Some Notes on Warren, James, and Lucas

Sounds like a law firm, I know. My lord what a salty bunch that would be in the Legal Eagle rec. league.

But in case you missed it, Willie Warren one-upped his galactically stupid decision to attend Oklahoma University in the first place, with the even more galactically stupid decision to stay at Oklahoma University instead of taking lottery money. Seriously? Is Norman, Oklahoma recession proof? Are cars flying off the Big Red Auto lot at a pace fast enough to compete with 8 figure basketball salaries?

Jeff Capel doesn't need the Glengarry leads he's already a hell of a saleman. First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado with rims, second prize is a Dusty Dvoracek Louisville Slugger, third prize is you lose two scholarships. Fuck you, that's Jeff Capel's name. "Who Shot" Willie Warren must not have heard that Capel has a McDonald's all-American point guard coming in. I wonder if Capel told Willie that TMG will slide to the two to accomodate Warren's desire to be a lead guard.

Shifting gears, let's talk about Damion James' decision to put his name in the draft and not hire an agent. Good move by James because there is no downside to seeing where you're at in your career. Damion will be able to work out with and against other aspiring wings under the watchful eyes of NBA scouts and front office folks. He'll be matched against SF's like Sam Young, Terrence Williams, and Chase Budinger and these workouts will make or break his chances to get into the first round. A second round grade and James will find his way back to Austin. Bohls talks about the Junior's uncertainty here.

If you're handicapping this deal and you've watched Damion with any sort of critical eye, you know that he'll struggle in comparison to these type of highly skilled wings and small forwards. The aforementioned can all put the ball on the deck, get to the bucket, and shoot the basketball. Damion, quite frankly, isn't in the same skill league as these 3. Can he rebound and play bigger than most 3's? Sure. But teams aren't looking for 3's to just rebound and play bigger. They're looking for offense. Hell, SF's and hybrid forwards like Austin Daye, DaJuan Summers, Danny Greene, and even Tyler Smith have better small forward face up games than James. And with the exception of Daye, they all project in the second round.

If Damion is smart, he'll come back to Texas and play a face up 4, hell it'll basically be a face up 3 on the offensive end, where he can catch the ball and triple threat against slow footed 6-8 power forwards and make them look like surburban white kids in an And 1 mix tape.

Some will say Damion should go because Rick will make him play power forward. My reply to that is, yeah, so? Will Damion be guarding power forwards? Sure. Will he be used as a low post guy? No. Will he be gaming block to block with another post in a 3-2 look? Hell no. We're 4 out 1 in all day baby. Pittman is the only sheriff in town.

I mean come on people, use your noode. Is Kyle Singler a power forward? Mebe. Does Kyle Singler get an assload of good looks against other power forwards? Oh hell yes. Would he get them as a 3 in college? Probably not. Does Kyle Singler look like he can play the 3 in the NBA? Yep. See where I'm going with this?

On to Jai Lucas, ESPNU did a signing day piece with Rick Barnes and Hickory's finest had this to say about the transfer point guard. He said Jai's teams usually win the pick up games he's playing in, so I'm inferring that Jai's the leader of his team and that he gets his players involved at the correct times in the correct places. That is certainly an element this team missed last season.

Coach Barnes also called the young PG "a gym rat" which is high praise from a guy that's not prone to any kind of praise.

I've said it before, but Jai has "it" as a basketball player. He's small, but his basketball skill and IQ are off the charts. He'll be a force for the Horns next year.