<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tony Ronzone has been watching Nick Fazekas play basketball for Nevada for three years, and Ronzone sees Fazekas' upside. "I kind of compare him to Christian Laettner. If he can be Christian Laettner, he can play 12 years," Ronzone, the Detroit Pistons' director of basketball operations/director of international scouting, said Tuesday. "Teams in the league are always looking for a shooter. That's a huge upside." Leading up to the June 28 draft, the speculation has been that the 6-foot-11 Fazekas could go anywhere from the late first round to the early second round. Fazekas, who is an early-entry candidate for the draft, said he would return to Nevada for his senior season if he's not convinced he would be a first-round selection. Early entry candidates can withdraw by June 18 and retain their eligibility. The comparison to Laettner is intriguing because the former Duke star averaged nearly 13 points and seven rebounds in his NBA career from 1992 to 2005 with Minnesota, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Washington and Miami. "I think he's on the border (of being a first-round selection)," Ronzone said of Fazekas. "I think he's going to go anywhere from (No.) 23 to 42. That's a huge range. That will start cutting down in the next two, three weeks with workouts and teams getting a better feel of what they're looking at." Getting picked in the first round, among the top 30 players, means a guaranteed contract. Ronzone said it will be clear whether Fazekas will be selected in the first round by June 18, when Fazekas must decide whether to remain in the draft. "Some team will let him know, 'You're our guy, or you're not,'" Ronzone said. "It's an exciting time for him." Ronzone, who played for Nevada on its first two NCAA Tournament Division I teams in 1984 and 1985, said Fazekas made the right choice in becoming an early entry candidate. This year's draft isn't believed to have as much depth of talent as the 2007 draft, starting with the talented high school seniors who weren't eligible for the draft this year but will be in 2007.</div> Source
