Ryan Blake is the NBA's deputy director of scouting. You'll start to see a lot of him in the next few weeks on pre-Draft shows. He says the Draft will get interesting when the Nets pick.
"Is New Jersey going to take Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins or Wesley Johnson?," he asks, assuming Evan Turner is gone. Turner, he thinks, is going to be special. "I think Evan Turner can be like a Dwyane Wade."
Blake has a more positive view of Cousins than Favors. He knows Cousins has red flags but lavishes him with praise. "He did improve so much this year in his maturity on the court from rebounding to offensive ability to recognizing double teams in the post to passing out. He showed good court awareness and can dominate". Bottom line: "If Cousins comes up, I'm taking him."
Blake thinks Favors is a "garbage man" in the NBA, but, "He wasn’t able to do it early in the season at Georgia Tech and didn’t show he wanted the ball and it may have been the system, but he played with no complaints, which was a plus. As the year went on and the games got more important, his confidence rose, he showed better footwork and more energy and played within himself."
Bottom line: he thinks the draft is deep with some gems in the second round. His overall sleeper: Kansas' Xavier Henry. "He can really shoot the ball".
- Ryan Blake: "Evan Turner can be like Dwyane Wade" - Marc Narducci - Hoopshype
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Three possible Kings - Jason Jones - Sacramento Bee