13 pullout of portsmouth invitational

Happens every year.  For the top prospects (Justin Harper, Leuer, Brooks) they receive advice from their agent that they shouldn’t attend the PIT since it could possibly do more harm than good.  Example: bad performance at PIT against sub-par seniors would harm their stock.  Harrellson is sick.  Matt Howard just finished the tournament. Also, in the past couple of years, players that performed well in the PIT were not invited to the Chicago predraft camp, which consists of all the top prospects.  I think Mikhail Torrance was the only one invited to Chicago last year after playing in the PIT.  The reason is that these guys at PIT have already been measured and evaluated to a certain extent that there is no need for them to be in Chicago.  More of the big name executives and personnel will be in Chicago, not in Portsmouth.

I don’t get it from the perspective of the agent to hold guys who need to sell themselves to NBA teams. Hamady N’Diaye and Landry Fields got drafted after playing in last year’s PIT, but just as importantly Ish Smith, Ben Uzoh, Jeremy Lin, Donald Sloan, and Marqus Blakely ended up with guaranteed money after going undrafted. All received training camp invites and obviously Smith, Lin, and Uzoh have stuck around.

By the way, good early showings for Delroy James, Casey Mitchell, Mickey McConnell, MBA, and Jimmy Butler.

http://www.portsmouthinvitational.com/boxscores/2011_Game_2.html

http://www.portsmouthinvitational.com/boxscores/2011_Game_1.html

Skeen pulled out for a number of reasons. First he performed well in the tournament, scouts know what he is and he is likely to get drafted. The biggest factor is that he just layed it out all on the line the past few weeks to get VCU to the final 4. He’s fatigued, and if you aren’t 100% there is no point in going out to Portsmouth and looking sluggish. Yeah the scouts will like that he is competitive if he went out there, but still people would be comparing his performance to other guys there who have been resting and preparing for the draft. Same goes for Matt Howard.

Do you think Brian Zoubek and Jon Scheyer were under the impression that their tournament run did enough for them with NBA people at this time last year?

If someone thinks he is likely to be a second round pick, his representatives should know that means there is just as good of a chance he goes undrafted.

Yeah there agent pulls them out and rightfully so. Even if you play well there chances are high you still are gonna go second round. Most scouts view that camp as a camp full of second rounders even if they play well so the agents figure there is no use hurting there stock AFTER they get a feel from Teams of where there client is now and where they would go even if they play well at the invitational

 I don’t like players pulling out either, I wanna see guys ball till they fall.  Scouts understand some players just got done playing and would factor that in.  Besides guys who just got done playing should all still be in great shape and we’re talking about college senior looking at their last chance at competive basketball for a paycheck in the eye I highly doubt these 21 and 22 or 23 year olds are thinking about getting tired.

One reason I could accept for them deciding not to participate is possibly them having to finish up classes for their degree.

 LETS GO DELROY!

I would like for all of them to play. Lott and second rounders. But i also step out of my basketball shoes and step in to business shoes and understand why they pull out because it will hurt more than it helps. They play good they go second round( same as if they didn’t play) they play bad they slip to late second or not picked at all

 I think Curtis Kelly is going to end up getting drafted in the late 2nd or get on a roster through summer league, he’s average sized, but he’s a pretty skilled player, long and athletic.  He had an up and down season last year, but a strong performance in the PIT (12 and 5 ) in his first game and good pre draft camps and I think he can really raise his stock.

"I would like for all of them to play. Lott and second rounders. But i also step out of my basketball shoes and step in to business shoes and understand why they pull out because it will hurt more than it helps. They play good they go second round( same as if they didn’t play) they play bad they slip to late second or not picked at all"

Do you think a guy like Austin Freeman who had the worst stretch of games in his Georgetown career at the end of his senior season could not help himself by getting on the court and hitting shots? Do you think Hazell and Brooks might want to separate themselves from the reputations they have as volume shooters on bad teams? It is not as if any of those three are locks. Maybe Im wrong but I don’t regard those three, Allen, Diebler, and Higgins as being any more likely to be taken than Jimmy Butler. If Butler keeps playing well, it absolutely is going to help him.

Also, by not playing, they are allowing guys who otherwise would not have this stage to possibly take workout spots away from them. There are probably a good number of scouts at Portsmouth who never saw Adam Warren or Luke Sikma, and if they did not as attentively as they are here. They are giving Demonte Harper a forum to separate himself from being "one of those guys who Faried carried." What if the scouts like what they see and want to see more at the team facility? Why give those guys that kind of chance? Why risk it when these guys are competition for draft slots, summer league roster spots, and training camp invites? 

Yeah it can help but it only helps a little. Playing bad on the other hand hurts alot more. Its a Low reward high risk for guys like that

You rise more in the individual or team workouts then you do at that camp

But with these particular guys, those spots for team workouts are vulnerable. I think the rule is that a team can only bring in six guys per day, and only so many days are dedicated to possible second round/summer league guys.

All of those Guys have a nice amount of worouts lined up. Or Else there Agent wouldn’t have pulled them out. Thats why my brother and some of his teammates pulled out ( wasn’t a wise choice by him because he was bubble second round at best). Its also a good placeto get exploted even more because many players look good on there teams because the team is running plays for them and the offense is built around them. At a setting like this they could look much worst. This is definatley not a good setting for Freeman who is more of a system/controlled Enviroment type player.

In a Draft like this some of those players could go first roun off of there college accomplishments

My sleeper for tonight is Ravern Johnson im feeling a big game for him