Florida State's Chris Singleton is widely regarded as the draft's best perimeter defender. Singleton has a terrific combination of size, length, athleticism and toughness. He can guard three positions on the floor and was a dominant defender in the ACC this year.
The question for Singleton has always been: Can he score enough to make him a lottery pick? Singleton averaged just 13 ppg as a junior and shot just 43 percent from the field. Florida State's inept, grind-it-out offense can be blamed for some of his woes. The past two summers Singleton looked much better at the summer camps than he did for the Seminoles. But some of it is on Singleton. While he's improved in virtually every aspect of his game offensively, he still needs to be more consistent.
Singleton looked good at ATTACK. Defensively, he was pretty dominant in the 3-on-3 action I saw. His lateral movement and explosiveness really make him a nightmare defensively.
He was shooting the ball well and showed NBA range on his jumper. This year he dramatically improved his 3-point shooting numbers from 30 percent to 37 percent, but still can be maddeningly inconsistent. While he shot it very well in workouts here, consistency continues to be an issue.
"I think, down the road, he has a chance to be a player that shoots in the 38 to 40 percent range from 3," Procopio said. "But it may take a year or two for him to get there. But he has all the tools, he's very coachable and he's a very hard worker."
A number of NBA teams believe he could be a bigger version of Ron Artest at the next level. A few others made comparisons to the Hawks' Josh Smith. However, Singleton doesn't have any of the attitude issues that those players have.
I expect him to keep marching up the boards during draft workouts. We currently have him at No. 13 on our Big Board and I could ultimately see him going somewhere in the mid-to-late lottery.
• Every year I stumble across a player who causes me to radically re-evaluate where I have him ranked. This year that player is Providence guard Marshon Brooks.
Within minutes of walking into the gym, it was clear that Brooks was playing at a completely different level than I'm used to seeing from college prospects. As I moved over to Grover, I began to grill him.
"Who does he remind you of?" Grover said with a grin. I was afraid to answer. Grover smiled and said, "There's a little bit of Kobe in him, isn't there?" He had read my mind.
When you consider that Grover trains Kobe, that's high, high praise.
Brooks was dominant this year in the Big East. He averaged 24.6 ppg while shooting an impressive 48 percent from the field. He had one of the best player efficiency ratings in the draft. He dropped 52 points on Notre Dame, 43 points on Georgetown and 33 points on Alabama. Every time he did it with scary efficiency. In the 52-point outburst against Notre Dame he was 20-for-28 from the field. He also proved to be a terrific rebounder, recording seven double-doubles this season.
Factor in that Brooks has solid size for his position (6-5), an amazing wingspan (7-2) and above-average athletic ability, and you wonder why Brooks hasn't been in the lottery conversation all year.
In February I spoke to a number of NBA GMs about him. While most acknowledged his talent, they had him as a first-round bubble guy at best. A few thought he'd go undrafted. Scouts said Brooks' numbers were inflated. They said his team was bad and he was a volume shooter despite his high shooting percentage and efficiency rating. A few called him selfish. Others questioned his attitude.
I don't see it. Not only was he dominant in the Big East this year, he was also great in workouts. He was able to get to the rack against everyone, including Singleton (which is a feat in and of itself). Grover has been working on tweaking his shot mechanics and he's shooting the ball much better. But it's Brooks' ability to put the ball on the floor and get buckets that's notable -- even a little Kobe-esque. His lateral quickness, step-backs and aggressiveness were as impressive as anything I've seen this year.
Off the court, Brooks came off as very focused and intense. He's very serious and confident in a way that could be read as ****y. But he has the respect of everyone in the gym and Grover said he's a very hard worker.
There are red flags. He's already 22 years old. He didn't really blossom until this year. His team won just four Big East games this year. But in a draft that's devoid of quality 2-guards, I think Brooks would more than hold his own in any workout with Alec Burks and Klay Thompson. We moved him up more than 30 spots on our Big Board to No. 22. With great workouts? I don't think lottery is out of the question. The kid can play.
• Purdue's JaJuan Johnson has been a bit of an enigma for me the past two years. He's always been long and is very athletic. He's got the size and leaping ability of an NBA player, but lacked the strength to play in the post at the next level. He's coming off a great senior season and over the past two years he developed a very solid perimeter game and even started shooting 3s this year.
That may ultimately be a critical transition for him. While Johnson continues to add muscle, he's a bit slight for the 4 position. However, as he continued to show in Chicago this week, he gets great elevation on his jump shot and was showing the ability to get his shot off against anyone. He could be a Hakim Warrick type player at the next level.
On Wednesday, Michigan point guard Darius Morris announced that he had decided to stay in the 2011 NBA draft. About an hour later, I was in the gym with him and his family as he prepared for the upcoming draft.
Morris is one of the most intriguing names in the draft. Scouts have told him that with one more year under his belt, he would be a potential lottery pick.
But since Morris declared on Wednesday, their assessment has gotten rosier. Morris has improved dramatically since high school and may be the most improved player in college basketball. NBA executives tend to love big point guards, and Morris is the biggest true point guard in the draft.
That was noticeable the second we walked in the gym. Morris is a legit 6-foot-5 in shoes. He has broad shoulders and has a power game that's reminiscent of a young Andre Miller. Anyone who has watched Morris play knows he can make the spectacular pass and really knows how to run a team. The question marks are around his jump shot and his lateral quickness.
While Morris doesn't possess the shooting touch of Kyrie Irving or the speed of Kemba Walker, he showed on Wednesday that he's better at both than he's given credit for. While he's not an elite athlete, he's quicker with the ball than you think and shows great control with his handle. Morris also showed off a terrific midrange jumper in drills. His NBA 3-point shot was solid but still needs work.
Morris has elite size and may have the best court vision of anyone in the draft. Add in his defensive abilities and a great, supportive family background, and I can see Morris sticking in the first round. We currently have him as the sixth point guard off the board and have him going to the Houston Rockets at the 23rd pick in our first full mock draft of the year.
Chandler Parsons, Wisconsin's Jon Leuer and San Diego State's Malcolm Thomas. Their trainer, former NBA big man Don McLean, had them doing some 2-on-2 action for most of the workout. George and Parsons guarded each other and Leuer and Thomas matched up.
Parsons really surprised me. I knew he was skilled and athletic for a 6-foot-10 player. But he showed aggressiveness that I just hadn't seen at Florida (video here). He went head-to-head with George for an hour. George is better, but Parsons held his own. He showed the ability to take George off the dribble to the rim, rise up and hit jumpers over George's freakishly long arms and most importantly he made a number of spell-binding passes to Thomas. Parsons' decision-making in the sets was fantastic. So was his shooting. He was hitting just about every shot he took and showed range out to the NBA 3-point line.
Scouts have always been high on Parsons' tools. It's been his lack of results at Florida that have caused his draft stock to slide. I think Parsons will have a great shot at the first round if he plays like he did on Wednesday. It was really a wow performance against one of the better young defenders in the league.
Leuer was just off the plane from Madison, Wis., where he was finishing up school. He's been putting in some work in Chicago in his spare time, and this was his first workout in L.A. Scouts are interested in him because of his size and shooting ability -- a potential Andrea Bargnani/Troy Murphy big-man shooter. He showed off his shooting ability in the workouts and showed range all the way out to the NBA 3-point line. He also has a good handle and is more agile than you think. A number of NBA GMs are mentioning Leuer as a first-round pick.
Thomas is an intriguing second-round prospect. He has terrific length and explosive leaping ability and showed off his defensive chops in the workout by blocking a number of shots. He's still pretty raw offensively and can display an inconsistent motor at times. But he's a very intriguing prospect in the second round. He's a likely invite to the Chicago pre-draft camp, in which he should do really well in the athletic drills.
5/17/2011 9:35 PM