Reminiscent of Terence Morris's decline in the 2001 draft caused by his decision to return to school for another year, this year's draft witnessed one of the greater drop offs of a player who decided to return to school for his senior season. Scottie Reynolds was projected to be a potential lottery pick last year but he passed up the guaranteed money to try to help Villanova, a pre-season favorite, win an NCAA title. Villanova didn't end up winning a championship, and Reynolds was rewarded for his selflessness by not even being drafted in the second round of this year's draft.
With that, DBSF will commence his second round review.
1. Tibor Pleiss to the Thunder
A big German that DBSF knows virtually nothing about. Although he looks unathletic even by European standards, he has great size. This pick can only help the Thunder who need to develop a corps of rebounding, shot-blocking, non-shooting big men.
3. Hassan Whiteside to the Kings
A projected mid-first rounder left school early to not get guaranteed money. He's a great value pick for the Kings, and there is no pressure for him to play right away with the Kings acquiring Samuel Dalambert.
6. Terrico White to the Pistons
A shooting guard built like a point guard, where has DBSF heard that before? White could add a spark to a Pistons offense that has a tendency to have the scoring explosiveness of a Wolrd Cup match.
10. Lance Stephenson to the Pacers
Stephenson has a strong body and loves to hoist off-balanced, long threes while kicking out his leg. Basically, offense is the strength of Stevenson's game, but he averaged like 12 points per game. Guess how many shoot-first, undersized, second-round two guards experience an increase in offensive productivity from college to the pros? Stephenson is the most likely player in the draft to get kicked off his team (and the out of the League) for fighting one of his teammates at practice. If he fights Mike Dunleavy or Roy Hibbert or both at the same time DBSF hopes someone catches the altercation on a camera phone and youtubes it.
11. and 12. Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks to two teams, who's D-League team they will probably play on for a season or two prior to a decade in Italy/ Greece
Back to back second rounders out of West Virginia. These picks reminded DBSF of his favorite WVU player not--but supposed to be--drafted in the second round, Kevin Pittsnogle (who is actually a "Jr.").
17. Tiny Gallon to the Bucks
A value pick in the mid-second round as most projections had Gallon going late first round. He only played one year of college ball but he's got an impressive body. Apparently he makes a 19 year old Kwame Brown look like Jeff Hornacek in his Utah days. Maturity is an issue.
20. Solomon Alabi to the Mavericks
Huge value pick here. Alabi's 7'1" and improved each of his three years at Florida State. He has the largest wingspan of any player in the draft (7'5"), which he used to block almost 2.5 shots per game his junior year. His offense is on caliber with most top-tier, 8th grade, CYO big men. Fortunately, with Dirk (but for how long?), Caron Butler and Co in Dallas Alabi won't be expected to contribute on offense.
22. Luke Harongody to the Celtics
There's no way that anyone not named Adam Morrison can dominate like Harongody did in college (and in a top conference) and not have something to add to an NBA roster. He could be a Tyler Hansbrough-type in terms of an efficient, front court scorer. Harongody should make the Celtics roster to provide more bench scoring.
30. Dwayne Collins to the Suns
Mr. Irrelevant deserves some attention. A 6'6" big man who finds ways to score. Those lay-ups he was able to get around Jordan Williams while Collins played at Miami will find Dwight Howard's palm every time in the NBA. Collins should learn German or Castelian Spanish as he will likely be spending the better part of the next ten years of his life in Western Europe.
One other notable non-mention--Sylven Landeberg. Landesberg made a critical mistake--DBSF believes--when he dropped/ failed out of school when it became apparent that Virginia had limited post-season opportunities. While it makes sense that he wanted to focus on his game in preparation for the draft, the move showed a deficiency of character and leadership on Landesberg's part as he left his team when they were down. DBSf has to believe that NBA talent scouts notice this type of stuff.
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