Not exactly the best piece, but a blast at the whole “upside” issue in the draft using the Big East as an example:
Hakim Warrick, the Big East player of the year and a first team All-American, went 19th. Charlie Villanueva, the UConn sophomore who was more of a tease in his first two years than anything else, went seventh. Chris Taft, the Pitt sophomore who was a much more effective player than Villanueva was in the Big East for the last two years doesn’t go in the first round. And Gomes, one of the elite college players in the country the last two years, the leading scorer in the history of Providence College, doesn’t either.
I would not have stressed Gomes too hard since he was often checked by players like Taft or Warrick, but it’s nice to have someone else finally notice the bizarreness of where Villanueva went as compared to Warrick and Taft.
Meanwhile, Chris Taft is defending his choice and planning to show everyone:
But Taft, who bypassed his final two college seasons and originally was being considered by some as a lottery pick, told reporters in Oakland, Calif., that he isn’t about to feel sorry for himself after failing to go in the first round.
“I am so motivated, it’s unbelievable,” said Taft, who flew to Oakland on Wednesday. “It’s still a dream come true to be drafted.”
…
“People haven’t gotten a glimpse of the real Chris Taft. I am ready to show everybody what I can do. I am very athletic,” Taft said. “I see myself fitting in well (with Golden State), especially with a point guard like Baron Davis. I can be one of the guys finishing plays for him.”
He’s got to work on talking about himself in the 3rd person more. Like all the real pros do. He let too many “I’s” slip.
It may be a while before he gets to finish plays for Baron Davis, though.
His first opportunity to impress is in the NBA summer league, which runs from July 8-15. It will be easier to determine after the five-game summer league schedule if Taft is a legitimate candidate to make the Warriors roster next season.
It is more than likely that Taft, who is 20, will spend one year or more in the NBDL refining his skills.
He dropped like a rock in the draft because he was badly outplayed by his peers in several workouts leading up to the draft, including Arizona State’s Ike Diogu, the Warriors’ first-round selection (9th overall), in a workout before Golden State scouts a few weeks ago.
With the changes to the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Taft can find himself on loan to the NBDL to get more playing time.
Ron Cook sees a glimmer of hope for Taft.
Golden State will give Taft every opportunity to make the team. It’s easy to think Warriors coach Mike Montgomery will be able to find the key to Taft’s enormous potential. Montgomery was successful at Stanford before moving to the NBA and knows how to coach young players.
It’s easier to think the draft snub will motivate Taft. No one doubts his marvelous athleticism. That’s why there was lottery-pick talk in the first place. And Taft does have the one thing that every coach covets — a long body. Not even Phil Jackson can teach a guy to be 6 feet 10.
No, the questions about Taft going back to last season are about his heart. You have to work to be a star. The NBA people didn’t see that from Taft. Word quickly spread that he has some dog in him.
But you know what they say about even the laziest dog:
Kick him long enough, and he’ll eventually bite back.
So it might be for Taft.
Of course, making Mark Blount comparisons may be nice for thoughts of eventually getting the fat contract, but not much for leaving a legacy in the NBA.
Joe Starkey’s column is ostensibly to blast Taft’s agent for selling him a bill of goods and Taft for overestimating his worth.
In other words, that guaranteed multimillion-dollar contract he was counting on suddenly seems as far away as the Cathedral of Learning is from the Golden Gate Bridge. Taft’s scholarship is toast. He burned it, bolting from Pitt after an apathetic sophomore year, figuring he would become a rich man June 28.
What a gross miscalculation. Taft instead became the draft’s biggest loser.
Who’s to blame?
Two people top the list: Taft and his agent, Billy Ceisler, who told me on June 5 that he’d be surprised if Taft wasn’t a lottery pick (among the top 14) and that Taft recently had “dominated” Final Four MVP May “in every facet of the game” during a workout for the L.A. Clippers.
Yeah, that’s believable.
You’d think Ceisler, who also represents Villanueva and Ben Gordon, among others, would be connected enough to have long ago provided Taft with a shot of reality (and perhaps preserved Taft’s college eligibility).
On the other hand, Ceisler hadn’t yet seen Taft audition for NBA teams, and, contrary to what the agent later reported, it now seems clear that those auditions were received about as well as Vin Diesel in “The Chronicles of Riddick.”
In observing Taft, people must have wondered if they were seeing the reincarnation of Chris Washburn.
My quibble with the column is the opening where he acts like he always knew Taft was going to plummet in the draft.
Well, at least we’re not crazy.
I mean those of us who shook our heads in disbelief every time we saw a mock draft projecting Chris Taft ahead of the likes of Sean May, Hakim Warrick, Channing Frye and Charlie Villanueva.
Wasn’t anybody watching the games?
And apparently biting his tongue for the last 2 months. A guy who in April said Taft was a “potential lottery pick.” I like Starkey, but this is a bit of revisionism.
No one, I repeat, no one thought Taft would fall this far in the draft. Just look at this blog for the month of June. I did a pretty decent job of tracking the mock drafts of where Taft was pegged. The worst he was placed was just outside the 1st round. By draft day he was at the end of the 1st round. This isn’t just based on “expert” predictions, this was from reporters talking to sources on teams getting a feel for various draft boards.
