SoCalHoops NBA Draft News

NBA Pre-Draft Desert Classic:
The !Dunk's! Take On Things--(May 7, 2001)

We had a lot of friends attending the Desert Classic Tournament, the NBA pre-draft camp run by Marty Blake.  One of them was Etop-Udo Ema, who also occasionally writes a newsletter which covers basketball in Arizona called The !Dunk! News.  Etop sent us a note about what he saw, and since it covered a couple of SoCal players who figure to become possible first round picks, we thought we'd post it here. 

The !DUNK! News
Newsletter Covering the California & Arizona Basketball Scene

The Desert Classic is the second NBA pre-draft camp.  Marty Blake, who is the primary NBA talent scout, oversees the event and invites the top 40 college seniors to show their talent. Most seniors who believe they will be legitimate first rounders usually don't show (no Shane Battier, no Jamaal Tinsley, no Brendan  Haywood, etc).  But a lot of others do show.   This years event was held at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena and all the former players now in the front office and coaching ranks were in attendance including Michael Jordan and Julius (Dr.J) Erving to name a few.  Most of the NBA scouts and agents agree that most of the players in the camp are second round draft choices,   but there should definitely be at least two to three first round draft selections among those who played. 

Many NBA scouts were very surprised how easily Jeff Trepagnier (USC) dominated games offensively. Primarily known for his athletic prowess,  he was on a mission to show the world he could also shoot the jumpshot. He proceeded to shoot the lights out all week and ended the camp with a 27 point 5 rebound effort as his team captured the championship. He was the leading scorer in the tournament (no one else scored over 18 points in a game) and probably the most consistent jumpshooter. He played very athletic as usual exciting the crowd with highlight reel dunks but the real buzz was  how well he shot the jumpshot. He also showed how solid he was defensively with his hands always in passing lanes, steals, blocked shots, rebounds and quick feet. Consensus opinion with NBA scouts and agents is that this performance has put him somewhere in the 1st round.

The All tournament team was as follows:

MVP Jeff Trepagnier (USC)
Damone Brown (Syracuse)
Brian Scalabrine (USC)
Charlie Bell (Michigan State)
Darren Kelly (Texas)
Anthony Evans (Georgia)
Andre Hutson (Michigan State)

We felt that this was accurate for the most part put there were two players that also deserved to be all tourney who weren't.  Jarron Collins (Stanford) was solid all week. Played tough inside offensively and defensively. Many scouts feel his brother is the better prospect since his position at the next level is better defined. He wasn't flashy but at the end of the night his numbers were as solid as anyone else who played inside. Martin Rancik (Iowa State) didn't play as consistently as we would like but did explode for some scoring outbursts while shooting the ball real well at times. Also showed that he is a pretty good athlete.

There were alot of players who really needed this event to have a chance in the draft. The players who we felt hurt their stock were:

Casey Calvary (Gonzaga) - Played great in two consecutive NCAA sweet 16 or better appearances but really struggled in Phoenix. Played well in the first game on Thursday but was very out of sync the rest of the week.

Tony Harris (Tennessee) - High expectations for this scoring point guard coming out of high school but NBA stock has been steadily dropping since his stellar freshman year. We still haven't seen the Tony Harris of 3 years ago.

Jeryl Sasser (SMU) - Tested the water for a moment last year and went back to school. He probably should have made the jump last year because his stock is plummeting.

Sean Lampley (CAL) - Pac 10 player of the year has already been labeled a tweener by many NBA scouts and didn't do much to show that his perimeter skills were adequate. Struggled shooting the ball.

Horace Jenkins (William Patterson) - Slight buzz surrounding Jenkins coming in to camp but didn't really shoot the ball that well. Made decent decisions but didn't really shine like many thought he would.

For further info
The !DUNK! News
PO Box 1309
Long Beach CA 90801
(562)499-5080

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