<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"><font face="Arial">Marty Blake, NBA scouting director, said Danny Granger and Andrew Bogut will both make fine professional basketball players, but he isn't dubbing them draft stars. Blake was one of about two dozen pro scouts who watched Granger, New Mexico's all-everything senior forward, and Bogut, Utah's larger-than-life sophomore center, duke it out in The Pit on Monday night. He called it an exciting game with a dynamic Pit crowd, but added it paled in comparison to the talent players face on an average night in the NBA. Without the elite competition, Blake said, fans are getting an inflated view of the Mountain West Conference's biggest studs. "Granger's a great athlete, but don't let anybody tell you he's a first-round pick," Blake said. "I'm not saying he's not going to be a first-round pick, but there's going to be 26 Europeans with a lot of experience entering the draft this year, and you'll have five or six solid high school kids. "I think he's an NBA player, but most of these college players have a long way to go." Bogut, who posted a breakout performance in the summer Olympics for his native Australia, earned an equally harsh assessment. "Bogut has got a great future, but he needs to stay in school," Blake said. "He'll get stronger and develop a better hook shot if he stays in school. He is not playing against people his size. There are no centers. This is a kid with tremendous international experience. He's no secret, which means he's expected to be a good player." </font> </div> Source
Blake certainly has credentials and yet it seems the same logic applies to the assorted Euros and High school phenoms,the imports expected in this draft are in large part guys who last draft were too young,who have size and some tools but were just getting to the point of being starters on teams abroad. The ACC is pretty talent deep,but most other conferences are not,and when it comes to effective 7 ft centers in college right now Bogut is the only guy so there is nobody to gauge him against as you might have compared Olajuwon and Ewing back in their time. I watched a bit of Bogut,and what I saw was a guy with agility,sneaky quickness,some touch,and I like that he doesn't slack off like some big men. Blake is sharp but has some east coast bias. I agree Bogut would be more polished in a year,but if you look at who has the probable top picks-they are teams needing a quality center who has skills to play now,and from Boguts angle,top of the draft money is hard to pass up. The draft has change in the 40 yrs I've followed it,with twice as many teams,talent gets spread thinner. A lot of player focus on the flash and lag in fundamentals,some have plenty of vertical leap and no work ethic and the most talented enter the draft early,before their game is complete. lately scouts seem to think there's Novitskis all over Europe,despite evidence to the contrary
