He doesn't have center-size, but he exhibits the exact ballplayer traits Knicks president Donnie Walsh feels the Knicks desperately need. And better yet, Walsh would be stealing him right out of the Nets' backyard.
Newark's own, Kenneth Faried, the rugged 6-foot-8 power-forward rebounding machine, has fascinated Knicks scouts, according to people in the know.
The Morehead State bruiser, who ignited the small-school's first-round upset of Louisville, has seen his stock soar since the NCAA Tournament, when the Eagles got to the Round of 32. Likened to Dennis Rodman, Faried set an NCAA modern-day record of 1,673 career rebounds and averaged 13.4 this season.
One scout said he is "probably the best rebounder in the draft."
Some NBA scouts even wonder if he'll be available when the Knicks select at No. 17.
Walsh, who's working on a new contract, wants size for the roster, preferably center, but none of quality will likely be there at 17. Amar'e Stoudemire is not a great boardman and the undersized Knicks became a poor rebounding team. Faried is slightly undersized even for a power forward, but scouts rave about his motor, hustle and tenacity for loose balls.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/faried_grabbing_knicks_attention_5zYfvvv6V9jKwsz5PO0KzK#ixzz1La9DWv8W
Faried: the next rodman?
DENVER – Not long after Morehead State star Kenneth Faried and his high school coach sat down to dinner at a P.F. Chang’s in Newark, N.J., last summer, a ringing cell phone interrupted their meal.
“My coach goes, ‘Dennis Rodman wants to talk to you,’ ” Faried recalled Wednesday. “I’m like, ‘You’re playing, right?’ ”
For the next 15 minutes, college basketball’s best rebounder excused himself from the table and chatted with the NBA icon with whom he’s most often compared. They talked about the similarities between their games, the importance of working hard and not falling victim to hype and the idea that Rodman might come see Faried play in person this season if Morehead State reached the NCAA tournament.
Kenneth Faried has emerged as a potential first-round pick in June’s NBA draft.
“When I talked to him, it made me more enthusiastic about this year, doing big things and making it to the tournament so I could maybe meet him in person,” Faried said. “It was pretty special for a future Hall-of-Famer to call and even want to acknowledge me as a small-college player that doesn’t usually get the media attention. It’s just amazing that he took the time to want to talk to me.”
Rodman isn’t expected to attend 13th-seeded Morehead State’s opening-round NCAA tournament game against fourth-seeded Louisville on Thursday, but that hasn’t diminished Faried’s pride at what he’s accomplished since that phone call. Faried, a 6-foot-8 senior, averaged a career-best 17.6 points and 14.5 boards per game, broke Tim Duncan’s modern-era Division I career rebounding record and emerged as a potential first-round pick in June’s NBA draft.
The comparisons to Rodman that first arose during Faried’s breakout sophomore season have since become more frequent as Faried has gained more notice. After Faried scored 20 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in a 61-55 loss to Florida in December, Gators coach Billy Donovan gushed, “That’s Dennis Rodman all over again. If I was an NBA general manager, I’d be taking him with my pick.”
Such evaluations were what inspired Rodman to watch Faried on TV, then reach out to him last summer via a mutual friend of his high school coach. Asked about the comparisons between him and Faried, Rodman said through his agent this week that he saw similarities.
“Kenneth has a lot of energy and likes to get physical,” Rodman said. “What makes Kenneth a great rebounder is his desire and determination to get to the ball.”
If it seems unusual that an NBA prospect from New Jersey is attending a little-known university in rural Kentucky, credit the Morehead State coaching staff for seeing something in Faried that others didn’t. Former assistant Lee Moon spotted Faried the summer before his senior season at Technology High in Newark, then persuaded Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall to keep after the spindly big man even when high-profile programs cooled on him because of academic concerns.
“I remember Coach Moon asked me, ‘Do you really think we have a chance with this kid?’ ” said Faried’s high school coach, David Bellani. “I said, ‘He does talk about you quite a bit so, yeah, you have a chance.’ Other schools dropped off and Morehead took advantage.”
Whereas most young hoopsters grow up dreaming of scoring titles and game-winning shots, Faried has valued boards over buckets since childhood. He came home from a youth-league game complaining about not getting the ball enough, so his mother, Waudda, told him to stop whining and do something about it.
“If they miss it, you go rebound it and you put it back yourself,” he remembered her saying. “Don’t worry about getting shots from them or passes from them. Just get the ball yourself.”
What separates Faried from other rebounders is he possesses a rare combination of natural tools and determination. Faried boasts uncanny hand strength, a long wingspan and impressive leaping ability, and he also is driven to provide for his mother and emulate the toughness and resiliency she has shown throughout his life.
Waudda suffers from lupus, an incurable disease that attacks the body’s natural defense system and causes inflammation, pain, and tissue damage. The disease is manageable with rest, exercise and medication, but it’s also debilitating enough that Waudda has spent months at a time in the hospital and seldom has been able to travel to her son’s games.
The bond between Faried and his mom is strong enough that tears welled in his eyes Wednesday when asked about how she inspires him.
“She’s a strong woman,” he said when he regained composure. “Her being there in my life to help me become a man, helped me to make my own choices in life and inspired me to want to be as strong as her.”
Fueled by the quest to make his mother proud, Faried has become such a formidable rebounder that opposing teams often go to incredible lengths to keep him off the offensive glass. Tennessee Tech coach Mike Sutton, for instance, instructed the man guarding Faried to not bother to go after the rebound and instead focus entirely on blocking out. That strategy made little difference in the Ohio Valley Conference title game earlier this month, as Faried scored 24 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dominated the paint to help Morehead State to its second NCAA tournament berth in three seasons.
“It felt like he had an energy on the floor that nobody else had,” Tennessee Tech forward Terrell Barnes said by phone. “He brought it at 150 percent. Everyone else was at 100.
“It seemed like he went to a different level that most guys couldn’t get to. He was at his best that night, and when he’s at his best, I don’t think anyone in the country can stop him.”
The challenge of at least containing Faried falls to a Louisville program already familiar with the damage he can do. He scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds when the 16th-seeded Eagles and top-seeded Cardinals met in the first round of the NCAA tournament two seasons ago.
Even before forward Rakeem Buckles suffered a season-ending knee injury, rebounding wasn’t one of Louisville’s greatest strengths. As a result, Cardinals coach Rick Pitino is wary of a player whom he called “Dennis Rodman with a jump shot” on Wednesday afternoon.
Such comparisons still are flattering to Faried, no matter how many times he hears them.
“Dennis did what he had to do for his team to win a championship,” Faried said. “That makes me more enthusiastic when people compare me to Dennis Rodman because I do the same thing.”
you think he will be available with the 17th pick? it will be intresting to see how he does when they bring him in and against who.
5/6/2011 12:41 PM LAST EDITED: 5/6/2011 12:44 PM