Anthony Bennett and Kelly Olynyk have been the talk of the Canadian college players who are Draft eligible this season since the close of the NCAA season. Their stories will likely include a selection in the First Round come Thursday evening but what about Myck Kabongo? Can Ball Ray takes a look at what could be the the best storyline of the three Canucks that are projected to be picked in My Two Cents ...
The NBA Draft is upon us everyone! This is one of the most
exciting times of the year for basketball fans and more so now for us Canadian
ones since we have the potential to have three of our boys picked you again
this year. This is an exciting time
indeed.
Now unless you’ve been completely unaware of the college
basketball season, have not paid attention to the Draft pundits or just plain
now cared enough to find out, there are three Canuck candidates that have very
good chances at getting selected in two days.
They are names you should already be familiar with: Anthony Bennett, Kelly Olynyk and Myck
Kabongo.
Now, for the last few weeks (really since the NCAA season
finished up in April) both Olynyk and Bennett have been foregone conclusions as
legit First Rounders. To varying degrees
you have had people, experts and non-experts alike, pinning Bennett in the
Lottery and Olynyk a fringe Lottery guy.
You only need to check sites like Draft Express, NBADraft.net, USA Today,
The Sporting News or CBS Sports to confirm this. I’ve even said the same on my man JamesBorbath’s podcast last week.
The bottom line for those two particular guys is that when
the names start getting called out on Thursday they will be First Round
selections - Bennett likely top 5 and Olynyk between 11 and 21. There is potential for both to move up and
down the ladder of course but those look like the most likely spots.
The really fun mystery for Thursday night for us Canadian
basketball fans I think is where will Myck Kabongo fall?
So what does this really tell us?
In spite of the lack of essentially two-thirds of a college
season, Myck Kabongo showed enough to warrant a serious look from an NBA team
is what.
The proto-typical NBA point guard has four key
components: 1) he’s a good ball handler;
2) he’s a vocal leader on the floor; 3) he’s quick on his feet and with his
hands; and 4) he’s able to pass the ball and get teammates into positions to
score.
Myck Kabongo has all those components. He’s a pass first type with decent height at
6’3” with deft ball handling skills and great on the ball defense that NBA
decision makers like a lot. Kabongo is
the best pure point guard in the NBA Draft this year, period, and for this
reason I suspect that he has his golden ticket to the NBA.
Myck is a throwback in terms of the type of player at his
position he is and I think this is what will determine his place in the
order. He’s worked out for several teams
prior to this week and has had some favorable reviews from those that witnessed
his workouts. Boston, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and
Orlando were a few of his stops on the workout circuit after the NBA Draft
Combine and those three teams could use another PG. I can see Utah (which needs to get younger at
the one) or Orlando (which needs a young third lead guard) taking a shot at him
if he’s available but I could also see Cleveland making a go at Myck with one
of their two 2nd round spots early to get insurance and replace
Chris Quinn. And there could also be a
wild card in there also that could totally surprise everyone.
Right now the three mock Drafts that I’ve looked into that
have second round projections, Draft Express, NBADraft.net and CBS Sports, have
different takes as to where he could end up further adding to the mystery. (As a sidebar, I like that NBADraft.net puts
him in a Laker uni and I like the thought of Myck learning from Steve Nash full
time.)
That we just never know where he’ll end up is the best and
worst part of the whole situation. It’s
always fun to speculate and argue where but the one thing we don’t have to is
this – Kabongo is NBA material and he will be playing in the League next
season.
The “Where will Myck go” question will be solved on Thursday
evening so tune into the NBA Draft beginning at 7:00pm EDT.
"Kabongo is the best pure point guard in the NBA Draft this year, period, and for this reason I suspect that he has his golden ticket to the NBA."
ReplyDeleteWhoa, there fella, lets not get too crazy.
I do believe Myck is a bit of a sleeper in the 2nd round and will a value pick for someone, but best PG in the draft? Better then Burke? MCW? Tell me why 8 or 9 PG's are projected to hear their name called before him then?
He is still a very flawed PG prospect in a league with a surplus of PGs. He really needs to work on his shot and he is not super althletic. The NBA is going to be a tough go for him but I am very hopeful. I think the Texas experience was horrible and I can see him really growing from here out with better coaching and better players around him. Do it Myck!
I knew someone would bring those names out and I know what you're saying but I think there is a huge difference between a PG and a pure PG.
ReplyDeleteIt's very true that Myck is not the most polished of guards in the Draft this year, he does need to work on his shooting and he's not the most athletic, but his is still the best pure PG.
You bring up the names of Trey Burke and Michael Carter Williams and like I've always maintained they are not pure points. They are two guard trying to play point, particularly in the case of Burke. He will need to move to the PG at the NBA level because of his size and he's a shot first guard at that. If you consider Monta Ellis or Brandon Jennings or Steph Curry pure PGs then I suppose Burke could be too. If you run down the list of projected 1st guard that will be PGs in the League they are all combo guards with the exception of Shane Larkin and Dennis Schroeder. Myck is a pass first guy which is why I say he's the best pure PG and that's why I label him as such.
I do agree with you on the Texas experience though but that is partly due to that whole agent situation. He would have been given the keys last season and he could have really shown a lot more if not for that. Now he'll have to be a 2nd round steal and work his way up but I'm sure that he'll eventually end up on a roster for 2013-14. In an era of the undersized SG trying to play the PG I think Myck will be a breathe of fresh air.