New York, NY (06/28/07) -- After being drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers (53rd overall), Syracuse All-American Demetris Nichols was traded to the New York Knicks. Nichols averaged a team-best 18.9 points per game in his senior year with the Orange, and completed his career with 1,344 points.

The three-point sharp shooter was selected 53rd overall by Portland, and then the Trailblazers traded Nichols to the Knicks for a 2008 second round draft pick.

If we can turn him into a 6'8" shooting guard. I like. We need defenders who can shoot it.

Looks like a catch and shoot type of player from the videos in yahoo sports..
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/prospects

We've talked about him in a few threads. A little slow laterally to defend the 2, but he plays like a 2. Shoots well off of screens. Not a great defender cause he's a bit limited athletically, but he tries hard and has long arms. Not gonna be a guy who creates his own shot a lot. Not much of a dribble or passer.

Can still fill a Korver/Kapono kind of role if he can shoot the rock like he did his senior year at Syracuse. But he was much better his senior year than every other year he played there.

He is freaking awesome bro

GLEN RICE

with the post players we now have, I'll take a trent tucker or hubert davis type player.

DraftExpress write-up

June 4, 2007
In terms of scoring the ball, Demetris Nichols was probably the most consistently impressive scorer here at the camp, showing just how deadly he can be as a shooter and how quickly he can put points on the board, going on a few scoring runs where he hit multiple shots in minutes. Looking at the final statlines of all the players here, one of the most notable ways a player really separated himself was how Nichols shot the ball from NBA three-point range. He hit a remarkable 9-of-13 from behind the arc, shooting a ridiculous .692. Other than Nichols, only one player at the camp even hit four NBA three-pointers.

Nichols is extremely confident with his outside shooting, and it’s interesting how in all the times we’ve seen Nichols in drills, both here at Orlando and at a private workout we viewed last week, he’s probably just as good a shooter in the real games, coming off screens, with a hand in his face, as he is taking place in the simulated drills. Other spot-up shooting forwards have come through this camp in recent years, with Steve Novak first coming to mind. Nichols did a good job in separating himself from these other players, in that it’s evident that he doesn’t consistently need players run for him and that he really makes the most of his possessions, finding open space on the floor and getting off a good shot attempt most times he touches the ball.

Nichols didn’t really impact the game in many other ways when he was on the floor, not filling up the stat sheet in any way other than scoring, but he played pretty good perimeter defense for the most part, showing he can play outside of Syracuse’s zone. Nichols didn’t do much to dispel the concerns about his ball-handling abilities, but he did make a few moves off one or two dribbles and got to the basket when there were open lanes, and he shows that he has the potential to improve his ball-handling over time.

The things that Nichols does excel at should definitely translate to the NBA, so there’s a very good chance he can make a contribution in his first year, coming off the bench and providing a scoring punch, as he doesn’t need much space to get off a high-percentage shot attempt from long range. Nichols will likely be an early second round pick in the draft, and it’s not tough to envision him having a Jason Kapono type season not too far down the road.

Posted by mattshaw78:

Posted by Jimmyjames:

GLEN RICE

the young glen rice or the broken down glen rice

Some where in between

For the non Big East buffs he's more than a 3 point bomber. He has a great mid-range game. He has that Kobe/Jordan turn and fade move down.

The only thing I wonder is if he can handle it at all. He never had to do that at SU.