Is DeMarcus Nelson a pro? (photo. Duke)As usual, once the national championship game is in the books and focus turns to the NBA Draft, everyone is talking about which underclassmen are going pro while the seniors are being ignored. To be honest, this past season’s senior class wasn’t all that — when Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster was presented with the award for the nation’s top senior during the Final Four, no one I was watching the game with knew who Foster was until they showed his name on-screen.
For a lot of NCAA seniors hoping to get drafted, this week is huge. Today is the first day of the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational, the seniors-only AAU-style tournament where players are put on teams at random for a few days’ worth of drills and five-on-five scrimmages, where lower-profile prospects traditionally have been able to get a serious look by NBA scouts and perhaps get their name on someone’s draft board. Check out this year’s Portsmouth field below, and point out how many impact pros/solid NBA rotation guys you see:
POINT GUARDS
Parfait Bitee, Rhode Island
Jamar Butler, Ohio State
Ramel Bradley, Kentucky
A.J. Graves, Butler
Marcus Hall, Colorado
Drew Lavender, Xavier
Derrick Low, Washington State
Bo McCalebb, New Orleans
Jason Richards, Davidson
Russell Robinson, Kansas
JaJuan Smith, Tennessee
Jonathan Wallace, Georgetown
TWO-GUARDS
Adrian Banks, Arkansas State
Demetric Bennett, South Alabama
Aaron Bruce, Baylor
Stanley Burrell, Xavier
Jaycee Carroll, Utah State
Joe Crawford, Kentucky
Jonte Flowers, Winona State
Gavin Grant, NC State
Mike Green, Butler
Alex Harris, UC-Santa Barbara
Marcelus Kemp, Nevada
Dominique Kirk, Texas A&M
Chris Lofton, Tennessee
Ron McKiver, Houston
Anthony Morrow, Georgia Tech
DeMarcus Nelson, Duke
Mykal Riley, Alabama
Brian Roberts, Dayton
Richard Roby, Colorado
Sonny Weems, Arkansas
Reggie Williams, VMI
Martin Zeno, Texas Tech
SMALL FORWARDS
Pat Calathes, St. Joe’s
Patrick Ewing Jr., Georgetown
Gary Forbes, UMass
Justin Hawkins, New Mexico State
Brian Laing, Seton Hall
Quan Prowell, Auburn
Arizona Reid, High Point
Mark Tyndale, Temple
Deron Washington, Virginia Tech
POWER FORWARDS
Dwayne Curtis, Ole Miss
Josh Duncan, Xavier
Bryant Dunston, Fordham
Kentrell Gransberry, South Florida
Kyle Hines, UNC-Greensboro
Othello Hunter, Ohio State
Darnell Jackson, Kansas
Joseph Jones, Texas A&M
Anthony King, Miami (Fla.)
Rob Kurz, Notre Dame
James Mays, Clemson
Charles Rhodes, Mississippi State
Will Thomas, George Mason
Darian Townes, Arkansas
Leon Williams, Ohio
CENTERS
Brian Butch, Wisconsin
Chris Daniels, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sasha Kaun, Kansas
Longar Longar, Oklahoma
Aleks Maric, Nebraska
Shaun Pruitt, Illinois
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April 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am
shake&bake says:
Doesn’t look like anyone who will be significant on the next level is on the list. Nice to see Jason Richards get the invite after Davidson’s run.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Brown says:
Who the hell is Longar Longar???? If your last name is the same as your first name, you shouldn’t be allowed to play pro sports. Plus, your parents are lazy, or stupid.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Blue says:
Sasha Kaun will be a decent pro
April 9th, 2008 at 9:07 am
heavy d says:
Impact? Not too much, but I see some late 2nd round possibles who might make a roster depending on how many guaranteed spots are already filled. Chris Daniels was getting pub last tourney from UT-Corpus Christi, but fell off the radar this year. I assume too many saw him enough to fall out of like with him, but he is 7′1″. Stanley Burrell might be able to make as a perimeter D man.
1 other call out, James Mays. He was supposed to be a superstud at Clemson but between injuries and whatever never got it completely together. Wasn’t he projected to be a 1st rounder if he came out 2 years ago?
April 9th, 2008 at 9:10 am
TWolves Convert says:
There are a number of guys that will be solid pros/role players, but no dominate guys. I think Charles Rhodes, Darnel Jackson, Lofton, and Low will make impacts.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
iain. says:
deron washington, demarcus nelson, burrell and i think pat ewing jnr suits the pro game a lot more than ncaa he could surprise a lot of people, plus hes 6′8″.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Octopus Jonny says:
I’d like to see Deron Washington get picked up by someone just to get some garbage time youtube highlights.
Brian Butch is not an NBA player.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Big Shot BOB says:
I like Russell Robinson, Josh Duncan, Chris Lofton, and Pat Ewing Jr. from this list all could be solid pros especially Robinson and Duncan.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
yallallreadyknow says:
all bums. very few impact players
no duke player should ever be taken in the 1st round again
playing at duke is a front. i aint a duke hater, but look at some of the players to be lottery picks just cause they played at duke:
cherokee parks
mike dunleavy (decent–but he was picked THIRD overall)
will avery
corey maggette
chris carawell
jj reddick
dantay jones
bobby hurley
trajon langdon
elton brand was 1st overall; i aint got no problem with that. jay williams was 2nd overall; i aint got no problem with that either. but carlos boozer was a 2nd rounder. we all know the duke curse and know that coach k makes you a good college ball, not a pro balla.
but why gm’s still drafting duke players in the 1st round all the time? even as lottery picks?
dont they know they players are overhyped just be putting on the blue devil jersey?
get caught up; lame as scouts
April 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Austin Burton says:
@Brown - The “same last name as the first name” thing is an African thing that you see pretty often. It’s just a cultural difference. But hey, don’t let me stop you from sounding ignorant.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Common Sense says:
Austin with the heat.
Educate, playa
April 9th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
James says:
Othello is the truth- from the 336 he can straight ball- The ohawk with the mohawk will surpirse people
April 9th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Jason says:
Wow Duke hater in the house! Field me a starting 5 from any school better in the league right now then this.
5- Elton Brand
4- Carlos Boozer
3- Corey Maggette/Grant Hill/Dunleavy(getting buckets)
2- Loul Deng
1- Chris Duhon (admit the 1 spot is the weakest)
Thats maybe the top but def a top 3 starting 5 of any NCAA team in the league RIGHT NOW!
April 9th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Billy Sunday says:
Marcelus Kemp
April 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
LD says:
derrick low plays pretty solid defense, will have a place on some nba team
April 9th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
ballin says:
where the hell is kyle weaver!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Brown says:
Ok AB, my bad. That was pretty ignorant of me. I thought he was european.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Austin Burton says:
All good.
Now … is my man Jonathan Wallace a pro? I think he could be, but I doubt he gets drafted.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
doc says:
Somebody gonna make a name for theyself.Mike Green from Butler a point not a 2.That Duke team you put together would get killed in the league J.
April 13th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
jamie says:
Hm, let’s see-Tim Duncan, Josh Howard, Chris Paul, then even with Justin Gray and Eric Williams coming from overseas to finish that team out, I suspect they would take the Dukies you just listed.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Jake says:
does anyone know if jone flowers got drafted? or is with an NBA team? that kid can dunk!