”You find college coaches now looking for 6-7 guys with athletic ability, and I think pro coaches are going to start looking to find 6-9 guys with athletic ability (to play center). You already see Phoenix using (6-foot- 9-inch) Tom Chambers some (at center). You have (Moses) Malone (at a generous 6-10). (Houston`s Akeem) Olajuwon is only 6-10. I think you`re going to see more of these guys. Why? IGS. The Immediate Gratification Syndrome.”- Marty Blake, NBA scouting guru.
The pro scouting season runs concurrently with the college basketball season and produces opinions as varied as the talents that are viewed. Settle down, for just one example, with Oklahoma, and consider the futures of their certain first-round picks, Stacey King and Mookie Blaylock. ”The only center out there,” says Blake, projecting King`s pro position.
”I don`t think he`ll be a center in our league. I do think he`ll be a damn good forward,” counters Atlanta Hawk General Manager Stan Kasten.
”Could be a lottery pick, now that point guards are next (in importance) after centers,” Cleveland GM Wayne Embry says of point guard Blaylock.
”I don`t believe that,” counters a GM who wishes to remain anonymous.
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It appears, in fact, that these head-hunters currently share only one belief, and that is the identity-though not the drafting position-of the nation`s top seven seniors. King, of course, is one of them, as are Arizona`s Sean Elliott, Louisville`s Pervis Ellison, Duke`s Danny Ferry and Michigan`s Glen Rice. All also like 6-7 Florida State guard George McCloud, though there is disagreement over whether he`s a lottery pick, and that also is the case with Georgia Tech forward Tom Hammonds and all college point guards. Underclassmen who may declare themselves eligible for the draft further confuse this mix, as does the presence of small-college players such as the unpublicized Randy White.
He is a 6-9, 235-pound forward at tiny Louisiana Tech, the same school that produced Utah Jazz All-Star Karl Malone. White is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds a game, is shooting 60 percent from the field and 72 percent from the line and is now being ardently hounded.
His talents, most certainly, are one reason for this attention. Another, quietly whispered, is memory-the memory that a dozen teams passed on Malone, who was selected after future nonfactors such as Jon Koncak, Keith Lee, Detlef Schrempf, Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine. ”White does a lot of things well,”
says Kasten. ”But it is curious he goes to the same school as Malone.”
Says another general manager more pointedly: ”No one wants to make the mistake they made with Malone, so everyone`s looking carefully at White. Memories work in funny ways.”
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Other memories infuse the minds of NBA head-hunters, and each, in its own way, can color the future of an unsuspecting collegian. Take, for one example, the cases of John Bagley and Michael Adams. Both were undersized and lightly regarded guards for Boston College, yet they are now effective players for the New Jersey Nets and the Denver Nuggets, respectively. Their success, in turn, is prompting some pro scouts to take a closer-than-expected look at Dana Barros, the current undersized guard at Boston College.
Take, for another example, the case of the Bulls` Scottie Pippen. He was a virtual unknown until late in his senior season at Central Arkansas, yet his success has many now hoping to find another sweet bird hidden in the bulrushes. ”There are no Scottie Pippens this year. There may never be again,” claims Blake, though that does not mean there is no talent out there beyond the glare of the major media markets.
Boise State guard Chris Childs is being watched by some, as is Nevada-Reno guard Darryl Owens. They faced off in Reno just hours after Nevada-Las Vegas hosted Oklahoma, and at least three scouts who had been working in Vegas flew north that evening to take in their showdown. North Carolina-Charlotte guard Byron Dinkins and Murray State forward Jeff Martin are unfamiliar names sure to become familiar on draft day, which is also the day TV`s klieg lights may finally shine on Colorado State forward Pat Durham, Washington State forward Brian Quinnett, New Mexico forward Charlie Thomas, George Mason forward Denny Sanders and Western Kentucky guard Brett McNeal.
Then there`s Greg Grant. He is only 5-7 1/2 and performs for Division III Trenton State, yet Blake plans on inviting him to some of the postseason tourneys held for the benefit of NBA scouts. ”He`s the quickest kid I`ve seen,” says Blake. ”Jay Burson (of Ohio State). He`s as good as Jay Burson
(was before his injury), and probably quicker, and Jay Burson can play. He`s (Grant) a novelty. I don`t know how good he is, but (5-3) Muggsy Bogues is playing, so who knows?”
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But these men, quite obviously, do know what they are looking for, and all, just as obviously, seek that virtue now encapsulated in the buzz words
”athletic ability.” But, asserts Blake, ”there come times in particular ballgames when athletic skills are not enough.”
That prompts Embry, whose choices have helped make the Cavaliers a contender, to ”look for skills, fundamental skills.”
”I used to love sound, fundamental players, too, those guys who knew all the things the old coaches used to teach,” demurs another general manager.
”But look at the successful teams, look at the Central Division, look at which players have impact. Detroit? Dennis Rodman and John Salley, great athletes. Look at Atlanta. What you see are great athletes. Look at Milwaukee. Look at the Lakers. Boston was one of the few teams that didn`t have quote, unquote, great athletes but a lot of other critical ingredients. But look at Portland now. Phoenix. Seattle. Across the board, great thoroughbreds.
”These guys can take some patience; it may take a couple of years to develop one into the player you want. Dennis Rodman is the perfect example. All he could do was run when he came out of college, but he became an important player because he added to his game. That`s where background is so critical.”
All scouts, in turn, consider a player`s background, which is itself a buzz word that embraces character and intelligence. They watch his court demeanor, and how he reacts to a bad call, to his own mistakes, to his teammates` mistakes, to adversity of any kind. They watch when he is suddenly pulled from the fray, and whether he then sulks on the bench or continues to stay in the game. They like to watch him play in opponents` pits and note how he responds to pressure and taunts, and they also like to see him in rematches against a foe who beat him earlier in the season. ”Does he outplay the guy the second time around,” says one NBA general manager, ”or does he fold his tent?”
During the season, Nevada-Las Vegas is the favored opponent for a player they are considering. They know, quite simply, that Jerry Tarkanian`s Rebels will press and run and force their prospective draft choice into playing at a pace similar to the pros`. Still, except for the obvious cases, they often reserve final judgment until they see those prospects in Portsmouth, Va., and in Chicago and in the other camps and tournaments put together for their benefit. ”It`s a better forum to see them in,” explains Embry.
”In college, coaches use their players to best serve their teams, which you can`t blame them for, but a player is often asked to sacrifice within his team`s offense. In the postseason, they don`t play within the team offense, and they have more liberties to express themselves.”
”It`s hard for pro scouts,” agrees Kasten. ”We do all the regular-season games. We watch films. But it`s difficult because of all the set offenses and zone defenses, which make the postseason valuable for assessing. There, they`re playing all out. There, their athletic ability can take over.
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”Again, there are a lot of players in the league who are not there on pure athletic skill but on their understanding of team play and team concepts. You tend to seek those players out, too. But in a league where, to succeed, there`s an increasing need for players with athletic ability, there`s a greater tendency to look for them.”