Orlando native Darius Washington Jr. (Memphis) made all three of his shot attempts to end with seven points. Both teams got sloppy towards the end of the nine minutes, trading turnovers on five straight possessions before Eric Williams (Wake Forest) broke the scoring drought to bring his white team within one point, 12-13, in the closing minutes.

SCRIMMAGE THREE: Solomon Jones (South Florida) was the star of the third intrasquad scrimmage (Team One) in the morning session, hitting three-of-four shots and adding a blocked shot en route to his team’s 16-14 win. Steve Novak (Marquette) hit one of his two three-point attempts, finishing with five points. Terence Dials (Ohio State) did most of the damage for the blue squad (which included Paul Millsap of Louisiana Tech and Chris McCray of Maryland), accounting for almost half of his team’s point total with six.

HILL, SOUTHALL OUT TODAY: Team Four’s Tedric Hill (Gulf Coast CC) and Michael Southall (Louisiana-Lafayette) were both unable to participate in the afternoon game due to an illness. Batista and Joah Tucker (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) were named as their replacements. Batista, who made the most of his extra playing time with a double-double, will also play tonight on his original Team Two in the 5 pm game.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Denver Coach George Karl watched game four from the front row in the upper balcony at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. When he went to hold on to the railing to sit down, a piece from the top fell off, causing a loud banging noise to drift through the quiet Milkhouse and quite a bit of laughter to come from his fellow colleagues in the stands. After his son, Coby, who is playing in the Pre-Draft Camp, finished his morning drills, he came up to visit his father in the stands. And when he sat down, he held on to the same railing his father did, which, of course, made the exact same sound. The same laughter erupted around the two, but this time, one of the executives behind him yelled out, “Like father, like son!”

ON THE FENCE: After his team fell 94-78, Jordan Farmar of UCLA was as optimistic as ever.

Dwayne Mitchell of Louisiana-Lafayette
“I think it is going well. Everybody is competing and playing hard and that is what it is all about. I think my team is very good. It is tough – only playing together for a couple of days, sometimes you are going to play well, sometimes you’re not because you don’t know each other and miscommunications and things like that. We had a little scrimmage earlier today so we were a little tired coming out and they jumped on us early. But I think we competed and played well – some shots that people would normally make didn’t go in and they did a good job on the boards. That is just part of the game. We have to bounce back tomorrow and be ready to win at least two out of three.”

And while Farmar, who is widely considered the top prospect at camp this week, has had a good showing so far (he finished with 14 points in the afternoon game), he isn’t anywhere close to making up his mind on whether or not he will keep his name in the draft or forgo his last two seasons at UCLA.

“I am on the fence. I don’t know yet. This (camp) is part of the process. It has been a long process and this is just one part of it. I am not even close yet to making up my mind. It will probably go down to the wire.”

Underclassmen have until June 18 to formally withdraw their name from consideration in the draft, which will take place June 28 in New York City. Sixteen participants in the Pre-Draft Camp this week, including Farmar, are currently testing the waters.

IN THEIR SHOES: Renaldo Balkman of South Carolina may not be in the shoes of some of his SEC peers at the University of Florida, but if he were, he might be in the exact same spot he is now – with his name entered into the upcoming NBA Draft. None of the Gators’ underclassmen – to the dismay of many GM’s around the league – declared for the draft, despite high projections of where they would land.

“I was surprised. They might do it again next year. They have two more years – they are all going to be juniors – they have one or two more years to do it again. They would make history.”

But, if he were in the position of, say, Joakim Noah, what would be do?

“That’s a big question. I don’t know. After winning a national championship and being hot like that, then if they come back next year and flop, I don’t know what to say. But I want to give all of them their props – they are some great athletes.”