Rumor: Moving up to get Greene?

HowsMyDriving · Jun 25, 2008

leebigez said:

At least Green has done something in the league. That's also my point. If the rox are facing that option, wouldn't it be better to sign green or trade for outlaw? Then they could draft a nba ready guy like Hibbert.
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yeah, if only the money part could work, i would want a gerald wallace or outlaw or someone like that as well. it seems like that's the type of player they are looking to draft, and it fits a position of need.

only problem is that we would go into next season with alston/brooks again. and we will still be in the west, aka the death by PG conference. is that a recipe for success?

hooroo · Jun 25, 2008

http://media.www.dailyorange.com/me...ba.Draft.Hes.Eager.To.Lea-3384674-page3.shtml

Don't try calling him.

That cell number you snagged, Donte Greene's number, the one you called him on to say he was a fool for leaving the Syracuse men's basketball team after his freshman season? To remind him that no one would want him when the NBA Draft rolls around Thursday?

Don't bother. Greene changed his cell number weeks ago. New digits for a new life, now that his college one is finished. He closed his Facebook wall too. Same thing with his MySpace account.

Greene wants to close this chapter of his life, to move on from Syracuse. But he still gets messages - he's gotten thousands at this point, he said - from Orange fans, ripping him for leaving too soon, for taking his shooting stroke and his 17.7 points a game and turning pro.

"I don't get no love from up there," he said. "That's crazy, man."

...Greene has heard talk like this from all over the place. He visited the Los Angeles Clippers, who own the seventh pick, on Monday and the Washington Wizards, who own the 18th pick, on Tuesday. His basketball friends from Baltimore, like Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony and three-time NBA champion Sam Cassell, have offered advice.

So who knows? Greene says he's sure of one thing.

"I'm getting drafted, I'm going lottery, trying to go down top 10," he said two weeks ago, as a trainer wrapped his knees following an audition for the Philadelphia 76ers and their 16th pick - just outside the lottery, but not outside the cocoon of the first round and millions of guaranteed dollars.

"So let me go. I'm not coming back to school."

He made that official on May 29, when he signed with agent Bill Strickland and brushed aside three more years of eligibility. Thursday, the door will slam on his brief collegiate experience.

Because Donte Greene is gone, both literally and figuratively, from the Syracuse men's basketball program. Gone from the team, and gone from whatever warm spot he may have carved in the hearts of Syracuse fans.

These days, that soft space seems far away. A place in the heart? Please. He's closer to the spleen, more likely to receive a thumb in the eye instead of a warm welcome if he returns to campus any time soon. To many fans, he's the Judas who had the audacity to wear that ridiculous "Don'te Leave" shirt and still leave.

It started when he declared for the draft, just two weeks after Syracuse crashed out of the NIT and finished 21-14.

Comments on stories from The Daily Orange Web site discussing Greene's departure ranged from condescending to raging.

...They could accept his struggles, his on-court inconsistency, when he was a member of the team.

They could accept the nine points in a March loss to Louisville, because in the previous game he had dropped 18 in a win against Georgetown.

But leaving so soon? That was harder to stomach

It spread to his profiles on Facebook and MySpace. Then someone got his phone number, and the calls poured in, just like they did when the Orange played Virginia earlier this season. Cavalier fans harassed Greene via phone days before the game.

Greene responded with 20 points to lead the Orange to a road win.

But that was a long time ago, before injuries (Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins) and suspensions (Scoop Jardine) and mistakes (remember that Pitt game?) derailed the Syracuse season and sent the young team to the NIT for the second year in a row.

More importantly, that was before Donte Left. That's when his reputation soured.

Others, of course, knew the score. Jim Boeheim went on ESPN Radio 1260 and said he had seen this coming.

"He made up his mind last year at high school that he was going to put his name in," the Orange head coach said at the time. ". . . It's never been a secret. He had a solid year."

Greene led the Orange in scoring and added 7.2 rebounds a game. One year in the NCAA was all he needed to prove to himself he could handle the NBA.

It's not that complicated. He left because he wanted to. He felt he was ready.

Even if other freshmen declared for the draft - stars who shone brighter last year such as Memphis point guard Derrick Rose, Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley, Southern California shooting guard OJ Majo - Greene wasn't worried.

He likes how he matches up against the other small forwards in the draft, like West Virginia's Joe Alexander.

"I feel like in this draft, I'm the best small forward, hands down," Greene said after the 76ers workout. "I'm not trying to come off cocky or anything, but I'm just that confident in myself."

Others see that - how his mix of sweet shooting and athleticism might mesh with an NBA lineup.

"He's a big-time offensive talent," said Tony DiLeo, the 76ers senior vice president and assistant general manager.

DiLeo liked how Greene could shoot from the outside and take players off the dribble. He needs to bulk up, but in a league that's getting faster and smaller, he could play both small and power forward. The 76ers exec mentioned him in the same breath as Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis, not the first person to do so.

Like Greene, Lewis was criticized for leaving for the NBA early - he jumped straight from his Texas high school into the 1998 draft and was selected in the second round. Like Greene, Lewis fit somewhere in the haze between small and power forward. Like Greene probably will, Lewis needed time to develop.

He did. Lewis blossomed after a few years in the league, and signed a $118 million contract with the Magic last summer.

So that's one route.

Another route, the one those on fan message boards seem to see as more likely, would be failure.

But if Greene is chosen in the first round, as per NBA rules regarding guaranteed contracts, he will earn millions even if he does flame out. Not shabby.

And if Greene needed further incentive, he only had to look down the bench last season and check out Devendorf and Rautins, street clothes covering their shredded knee ligaments.

Things happen. Injuries happen. Players leave.

The point is, Greene says he's moved on from Syracuse.

You should let him, he says.

"Ya'll need to let it go up there."
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He had to change his phone number? Isn't that borderline stalking?

hooroo · Jun 25, 2008

NBA Assistant Director of Scouting Ryan Blake offers analysis on Syracuse forward Donte Greene (Video Link): http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.p...08draft_profile_greene.asx&video=&nbasite=nba

leebigez · Jun 25, 2008

I like Green, but like I said, I wonder who the rox have a higher grade on, donte,gerald or outlaw?

ROXTXIA · Jun 25, 2008

Seems if this kid relies too much on outside shooting, doesn't that fly in the face of Morey saying we need a player who'll take it to the rim?

He needs a lot of time to develop.

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