Draft: Texas stars Aldridge, Gibson
posted: Tuesday, April 11, 2006

As we learned on Monday, Texas forward LaMarcus Aldridge is declaring for the draft and will hire an agent, ending his college eligibility.

"Every kid wants to go to the NBA," Aldridge told the Austin American-Statesman on Monday. "And I can take care of my mom. I don't have any regrets."

Among NBA scouts, Aldridge is considered a top-five pick and potentially the No. 1 pick in the draft. He's the most polished big man on offense, excelling with his back to the basket and facing it. He's also an excellent rebounder and shot blocker.

Scouts say that Aldridge needs to add strength, but the rest of his game is pretty advanced. Listed at 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, Aldridge draws comparisons to Chris Bosh, Channing Frye and Danny Manning from NBA scouts.

But in the last week, two scouts made a comparison that is worrisome when they said Aldridge reminds them of Joe Smith. After a strong start to his NBA career, Smith has not come close to living up to his status as the No. 1 pick.

Still, most scouts say Aldridge is one of only a handful of players in this draft who have a chance to be a star in the NBA.

"I love him as a basketball player," one NBA executive said. "Yes, he's long and he's an athlete and we all love that, but I think he's an intelligent player who knows how to play. He's more fundamentally sound than most kids his size or his age. He'll get pushed around a little bit at first, but from what we hear about his work ethic, I think he'll put the time in the gym he needs to to take care of that. I don't think he has the quite the upside of Tyrus Thomas, but I think he's a safer pick."

Aldridge's teammate, guard Daniel Gibson, said on Monday that he's returning to Texas for his junior year. That's the right call.

Gibson was ranked in the preseason top five on our Big Board after a stellar freshman year. But things fell apart this year. Gibson struggled to run the team and was eventually moved to off guard to help Texas' offense run more smoothly. By the end of the season, Gibson had slid all the way into the second round.

While Gibson is a great shooter and scorer, he needs to come back next year and prove to scouts that he has what it takes to run the point. With elite high school senior Kevin Durant arriving in Texas next year, Gibson will have another future NBA lottery pick to pass it to.

If he shows he can't, NBA scouts will see him as only a poor man's Ben Gordon in the league, which won't bode well for his draft stock.