Saw this on ESPN about Bill Walker and thought it was an interesting read. Was in an article about prospects at Grover's gym. He hurt his ACL the same time Krstic did and is 4 years younger than Nenad. Hopefully Nenad will come back his old self in November. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ESPN)</div><div class='quotemain'>Bill Walker, G/F, Kansas State Walker has been on the NBA radar screen since 10th grade. His explosive leaping and scoring abilities drew comparisons to Vince Carter. By the time he first became eligible in December 2006 at Kansas State, many NBA scouts had him pegged as a potential top-5 pick in the 2007 NBA draft. But then disaster struck. Just seven games into Walker's college career, he ruptured his ACL. Walker struggled to come back. He showed up with a touring American team in Italy at the Reebok Eurocamp and looked slow and overweight. By the time his sophomore season started, Walker was regaining some of his athleticism, but he was still 20 to 30 pounds overweight and struggled to put it together on the court. With the exception of one huge game versus Cal, Walker didn't start turning it on again until late December. By the end of the season, Walker was beginning to look like the player we once knew in high school but still seemed far from becoming a potential lottery pick again. A disappointing NCAA tournament for Kansas State ended most of the talk about Walker's even cracking the first round. However, two months later, a different Walker is on the court. Walker has dropped nearly 30 pounds and has totally rehabbed his knee, and I'm happy to report he is dropping highlight reel dunks by the minute. "He's been an animal in here," Grover said. "He wants it. He's been working really hard, and it's paying off. He's so explosive, and he's always in attack mode." Walker also is working on stabilizing his jump shot. Although his shooting has improved over the years, he doesn't have the needed consistency. Grover also has been working on teaching Walker the nuances of the game. He's been showing him film of Wade and Paul Pierce. Walker spent a considerable amount of his time on Wednesday working on his jab step, for example. Walker told me he's skipping the Orlando pre-draft camp and is hoping to land in workouts against some of the other top small forwards in the draft -- Greene, Joe Alexander, Rush and Douglas-Roberts. If he feels he'll be a first-round pick, he likely will stay in the draft. It will be interesting to see how NBA teams react to Walker. The last time he looked like this, he was considered one of the top players in the draft. Does he have enough time to convince GMs that the old Bill Walker is back? He's off to a scintillating start.</div> Link West Virgnia native has to be enticing to Thorn.
Also in that article there is an interesting comparison between CDR and Rush. I've liked both and I'd be happy with either one of them at #21.
Getting hurt like this has got to be one of the toughest things on an athlete. Not only does it take a huge amount of dedication to rehabbing to get back close to what you were, but you have to overcome the fear factor of not getting hurt again. Vince was Jordan-like until he got hurt and when he came back wasn't quite the same player. He was obviously still a great talent and all that, but he avoided contact in ways that took his game down a notch. Marcus Fizer was #4 pick in the draft and was coming into his own with the Bulls. ACL injury, rehab, and the team put pressure on him to play before he was fully done with the rehab. Now he's out of the league and likely in some sort of trouble. Cross your fingers for Krstic.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 22 2008, 09:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Getting hurt like this has got to be one of the toughest things on an athlete. Not only does it take a huge amount of dedication to rehabbing to get back close to what you were, but you have to overcome the fear factor of not getting hurt again.</div> Which is why Greg Louganis is awesome.
His first tests will be with the Serbian National Team which begins exhibition games right around the time the Nets will be negotiating with him (or not). He plays PF for the Serbs with Darko at center. I dont think it will mean a thing if the Nets draft a big man on Draft Night. There isn't one of them ready to fill his role. But if the Nets do a draft night deal to get Bargnani, then you might see some real transatlantic hardball.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 22 2008, 09:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Getting hurt like this has got to be one of the toughest things on an athlete. Not only does it take a huge amount of dedication to rehabbing to get back close to what you were, but you have to overcome the fear factor of not getting hurt again.</div> Nailed it right on the head. Krstic looks scared to post up fearing his knee may twist the wrong way and make him rehab for a whole year.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 22 2008, 10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Marcus Fizer was #4 pick in the draft and was coming into his own with the Bulls. ACL injury, rehab, and the team put pressure on him to play before he was fully done with the rehab. Now he's out of the league and likely in some sort of trouble.</div> Last I read, Fizer was overseas, doing just fine for himself. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>After Tzvika Sherf took over as Maccabi coach on January 1 following the departure of Oded Katash, Marcus Fizer became the key member of a side which was on the up.</div> http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pag...d=1209626991614 He just got injured, but it tells how he was a key player on Maccabi Elite http://www.bulgarianbasket.com/en/player.p...p;sex=1&m=4 And MVP of the D-League 05-06 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>On March 31, 2006, he was named the NBA Development League MVP for the 2005-2006 season.</div> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Fizer So...he's not doing too bad for himself right now.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ May 23 2008, 07:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 22 2008, 10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Marcus Fizer was #4 pick in the draft and was coming into his own with the Bulls. ACL injury, rehab, and the team put pressure on him to play before he was fully done with the rehab. Now he's out of the league and likely in some sort of trouble.</div> Last I read, Fizer was overseas, doing just fine for himself. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>After Tzvika Sherf took over as Maccabi coach on January 1 following the departure of Oded Katash, Marcus Fizer became the key member of a side which was on the up.</div> http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pag...d=1209626991614 He just got injured, but it tells how he was a key player on Maccabi Elite http://www.bulgarianbasket.com/en/player.p...p;sex=1&m=4 And MVP of the D-League 05-06 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>On March 31, 2006, he was named the NBA Development League MVP for the 2005-2006 season.</div> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Fizer So...he's not doing too bad for himself right now. </div>Doing just fine? He'd probably trade all that for being a role player in the NBA with guaranteed NBA contracts.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrooklynBound @ May 24 2008, 01:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Doing just fine? He'd probably trade all that for being a role player in the NBA with guaranteed NBA contracts.</div> But...he's got a guaranteed contract with one of Europe's powerhouses, Maccabi Elite.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ May 24 2008, 01:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrooklynBound @ May 24 2008, 01:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Doing just fine? He'd probably trade all that for being a role player in the NBA with guaranteed NBA contracts.</div> But...he's got a guaranteed contract with one of Europe's powerhouses, Maccabi Elite. </div> And he has to live in Europe away from his family. There's a chance he'd RATHER be there, but I doubt it. EDIT: A guaranteed 2 year 2 mil contract from Maccabi. Big deal. He's not doing bad for himself.. making the best of it - but I'm sure he's not where he expected to be coming out of college.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrooklynBound @ May 24 2008, 02:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ May 24 2008, 01:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrooklynBound @ May 24 2008, 01:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Doing just fine? He'd probably trade all that for being a role player in the NBA with guaranteed NBA contracts.</div> But...he's got a guaranteed contract with one of Europe's powerhouses, Maccabi Elite. </div> And he has to live in Europe away from his family. There's a chance he'd RATHER be there, but I doubt it. EDIT: A guaranteed 2 year 2 mil contract from Maccabi. Big deal. He's not doing bad for himself.. making the best of it - but I'm sure he's not where he expected to be coming out of college. </div> Eh, at least he's not in trouble.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ May 24 2008, 01:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrooklynBound @ May 24 2008, 02:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ May 24 2008, 01:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrooklynBound @ May 24 2008, 01:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Doing just fine? He'd probably trade all that for being a role player in the NBA with guaranteed NBA contracts.</div> But...he's got a guaranteed contract with one of Europe's powerhouses, Maccabi Elite. </div> And he has to live in Europe away from his family. There's a chance he'd RATHER be there, but I doubt it. EDIT: A guaranteed 2 year 2 mil contract from Maccabi. Big deal. He's not doing bad for himself.. making the best of it - but I'm sure he's not where he expected to be coming out of college. </div> Eh, at least he's not in trouble. </div> True, like I said, he's making the best of it and that means a lot. It's one of the keys to life.
