The boy has brains, or is it more a case of good planning by his old man... http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/0512/1381612.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clippers not Dunleavy's dream team Mike Dunleavy apparently is not a fan of the Los Angeles Clippers. ESPN's David Aldridge reported Sunday that if the Clippers receive one of the top picks in the June 26 NBA draft, Dunleavy will pull his name from consideration and return to Duke for his senior season. The order of the draft lottery will be determined May 19. Dunleavy has until June 19 to withdraw from the draft. The Clippers will receive only six chances out of 1,000 to win the draft lottery based on their 39-43 record last season. Eleven teams will enter the lottery draw with more "chances." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The clips would be very deep at the 3 if he stays in & they draft him. That would make Odom that little bit easier for us to trade for (not that i'm sold on Odom joining the team (I wonder if MoT & Odom got their "consumables" from the same person when playing together, or if they had a post game smoke together ))
This shouldn't even be an issue. I doubt LAC goes after a SF. They need a SG who can start in place of Piatkowski.
It's too bad they don't have a guy who works on his game and showed significant improvement to the point where he was a go to guy in the 4th and was a candidate for 6th man of the year. There IS a guy like that....What's his name? Quentin Richardson? They need a good backup PG, a backup PF, and a backup C.
I read something a little different on Insider today...its interesting because after reading this, its obvious that Dunleavy was planning on going pro the entire time... ..Last season, when Williams was just a sophomore, scouts were clamoring for him to declare for the draft. There's little doubt that if he had, he would have gone No. 1 to the Wizards. But when Williams announced that he'd return for one more season, scouts spent the year picking his game apart. He was no longer the forbidden fruit. While the whole dilemma sounds absurd, it may explain why Williams's teammate, Dunleavy, is anxious to declare. Dunleavy isn't stupid. He's seen what happened to Williams this year. With scouts focusing on Williams and Carlos Boozer this season, they haven't had the chance to devour Dunleavy the way they have Williams. This tell me that Dunleavy SENIOR knows the routine and wants Mike JR to come out now instead of letting the scouts pick his game apart for another year, thus hurting his draft value. Under this circumstance, I dont see him returning to school. If he goes back to school and doesnt put on any weight or gets banged around all season since Boozer wont be there to bang, it could hurt his value. I think that Mike SR knows that doing it this way will enable Mike JR to have the highest value
It's kind of really stupid for anyone to criticize Dunleavy for being pushed around in the paint. Dunleavy is really a SG, who is forced into playing PF. Dunleavy will not play PF in the NBA, so why it matters what he does as a fill-in PF at Duke, is beyond me. This is like saying, Olajuwon wouldn't have made it as a SF, so we shouldn't draft him. I'm not saying Olajuwon played SF at UH, but if he did, the logic would be the same. Hell, some people considered Dunleavy to be a PG when he was coming out of HS. Would Glen Rice make a living being a PF?
I am a little confused about Dunleavy's statement. He is stating that he would pull his name out if the Clippers draw one of the top picks. My understanding is this would be a top 3 pick. Would Dunleavy even go in the top 3?
LOL...that is the question. The Clips will have the #8 only way they can get higher is with lotto luck and then they will have one of the top 3. So is he saying if the Clips have a top 3 pick and he thinks he will go in the top 3 he won't declare? Yeah right...just blowing smoke. He better come out this season before he has to be the 'man' at Duke and people find out he isn't as good as he thinks he is....
It wasn't like Dunleavy was beat defensively 1-1 a lot on strength alone, much of it was him being out quicked by college forwards like Wilcox (who beats him in strength also), Jeffries and Prince. There is no way Dunleavy could stay within two steps of any pro 2s, I don't think there are many 3s he could stay within 1 step of. His best shot in the pros will be getting some additional strength so he can a physical 3 or 3/4 tweener in the pros--in the best case scenario resembling Peja or Van Horn.
Consider this scenario: The Rocks do something really radical (for them, at least) and try to trade from #15 and into the lottery. Note, I didn't say package both picks to move up in the lottery, trade the #15 and a player for a chance to move into the lottery, around #9 or so. With the first lotto pick, the Rocks select Dunleavy. With the #9 pick, the Rocks select.... (use your imagination to undress this beauty, Big Boy) Thoughts?
Dunleavy pulling out of the draft to avoid the Clippers would be a very Francis-like move. Let's see if he catches the same flack.
fat chance of the Clips getting a top 3 pick ... yeah they own Atlanta's 8th, but if that pick ends winning the lotto then Atlanta gets to keep it. So the Clips would have to win the lotto with their 12th pick.
You don't think that the Rockets would be better off taking those 3 picks? say Wilcox, Butler, Stoudemire
The fact that Dunleavy Jr may pull out of the draft is a given since he has not signed with an agent. Jr may hate the Clips but does he really like the Warriors, Bulls, or Grizzlies any better?
