Talib Zanna is not going to hear his name called tonight. He will get a chance in the NBA summer league with the possibility of a free agent signing, but he is likely heading overseas.
Lamar Patterson has a shot at the end of the second round.
What do the mock drafts say?: For what it’s worth, Patterson’s stock seems to have dropped a bit by this standard. In April, NBAdraft.net had Patterson going to Miami with the 57th pick. Draftexpress.com had him 59th to Toronto and CBS Sports’ Matt Moore, 45th to Minnesota.
Patterson did not show up on any of the current mocks of those three as of Wednesday night. He does show up on two of the four “final” mocks at BasketballInsiders.com, Steve Kennedy’s (to Indiana, No. 57) and Steve Kyler’s (Denver, No. 56).
The NBA Draft has very, very few sure things — even in the first round. Here’s a quick review of the last 19 drafts. So many of those picks weren’t mistakes. They just never translated.
Lamar Patterson does have some things going for him.
Lamar Patterson, 6-5 forward, Pittsburgh. “His basketball IQ is as good as anybody’s. Holy s—, he can really pass. He’s just going to be challenged athletically. I don’t know if he can match up with the wings in our league. If he’s a mid-to-late second rounder, I would jump at it. He needs to get in a little better shape.”
I like Lamar Patterson. A lot. I will be watching. I want to hear his name called tonight. But I am unsure how much better his conditioning can really get. He’s very skilled. He’s smart, but he is not elite-level athletic. He never was.
And in the NBA, the premium is so high on athleticism. If the first round is a complete crapshoot, what does that make the second round? Let alone the end of the second round.
At that point in the draft you are more likely to see a NBA team pick a young overseas player to have his rights and see if he develops in a couple years, than to draft a college senior.
I get a kick out of Jamie Dixon suggesting the Spurs as a possibility — mainly because they have nearly 10% of the picks in the second round.
At the very least, he has stories to tell from the month before the draft.
“I knew he was going to be there, but when he walked in the gym I said, ‘Oh, man, there he goes,’ ” said Patterson, describing his first encounter with [Michael] Jordan. “At the end of the workout I made a couple nice moves and got a drink of water. He told me, ‘You’ve got an old-school game.’ I got a nice laugh out of that.”
That was nothing compared with the hands-on treatment Patterson got from Pippen, special advisor to Bulls president & chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf, who attended his workout in Chicago.
“Scottie Pippen rebounded for me,” said Patterson, who led Pitt in scoring and assists in 2013-14. “Can you imagine that?”
So, there’s that.
Two names that are popping up on many mock drafts, Khem Birch and DeAndre Kane. It is hard for me not imagine what last season would have looked like with them on the roster. The ACC was there for the taking. A line up of a Birch, Zanna, Patterson, Kane and Robinson would have been as talented as any in the league. Then Pitt’s second five, Newkirk, Wright, Johnson, Young and Randall would have been better than half of the ACC team’s starters.
Pitt , under Dixon, has been so painfully close to elite. To get over the hump, they need to land/keep some of the top talent that they are really close to getting.
If any of the NBA teams would consider heart along with shooting, rebounding, passing, etc., then Talib would have a real shot of being picked tonight
But, he has the one skill they desperately need at the 2, 3-point shooting. So if there’s an injury or suspension, he could be thrown into the mix.
The Hornets could definitely use Lamar off the bench at the 2. And like most Pitt players, Lamar is NBA ready unlike most of these ‘projects’ the NBA is so fond of. Most of whom never pan out.
I would surely love to see Lamar wearing the Purple & Teal.
Thus, when we need instant offense this year, we insert the backcourt of Slim and Nuke
Comment by Carmen 06.26.14 @ 7:39 am
All of that is certainly true Carmen. Reddick is a Dukie though and they are treated differently by the NBA. Duke has a ‘brand’. Is a ‘blueblood’.
PITT has neither, well I guess you could the brand we’re labeled with, year after year, is a tough blue collar team representing of course, in the national media’s drivel, a tough blue collar city as if the steel mills/etc. were still open. To be more precise, a tough blue collar, defensive minded hard nosed team that is offensively challenged.
Media stereotypes are a very tough thing to overcome.
“Slim” sounds good. We definitely need a way to refer to him since there is both another Cam and another Johnson on the team. Alternativelhy, maybe we could call him “CJ”.
I see it’s only 73 in da Burg, which sounds so much more pleasant. I could have the windows open and actually could play golf or tennis without a 2nd thought.
I would prefer CJ or Twiggy but Slim is OK with me. Probably my favorite uncle was nicknamed Slime
Randall still Patrick Ewing?
Uchebo’s vertical jump increased from 1″ to 2″?
Everybody scores and all the big men apparently get double/doubles.
@Stephen_Gertz: Aron Nwanko just crushed Uchebo on a two-handed flush, plus the foul. #Pitt link to t.co
Not good if you’re counting on Uchebo to provide a defensive presence in the paint.
Lots of twitter love for CamJ last night.
The bad news is that all Pitt players seem to be excelling … even the walk-ons
Uchebo had another double/double but then I read this:
Neither team could afford much of a break–Bakery Square playing with five players, Shale Attorney with six.
Uchebo is on Bakery Square.
Sounds like a glorified ‘pick up’ games.
And unbow those wheels.
Nice to see that Sleepy is making a living in Switzerland. Very expensive place to live but I believe that room and board is generally included in Europe.
Sounds like Cam Johnson will mature into a fine player.
This is also good for the program. For the success Pitt has had for the past decade plus they had a staggeringly low number of kids drafted. Hopefully more kids start landing on NBA rosters, as that can only help recruiting.
Speaking of recruiting, on the football side, while 2015 is a down year locally, 2016 appears to be loaded. Just another reason this upcoming season is absolutely huge for the future of the program. Eight or more wins and more scholarships to offer than this years 16, and hopefully Pitt can land their share of these kids.
Again congratulations to Lamar Patterson and best of luck as his his professional career starts and as always Hail to Pitt!!!!
/////// CRICKETS CHIRPING ///////
🙂
Wonder if Khem’s ‘handlers’ ever considered this option or even knew of it?
I count 8 players drafted from the ACC, plus 1 from Louisville. Most of them hurt us last year, glad to see them gone.
Too bad Khem Birch hasn’t lived up to his full potential. I thought I would get some satisfaction out of watching him come up short but I don’t. I think he could have done better as a Pitt guy, and it’s a shame he didn’t take advantage of his chance. Talib and Lamar sure did.
I too feel somewhat bad for him … and somehow a ‘I told you so’ doesn’t do anyone any good. He is still young and has a chance to eventually reach the NBA … it will just be a harder journey
Comment by alcofan 06.26.14 @ 4:55 pm
I HEAR YA!!! (its just summer league, its just summer league, its just summer league, its just summer league)
No doubt Birch would have been far better off staying here. Far better off. I too feel bad for him, shame.
Don’t confuse me with the facts. I’m enjoying my irrational optimism.
Besides I wrote that he was 6’1 *about* 4 months ago. Twenty months ago was *about* 4 months ago, right?
I got my info about his growth spurt from the following tweet which appeared on the Cardiac Hill blog when Slim was signed:
“2014 guard Cameron Johnson has committed to, and signed with Pitt today. 6’8 with a 4.6 GPA. Has grown five inches in a year and a half.”
— Matthew Steinbrink (@MattSteinbrink) April 21, 2014
He really needs a redshirt year to physically mature. My fear, Pitt is desperately going to need 3pt shooting from the guards. If Chris Jones doesn’t show a big improvement and Durand Johnson doesn’t heal quickly, Jamie may be tempted to throw him out there sooner than he should.
Johnson is a late bloomer, he grew 6 inches between his junior and senior year. He just turned 18, he’s only a few months older than Maverick Rowan, who’s two years away from coming to Pitt.
Cam’s got a ton of raw ability and should be able to help Pitt down the road.
UNLV missed the NCAA’s. The only year we missed was when he bugged out. Think character may have been a deciding factor in the draft?
Patterson is just the opposite, he made it because of hard work. Same with Zanna, after a late start in basketball, he has really come on and I am sure he will do well wherever he ends up playing.
Any word on why Randall did not play on Wednesday?
Any word on Haughton?
None of them thought he had an NBA future and thought Pitt was much better off without him.
At first I was going to disagree but really, I have to agree…but only because after 3 years under Dixon they would have been far superior players than they really were last year.
You bucked the general consensus.
Personally I think Lamar is way better than players like Bogdan Bogdanovic, who went in the 1rst round.
At 6’5″ he is more suited to SG in the NBA and can fill it up from 3 and is an excellent passer.
That frontline would have been opposing as sh*t
Adams, Birch and Zanna, especially defensively.
We might quite possibly made it to the Final 4 and won the whole thing.
But hence it was not to be, much like if Brian Shorter would have been eligible when we had Charles Smith and Jerome Lane on the front line.
Syracuse’s leading scorer CJ Fair was not drafted at all. While Ennis went in the 1rst round and Jerami GRant went in the 2nd.
They’re in a ‘state of shock’ over at Tarhole U.
I bet Zanna has a big time career in Europe. He rebounds, defends, can score ,run the court and speak whatever language you throw at him. He has 2 degrees, a good work ethic and is in great physical condition. If Adams had stuck around we would have made the final 4 and Zanna would have gotten drafted too.
He really is a PF or SF type player and in that role last year when Adams was the Center, he had more of a chance to shoot mid-range jumpers facing the basket. And in some games he really excelled at that.
I really think’s Lamar’s play was that much better because JD had few options at SF after Durand Durand went down, and therefore Lamar didn’t have to worry about being ‘yanked’ off the court and played with less angst about that.
In previous years if he made a mistake he would yanked in favor of JJ Mooore, so that imo limited his development.
Atlanta & ESPN already have Lamar listed as a SG
