During last college season, many of the pundits kept saying the Pac-10 conference had the best talent in the country. The NCAA Selection Committee didn’t seem to agree, but it looks like the NBA people do. There’s a good chance that 5 of the top 10 picks will come from the Pac-10. I don’t think that any other conference will have more than 1. I’m not sure if that has ever happened before. If it has, I don’t remember it.
How about a guy who wasn’t a full time starter like Russell Westbrook moving into the top 10. It makes you wonder where Darren Collison might have gone. I like Westbrook, but that’s a pretty big move. I think there’s a lot of talent there, but I also thought he was inconsistent.
In my 2nd year in the ABA, Virginia drafted a guard out of USC who had not started for them. He was a good player, but USC had 2 better guards, Paul Westphal and Mo Layton. Before training camp started, in an interview he said that he was tired of not starting, and was looking forward to starting for the Squires. Seeing as we were from the same conference and had played against each other, some of the veteran guards came to me and asked, “what was up with this guy?”. Needless to say, his statement did not go over well. The vets went at him hard. And he wasn’t around for very long. Sometimes it’s best to just keep your mouth shut. Especially true for rookies.
Back to the draft. I don’t know the draft real well, at least not like I did when I was drafting, but this does not appear to me to be a very good year. Here’s a question for everyone. When was the last time the #1 pick averaged less than 15 points a game?
*image source: ucla
Comments:
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How about the amount of freshman going in the top 10? I realize the new age-limit rule has something to do with it, but I do think this is a pretty exceptional freshman class. Kevin Love barely seems like a freshman, however. His maturity and well-roundedness skill-wise makes him seem a lot older.
3 out of the top 5!