[外電] Points to consider for Hawks at guard
Points to consider for Hawks at guard
By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/18/06
Tonight is the deadline for the 92 underclassmen who've declared
for the draft to make a decision to stay in or pull out, making
this a big day for quite a few people.
For Hawks fans, however, Monday morning is much more significant.
That's when point guards Marcus Williams and Rajon Rondo and
combo-guard Randy Foye will hit the practice floor at Philips
Arena for a much-anticipated workout. Hawks officials must decide
if there's a guard available in this draft worth selecting over
one of the more highly rated forwards that should be available
with the No. 5 pick.
It's significant for other reasons as well, and none more glaring
than the potential man-to-man matchup between Williams and Rondo,
considered by most to be the draft's premier "pure" point guards.
While neither is a lock for the top five — and Rondo is aa long
shot if you use the plethora of mock drafts as your guide —
Monday's showcase could be one of the few times the top players
in this group occupy the same floor at the same time.
And for Williams and Rondo, the common ties run far deeper than
that. Not only do they share the same dream — of being the first
point guard drafted — but they share the same agent (BDA Sports'
Calvin Andrews), the same high school alma mater (Oak Hill
Academy) and staunch supporters named Josh already on the Hawks'
roster.
Josh Childress knows Williams from their formative years — both
are Los Angeles natives — and Josh Smith played with Rondo at
Oak Hill.
"This whole thing has gotten more and more strange as Rajon's
stock has risen," said Andrews, who also represents Denver
Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony. "He's being compared a lot closer
to Marcus than even we expected. We've done a good job of keeping
them away from each other in workouts until now.
"But the teams we're doing it for are in the top five [Williams
and Rondo are also scheduled to workout together for Toronto next
week], so we can't avoid them. You've got to sell them. And they
both want [to be in the] top five and the teams want to see them,
so you have to go handle your business."
The business side of things is where this situation takes its
most interesting turn. It's hard enough to market one elite
player in this Internet age, where everyone with a computer
thinks that they possess unique draft expertise. But try doing
it for two elite players at the same position.
Henry Thomas did it two years ago with Shaun Livingston and Devin
Harris, who were drafted fourth and fifth, respectively, in 2004.
Andrews: "It worked out well that year, so we'll see how it works
this time around."
When asked to sell both players, Andrews described distinctly
unique talents, each of whom could help a team in desperate need
of a talent boost in the backcourt — a teams like the Hawks.
"If you need a guy right now, and I mean today, to help clean up
your team and manage it and get people going in the right
direction, you've got to go with Marcus," Andrews said. "If
you've got time and can develop a kid, a kid who can be pretty
special in this league, but will take some time to develop, you
take Rajon."
If last year's draft is any indication, a point guard's impact on
his team — with the league's rule changes freeing up perimeter
players — is glaring. The two teams who experienced the greatest
improvement in the win column just happened to be New Orleans
(with rookie point guard Chris Paul) and Utah (Deron Williams).
"That's why I think [Williams and Rondo] are getting so much
attention," Andrews said. "People realize what type of impact a
pretty good point guard have on a team. Whereas before, teams
were drafting on size and measurables and all that stuff, Chris
Paul and that group showed that if you need a general or someone
to lead, you better get him because those guys are rare.
"I was talking to someone the other day, and we agreed that you
can count the number of true point guards in the NBA on one hand.
There are five or so true point guards that are doing the things
to change a team's fortunes. That's why I believe if you get a
guy like Marcus, who I like to call a point guard's point guard,
it doesn't take long to realize that he could be pretty valuable
to whatever team takes him."
Draft rumblings
‧ The one player quietly moving his way up most teams' draft
boards is the one player who seems to be the least talked about
— Texas center/power forward LaMarcus Aldridge. "It's fine with
me," he told reporters at last week's pre-draft camp in Orlando.
"I don't take offense to not getting as much ink. I don't need to
be in so many articles. Everything is just going to take care of
itself.
‧ While the draft's truly elite talent usually eschews workouts
for a bunch of teams in favor of a handful of carefully selected
workouts, Villanova's Randy Foye has bucked conventional wisdom.
His anybody-anywhere-anytime approach to his situation has been
refreshing. "I have to," Foye said in Orlando. "A lot of these
guys, basically they don't have to have many workouts. They're
working out for teams that are in their range. They don't have
to work out for nearly as many teams as I have. My stock is more
up in the air, anywhere from seven to maybe 17."
‧ The best data to come out the pre-draft camp was released
Friday when the actual heights and weights of all the prospects
who attended were released. Of interest to Hawks fans should be
the measured size of Duke power forward Shelden Williams, the
player discussed as a possible target on draft night. He measured
6-7 1/2 in socks, 6-8 1/2 in shoes, and 258 pounds.
資料來源
http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0618nbanotes.html
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