Marcus Williams per Tim Kawakami

Russ Smith

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Nothing earth shattering but according to kawakami in today's SJ merc he says he's hearing that Williams may be coming out for the draft. My guess is he might be considering putting his name in to test the waters. With no highschoolers in the draft I think we'll see a lot of underclassmen consider that because they figure the 5-6 spots that would have gone to HS players now might go to them instead.

My guess is Marcus is smart enough to see if he does test the waters that he's not ready.

UCLA has an advantage there in that so many NBA players are on campus in the summer playing pickup games, that UCLA kids get a chance to grade themselves against NBA talent, that's why UCLA kids don't do the test the waters thing generally. Ariza went early but he didn't test the waters he jumped in with an agent. Most of their kids already know what teh NBA thinks of them because they get it straight from NBA players in pickup games on campus.
 

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I'm guessing both Williams and Shakur test the waters and then return. Mustafa still needs a lot of work just to get drafted and Williams needs to get stronger and then he'll be a lottery pick.

Is the other Marcus Williams going pro?
 
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Russ Smith

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MaoTosiFanClub said:
I'm guessing both Williams and Shakur test the waters and then return. Mustafa still needs a lot of work just to get drafted and Williams needs to get stronger and then he'll be a lottery pick.

Is the other Marcus Williams going pro?

I'd bet he does but I haven't heard a thing about the UCONN kid. he's the one kid at UCONN that really helped himself in the tournament. Gay hurt himself a lot. I figure Boone won't come out either for the same reason, but Williams had to have improved his stock.

I actually don't mind kids that test the waters as long as the school is prepared that he might actually go. In general if they come back, they're better off for it, they know where they stand. It really helped Dijon Thompson at UCLA. He wasn't buying into Howland's system, felt it was hurting his NBA stock, so he tested the waters. What he found out was NBA teams thought he was soft, couldn't play defense, precisely what Howland emphasizes, so he came back, wound up playing a lot of games at PF, had a big year and got himself drafted.
 

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Russ Smith said:
I'd bet he does but I haven't heard a thing about the UCONN kid. he's the one kid at UCONN that really helped himself in the tournament. Gay hurt himself a lot. I figure Boone won't come out either for the same reason, but Williams had to have improved his stock.

I actually don't mind kids that test the waters as long as the school is prepared that he might actually go. In general if they come back, they're better off for it, they know where they stand. It really helped Dijon Thompson at UCLA. He wasn't buying into Howland's system, felt it was hurting his NBA stock, so he tested the waters. What he found out was NBA teams thought he was soft, couldn't play defense, precisely what Howland emphasizes, so he came back, wound up playing a lot of games at PF, had a big year and got himself drafted.

Russ...You have seen more of him than i have. Will DijonThompson ever put it together and become a factor in the rotation for the Suns? I watched him a little in college and thinking his game was suited more for the NBA.
 
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Arizona's Finest said:
Russ...You have seen more of him than i have. Will DijonThompson ever put it together and become a factor in the rotation for the Suns? I watched him a little in college and thinking his game was suited more for the NBA.

The thing with Dijon is he's a horrible defender, and he's not a great ball handler. He's an awesome midrange player, he can hit that pumpfake slide and shoot jumper all day. he's a good not great athlete but he played his best as a SF and I'm not sure he's good enough to play SG in the NBA or athletic enough to play SF.

I think he can play but will he ever be a big factor for the Suns, hard to say. he can shoot the ball that's for sure and he improved his defense under Howland but he's never going to be a starter on a good NBA team. I love Dijon though he went from headcase to total team player in his career at UCLA. You have to love a kid who makes the sacrifice moving to PF to help his team knowing it'll hurt his NBA chances.
 
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Russ Smith

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FYI the rumor on Bruin boards is that Farmar is probably going to test the waters but he's essentially said if he's a lock first rounder he'll probably go NBA but if not, he's back at UCLA. Since he's not expected to be a lock first rounder, my guess is he'll come back.

officially he hasn't commented but the rumor is he's told teammates he wants to see what NBA teams think of him but that it's probable he'll be back.

UCLA is recruiting a guard named Russell Westbrook this year sort of as a fallback. Incoming recruit Marko Spica from Serbia has not yet qualified, having trouble with SAT since English is not his first language. If he doesn't qualify, they'll likely give the scholarship to Westbrook. But they also are waiting to hear if freshman F/C Ryan Wright will stay, or transfer as has been rumored. And they're waiting on Farmar.

Westbrook is a kid who went from 5'10" 6'3" between his soph and senior years, went from PG to SG as he grew and Howland apparently really likes that he can play both positions and is still growing(they say he may hit 6'5"). he was looking only at mid majors but now half the teams in the pac 10 are recruiting him and apparently he's waiting on UCLA because that's his favorite school.

but I certainly hope Farmar sticks it out, going into next year with Collison, Afflalo, Roll and possibly Westbrook is going to be a lot worse than Farmar coming back.
 

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Not only do i think Farmar is a first rounder but i think he is EXACTLY who i want the Suns to draft with thier pick in the teens....

I think the UCLA offense stifles him and on a team like my Suns where he could develop under Steve Nash and run with guys who are athletic and finish. I think he has the necessary size, shooting ability (it will develop as it goes) and most importantly he has a feel for the game and passing the ball.

I think he is a poor mans Jason Kidd and with Nash's tuteledge has a chance to be a very good NBA starter...

To my point that behind the back pass i believe he threw to Affalo in the NC game was just what I am talking about. That was not a flashy pass but the correct pass and i see him throw inlet passes and am amazed at his feel
 
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Russ Smith

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Arizona's Finest said:
Not only do i think Farmar is a first rounder but i think he is EXACTLY who i want the Suns to draft with thier pick in the teens....

I think the UCLA offense stifles him and on a team like my Suns where he could develop under Steve Nash and run with guys who are athletic and finish. I think he has the necessary size, shooting ability (it will develop as it goes) and most importantly he has a feel for the game and passing the ball.

I think he is a poor mans Jason Kidd and with Nash's tuteledge has a chance to be a very good NBA starter...

To my point that behind the back pass i believe he threw to Affalo in the NC game was just what I am talking about. That was not a flashy pass but the correct pass and i see him throw inlet passes and am amazed at his feel


I agree to a point, there's no question the offense hurts Jordan. He had the same PPG, APG and FG% numbers this year, but the offense was MUCH slower this year than last. It's quite common for UCLA to get to 10 seconds on the shot clock with Farmar still dribbling 25 feet from the basket and they just ask him to create a basket. Like that running one handed "Bob Cousy" shot that Noah blocked in the title game, that wasn't a guy being selfish, that was a kid with little time on the clock trying to get a shot up.

Because of that offense I think he tends to forget about the overall system sometimes. There were several time sin the first half where UCLA got Florida in a switch and had Afflalo posting against Green or Humphrey, he's got a terrific turnaround there, but Jordan had already decided Brewer has Afflalo locked up, I gotta look for my shot, and didn't even notice the switch. At one point you can see Afflalo angrily wave his hands at the UCLA bench as if to say "tell him to look for me."

Jordan is not selfish but he's very competitive, he was the one guy who was playing well, and he started to try to do too much and lost sight of the goal. Getting Afflalo in the offense was a priority otherwise it became way too easy for Florida to guard UCLA, just key on Farmar.

I love Farmar and I think he's a hybrid of Kidd and Mike Bibby. He needs to become a more consistent shooter, cut his turnovers, and improve his defense. I hope he does that at UCLA, but I'm sure he could do that in the NBA too.

Before the Pac 10 tournament he and Afflalo both said they were coming back, both had been told that NBA scouts didn't have them in the first round. Afflalo clearly didn't help himself in the NCAA's, I don't know if Farmar did or not. If you really look before the final game, he really didn't play that well.

We'll see, I believe he'll be back, but I thought Ariza would never go and hire an agent and look how that turned out.

And year Farmar would be fun to watch in the Suns system.
 

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