NBA Draft question

Question for those of you who are up on the NBA and college basketball:

What's the deal with North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough and the NBA Draft? Admittedly, I don't watch a lot of basketball, but it seemed like everytime I looked up the past couple of years it was Hansbrough this, Hansbrough that. College player of the year, national championship team. Typical big man on campus (literally as well as figuratively).

So why is there so little talk about him by these so-called draft experts? Is there something surrounding him (drugs, whatever, etc.) that was reported earlier and I might have missed? I hear a lot about Blake Griffin, but not nearly as much about Hansbrough. What's up?

 

Good college player. Most discussions end there, although there are some who say his "toughness" will transfer into the NBA and help him get acclimated to the league.

Apparently, his stock is rising this week and he's being talked about as a mid first-rounder.

Personally, I don't think he'll be all that good. We'll see. This draft class blows except for the guards.

 

I think he'll be a valuable bench player. Rebounding and range transfer to the NBA. He'll figure the rest out. I'm a UNC shill so take it FWIW but he'll probably have a better career than say, Danny Green.

 

What the draftniks and talking heads would categorize as 'limited upside'. Great college player who's pretty much topped out at that level. In terms of an ACC comparison, somewhere between Sheldon Williams and Christian Laettner.

 

OK, so how does a guy manage to dominate at that level, be player of the year and all, and have other players that don't accomplish as much rated higher? That doesn't make any sense to me. I guess I could understand if he was a guard and only 6-1, where people might say size was an issue. But for a big man, it puzzles me.

Heck, Sean May, who I thought wasn't anywhere near as good as Hansbrough at North Carolina, managed to survive, although certainly not a superstar.

Someone mentioned Laettner, who, if memory serves me correct, was the No. 3 overall pick.

 

He needs to develop a face-up game. He won't be able to get his shot off in the low post on a consistent basis because he plays below the rim and is not long.

Sean May isn't surviving in the league. The Bobcats did not make a qualifying offer to May allowing him to leave without compensation. Sean May is a major bust.

 

As for Hansbrough, see Redick, J.J. and Morrison, Adam.

Great college players who's game didn't roll over into the league. Happens all the time. Nothing rare about it.

 

There are very few back-to-the-basket posts in the NBA, and the ones that are successful at that type of game -- Shaq, Duncan, etc. -- are significantly larger than Hansbrough. We're talking about a league where 7-foot Zydrunas Ilgauskas' best asset is his long-range shooting. Big men in the league need to be excellent passers and possess a good mid-range shooting game, and I don't think Hansbrough fits either of those bills. Also, all those foul calls he got in the ACC because of reputation, he ain't gettin' in the league.

 

Heck, Kevin Love went in the top five last year. And I thought Hansbrough, at least at this stage of their careers, is a better player than Love. Oh well.

 

The problem for players like Hansbrough is that he'll be facing bigger, faster and stronger players inside than he did in college. It's the problem whenever you step up a level at any age, from NCAA to NBA to 7- and 8-year-old girls' softball to 9- and 10-year-old: suddenly everyone is better, and your skills might be blunted as a result.

 

Mark, there is a long list of "great" college players who were busts in the NBA ... step too slow, an inch too short, not enough range, etc. etc.
I think Hansbrough will be a decent bench player in the NBA because he has ability and plays hard all the time. He'll be a good role player who will help a good team but he's not going to make a bad team significiantly better, as Blake Griffin can.

 

Wow, you're really using Sean May as your comparative to argue that Hansbrough should be drafted higher? I guess you've been watching a different NBA than me, because May's not really been "managing to survive", he's been a huge disappointment (although much of that is due to injuries). If NBA GMs were guaranteed that Hansbrough will have a career like May's then he wouldn't be drafted at all.

The best college players often make shitty pros, and there've been many outstanding pros were mediocre college players. It's two different games, and NBA scouts have gotten pretty good at figuring out which skills transfer and which do not.