With Aaron Gray being picked 49th by the Bulls, Chad Ford at ESPN (Insider subs.) was offering comments on all draft picks.
He’s big. He put up good stats in college. But how does he keep up with the speed of the NBA? I’ll give him this, though — he may be the most polished low-post scorer on the Bulls roster, if he makes the team.
It was the “if he makes the team.” that surprised me. Yes, he’s a late second rounder and he could be released with a non-guaranteed contract. Here’s the thing. This is the Bulls Roster of centers:
Ben Wallace, Center, 4 years on his contract.
That’s it. The other centers and forward-centers on their roster: P.J. Brown, Michael Sweetney and Martynas Andriuskevicius. They are all free agents. Maybe they resign one of them.
That puts Gray in great shape to stay with the team.
“Good news for Pitt as they find out Schenley’s Dejuan Blair will be eligible to play next season and more good news could be on the way.
Chris Dokish of the Pittsburgh Sports Report (www.pghsports.com) tells us about some good news for the Pitt Basketball program.
The Pitt basketball program got excellent news today as they received word that 6’7†245 pound Schenley star DeJuan Blair has become eligible to play this season for the Panthers. Blair, who is one of the top 30 prospects in the country, attended night classes for months so that he could be eligible for the start of the season.
“I’m just coming back from class now,†said Blair Thursday evening. “No more high school classes for me. Now it’s only college classes.â€
Blair says he is looking forward to playing against college level players this summer in the Pittsburgh Pro-Am League, but the always affable, and confident, Blair laughs and says, “It’s not a big thing.â€
Blair went on to say that the Pitt coaches weren’t specific as to how much playing time he would get—or at one position—but he is looking forward to it.
“Center, power forward, wherever they need me,†said Blair. “I just want to make everybody on the team better and hopefully they can make me better, too.â€
Darnell Dodson, a 6’7†small forward from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, MD, is the last of the Pitt recruiting class that needs to reach eligibility status. Dodson still needs to pass one summer class.
If Dodson becomes eligible, the Panthers will have filled up their roster, but they are still trying to land 6’10†Eloy Vargas of American Heritage School in Plantation, FL for the Class of 2008.
Vargas has been a major target for assistant coach Orlando Antigua for a long time, with the Panthers recruiting him hard long before his recent ascension into a top 30 prospect. Vargas played at Pitt’s team camp this past weekend, bringing his visit total to three.
The main competition for the Panthers at this time is Louisville, whom Vargas will visit unofficially this week. A source close to Vargas, however, has said that Vargas is aware that the Panthers are the only team courting him that has him as their top priority, and Vargas is apparently impressed with that. The source went on to say that the Panthers are in a very good position to land the highly talented native of the Dominican Republic.
link to pittsburghsportsinsider.com
Blair will be available, and if Dodson can pass one more class, he will be available too. The icing on the cake is that Vargas may just commit to Pitt!
Whats Gray gonna make (assuming he’s kept around) – around 3/4 mil like that MA guy?