Posted by Jon Wilner on July 9th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
College Hotline With Jon Wilner
Bay Area News Group
The league has to fare better next June than it did last month, right?
Well, maybe not.
The Pac-10 had one first-round selection in the June ‘10 draft (UW’s Quincy Pondexter), its lowest total in 14 years. And it had only two overall draft picks (Stanford’s Landry Fields being the other), its lowest two-round total in 24 years.
That’s a pretty darn low bar.
But if you scan the 2010-11 rosters, it’s tough to find anyone who would be considered a lock for the 2011 first round, much less the Lottery.
There is no elite, established player — the polished upperclassman who could have entered the draft this year but opted to stay in school to improve his position for next June.
There are no Kyle Singlers, no JaJuan Johnsons. And … dare I say it? … there may not even be any Jimmer Fredettes.
(The top prospect on the west coast, it seems clear, is Gonzaga sophomore Elias Harris.)
Yes, it’s difficult to project this far out. Except at this point last year, it was clear the Pac-10 would have a dearth of draft picks in June ‘10, and it unfolded in exactly that manner.
Here are the Hotline’s rankings of the top returning draft prospects in the Pac-10, with no regard for the likelihood that the players will actually declare next spring.
Missed the cut: Washington G Isaiah Thomas, UCLA F Reeves Nelson, USC F Alex Stepheson, and Oregon C Michael Dunigan.
Washington PG Abdul Gaddy: Don’t let his rookie-year struggles fool you. Gaddy, who turned 18 in January, remains a first-rate prospect. He has the size (6-3), the ball skills and the court presence to be a mid-first rounder (or higher).
UCLA SF Tyler Honeycutt (left): In case it wasn’t clear during the season, the Hotline loves his game. He possesses more all-around skills (ballhandling, passing, shot blocking) than anyone in the league. All he needs is more experience, more muscle and a more consistent jumper.
UCLA SG Malcolm Lee (right): That Lee is third on this list tells you something about the Pac-10 talent pipeline — and what it tells you isn’t all that flattering. Lee’s an athletic, skilled wing guard, but his jumper is awful (25 percent behind the line).
WSU SG Klay Thompson: Scouts like (but don’t love) him. And sure, Thompson has a nice jumper and is capable of big numbers — he had a half-dozen games of 25+ points. But I can’t forget watching Thompson run away from the ball in the final seconds of the Pac-10 tournament loss to Oregon — he wanted no part of the big shot — leaving frosh guard Reggie Moore to try to rescue the Cougars.
Arizona PF Derrick Williams: Has everything you want in a young power forward (work ethic, skills, physicality) except for elite athleticism. Developing a mid-range jumper would help compensate.
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