VITALS: 6-5, 201, Maryland OVERVIEW: An emotional leader at Maryland, Strawberry relied on his defense, surpassing the 200-steal mark against Davidson in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. He was named to the All-Defensive first team and the All-ACC second team last season. Strawberry came back to have a promising career after suffering a season-ending knee injury during his sophomore season, averaging a career-high 14.9 points in 2006-07. LIKELY DRAFT POSITION: Late second-round pick. COMPARATIVE UPSIDE: Randy Brown. COMPARATIVE DOWNSIDE: Justin Love. ROLE PROJECTION: Defensive-minded guard who will defend both guard spots. POSITIVES: The son of former baseball star Darryl Strawberry has a well-earned reputation for playing hard all the time and for being a pesky defensive player. He is extremely strong and powerful physically and likes to use his physicality against smaller guards. His offensive game is not polished, but he showed improvement on his jump shot at the NBA Pre-Draft Camp and in individual workouts with NBA teams that followed. Strawberry is a total team player and often played out of position at Maryland to help his team. SHORTCOMINGS: Strawberry is a shooting guard but shooting isn't one of his major assets. He needs to be able to make enough perimeter shots to keep defenders honest. While he played a season as the primary point guard at Maryland, his playmaking skills are not likely to be good enough at this point for him to show versatility by playing minutes at point guard. If anything, he could more easily adjust to playing some time at small forward.
