Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Russell Westbrook
Without reading too closely that looks like UCLA will be losing like 10 players but it’s actually only three names (although I still kind of expect to hear Darren Collison declare as well). UCLA’s incoming recruiting class is pretty ridiculous with 4 borderline top 50 guys, but it’s asking a lot of freshmen, even very talented ones, to overcome these losses. As far as these guys in the pros, I don’t love any of them. Clearly Mbah a Moute is the least highly regarded of the three and I think he’s probably a second round pick at this point. Because of that I would actually expect him to be back at UCLA next year. Love and Westbrook have said they plan on keeping their eligibility in case they change their minds, but they’re not changing their minds. Love is probably a mid first rounder at this point and I do think he will have value in the NBA because he is clearly skilled. His deficiencies have also been well documented and for good reason; they will likely keep him from being a star. Westbrook has said if he’s not likely a top 20 pick he might be coming back. Because I have a hard time seeing him fall below 10 I think it’s essentially a lock that he’ll be in the NBA next year. That’s too bad because although Westbrook clearly has the athleticism he’s not a great shooter and I don’t think he has the point guard skills. Other than athleticism I’m not sure what his NBA quality skills are but if he’ll be drafted in the top 10 he’s got to go.
Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur
Rush is officially done at Kansas after declaring the second time and signing with an agent. Rush is a poor bet to be an NBA star but that’s OK with where he’ll likely get drafted. With his overall talent and shooting ability he should be a decent starter or a very good player off the bench. I figure he’ll go in the mid to late first round. Arthur is not signing an agent but he figures to be a mid first rounder so I would not count on seeing him in Lawrence next year. Arthur is frustrating because you see something like the national title game and he’s incredible. Then again, you might have watched one of the eight games this year when he couldn’t score 8 points. The talent is there but the consistency is not. I have a hard time seeing him doing much in the NBA for a few years.
Jeremy Pargo
I like Pargo a lot and I think he can be every bit as good as his brother (and I do view his brother as a solid bench player). Jeremy isn’t going to sniff the first round this year though so he’d be well advised to return to school and I figure he probably will.
Bill Walker
Walker has preserved his eligibility and I’d be curious from someone that knows his situation better than I do (Chad?) what will likely happen with him. If I were an NBA team I’d want to see another year of him progressing both from injury and in terms of building skills. He can be a beast but I still think he needs to work on his ball handling and outside shooting which should help his ability to be a good penetrator (because his body seems to be made for that).
1 comments:
On Bill Walker: It seems pretty obvious to most that Walker would benefit from another year at K-State. We're talking about a guy who was predicted to be a lottery pick before his injury last year. Next year, he wouldn't be "playing second fiddle" to Beasley (or OJ Mayo, as he did in high school) and for the first time in his career he will be "the man". Add in the fact that next year's draft looks considerably weaker and it seems like a no-brainer. The issue here is how much will Walker's desire to go to the NBA cloud his thinking. He's already spent 2 years at K-State, which is probably one more year than he planned on being there and he may not be willing to put off the NBA for another year, even if it does appear to be the right thing to do.
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