NBA Eye For The College Guy

While you were watching March Madness college games last weekend and thinking, “damn, I had Long Beach State in the sweet 16,” NBA general managers and scouts were watching the games thinking, “damn, should I draft that guy?” The NCAA tournament is the ultimate smorgasbord for NBA scouts, a chance to see most of the top players playing against one another.

So, among the local college crop, who should you be watching? Who do the NBA scouts and GM want playing for their team?

USC’s gunner Nick Young is at the top of the list. If he decides to come out of school this year he likely get drafted somewhere between 15th and 22nd (depending on which mock draft you like). He is athletic and NBA guys love players like Young who are “long” (meaning their arms are disproportionately long for their bodies). They also love guys who can shoot and Young has proven he can do that, hitting 45.7% from three-point range this season on his way to 17.6 points per game. There are concerns about his focus — he had some off games and often appeared disinterested on defense. But 6-6 guys who can create their won shot and then hit it will always have a place in the NBA

Another Trojan of interest is junior point guard Gabe Pruitt. He is expected to stay in school one more year, but likely would be a first round pick next year. He’s got skills but has been inconsistent all season, then he turned around and earned big bonus points with his impressive play against Texas on Sunday. He completely outplayed the much more heralded DJ Augustine, which turned a few heads. One more year of polish in college, playing along side future star and potential off-the-court problem OJ Mayo, may score him more points with NBA types.

What about powerhouse UCLA?

While the Bruins play well as a team they don’t overflow with the NBA-type athletes you’d expect from a top team. The one guy the scouts really drool over is not the All American — they want point guard Darren Collison. Right now the NBA is trending toward speedy point guards who can set up teammates — see Steve Nash or Tony Parker or Chris Paul — and Collison fits that mold. He’s become a real team leader who can score when needed, The good news for Bruins fans is that he’s expected to come back for one more year, but after that he could be one of two Bruin lottery picks (along with incoming super-frosh Kevin Love).

Support for All American Aaron Afflalo remains pretty tepid, if he comes out this year he may not get drafted in the first round (which is bad, first rounders get three-year guaranteed contracts in the NBA, second rounders have no guarantees and often struggle to even make an NBA squad). There’s no doubt he can shoot the ball, but he doesn’t create his own shot (UCLA runs plays and screens just for him, in the NBA you don’t get that luxury unless your name is Kobe), and Afflalo is not that athletic. In the right NBA system, one where he’d be asked to just hit a lot of threes while a Kobe/Dwyane Wade/Tracy McGrady type created the shots, he could be a good fit. But teams are hesitant to take that risk. He could come back to UCLA for one more year.

One guy to watch that you don’t know about? Try Bobby Brown out of Cal State Fullerton. You haven’t seen him but the scouts have. Brown is an explosive point guard who can create his own shot and score 20 points a game — while Long Beach made the tournament Brown was the best player in the Big West. He needs to work on his defense, but a quick guard who can score will always get a look from the NBA honchos.

AP Photo by Rick Bowmer