Monday, June 15th, 2009...1:28 pm
Vasquez and Harangody Will Return to College
Jump to Comments
According to ESPN Greivis Vasquez and Luke Harangody will return to play their senior seasons at Maryland and Notre Dame, respectively. Both Vasquez and Harangody were on the Spurs radar: The former participated in a private workout with S.A. while the latter was interviewed by Buford and Co. at the Pre-Draft Combine.
I think this is a smart move for Vasquez, who was projected by Draft Express to be a late second-rounder (a projection I firmly agree with). I am a bit surprised to hear of Harangody’s decision though. Of all the player’s I saw at the Combine, he looked like he had one of the most NBA-ready bodies and the general buzz seemed to be that his stock was rising.
8 Comments
June 15th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I was just reading Tom Ziller and he said a little something about Omri Casspi
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/06/15/omri-casspi-aint-no-punk-as-austin-daye-quickly-learns/
With this continuing, it seems that Casspi is going to be taken before the Spurs can get to him in the second round, unless of course we trade up for picks.
June 15th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Would I giving the Spurs’ top brass waaay too much credit in believing they’re using Omri Casspi as a smoke-screen/deflection/shiny-object to lure the opposition away from another player they really want and have a legitimate shot at drafting?
June 15th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I’m surprised by Harangody leaving the draft as well. I’m not sure what’s left for him to prove in college and with this draft being relatively “weak”, he might have gone higher this year than others.
June 15th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Vazquez made a wise choice leaving, I think he was a borderline prospect at best and clearly needs to polish and refine his skills. However, I am not completely shocked to hear that Harangoady is back in the draft. I am somewhat happy as I am a Notre Dame fan but that is neither here nor there right now. I did watch a somewhat significant amount of Harangoady play and I think that he showed major flaws and weaknesses in his game against the top big men in college, especially in his own conference.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Didn’t we run Damion James in a 6 man workout and he backed out of the draft as well? How do you overlook the UT guy? Super athletic, good rebounding SF (PF in college) plus he’d sell tickets in Austin for the Toros. He’s missing out on taking advantage of this weak draft but I’m also glad he’ll be back for the Horns.
June 15th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
BlasE,
Although a big UT fan, I am actually not that high on James. He’s athletic but I think he has a decidedly low basketball IQ. I could go into all types of detail but honestly, I don’t think James is that good of a player.
If he was available very late in the draft, maybe he would be worth it. But there are a lot of guys currently projected in the late second round that I think would be more valuable.
June 16th, 2009 at 4:44 am
I agree with his weaknesses, but we did work him out and we have those 2 picks in the back of the second round in a weak draft. I don’t think he is doing himself any favors by not being in this draft. He will be undrafted next year or in the same spot he is projected at this year.
When you say “basketball IQ”, do you mean the ability to learn or just where they are at right now? I’ve always kind of wondered on that. Obviously, its a plus to have a high IQ, but the flipside always seem like a grey area. Is saying a player has a low IQ a nice way of saying he is more or less stupid or is it just saying he is rough?
June 16th, 2009 at 6:54 am
I don’t know James well (I met him briefly at the Combine), so I won’t speak to his actual intelligence, but on the court he makes poor decisions with the ball and has little sense of spacing. I don’t think he has a good instinctual sense of the game and his ceiling in terms of on-court intelligence is low. (So ya, maybe I am calling him stupid, but in a basketball way, not necessarily in general.)
If I thought a player was rough, I would put it differently. (for instance, I think Tyrus Thomas is rough, but I don’t think he has a low ceiling. If he had a consistent coaching presence and a few vets to show him the way, I think he could develop into a much savvier player).
Leave a Reply