[Cracked Sidewalks] NBA futures for the 3 Amigos - An interview with Draft Express President Jonathan Givony

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

NBA futures for the 3 Amigos - An interview with Draft Express President Jonathan Givony

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (muwarrior92)

We had the pleasure of chatting yesterday with Jonathan Givony, the President of Draft Express, on the NBA prospects of the three amigos from Marquette.  Jonathan was kind enough to to answer a few questions and give us his expert opinions on the topic.

Currently, Draft Express has Wesley Matthews, Dominic James, and Jerel McNeal projected in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft.


Question 1 - What goes into your evaluation process when looking at players and determining if they have a chance in the draft.


We attend a ton of games in person....we were just at the Big East tournament for example.  After doing this for a number of years, we have a solid understanding of what the NBA is looking for, what type of talents, body profiles, athleticism, etc. that are needed to make an NBA team.  We talk to the teams, to their scouts, we share information back and forth and factor all of this into our evaluations.  Obviously different scouts have different opinions on the same players and their future prospects.  At the end of the day, we use all of this information along with with what we see with our own eyes to make our evaluations.



Question 2 - What is your general opinion of the 2009 draft - weak or strong?


That's difficult to answer this far in advance of the draft.  There are too many unknowns at this point in terms of who is coming out early or will stay for another year.  However, there are 5 to 6 guys that if they come out could change the draft considerably, and it would have a potential effect on the three Marquette players because of where they are currently slotted in the second round.

Some others are down on this year's draft, but I think it's pretty strong and its deep if these additional players decide to declare.  It's potentially missing a bit of star power at the top but there are quality players up and down.  You might find an all-star in the group late in the first round.  Ultimately you evaluate the draft after the players have played in the league.  



Question 3 - Your 2009 mock draft has three Marquette players slotted for the second round.  Who has the best chance to have a long term NBA career?


This may surprise some people, but I think it's Dominic James.  He is a great athlete and has become a true point guard now.  Certainly he is not a great shooter but I think that can be fixed with tweaking. His stroke needs to be dissected but I'm not as down on his shooting as others are because it can be fixed.  He's a tremendous defender as well.  Good point guards are hard to find and if he can stick, he can have a productive NBA career.

McNeal has a chance for a good NBA career and most experts would say of the three he has the best chance to stick the longest.  I like his game a lot.

Wesley has good size but he does things that many other players do.  He's at a disadvantage from that perspective because so many other players at his position have those same skill sets.



Question 4 - Do you think the Dominic James injury has hurt him at all with this draft prospects?

I don't think it will affect much.  I wasn't able to see the game against Missouri but he will heal, he has time before the draft.


Question 5 -  What is your opinion of players drafted in the 2nd round...are they better off being drafted or hoping for a free agency route?

GM's don't like to waste picks.  Those are assets and GM's want the players they draft to make the team.  It doesn't reflect well on them if they are drafting players that don't make it.  So in my opinion it's better to be drafted then go the free agency route because you have a higher probability to make the team.

However, if you're not drafted it's not the end of the world for players because they can selectively target those teams that need their skill set.  Of the three Marquette players, James might benefit the most if he's not drafted from the free agency route.  James is a true point guard and teams need those skills.


Question 6 - In years past we have seen an influx of foreign players selected in the NBA draft.  What are the foreign prospects this year?

This might be the first draft in a number of years where a true foreigner (Brandon Jennings excluded) isn't selected in the first round.  It depends who from abroad decides to make themselves eligible.  Overall, this draft appears that will skew more toward American players than in years past.  The foreign crop isn't as strong.





Question 7 - Lazar Hayward will be a senior next year and should finish in the top 5 at Marquette in scoring and rebounds.  What are his NBA prospects?

I like him as a player...he rebounds, he can post up and shoot with range, he defends adequately.  We have a profile of him on Draft Express because he has possibilities.  However, we do not have him the 2010 board right now.  He needs to get better during the summer in some areas, especially putting the ball on the floor.  His size dictates that he would be a small forward in the NBA and he doesn't have a high enough skill set right now in putting the ball on the floor (left hand is weak, dribbles in straight line), creating his own shot, etc.  He has played the power forward spot at Marquette but his size dictates he would be a small forward in the NBA.  He doesn't seem to have the quickness or ball handling ability to play that position in the NBA.  We'll be monitoring him next year.





Jonathan has been scouting potential NBA players for years along with consulting for various professional teams. He is currently blogging through the NCAA tournament.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2009/03/nba-futures-for-3-amigos-interview-with.html

[GGGG]

Unfortunately I think he is right about Wes.  Guards like him are a dime a dozen in the NBA.

I have said for awhile that I think DJ could have a Jacque Vaughn like career in the NBA.  He is even projecting a little better than that.

[bamamarquettefan]

Yeah, great to see him predicting a potential long NBA career for DJ.  I've been following another service and discouraged that they didn't have Dominic going in the two rounds, but from his comments, sounds like he thinks DJ will probably latch on whether he is drafted or going free agent.

[bma725]

In an odd way, I think the injury may have actually helped DJ's draft status.  If you're a scout responsible for this area for a NBA team and you've seen how MU plays with DJ and how MU plays without DJ, there can be no question about how important he was to the team and how much better he makes the players around him. 

You can always work on a jump shot, especially with a year or two on an NBA bench.  For example, Michael Redd was known as a slasher at Ohio State and had a 3 Point % similar to what DJ has at MU.  A year on the Bucks bench and constant off season work to refine his stroke turned him into a much better perimeter shooter.

[4everwarriors]

Following your line of reasoning then, why hasn't DJ's shot improved over the past 4 years? Was it lack of coaching or commitment on his part?

[GGGG]

The NBA is full of players who improved their jump shots tremendously once they got out of college.  Oftentimes it doesn't happen in college because their game doesn't need it and because practice time is limited.  If DJ really works at it, he can develop a good jump shot.  bma mentioned Redd...but Michael Jordan was another one.

[Bling]

I'm not comparing D Wade to James but Wade's jumper wasn't very consistent in college either and look how far he has come with some NBA coaching and tweaking.  James can definitely improve on that and could be a very good NBA point guard with some dedication and time

[MUCam]

Limited practice time in college is the key. There are no study halls or 9:00 am classes in the NBA. A player can dedicate an 8-10AM slot solely for shooting every day and still have more "free" time than he did in college.

[bma725]

Following your line of reasoning then, why hasn't DJ's shot improved over the past 4 years? Was it lack of coaching or commitment on his part?

I'm not sure it was either.  He definitely got coaching on his form, and he tried to change it, I just don't know if it was the right coaching because he never seemed comfortable after that. 

When you watch his form in high school, he made a lot of shots, but he had a quirky form.  He didn't jump high, but he jumped forward and landed a few feet in front of where he took off.  That's not something you want to do when someone is guarding you close, there's just too much risk of injury.  Rightly so, the staff tried to change that.  Which led to him changing how he jumped, and I don't think he ever got comfortable with that.  So what you saw was a guy that jumped different every time.  Sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes forward, sometimes back, sometimes side to side.  You can be a good shooter doing any one of those things, you can't be a good shooter doing them all at different intervals.

What he needs is to just start fresh, and work on something completely different with an unlimited amount of practice time, something he doesn't have in college.  They talk about how the guys don't leave practice until they make a couple hundred jumpers...in the NBA it's much more than that and they have unlimited practice time available.

[TallTitan34]

I'm hoping Dom can get back to 100% for the upcoming draft camps.  Does anyone know when those begin?

[bma725]

I'm hoping Dom can get back to 100% for the upcoming draft camps.  Does anyone know when those begin?

The official NBA camp is May 27-31 in Chicago.

Portsmouth Invitational is April 8-11.

[bamamarquettefan]

Good comments all, and in particular bma725 I think you are right on the mark.  A lot of the Chicago guys - Wade etc., didn't develop jumpers with the theory being they played outside in the windy city and a jumper was not as reliable as going to the hoop.  One note on the high school form though, I actually talked to someone who scouted him in high school and he claimed that DJ only shot 46% when leading Indiana in scoring.  When you consider how many dunks he reportedly had in high school, he really must have shot pretty low percentage on jumpers even back then.  I do agree that his stock went up during the entire injured stretch - as I blogged - Wes and Jerel shot 33% from the floor when Dominic was out, and amazingly lit it up again as soon as he was back the final game - even though he wasn't any where near 100% and really Acker played a better game than him from everything I saw.  That and opposing point guards being shut down by him, and then going off when he was gone. 

[Rollout-the-Barrel]

I agree with almost everything, except the "windy city=no jump shot theory".  I just think it's more fun for kids to dunk. 
Good to hear some positive feedback for DJ.