ESPN NBA Draft Insider On Fab 5

ESPN NBA Draft Insider on UK's Fab 5

Written by Chris Fisher, ESPN Insider

Wednesday, April 07 2010, 10:07

The Cats are finally out of the bag.

The worst kept secret in the Commonwealth finally became official Wednesday when the University of Kentucky announced that Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, Patrick Patterson and John Wall would be declaring for June's 2010 NBA Draft.

With all five projected to go in the first round, I caught up with ESPN NBA Draft Insider Chad Ford Wednesday to get his take on the Wildcats' mass exodus and where he sees things shaking out with each prospect.

Eric Bledsoe

NBA Draft Range: 12-20

NBA Scouting Report: Great athleticism, great speed, great spot-up shooter. They're going to want to see more development, better court vision. But they love gutsy guys that are tough and play with a passion.

NBA Player Comparison: Kyle Lowry. He's a little tougher and I think he can be better. Lowry never really took off. He's that type of player.

Should he stay/should he go?: I think financially, yes. Long term? We'll see. When point guards don't have the chance to be the dominant guy, he's going to miss some experience. At the same time, Cal is out recruiting guys and if Brandon Knight comes, he wouldn't be the starting point guard anyway.

Additional Comments: The thing with Bledsoe, last year he wouldn't have been that high. For most NBA teams, he's the No. 2 point guard behind Wall. It's a very weak point guard class. He's going to rise. It's a positional thing.


DeMarcus Cousins

NBA Draft Range: 3-5

NBA Scouting Report: Most productive big man in the country, maybe most productive college player period. Can rebound and gets after it on the offensive end. Can do it inside and outside. Didn't do it outside this season but in high school he was a prolific perimeter player. Not an elite athlete. Well chronicled he has some temper issues and attitude issues. That scares guys.

NBA Player Comparison: New school: Al Jefferson Old School: Derrick Coleman


Should he stay/should he go?: Go

Additional Comments: You can expect an extremely thorough psychological profile and background check to be done. They will get to the bottom of it. Not inconceivable if he handles those well he could go No. 2.


Daniel Orton

NBA Draft Range: 10-20

NBA Scouting Report: Big, NBA body. He's not the tallest guy in the world but has a huge wingspan. Difference maker defensively and that means a lot to guys. The bad, we don't know what kind of offense he has. Didn't blow anyone away.

NBA Player Comparison: Kendrick Perkins

Should he stay/should he go?: Go. Probably. My gut tells me that big guys rise in the draft and we'll hear his name called in the lottery. You could argue he could come back to Kentucky and be a candidate for the number one pick next year. But ask (North Carolina's) Ed Davis. It is a gamble. He probably made a good decision. Basketball-wise, he'd be better getting minutes at Kentucky next year. But this is also a business for these guys.

Additional Comments: One of the drafts biggest unknowns. Whoever takes him is counting on him developing. Not sure we've ever had anybody that averaged that few of points and drafted in the lottery. It depends. Some guys really like him. Some are really skeptical.


Patrick Patterson

NBA Draft Range: 10-20

NBA Scouting Report: I like Patrick. Patrick is tough. All those other UK guys are upside guys. Patterson, since the moment he set foot at UK, knew what he was. Good offensive player, has developed his outside shot. But there are some downsides too. He's not dominant in any one thing. There's not one thing you can point to that he does really well. That's something that if I'm an NBA GM that's something that scares me a little bit. You want a player that can do one thing really well.

NBA Player Comparison: New School: David West Old School: Buck Williams


Should he stay/should he go?: Go

Additional Comments: Toughest guy to project. Everybody likes him but no one is in love with him.


John Wall

NBA Draft Range: 1-2. Very small question. I think there are two teams--the Jazz and Hornets--who could find themselves in a situation where they get the No. 1 pick. I think they would have to make a tough decision. Both have young, elite all-star point guards and that would be intriguing. Evan Turner has to be very intriguing. Maybe a 2 percent chance he doesn't go No. 1. My guess is if one of those two teams got it, they would trade it.

NBA Scouting Report: I think he helped himself this year. They're even higher on him than when he was coming out of high school. His decision making skills--some people wondered whether he was a real point guard. Showed a killer instinct to take over games that so many NBA GMs covet. That's a big plus. You knew he was an incredible athlete and got to see it firsthand.

NBA Player Comparison: Somewhere between Derrick Rose and Jason Kidd.

Should he stay/should he go?: Go (no stay?)

Additional Comments: I think he's going to be a transcendent player in the NBA. I don't really have any doubt about it. He's such a great athlete and he plays so hard. Those two combinations are very potent. He's such a smart player.

One of the things about Wall is he's gotten better every year. A guy like O.J. Mayo just kind of peaked. Now he peaked very high, but you never saw anymore wrinkles to his game after the 11th grade. I think you'll see some more wrinkles with John Wall.


Chad Ford covers the NBA and NBA Draft for ESPN Insider. He is also a frequent contributor to ESPN the Magazine and makes weekly appearances on ESPN Radio and ESPNEWS.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2010mock_draft


Two questionable ones here that I can see. Da'Sean Butler? After he just tore up his knee? And Gordon Heyward? Did this guy really look like a first round NBA talent to you? I'm sure he's a great player in the Horizon League. But this is the NBA.