Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 12:00 pm  |  93 responses

Top Small Forward Draft Prospects

Volume 2.

by Jeff Fox

While the shooting guard class of this year’s draft is a little weak, the small forward spot is like a Snickers bar—packed. Except it’s not peanuts it’s packed with, it’s stud NBA prospects. And while a Snickers bar really satisfies you, this draft will satisfy teams looking for an athletic wing player.

1. (2) Al-Farouq Aminu – Wake Forest – FR
It’s almost too close to call when trying to choose between Al Farouq-Aminu and Earl Clark. Aminu gets the slight edge at this point due to his age (he’s two years younger than Clark) and length (over a seven-foot wingspan). If he could become an outside threat he’d be the full package.

2. (1) Earl Clark – Louisville – JR
On a stacked Louisville roster, Earl Clark is a standout. Like Aminu, he needs to become more of an outside threat, but he is a tremendous, versatile athlete. His shot blocking and rebounding skills make him a special prospect.

3. (3) Chase Budinger – Arizona – JR
Earl Clark One player who doesn’t have to worry too much about improving his 3-point stroke is Chase Budinger. He’s improved his accuracy to over 40 percent from out deep and is still hitting about two long-bombs a game. Add to the mix his explosive athleticism and you’ve got yourself a solid NBA prospect.

4. (6) Damion James – Texas – JR
It has been a disappointing year for Damion James and the Texas Longhorns. Texas currently doesn’t find itself ranked, and James’ draft stock isn’t as high as it once was. The transition to full-time small forward didn’t go as smoothly as hoped this season, as he’s become less of a 3-point threat and his rebounding numbers have also decreased.

5. (5) Austin Daye - Gonzaga – SO
The potential is definitely there—a 6-11 small forward with long arms, the ability to hit the outside shot while also grabbing boards and swatting shots. His thin frame and off-season knee injury are big red flags, though.

Next in line:
DaJuan Summers, Georgetown; Tyler Smith, Tennessee; Omri Casspi, Israel; Sam Young, Pittsburgh; Vladimir Dasic, Serbia.

Not expected to enter draft:
Kyle Singler

Jeff Fox also writes about college hoops and the NBA draft at College Hoops Net.

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  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Clark wants to do too much, but to me thats not as abig of a ‘mental’ flaw as getting down on yourself and essentially taking yourself out of a game.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    For the record, the Zags have been on maybe a dozen nationally televised games this year.

    And dude, you should have seen Daye against Montana State-Bilings…….

    that was a joke.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Montana State-Billings?…THATS the joke

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    ciolkstar, to me, shooting your team out of games is just as bad as isolating yourself out of a game. if Daye doesnt shoot, the rest of his UBER offensively talented team can step up. 6 players can drop 20 any given night. If Clark misses that many shots, it takes away offensively from his teammates…On one end, the team can contribute, on the other end, the team gets possessions wasted because of his bad shot selection.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Ciolk, they both suffer from that affliction.

    Like Justin, Clark’s shot-selection is different though.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    ciolkstar…dont say that’s the joke…I can come back with why didnt clark get more than 6 points and 6 boards against Lamar in 31 minutes, a 12-12 team in the SOUTHLAND conference….

  • http://where-basketball-b-longs.blogspot.com/ B. Long

    The Zag’s and Texas have definitely been the biggest disappointment’s in college ball so far.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Huh? My comment didn’t appear.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    B. Long, TOTALLY agree with you.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Ciolk, Billings is a beautiful town up in Big Sky. Peep the rest of their schedule…
    Tenn (twice,) maryland, Okie state, UConn, Utah, Arizona, Wash. State, Memphis.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    For the sake of argument, I like Daye. Maybe ‘bust’ was too strong a word, but he definitely needs to be more assertive.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    You guys are obviosly Gonzaga supoorters but from what I’ve “seen”, which admittedly is less than Cub and Walsh regarding Daye, I’ve been severly underwhelmed. Maybe I’m wrong, but I really am not sold aon him as a lottery pick. Especially not next season. I don’t think Clark is a game chaging talent either, notice I’ve been comparing him to Marvin wiliams from the beginning, and I stick by that.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    This has been stimulating and fun, but I’m missing my lunch break. Peace.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    ciolk, he has underperformed my man, no doubts. the argument is only being had because bust was thrown around. Clark AND Daye have underperformed this year. No doubt. Great debate ciolk, thanks for jumping in. And TAD, yes he does need to be much more assertive. no doubt!

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    Cub, we are the midmajor dynamic duo of debate.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    My “other” employer probably wants me to do my job, too.

    Thanks guys, that was fun.
    Zags have been disappointing (at times) but still should finish with about 25-27 wins.
    Texas?!?! Whew, that sh*t stinks! Ciolk, ur down in austin, eh? When does the yearly Rick Barnes bashing begin? TAD, you’re a fan, right?

    No dj no dj no dj…..

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    Cub, the UT recruiting scene is filthy this upcoming season, the year after that, and the year after that. Rick Barnes’ assistant coaches can recruit like a GOD. Especially J. Springer. He finds ALL their top talent.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    And like we all know…. 90 percent of college coaching is recruiting.
    I had forgotten about that group they have coming to Austin.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Yeah, i’m a fan Cub. Not sure of what exactly, but a fan nonetheless.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    TAD, I thought u weren’t a really big Barnes fan…..

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Oh yeah, i’m not a fan of Barnes the coach at all. He can definitely recruit, though.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Yeah, Texas has been pretty bad, especially recently. But I thought we were overacheiving bigtime to start the season. Teams have figured out how to stop AJ and . We lack PG play, shooting and consistent big man play. UTs defense was our main strength and that has fallen off pretty dramatically. Honestly, I’ve been lookingto next season fo a while now…And I’ve never been a Barnes fan.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    TAD, his assistants can recruit. Barnes doesn’t do that much recruiting. Like I said. Assistant coach Springer. remember that name. Amazing recruiting coach. first guy Jordan Hamilton mentioned when we spoke on the phone the first time. Also been mentioned by some other major recruits.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Thats interesting Walsh. Makes sense though, because Barnes is not exactly a “players coach”, he’s kind of an assh*le and not very creative offensively either. Recruiting is everything in college ball right now, especially with most of the top talent playing 1 or 2 seasons max.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    Oh, well then I don’t like Barnes at all.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    Barnes is always hated on, but his assistants are TOP NOTCH. Other schools with outrageously talented assistants: Kansas State, Marquette, Florida State, Duke (they always do…regardless of the hate)

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    I think Barnes is the good ol’ boy the alumni like, though he is a very good defensive coach. Again, I just think he’s a bit of a prick.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    good defensive coach, for sure. Weird offensive pacing for the talent they have right now. Next year when J-Ham, Avery, Shawn Williams get to UT, the system will be MUCH more fluid

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    But what have his teams accomplished, though….
    He coached “cross-town” when I was in college and they were loaded w future nbaers but acheived little.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Nothing, Cub. The Duarnt team really underacheived in the tourney as well. I completely agree with both of yall on the unimaginative offense Barnes runs. I remember when Durant was here he basically just ran isos over and over. And last season I got the feeling that anytime something good happened on offense it was a lot more DJ than Barnes.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Imagine if this current lineup included KD + DJ?!?

    How did UT lose out on quincy acy and Anthony jones?!?
    Scott drew bested barnes’ recruiters last year!

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Which makes me also wonder….
    Baylor might be a bigger disappointment this year than UT.

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  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    I want to talk about BYU’s Lee Cummard (one of Cub Scouts’ first Player Alerts). I have always been a fan (his worst reminds me of me, at my best)but he is not rarely mentioned in these groupings despite his record-setting career in Provo. At his size (6-7 185), he has a slick mid-range game, plenty of deep range (41% has been a drop from 48 last year)but he also shoots 56% overall from the floor (not a lot of wasted shots). I am obviously a big MWC-honk, but i gotta believe he has a brighter pro future (once he hits puberty) than a player I compared him to earlier this season, Kyle Korver. Korver was more down-right deadly and would try and score 50 on you if he could, while Cummard is silent and does a lot of everything, then will bang on you, lookin like Opie Cunningham.
    Check em out when his Cougars make a nice little tourney (16 or 8) run.

    He had a great cram a week or so trailing on the break.

    I am currently watching (for the second time) their game last night v. New Mexico. He got the ball in the post v. Tony Dandrige (a baller in his own right) and after trying a brief set of shifty moves, he took one dribble to his strong-side wing, nodded at him, then dropped a slick back-door baseline pass for any easy duece. Again, no wasted possessions. If I was running an NBA team, I would be interested.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Not sure why that 8 that I typed above turned into some sort of emoticon.

    Also, The Mountain needs to look into HD, badly!

  • http://www.collegehoops.net Jeff Fox

    Baylor has been a big bust – I had them as my darkhouse to win the conference this year.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Cub Buenning

    Jeff, me too, but in a different way. I thought they could be a darkhorse elite8 kinda team.

  • http://www.ojhoops.blogspot.com the baconator

    Paul Harris from Syracuse- I doubt he’s going pro next year, but his name still deserves to be thrown into the discussion. He’s the second coming of Barkley, a small guy that leads the team in rebounding. Jumper is way weak, but definitely improving

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    Baylor does a good job of getting some super talented kids there, but they just haven’t been able to put together a consistent season. That said, I still would’t want to see them early in the tourny (though I’m not sure they’ll even get a bid)

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Red-ONK-ulous. Earl Clark is going to ignite.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    Cub, if we want to talk about Quincy Acy I can tell you right now exactly why UT didn’t get him. Texas Bluechips coach, Mitch was MAD about the way they made Damion play in a non natural position for 2 years. Baylor was a better fit. Trust me, the Bluechips coach has more pull than parents with the college choices with most of the kids- he has PULL. (even though I never liked him, my coach was Markius Barnes)

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    To all the guys that say Daye ahs no heart and will be a bust, just remember Rudy Gay. People were saying the same things about him at UConn. Some guys’ skill set just translate better in the pros.

  • dubya816

    Z: Rudy was a little bit bulkier. I wouldn’t say a lot but he was a bit bigger. I think that helped him transition better and it will most likely affect Daye. I really like Aminu he’s a very high talent. And Tarzan I’m sorry but you are way wrong. I’m a die hard KU fan I knew most of the roster last year and most this year. Neither Morris will be great or an NBA player for that matter. They wanna be “The Man” already and Sherron has got that on L. Aldrich will be a nice prospect. Let’s do something on PG’s you’d have Sherron Collins, Ty Lawson, Patty Mills, Steph Curry(debatable), Darren Collison, and Jeff Teague.

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