Here’s something no one saw coming, Chris Taft looks more likely than ever to go to the NBA Draft. He has time to make his decsion — until May. Funny thing about both stories. No one is hearing anything from Taft since his “50-50” comment after the Pacific loss. The P-G story is much more critical of his game with some comments from ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla.
Many NBA scouts love his athleticism, but others are not confident he has enough of a post game to be consistently successful in the NBA.
Those discrepancies make Taft one of the most controversial prospects of the year. In various mock drafts on basketball Web sites (nbadraft.net, probasketball.com and collegehoopsnet.com), Taft is projected as a top-10 pick, but he could slide as other high school, college and international players declare.
“Could Chris Taft go in the lottery? Possibly,” Fraschilla said. “But he would be better served to stay and dominate in the Big East for a year. This season, it was one night he looked like a first-round pick and the next night it looked like he didn’t care about being out there. I was disappointed with Chris’ sophomore year. I thought he would dominate the [Big East]. I can see him going anywhere from No. 5 to 25.”
…
“Chris fits into the range of someone who could be a good pro or he could be out of the league quickly and having to learn to learn a second language. Chris could be in a situation two years from now where he’s playing in Turkey. Chris’ stock would rise if he focused on having one great college season”
I think we know the cliches, “you can’t teach size,” “potential,” and “upside.” All apply to Taft. I haven’t seen a mock draft yet that doesn’t have Taft in the top-10. How can you not go for the guaranteed cash of a 1op-10, especially with further cap and salary restrictions likely in the NBA after this draft?
Sidenote a Chevon Troutman ranges from anywhere to a late 2nd to just outside the draft board. It will be worth watching to see if Troutman can help his stock at some of the workout camps.
In other notes, an article mentions in passing that past Pitt point guard Jerry McCullough is playing in the Italian Basketball League for A.J. Milan.
From the “regrets, I’ve had a few” department, an article talking about the numerous departures from the Penn State basketball team.
Center Rob Summers, who is currently redshirting at West Virginia, left Penn State after last year’s 9-19 season because he simply couldn’t take the losing.
“Once the season was over and we went to Big Ten tournament, I thought it was time to move on,” Summers said. “Losing took its toll on me.”
But why, then, did he commit to Penn State as a high school senior when the Lions finished last in the Big Ten with a 7-21 record?
“The coaching staff and opportunity to play and not redshirt attracted me to Penn State,” Summers said. “It came down to Pitt and Penn State, but Pitt wanted me to redshirt.”
And instead he is now sitting out the year at WVU.
