DeAndre Jordan (photo. Texas A&M)*Reprinted from Dime #42, on sale now*
After championships are won and lost, the NBA, college and high school basketball lays its foundation in the summer months. With the draft, the AAU circuit and summer camps giving rise to new stars replacing the old — plus the world’s most-watched basketball tournament getting underway in Beijing — we give you this summer’s Players 2 Watch…
DeANDRE JORDAN
They’re waiting for DeAndre Jordan. Waiting for him to blow away the scouts and GMs at his individual workouts. Waiting for him to produce tall tales of amazing height, wingspan and body-fat percentages at the pre-draft camps. Waiting for him to ride that momentum into a Top-5 or Top-10 Lottery selection. And then, waiting for him to embark on a pro career that more closely resembles Stro than ’Zo.
They’re waiting for DeAndre Jordan to fail.
One year ago, Jordan came to Texas A&M followed by lofty expectations, and with good reason: the Houston-bred prep All-American was 6-11, 250 and still growing, and had dominated the high school circuit as a ferocious shot-blocker and rebounder who’d been drawing regular comparisons to Dwight Howard.
Then the season started, and Jordan struggled. Against nonconference foes Arizona, Alabama and LSU, he put up 13 points and 10 rebounds. Combined. Things didn’t improve when the Aggies moved on to Big 12 play – he only had two double-digit rebound games, and was held under five points on six occasions – and then Jordan outright disappeared in the postseason. He played five and four minutes, respectively, in Big 12 tourney games against Kansas State and Kansas, then logged an average of 10 minutes a night in NCAA Tournament games against BYU and UCLA. To local reporters, Aggies coach Mark Turgeon explained Jordan’s minutes by simply stating he was playing the players that would give the team its best shot at winning.
None of this, of course, was enough to hurt Jordan’s standing on mock draft boards. He’s still got the size, still got the athleticism, and he’s still just 19 years old. And the NBA is full of guys who went through a rough patch that doesn’t necessarily reflect their skill level. But although Jordan has that history on his side – Marvin Williams, Gerald Wallace, etc. – there is also a wasteland of Lester Earls and Samaki Walkers out there, standing in his way as warnings of taking potential over production.
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June 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
if you have 2nd thoughts about a big man….keep on thinking and pass over them.
drafting the wrong big man (brendan haywood) can set your team back up to 3yrs
June 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Uhm... says:
i really doubt drafting haywood is the reason the wizards haven’t been a great team
June 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Celts Fan, "Kobe, Tell me how my @$$ tastes" says:
meet the next successor in the Derrick Coleman Memorial “If He Only Gave a F*ck” Team (currently captained by Kwame Brown)
June 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
jimmhumm says:
The NBA is hard. Some pople got it others don’t. One thing to remember though you can’t teach height. Dude can learn skills enough to survive look at Nazr Mahaumad. If your 7 feet tall and can run you can get buy in the league for at least 7 years.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Yoooo says:
Anybody who spends a 1st draft pick on this nigga is dumb. He avgd 10 min a game!!! For an A&M team who I can’t recall exactly who there best player was. With proven guys like Dorsey still around why waste time and money on a sure shot bum
June 24th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
YOUNGFED says:
Kwame Brown all over again. Why does the NBA think that you can just learn how to play over night. The Sh*t ain’t work with Darko and it ain’t gonna work with him. These chumps ain’t no F*ckin’ Steve Austins. The don’t try to build players from scratch at any othe postion, Why Center?
June 24th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Kobeef says:
I heard him called “the next Steven Hunter” which I think really puts things in perspective.
That said, Greg Oden was picked #1 last year without an offensive game and Jordan might be a better athlete than Oden.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Maybe he will be something or maybe he won’t. I wouldn’t use a first round pick on him though. Think Kwame, Darko, Stro, Cedric Simmons, Michael O (don’t know how to spell his last name but you know who I’m talking about), Patrick O’Bryant, Saer Sene, Robert Swift, etc. The list for first rounders that didn’t or haven’t panned out is longer than the list of second round suprises as far as big men are concerned.
“You can’t teach height”, they say. But you also can’t be effective in the NBA if that’s all you have.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
hahns says:
comparing deandre to oden? a bit of a reach imo…
i hate how guys like love have to struggle to convince ppl theire worth a lottery pick while guys like deandre jordan are assumed to be worth a lottery pick. it was his to lose, and according to a lot of mock drafts/reports, scouts are catching on and his stock is falling.
shoulda stayed in school.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Mister Sun says:
yeah really, love, a guy with actual skills, has trouble getting into the lottery whereas a guy who cant play basketball is a lock, or has been until now.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Ejay225 says:
Man you can’t compare him to Oden LOL! Oden was a much bigger recruit, and if you want to get down to it, compare freshman years. Don’t quote me, but Oden averaged around 15 pts, 9 or 10 boards a game. How’s Deandre compare? HE DOESN’T!
Go Blazers!
June 24th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Joey D (NJ) says:
Dude the kid averaged 20 mins a game over the season and 8 PPG, 6 RPG… if he played 30 minutes a game your looking at 12 and 9 which aren’t greg oden numbers, but their still impressive. aside from all these facts is that he shot 61.7% from the field. alot of games he would take only 5 or 6 shots, so expecting him to put up double figures on only 6 shots is asking alittle much. let the kid get a couple years of coaching, playing time, and more shots. i think he can develop. it could still go either way, but to say he will not become anything in the NBA is illadvised.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
doc says:
If his minutes average was low that means he aint shit.Thats the most important stat on seeing how good a player is.If he cant get the fuck in for A&M he stinks.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
makedr says:
he is a humor guy,many friends like to chat with him online on tall dating site ___Tallmingle.com___,He often told us some funny jokes. Seems he is famous on that site,especially some hot models talk with him positively.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Big Sneezy says:
This guy is a horrible basketball player. All he has at this time is height and potential. Pains me to see real ball players like Chris Douglas Roberts or Brandon Rush have to “impress” in workouts in order to even get drafted in the first round. Man, those guys impressed throughout their college careers! All the while, these 7-foot suckers are first-round locks just because they have big feet. Even Hibbert has a some low-post skills and has played in the Final Four, and he’s projected to go lower. Don’t these teams know that by the time projects like Jordan develop into decent players, if they even get that far, that they are probably free agents and looking for another place to play?