D_Carey's Blog

NBA Draft head cases pay the price

By D_Carey | View all Posts
Posted Friday, June 24, 2011 01:30 AM   3 comments
The NBA is starting to stear clear of headcases. 

No longer do you see high picks used on the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Isaiah Rider and Derrick Coleman. Think the Kings and the rest of the league learned their lesson after having ongoing issues with DeMarcus Cousins last year? This season, they made moves to acquire All-American Jimmer Fredette. 

And take a closer look at the headcases in this year’s NBA Draft.

Josh Selby, who took impermissible benefits at Kansas and suffered through bouts with injuries and immaturity, saw his stock fall from lottery lock to second round slider. 

Illinois guard Demetri McCamey, who was projected by many to be the Big Ten Player of the Year, had more off the court run ins with coach Bruce Weber for his attitude than anything else last season. In fact, Weber benched him during the year for his lack of effort and poor leadership. As a result, the elite talent went undrafted on Thursday night.

Are NBA teams getting smarter about drafting headcases? 
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hucabuc27 says:
06/25/11 12:13AM
I certainly hope so !!!!!!!!!!!! Its enough our society has plummeted to the level it has and that f"ing thug life gangsta attitude has no place in the NBA. Hell it shouldnt have a place in any civilized culture. Bring back the draft give control back to the grown ups. BRAVO NBA
TNSweep says:
06/25/11 11:23PM
I don't recall Rasheed Wallace, Isaiah Rider and Derrick Coleman being labeled head cases coming out of college. Or, at least, their problems were not enough to keep them from getting drafted. Rasheed played 15 years, Coleman 14 and Rider 8. As long as a player can produce teams will live with the head cases. Rasheed is the only one of the three to win a championship and leave the game on his terms. Coleman and Rider were waived once their production started to slip. With all due respect to Selby and McCamey, they shouldn't even be mentioned with those 3.

Speaking of McCamey, I think you've got the wrong head case from that Illinois team. McCamey played in all 34 (started 32) of U of I's games and he led the team in minutes played. Yes, he was removed from the starting lineup for 2 games but that was because of poor play and not playing hard. I don't decall any discipline problems his senior year. I'm an Illinois alum and fan, and I didn't think he was a Big 10 POY candidate. Best player on Illinois team, Yes...Big 10 POY, NO.

The real headcase from Illinois was Jereme Richmond. Coming out of HS, his plan was one and done. His eyes were on the NBA since his soph year of HS. He even had problems in HS too (kicked off of his team at one point, but did return to finish season). At Illinois, there were rumors that he wasn't going to class 2nd semester, so he probably would have been academically ineligible if he returned. Then he's fighting with a teammate after a loss in the Big 10 tournament...suspended from the team mid season claiming "personal reasons" (many people thought he wanted to transfer)...I think the Illinois coaching staff had enough. The coaches won't say it, but they're happy he's gone...it opens up another scholarship for someone who wants to be there.

doliver517 says:
06/26/11 06:32PM
TNS is right...Rider wasn't the tooth fairy in college but he had no plan of being one period. His plan was to ride his god given ability till he got fat and lazy and that's what happened. Coleman and Wallace had strong individual personalities and knew exactly what they were doing. Beasley imo is a recent head case and look at his career so far. He'll forever be the 2nd best player on a terrible tm and he's cool with that, which is wrong. For Christ sake, LeBron looks to be the biggest head case of them all....and that's no lie. He can't finish, it's in his head. The NBA will draft talent because it's players are so young you can't really draft on maturity AND talent in todays nba. An age limit is very much needed for both the NBA AND NCAAB. The new CBA (we're gonna mis atleast 30 gms this upcoming season) will hopefully provide a more reasonable gateway for both players and organizations to continue to try and be successful in the future.
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User: D_Carey
Joined: March 2009
Location: Maryland
Team: Penn State Nittany Lions
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