DraftExpress and NbaDraft.net currently have the Bulls drafting Marshon Brooks with the 28th pick in the draft. I'm calling bullshit. There's no way he lasts that long. Still, we might as well dream: Who is this Marshon Brook you doth ask? He's the prototypical Bulls pick. He's a 6'5 (6'4 1/3 without shoes) shooting guard from Providence with a 7-1 wingspan. To put his length in perspective, his wingspan is just an inch shorter than small forwards Josh Howard, Trevor Ariza and Tracy McGrady. The average power forward drafted in the first round has a 7-1.8 wingspan. The Bulls seem to covet players with long wingspans, as seen in players like Brewer, Watson, Gibson, Noah and Deng. Brooks is also tested out as one of the quickest and most athletic players in the draft. He had a 38.5 inch max vert and a 34 inch standing vert, which was second only to Iman Shumpert. Brooks' three-quarter court sprint time was 3.09 (fourth best, D. Wade rocked a 3.07), and he had the sixth best lane agility times, tying him with Brandon Knight. So you're thinking, raw athlete with little or no discernible skills? He's actually the opposite of that. Brooks lack of buzz seems to stem from the fact that he played in college four years. This past season he averaged 24.6 ppg (on .483 fg%, .772 ft% and .340 3pt%), 7.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 spg, and 1.2 bpg. He had big games during the season against big name programs as well. 28p against Pitt (10 of 21); 27p against Louisville ( 7 of 14); 43p against Georgetown (17 of 28), etc. Nut case, right? Well, Brooks seems normal and rather articulate in interviews. You have to imagine the GMs get a hard on when he asks them what he can improve: [video=youtube;jw2cgO2ujWU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw2cgO2ujWU&feature=player_embedded[/video] What's his game like? Here are a couple of clips: [video=youtube;PQFhRBB8LQo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQFhRBB8LQo[/video] [video=youtube;LYQOYDhZ1TQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYQOYDhZ1TQ&feature=related[/video] It's always hard to use highlights to draw conclusions, but my initial take: -- Brooks is a scorer and a reasonable percentage of his moves -- much higher than average -- will translate to the NBA game. -- Relies heavily on his right hand to finish, but there are tons of players like that in the NBA. -- Brooks' release is a little slow but you have to like that mid-range shot. -- Brook's handles aren't ideal, as is common with many players making the adjustment from college ball to the NBA. All in all, he looks like the type of player you draft with some hopes for stardom, not the type you pick hoping to become a role player. Am I alone in writing off the Bulls' chances of acquiring him at 28? I'm thinking Brooks is more likely to go late lottery or higher.
Here's some footage from the combines: [video=youtube;0mq-JMf1szk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mq-JMf1szk[/video] And some footage from the G'Town game: [video=youtube;xH4mcDpFkbI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH4mcDpFkbI[/video]
I'd love to see him drop down to us, and given that he is a senior and he is older because of that, I think it's certainly possible, because you don't often see the older college players drafted too high - I can only think of a few that have gone lottery, that being Wes Johnson, Brandon Roy, Patrick Patterson... - and that's about it, and Wes and Patterson were both juniors (though Wes would have been a senior had he stayed at ISU). Anymore, it seems to be about the foreign-born players and the freshman, those seem to be the guys that go higher in the draft, and not the seasoned college player, and that's probably because they're not viewed as high-potential players...so who knows, maybe that could be the rap with Brooks and could be why initial mocks have him dropping to us. If he does, I'm completely ok with it, because he gives us a guy who can come in and start immediately and immediately fills our need at the two without having to shell out money for someone on the FA market. That being said though, I doubt he falls to us. But hey, we can dream and hope that people pass up on him because of his age.
At pick 28 I'll take whatever we can get, but I have a few doubt about him. Despite his combine numbers, it's clear to me that his in-game athleticism is below average. His best hope is that his offensive polish allows him to score with defenders draped over him, because I doubt he'll be able to get past them. He also has a slow release. And he looks like a volume scorer who needs the ball in his hands. A volume-scorer with a slow-release that can't create his own shot does not make for a productive NBA player. Just ask Adam Morrison. At best he looks like a John Salmons type. For us that wouldn't be so bad if he panned out, but I won't cry if we don't draft him.
Looking over DraftExpress's info, Brooks is the 3rd SG taken and one of the guys ahead of him is a SG/SF (actually, so is Brooks). Point guards and bigs are more highly prized. Not only is he a senior, but he didn't do all that much before last season. The SGs ahead of him had 2 studly seasons even though they didn't stay 4 years. There are also concerns about him fitting into a role as something other than the primary scoring option, and because Providence played mostly zone, concerns about his man skills. Taking it all into account, wouldn't surprise me if he's there at 28.
