Lazy Saturday

Some thoughts from a long, lazy Saturday of college ball.

-Miami could be very, very good the next two years if they don't lose anyone. McClinton is going to be a decent NBA player, ala Eddie House. He's an explosive college scorer who is too small to play shooting guard in the NBA and doesn't have the handle to play the point. That said he is a very good and streaky shooter. Someone will have a use for him off the end of their bench if he is willing to work. On top of him, they have DeQuan Jones, who I am drooling over, in case you couldn't tell from the YouTube clips below. If he can develop a mid-range game, because right now he is living off his athleticism around the hoop to score, he is a lottery pick in 2010. Their recruiting class of 2009 could be what takes them to the next level. If Durand Scott (can we blame him for not picking UCONN? I'm freezing my ass of here right now, and if I could do it over again I'd be at Florida) can make the shot at the college level (I'm looking at you, Scottie Haralson) and they land John Wall, who Jones throws down on in that high school clip, McClinton can shift to his more natural two and Wall slicing and kicking to McClinton/Scott would be a nightmare.

-Danny Green continues to impress me. I cannot understand why he is not projected to be a lottery pick in the 2009 Draft. He is crazy athletic and has shown marked improvement in his defense (he gives top notch effort now and plays solid on and off the ball) and shooting, which were two of his weaknesses last year. In my opinion if you can find someone that athletic who is willing to work hard each summer to add to his game, what else can you ask? He is going to be a very, very good player in the NBA if he continues to work hard. And sure, he disappears sometimes, but when you play for UNC there are so many great college players on the floor it's an easy thing to do.

-Greg Monroe is the real deal. He is pretty damn smart and probably has the best court vision and passing ability of any non-point guard in the 2009 Draft projections. I'd still rather have a shot blocker like Thabeet in front of him, but Monroe is a solid top 10 pick.

-I guess I need to watch more Oklahoma and ASU games, because I don't get Griffin (poor man's Carlos Boozer?) and Harden. Harden looked like shit to me against UCLA (there's a program on the way down, by the way) - he just runs into people really hard and chucks the ball up. Would like to see him create jumpers off the dribble, floaters in lane, etc. Maybe it was just this game or I didn't watch it closely enough. Definitely has a good body for NBA guard though. Physicality reminds me a bit of Baron Davis. Certainly lacks his creativity, and hopefully works harder...

-Ok, so Jeff Teague is a nice college player. I don't see how his game translates to the NBA. Against Clemson he had 26 points, but he got to the line 18 times! (13-18FT) He just runs into people and gets bailout calls. He jumper is not that great. Again, he is very good, but I think a 15-20 pick, and not a lottery player. Perhaps that isn't anything new, but everyone is fawning over him since the UNC game, and I think it's a bit much. He distributes the ball like shit. Having only watched the Clemson game it is hard to say, but right now that freshman kid Aminu looks like the better NBA prospect.