[UNCStateGuy]

While I was digging through my files, I found some interesting things. These player rankings were done in the late summer and early fall by two of the most viewed draft websites around for the 2001 draft.

NBA Draft Report by John Thompson Top Player Rankings

1. Jason Williams
2. Yao Ming
3. Amare Stoudemire
4. Lenny Cooke
5. Jared Jefferies
6. Shavlik Randolph
7. Drew Gooden
8. Chris Duhon
9. Chris Marcus
10. Carlos Boozer
11. Rod Grizzard
12. Julius Hodge
13. Brett Nelson
14. Tito Maddox
15. DaJuan Wanger
16. Kareem Rush
17. Caron Butler
18. Brian Cook
19. Darius Rice
20. Marcus Taylor
21. Frank Williams
22. Dan Gadzuric
23. Altron Jackson
24. Kelly Wise
25. Melvin Ely

Other Noteworthy players

28. Kris Lang
30. Tayshaun Prince
31. Casey Jacobsen
32. Maurice Baker
39. Jamal Sampson
46. Vincent Yarbrough
47. Tamar Slay
51. Udonis Haslem
52. Lonny Baxter
55. Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
56. Bostjan Nachbar
57. Sam Clancy

NBADraft.Net's Player Rankings

1. Yao Ming
2. Amare Stoudemire
3. Jason Williams
4. Chris Duhon
5. DaJuan Wagner
6. James White
7. Drew Gooden
8. Carmelo Anthony
9. Jared Jefferies
10. Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
11. David Lee
12. Chris Marcus
13. Kareem Rush
14. Lenny Cooke
15. Rod Grizzard
16. Chris Wilcox
17. Kelvin Tolbert
18. Raymond Felton
19. Jawad Williams
20. Carlos Boozer
21. Darius Rice
22. Nickoloz Tskitishvili
23. Troy Bell
24. Julius Hodge
25. Rolando Howell

Other Noteworthy Players

27. Caron Butler
33. Chris Jefferies
36. Tayshaun Prince
38. Maurice Baker
39. Vincent Yarbrough
41. Marcus Taylor
42. Frank Williams
43. Jamal Sampson
44. Casey Jacobsen
53. Dan Gadzuric
62. Melvin Ely
67. Tito Maddox
86. Roger Mason, Jr.
95. Juan Dixon

I think this once again proves that conducting a rankings this early may be exciting but not accurate. It's interesting seeing how high Shavlik Randolph and Lenny Cooke were ranked and I have to wonder if Kendrick Perkins and Nbudi Ebi will suffer similar fates in terms of rankings (Thompson has both in his top 5 and NBAdraft.net has Perkins - I believe neither are top 5 picks and I don't think Ebi is even first round material). It is also interesting to see how Caron Butler, Melvin Ely and Juan Dixon moved up in the rankings while Carlos Boozer and Maurice Baker fell. Who are this year suprises going to be?
Nene Hilario and Marcus Haslip are nowhere to be found on either lists. NBADraft.net did a good job of scouting on Dunleavy, Tskitishvili and Wilcox while one has to be wondering what made John think Dunleavy should be ranked 55th. Anyway, I found this interesting and just thought I would pass it along. Both draft sites do a good job and I will continue to support them.

 

[CoolHandLuke]

I think Kelvin Torbert and Darius Rice's rankings are interesting. Also, what was John Thompson thinking? I mean, really, ranking Dajuan Wagner that low!? And, Dunleavy, 55? Coming into the season, anybody should have known how off those rankings were...

I hope Chris Hordel does a better job with his new site.

 

[JustinYoung]

It is certainly interesting to see the rankings in hind sight. Everytime Aran runs a new mock, I'll print it off and keep them on file for reference to see how high guys have climbed.

Keep in mind with international players, they usually see their stock jump a ton when the NBA season ends and they are having private workouts. Also, Nickoloz Tskitishvili was in the top 5 of the 2003 mock for a very, very long time. Cudos on that to Aran.

And regarding the high school players...their "stock" is usually pretty high at this point simply because of the time of year it is. The grass roots level is perhaps the hottest basketball during the summer. With all of the media attention, the players get blown up more than they really should. So with guys like Shavlik, Cooke and Stoudamire, they really feel into the rankings trap more than anyone.

Out of this year's bunch there really isn't a true high school to NBA player out there outside of LeBron. Don't get me wrong though, there are certainly a number of players that will be there but not right away.

UNCStateGuy you said, "I don't think Ebi is even first round material." Do you mean right now? If so, then yes I agree, but if you mean whenever he comes out, I disagree. This kid has super skills. Where have you seen him play?

If draft "analysts" really want to guage how a potential players are going to be for the next year, then they or rather we should be spending more time at Pro-Ams and pickup games at the universities over the summer. That is where the most growth happens. In my opinion, Pro-Ams are the most underappricated events to judge NCAA players talent.

I've been to couple to watch my brother here in Atlanta. Kenny Smith runs a very solid one here in Atlanta that features several NBA guys and a ton of NCAA guys. But they are very hard to get into and find a schedule.

I can't speak for anyone but myself here but I know for a fact that I go to as many events possible in order to guage how good players are. That is the key.

Not to call out John Thompson or anything but he does not do as much as he tells people. He is a fraud. I find it ironic that he has three high school players in his top 5 prospects. Outside of possibly watching video of James, I know he hasn't watched Ebi or Perkins. How can he judge their talent if he hasn't even seen them? Same goes for the others in the rankings, Brown, Iti, and Deng.

I've talked to several people in the "biz" and they've never seen him anywhere. Granted he was at Portsmouth and the Chicago camps but what does that mean? How many guys were drafted that attended Portsmouth? Not many.

He says he played basketball at Indian Hills CC. Well that's a lie. He never did. I've talked to their Sports Information Director and he said there was never a guy by that name on a roster.

Ask his former partner Matt Maurer about him. He'll tell you that he doesn't do as much as he says he does. So for those who buy his service or value his "service", I apoligize for all of this. It isn't my intention to blast him but I just think he is stealing from people.

He says he talks to scouts, coaches, players. Bull. I've asked people in the business, they always think it is the Georgetown coach. But of course he isn't the same person. If he were to talk to these people, why not quote them. Write stories about that. Quote them. So a picture that he or his site actually took.

Again, sorry for going off but let's make sure we realize how credible these sources really are. I'm sure this post will cause some controversy. That isn't my purpose. The purpose is just to have people think about what they judge as good info.

 

[rainman]

certainly shows it isnt an exact science but some of us,i mean some are better than others.anyone who had dunleavy as the 50th player or whatever would be suspect in my mind.it also shows how much uncertainty there is about highschoolers.i dont have a problem with them trying to get into the league as soon as possible but it isnt good for the nba,but in most cases it isnt good for anyone.

 

[UNCStateGuy]

<<Keep in mind with international players, they usually see their stock jump a ton when the NBA season ends and they are having private workouts. Also, Nickoloz Tskitishvili was in the top 5 of the 2003 mock for a very, very long time. Cudos on that to Aran.>>

Yeah I remember that to. In the defense on Nene Hilario, they had him targeted pretty early too. It's hard to tell when foreign players come out but he did his homework on him too. Nobody knew about Hilario and Vajero before the Goodwill Games though.

<<And regarding the high school players...their "stock" is usually pretty high at this point simply because of the time of year it is. The grass roots level is perhaps the hottest basketball during the summer. With all of the media attention, the players get blown up more than they really should. So with guys like Shavlik, Cooke and Stoudamire, they really feel into the rankings trap more than anyone. >>

I live in Raleigh and I actually could have told you from the start of Shavlik junior year that he wouldn't have been a lottery pick out of high school (or at least I felt he would be a bust if he was drafted in the lottery). Shavlik a great player but his game doesn't translate into the NBA well yet and a lot of players really "caught" up with him as he progressed in high school. I think guys like Sean May, Torin Francis and Chris Bosh improved far more than he did and in fact became better players. Now, I will admitt though that I bought into the Lenny Cooke hype. I thought Cooke was going to be a lottery pick with everybody else.

<<UNCStateGuy you said, "I don't think Ebi is even first round material." Do you mean right now? If so, then yes I agree, but if you mean whenever he comes out, I disagree. This kid has super skills. Where have you seen him play? >>

I do believe he could be a first rounder in a couple of years. I think he could even be a top 10 pick down the line. Right now though he is an undersized PF who hasn't developed his perimeter skills. I watched him play twice (both in AAU tournaments last summer - One was at a Bob Gibbons Camp in SC, the other in Dallas). I certainly am not a very credible source on his game but I do read Telep's and InsideCarolina's reports and from what I gather, he isn't a first round pick yet. Again, to say any top 20 player isn't first round material overall, is pretty crazy at this point.

Their are some summer games in Raleigh which some NBAers, Duke, Carolina, NC State and even some Wake and Charlotte players. I've watched several of them. Their aren't stats in these games and the play is pretty wild but they are very interesting.

I never intended for my rankings to bash Thompson (although I certainly could have). I have never gotten along with him through e-mails (in fact he once wished that I would die during a Jonathan Hargett debate - He said Hargett could be a future lottery pick - I said no-way. I really should have saved those. They were classics.) Anyway, I don't subscribe to his site and to be honest I don't think many other people do, either.

 

[Toney2Malone]

Funny Indeed

>>>Ask his former partner Matt Maurer about him. He'll tell you that he doesn't do as much as he says he does. So for those who buy his service or value his "service", I apoligize for all of this. It isn't my intention to blast him but I just think he is stealing from people.<<<

Yeah I have talked to Matt a few times but often he doesn't talk about his relationship with John he just says that it was a very big mistake. Yeah Thompson is a fraud everyone knows that he tried to tell a few people that he scouted for the Dez Moines Dragons. I called them and guess what they said "WHO." He said he went to Duke practices how as every Duke fan like myself knows Duke practices are closed to the public. His whole Biz is a joke he trys to make himself said as if he is a huge person in the world of the NBA draft and he's not even close to Monter or for that matter Maurer. I went to that site just to get Maurer's scouting reports he is one of the best that I know no offense nbadraft.net Anyways back to the issue when Matt left that made nbadraftreport.com a hugely less valued site and pegged Thompson as a Fraud.

 

[Toney2Malone]

Question

Does anyone know what is going on with Matt at www.maurerscouting.com ? Is he going to update it or what?

 

[jokeaward]

I think Kelvin Torbert and Darius Rice's rankings are interesting. Also, what was John Thompson thinking? I mean, really, ranking Dajuan Wagner that low!? And, Dunleavy, 55? Coming into the season, anybody should have known how off those rankings were...

Hehe