Former Lobo standout J.R . Giddens , co-Mountain West Conference player of the year this past season, has been preparing diligently for the June NBA Draft. He had been drawing rave reviews and by many accounts had been shooting up the draft boards of many league executives.
Until the pre-NBA Draft Camp being held this week in Orlando, Fla., where Giddens appears by most accounts to be struggling.
DraftEXpress.com, perhaps one of Giddens' biggest supporters among Web sites that follow the NBA Draft, wrote this today of individual drills earlier this week:
"Those that impressed in the drills ranged from the instinctive do-it all offensive sparkplug types like Lester Hudson to superb athletes like Deron Washington and J.R. Giddens (not the most skilled with the ball, but capable as a spot-up shooter and constantly making plays offensively and especially defensively thanks to his trademark length and explosiveness)."
Of Giddens' work in games, though
"J.R. Giddens forced the issue with his weak ballhandling skills a little too much at times, but still flashed great potential with some of the moves he made at times. His talent is undeniable, he just needs to polish up his skillset."
HoopsHype.com wrote this about him regarding Wednesday's games:
J.R. Giddens (7 pts, 2 ast, 1 blk) fell victim to a similar drought, and didn't have the impact he is capable of providing."
They then wrote this about Thursday's games: "However, the player many expected to excel, J.R. Giddens (1 pt, 1 ast), failed to stand out once again."
2 comments:
Danny and Doc mentioned Giddens' defense several times and I think this is why they took him. You can teach ball handling and you can teach the other things he needs, but defensive instincts are hard to teach young players. They either have them or they don't and it appears that Giddens has them.
Yes, I am cautiously optimistic that Danny landed himself another diamond in the rough.
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