Still waiting on Collison, Thabeet
Posted: Friday, April 25, 2008 3:08 PM
Filed Under:
NBA draft
What’s the deal with the other draft? You know, the one where college basketball prospects have to inform the NBA of their intentions by Sunday?
Click here to see who’s in. The last few days were especially busy.
Tyler Hansbrough’s headed back to North Carolina. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington will put their names in the draft, but neither will sign with an agent. (An early guess? They’ll both be back, but it’s a coin flip with Lawson.)
Kansas’ Mario Chalmers, Texas guards D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams, Miss State’s Jamont Gordon and Memphis’ remaining two underclassmen starters, Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier all put their names into the draft earlier this week. (Abrams, Anderson and Dozier are all going back, but the other three could stay in.)
Florida’s Nick Calathes is returning to Florida. Same with Tennessee’s Tyler Smith.
That leaves two notable prospects who still haven’t announced their NBA draft plans: UConn center Hasheem Thabeet and UCLA point guard Darren Collison.
At this point, it seems likely that both will be staying.
Thabeet told the Hartford Courant on Wednesday that he hoped to reach a decision soon. (Read: This weekend.) The 7-3 center, still a raw prospect who doesn’t have many offensive skills, is the kind of player teams will love – but don’t know what to expect.
Collison – who was reportedly declaring for the draft weeks ago – has also been mum while other teammates have put in their names. In another year without a glut of point guards (Augustin, Lawson, Derrick Rose, Jerryd Bayless and even O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon, though both of them are really shooting guards), Collison could be a lottery pick. Now, he’s likely bound for the late teens or even the 20s.
If both return to school, they’d be on the shortlist for the various player of the year awards and could easily be lottery picks in 2009. Wouldn’t that be the smart play?
