Life In The DPC!

The Chicago Bulls won the NBA draft lottery and will likely bring K-States Michael Beasley to the United Center. The University of Nevada’s former big man, JaVale McGee, left after his sophomore season for the chance to be a lottery pick and per ESPN’s Chad Ford he will plucked by the Washington Wizards at the 18th pick in the first round.

McGee is another wildcard. Long, athletic and skilled, he has huge upside and can fly up and down the court. But his thin frame and lack of position mean he’s a few years away from contributing. - Chad Ford

Any speculation at this stage is a crapshoot, except maybe Beasley and Derrick Rose going within the first two picks. But I do feel the need to throw in my two cents about McGee and his draft prospects. There is little doubt that McGee is a physically gifted player. His combination of height, wingspan and athletic ability makes most talent evaluator foam at the mouth unfortunately he has shown more promise than results. This is to be expected since he is a 20-year old that played sparingly in his freshman season and then went on to average 14.1 ppg and 7.3 rpg in his sophomore campaign at Nevada. But for each highlight reel worthy dunk or shot block there were just as many instances where McGee disappeared in games or punted balls in the stand. Okay, there was one punting incident.

As a Nevada alum I have an extreme bias with regards towards McGee’s decision to go pro and this is based on my selfish desires as a fan and how he could have dominated Lawlor Events Center for two more seasons. But alas I will wish McGee all the best because you go to college to mature and develop human capital and McGee has definitely developed into an elite talent in his field.

In an ideal world he would get drafted by the Golden State Warriors and become the perfect big man for Nellie Ball. You gotta think that any coach that can turn Matt Barnes into a scoring threat can do wonders for McGee.

Nick Fazekas and Ramon Sessions both fell into the 2nd round of the 2007 NBA Draft. The Dallas Mavericks grabbed Fazekas with the 4th pick of the 2nd round, 34th overall, and the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Sessions 56th overall. Sessions had one year of eligibility remaining but opted out of his senior year to remain in the draft.

Sessions has three point guards ahead of him on their depth chart including Maurice Williams.who averaged 17.3 ppg and 6.1 apg for the Bucks last season. Based upon need Sessions will likely make the roster if he can maintain the top notch play he demonstrated at the Orlando Pre-Draft Camp.

“He’s going to bring a defensive element, and at 6-3, that’s a good size,” Bucks GM Larry Harris said. “He would make the team as a defensive player and obviously at some point guard. The challenge was to try and find someone and find a niche that he can make it.”

Fazekas goes to Dallas as Dirk Nowitzki’s backup and takes over a role once filled by Keith Van Horn, a player Fazekas has often been compared to. At this point Fazekas’ role on the Mavs will likely be limited to rebounding despite his collegiate reputation as a sharp shooter.

“We got a young guy who has plenty of energy,” Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. “I called him on the phone and said, ‘We’re excited about having you and some of the things you can do,’ and he said, ‘Coach, I can do everything.’ So at least he’s confident.”

*Note: The 2007 NBA Draft is June 28, 2007 and here is DraftExpress’ take on Nick Fazekas and Ramon Sessions.

Nick Fazekas:

May 17, 2007
It’s tough to draw too many conclusions considering that we only saw one workout here and didn’t get to take in any 5 on 5 action either (he didn’t want to be the only big man out there we’re told), but there are some things to be quietly encouraged by from what Fazekas did show us in the workout we attended.

For one, his body obviously looks a lot better after spending the last 6 weeks here in Carson. He was criticized by some in the media for dropping out of classes and heading here to prepare himself as best as possible to maximize himself for his professional career, but after seeing the results, it’s impossible to argue with that. Fazekas has added 11 pounds to his frame so far while dropping 1.5% of his body fat, looking a lot better in his upper body in particular. Beyond just pumping iron and putting on weight the way a bodybuilder would, they seem to have restructured it completely the way you would hope it would be proportioned. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that most Nevada fans would have a hard time believing what the people at Athletes’ Performance have been able to do with his body in such a short time.

Beyond his frame, Fazekas has clearly spent some time working on his shot. It’s not like he was a bad shooter before he came here, but he’s an even better one now. We charted him at an extremely impressive 80% from the NBA 3-point line on over 100 shots over the course of the workout. For any player that would be considered a very solid showing in an NBA private workout, but for a player who measured out here at 6′9 3/4″ barefoot, that is especially noteworthy.

Any way you look at it, his shooting mechanics with his feet set are nothing short of gorgeous—especially the rotation he gets on his shot. In motion is where is percentages drop considerably, though, as his body tends to drift along with his feet and he lacks the same dead-eye accuracy he gets from a stand-still position. Considering what his role will be in the NBA, we’re not sure that is going to be all that much of an issue.

Fazekas in general is not the most productive player in the world once he gets in motion. He noticeably lacks quickness and explosiveness, which limits his ability to create his own shot either in the post or on the perimeter. For that reason exactly he will have to adjust to being the type of player in the NBA that keeps things nice and simple—catch and shoot jumpers from 18 feet and out with his feet set, pick and pop plays, jump-hooks and turn-around jumpers in the post, etc etc.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a role for a player like that in the NBA—maybe even a substantial one—but a team and especially their head coach will need to realize exactly what they have on their hands before they decide to commit to him. From what we understand, Fazekas will not be participating in the NBA pre-draft camp later this month. That might be a little disappointing for those looking to evaluate his defense and rebounding in a competitive setting against more athletic players than he normally went up against at Nevada, but the counter argument to that is that big men like him don’t usually touch the ball much in those settings. Regardless, it’s our belief that anyway you slice it, there is a place in an NBA rotation for a player like Nick Fazekas.