but this is the type of performance that I always watch for---when a player plays at a top level against his own peers. This is how David Lee became a Knick--during his post senior season workouts against his own peers. There alwasy are players who play for small schools that get drafted late--Kelvin Martin come sto mind--that in retrospect deserved a much higher evaluation. These are the kind of guys you really want to look very hard at. Now I cant comment on him --I don't see this as a case of being able to see a Maruis Damiels or an Anthony Morrow live in SL play--this kid is going to be drafted --probably in the late first round.

Here is the write up



Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, Day Two

by: Jonathan Givony - President, Matt Kamalsky, Joseph Treutlein - Assistant Director of Scouting
April 10, 2009
One of the best parts about the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament is the amount of people in the basketball industry that congregate here, making it a real clearinghouse for information. Here are a couple of the things people around the PIT were talking about.

-Brandon Jennings has signed with Bill Duffy of BDA Sports, Rade Filipovich of the same agency told us. Filipovich also mentioned that Jennings will likely compete at the Reebok EuroCamp in Treviso, making him the second top ‘international’ prospect to be confirmed this week after Ricky Rubio. Filipovich also told us that his French client Ludovic Vaty will enter his name in this year’s draft.

Update: Ilana Nunn, Senior Director Public Relations and Marketing at BDA Sports Management requested that we post the following:

"Brandon Jennings has not signed with BDA Sports, although we are optimistic about our meeting with the athlete."

-Louisville senior Terrence Williams has signed with agent Aaron Goodwin.

-LSU senior Marcus Thornton has signed with agent Brian Elfus of Elfus & Siegel Management.

-Quite a bit of talk here revolved around the many changes made to the NBA pre-draft process, including new rules regarding workouts and the NBA pre-draft combine in Chicago in late May. According to executives we spoke with, the NBA has decided to change the rules regarding joint workouts conducted between multiple NBA teams. This year, in addition to only being allowed to bring in players for no more than two separate workouts, teams must invite all 30 franchises to every joint workout conducted, as well as provide the league with two weeks notice. Also, if a team has any representative participate in the conducting of the workout, it will count as one of their two workouts, however it doesn’t count for teams simply in attendance.

Teams have mentioned that they’re finding the quality of their private workouts deteriorating because of how fatigued players become later in the process, and thus would rather see the players compete against each other earlier in a larger setting, which provides them with a better platform to evaluate them. This is especially true for west coast teams, as many players choose to work from east to west on their team visits. Last season, Portland and five other teams conducted a joint workout (featuring 21 players who were drafted, including 8 first rounders) in this manner in the Bay Area, and plan to do so again in spite of the rule changes. According to reports, Minnesota, Memphis and Houston were also planning on joining forces in order to draw a wider and more versatile range of prospects, but the new changes may make them reconsider.

-That leads us to the scuttlebutt about the upcoming NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago, which most executives we spoke with don’t seem to be all that excited about. “How much are we going to learn off how well a guy executes the three man weave?” one said. “What is Stephen Curry making 3-pointers in a gym by himself going to tell you?” wondered another. From what we can gather, it seems like more changes will be in store considering how dissatisfied teams still are with the draft process.

-There was quite a bit of talk about the three Syracuse players that entered their name in the draft this week--Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris. Of the three, only Devendorf is planning on hiring an agent for now. According to sources close to the situation, he is graduating soon and is “ready to go pro.” He will try and make the NBA, but if that doesn’t work out, he is prepared to go to Europe.

According to the same source, Jonny Flynn will pull his name out of the draft if he’s not firmly in the lottery by the time the deadline rolls around a week before the draft. If he’s “16, 17, 18, he’s definitely coming back to school.” Regarding why he initially wavered on that decision based on his comments during the NCAA tournament, Flynn reportedly didn’t realize that he was projected to be taken as high as he currently is, with most mock drafts having him between 20-30 at the time of the Big East tournament. Since he’s “hearing he could be a top-10 pick,” his situation has changed in turn. Despite rumors here in Portsmouth that he’s already selected his agent, he is apparently still only testing the waters.

Paul Harris “may return to Syracuse” based on the information he receives over the next month or so. If he’s not projected as a solid second rounder, he “will probably come back,” we’re told.

-Luke Harangody will reportedly be announcing soon that he’s entering his name in the draft, and if he gets a solid indication that he will play in the NBA next year, he likely will not return to Notre Dame, even if that means being selected in the second round.

Jon Brockman, 6’7, Power Forward, Washington
24 points, 21 rebounds (13 offensive), 3 assists, 4 turnovers, 10-21 FG, 4-4 FT

Jon Brockman had one of the more dominant performances we’ve seen thus far at Portsmouth, showing off his outstanding rebounding abilities to pull in an amazing 21 rebounds in 30 minutes. Brockman threw his body around all game, showing no hesitation to bang with Ahmad Nivins and Russell Hicks. Brockman’s combination of excellent timing, hands, and mobility to pursue in combination with his ridiculously high motor played a big role in his performance.

Other than rebounding, Brockman was a force scoring in the paint as well, often on putbacks, but also on catch-and-finishes and a few occasional post moves. He shows good touch in the post and a solid base of moves, but he struggled getting separation from his opponent on his moves, not having much range. While Brockman occasionally shows good vertical explosiveness when he has time to gather himself or gets momentum going on the run, he isn’t able to power up from other positions, not being a very good overall athlete, something that will hold him back if he doesn’t improve.


Jermaine Taylor, 6-5, Shooting Guard, Central Florida
30 points, 5 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 turnover, 11-24 FG, 1-4 3P, 7-9 FT

Jonathan Givony

Although his final stat-line might not have been quite as jaw-dropping as Jon Brockman’s, there wasn’t a player who helped their NBA draft stock in day two more than Jermaine Taylor. He displayed an NBA-level ability to create offense for himself, showing that his status as the #1 scorer in college basketball wasn’t just a product of the level of competition he played at, and that he has no problem putting the ball in the basket against some of the best wing players in the NCAA—for example Marquette’s Wes Matthews in this particular game. Physically, he passes the eye test and then some, showing a NBA caliber body and better athleticism than almost any wing player in attendance here.

Taylor looked like nothing less than a scoring machine in this game, showing a complete offensive arsenal by scoring in a variety of ways. He showed an advanced ability to operate in the mid-range area, making a number of very smooth pull-up jumpers, showing excellent mechanics and creating separation from his defender in impressive fashion. Even though he only made 1 of his 4 attempts from beyond the arc, it’s pretty obvious from looking at him that he can really stroke the ball. He also showed the ability to move off the ball, utilizing screens nicely and then taking the ball to the basket with excellent body control. His ability to create his own shot looked much more impressive in person than we had given him credit for from watching him on film, as he has a quick, powerful first step, long strides, terrific footwork, and even some shifty hesitation moves. His strength and aggressiveness got him to the free throw line at will in this game, and he converted 7 of his 9 attempts from the charity stripe.

Showing that same type of hunger to put the ball in the basket that all great scorers have, Taylor was an absolute jet leaking out in transition, creating numerous easy scoring opportunities in the process. We can now see why college football coaches were so interested in him at the wide receiver position, as his ability to get from one end of the court to another was absolutely outstanding, even if he might have been cherry-picking just a little on a possession or two.

That same hunger to score translated to the offensive glass as well, where he picked up no less than 4 extra possessions for his team. It also may have caused him to look a little too much for his own offense at times, as he did get up 24 field goal attempts in just 32 minutes without recording a single assist. Some teams we talked to felt like he may have played a bit selfishly at times, but it’s a little bit hard to fault him for that too much considering what’s at stake here and how well he started off (with 18 points in the first half).

Although you don’t want to take away too much from a single game in a setting like this, it was hard not to come away extremely impressed with what Taylor showed here in his first game. Judging by the reaction of a couple of scouts we spoke with, we weren’t the only ones who felt that way. He reminds us quite a bit of Kelenna Azubuike, both in his build, athleticism, scoring instincts, and overall game. We’re curious to see how he manages to follow this game up. Players like him are what makes the PIT great, as he’s really using this setting to separate himself from many of the wing players in this class.

Are you talking about Brockman or Taylor? I've heard about Taylor. He was at the NCAA dunk contest at the Final Four. He profiles pretty similarly to Kevin Martin- maybe not in terms of style of play, but in terms of situation- big time scorer at a smaller school. 26 pgg in about 32 minutes per game is no joke there when you're 6-4 guard.