Welcome to my world, "Ask Derren"

[DERRENMATTS]

Hey y'all. Welcome to Derren's corner. I am no expert when it comes to NBA prospects, but I do catch my fair share of college games and in time, I may get to see some top european prospects via a friend who lives in europe. So I do my own scouting and offer my assesment on a lot of the high potential players (and not so high potential players) ready to make the jump to the pros.

I will use this board to field questions about the draft and its players and answer them to the best of my ability, so fire away. I have learned my lesson about talking and hyping up players I have not seen with my own eyes. So if I'm not able to give you a good answer to your question, I apologize and I'll do what I can to catch that player in the future to give you a "Derren's scouting report".

Message to MODS: Please do not create any threads on this board. You may reply to Derrens thread.

Thank You
Loyalist

[mancesco]

Just wanted to be the first one to reply
Congrats on having your own section!

[DERRENMATTS]

mancesco said:

Just wanted to be the first one to reply
Congrats on having your own section!

Thanks, Cesco. In time, you'll have your own too.

Any questions you'd like me to answer regarding players who will be in the coming drafts?

[mancesco]

DERRENMATTS said:

Thanks, Cesco. In time, you'll have your own too.

heh, maybe...
As far as questions about future draftees, none at the moment, but if something comes up i'll be sure to ask.

[cfoo]

So how is this going to work? Is it going to be us mainly asking questions and you answering or will you profile prospects as well. Id like to know who you think will be the top players at each position etc.. Or am I creating work for you already.. I don't mean right away but it would be cool to have an updated list of Derren's top prospect's etc. And it can be updated until we near the draft etc..

[DERRENMATTS]

Question (from CF00): So how is this going to work? Is it going to be us mainly asking questions and you answering or will you profile prospects as well. Id like to know who you think will be the top players at each position etc.. Or am I creating work for you already..

--No, I'll have a seperate thread for prospects and other draft news/articles. I'll keep this one strictly for answering questions.

--Here's my assesment of the top players at each position:

C- Andrew Bogut: He's a true Center, unlike many of the wanna be's in college. Legit 7 footer with strong rebounding skills, hands like a vacuum, and solid footwork in the paint. Nimble around the basket, but not very mobile. Good at tip ins and put backs. Relies on craft rather than muscle. He tried to be bulkier, but his agility was stunted. So he dropped some mass and is back to being nimble again. Works for him, but his lack of weight will be tested in the NBA.

PF- Josh Boone: He would have been my top choice at Center if Bogut did not exsist. But PF is his more natural position. Hard worker and a student of the game, especially in the post when rebounding. Knows how to position himself to seal off opponents and square himself up for rebounds. Aggressive defender/rebounder and has good timing on blocking shots. Footwork is getting better on offense. Not overly athletic or strong, but he has a good balance of size and quickness. Great guy to have off the bench or a solid option in the starting rotation.

SF- Charlie Villanueva: This guy has gone from disappointment to the top of the list, IMO. He went from a shy/timid player with unrealized potential to a monster rebounder and aggressive scorer who's beginning to scratch the surface of his game just like that. Here's a guy who can mimic Lamar Odom in almost every part of his game. He's tall and athletic like Odom and his arm reach is like that of a Boeing 747. He's just as quick and just as quick getting off the ground. He's got the three point shooting touch and he can attack the rim. He's not quite the ball handler Odom is, but he's pretty reliable. Also doesn't have the court vision Odom has, but he can make difficult passes when it presents itself.

SG- Rashad McCants: This guy is an unbelievable scoring machine. If not for all the potential NBA players on UNC"s team (Felton, May, Jawad and Marvin Williams), McCants could be leading the nation in scoring. He can kill you in so many different ways: He's acrobatic around the rim, he's deadly from the perimeter, running the breaks is his specialty, and getting to the line is a given every game. Excellent body control and he's got a strong and sturdy body that allows him to draw contact and finish.

PG- Raymond Felton: I am picking Felton as the best passing PG in college. He's not the best scoring PG, nor is he the most talented PG. But when it comes to passing, there's no one better than Raymond. He makes difficult passes look routine. I've had to rewind the tape so many times to see how in the world he could have seen the passing angles. Laser-like passes and he's extremely precise with his passes. He can excite the crowd with just his passing. There's no full court press that can contain him and there's no defender who can stop him from getting the ball to where he wants it to go.

[cfoo]

I like your picks Derren. Some guys you wouldn't expect. Especially Boone. I'm surprised you have him rated as a top PF, but I agree he is a good prospect. I'm assuming you are taking into account who fits with the C's here and who may be available when we draft? It's interesting NBADraft.net actually has us taking Boone now. I remember you mentioning him a while back and I liked it. Now NBADraft has us taking him when he wasnt even on their radar before..

[DERRENMATTS]

CF00 said:

I like your picks Derren. Some guys you wouldn't expect. Especially Boone. I'm surprised you have him rated as a top PF, but I agree he is a good prospect. I'm assuming you are taking into account who fits with the C's here and who may be available when we draft? It's interesting NBADraft.net actually has us taking Boone now. I remember you mentioning him a while back and I liked it. Now NBADraft has us taking him when he wasnt even on their radar before..

Yeah, I had Boone on my radar before I even heard anyone mention his name. Actually, I'm not factoring in players who I think will fit in with our system. The players I've listed are the guys I think are the best in college at their positions. Sure there are guys like Sean May, Chris Taft, Ike Diogu, Wayne Simien, Hakim Warrick, Marvin Williams, etc., who many think are better than Josh Boone. But from what I'm watching, Boone plays with the most heart and he gets the job done with little fanfare. Of course, this may be biased since it is my assesment and I like Boone a lot ;D

[forevergreen]

Cool, it's the DerrenMatts rookie prospects zone! Nice job DM. ;D

I hope that the rookies we want will actually come out this year. (This means you Charlie V.!) It would make the draft deeper and give us the shot of getting a better player in the teens (which is where I hope we end up picking as opposed to the single digits, no need to tank the season yet!).
My big prospect of the day is the big man at LSU Brandon Bass, will he come out this year and what do you think of his game?
www.draftcity.com/viewprofile.php?p=53
Check out the profile link and here's a link to check out some stats:
www.lsusports.net/index.cfm?md=calendar&tmp=schedule&nid=286&pnid=278&l=2&cpid=0&catid=10&category=MB
I'd like to see this kid play as our big 3 and as a backup 4.

[BCHISTORIAN]

exactly two years back on january i was hoping to get hinrich and perkins with our two picks
exactly one year ago i was crazy about al jefferson and raymond felton
this year i wish for danny granger and still wish for raymond felton

you know i have/had never seen these kids play at college or high school but i have pretty good vision regarding our needs, so let's hope we'll get at least one of them. the only way i'm willing to endure hinrich as a bull is when we have felton

[DERRENMATTS]

Question (ForeverGreen): My big prospect of the day is the big man at LSU Brandon Bass, will he come out this year and what do you think of his game?

Answer: I haven't really seen Bass that much since he joined LSU. But I will get a chance to see him today and can give you a more detailed assesment, good or bad. I don't think he will come out this year. I view him as a 3 - 4 year guy in college. But here's a snipit of what I wrote yesterday in a different thread regarding what I know of Bass:

I was impressed with Brandon Bass when he was a senior participating in the McDonald's All American game. He's got good lateral movements for a big guy and seemed like a determined rebounder. He got some hard dunks that impressed me and I thought he was going to be a heck of a freshman. He really didn't disappoint, but he also didn't get as many minutes as a freshman.

As a 6'8" PF (probably a bit shorter), his chances in the NBA will be tested. He's not overly strong or overly quick, nor is he a long player or that great an athlete.

Bass does have game, though. What I like about him is that he's a big guy who likes contact and gets to the line. Many Big Men these days are perimeter oriented and they don't get to the line. Brandon Bass does. Last year, he got there roughly about 6 times per game, and the impressive thing about this 6'8" PF is that he can hit the FT's!!! As a diaper dandy, he hit 78% of them. This year, he's hitting a whopping 88.9%!!! Even if there's a lot of games to play yet, so far he's gotten to the line 62 times and has only missed 7 FT's in 14 games.

More on this after I watch the game.

[DERRENMATTS]

BC, I have circled 2/14 and 2/28 on my calendar--those are the days the New Mexico Lobos are going to be on television. Until then, I do not have an assesment to give, other than what I can tell from reading his stats over the past 4 years.

But from what I'm seeing in his stats, he's an incredible looking SF prospect. This kid got the height and size (6'8", 220lbs), he's got the scoring touch (roughly about a 19 ppg player the last three years, including this year), about an 8 rpg guy (for a SF, this is great), he can hit the three's (averages about 3 attempts per game, and this year, he's hitting them at a 54% clip), he's a good shooter (stays near 50%), can block shots, and swipe passes. He's the total package from what I'm looking at.

I'm a big fan of Charlie Villanueva now, since he turned his game on, but I can't wait to see Granger so that I can see if he's for real. Joey Graham is another SF prospect who has intriguing skills. He's a pretty sharp midrange shooter. But he's not a very good rebounder and he's just an average shot blocker. I also question his basketball IQ--doesn't seem to know the game that well. Same goes for Hakim Warrick. I have never had him that high on my list.

But there's hope for Granger. I'll give you a better report after the 14th of Feb.

[BCHISTORIAN]

yeah i know you haven't seen him play. just eager to hear about him. don't worry though. btw - granger had a mini surgery and should be back in february

[JoeC43]

Hey Derren! Congrats on having your own corner! Could you give me the lowdown on Adam Morrison of Gonzaga? Joey Graham of OSU? Could be the players to fit our big 3 wishes! Thanks! More power!

[joneb]

Derren let me humbly ask your "world-ly" opinion of local UVM talent Taylor Coppenrath- is he someone we should be looking at?

I saw him play once last year in the NCAA game and he looked pretty talented. If UVM doesn't get into the tournament this year, Coppenrath may end up "below the radar" of many teams, making him a potential sleeper.

Thoughts, oh world-ly one?