Spring Break
Rose, Beasley Lead NBA Draft Class
NCAA Basketball
Rajiv Leventhal
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Sports
For some reason, several mock drafts have Mayo falling to as low as outside the top 10 - something I do not understand at all. At worst, Mayo will be a 20-point scorer and athletic swingman. But at best, Mayo's ceiling is higher than anyone's, and has superstar written all over him if his head stays on straight. Strangely, players like Brook Lopez, Jerryd Bayless and DeAndre Jordan are possibilities to go higher than Mayo. But the impact Mayo will have is far greater than any of those players.
There are other good college players coming out - Kevin Love should be a double-double man in the NBA and Eric Gordon has the ability to be a big-time scorer. But they just don't possess the combination of ability and potential as these three players.
Rose, Beasley and Mayo are the three best players in this year's draft and it's not even close. As a result, there will be three very happy NBA general managers when June's draft is over, even if there was some luck that happened to bounce their way.
Rajiv Leventhal's NCAA Basketball column runs every Tuesday. He can be reached at
Rajiv.Leventhal@UConn.edu.
There are other good college players coming out - Kevin Love should be a double-double man in the NBA and Eric Gordon has the ability to be a big-time scorer. But they just don't possess the combination of ability and potential as these three players.
Rose, Beasley and Mayo are the three best players in this year's draft and it's not even close. As a result, there will be three very happy NBA general managers when June's draft is over, even if there was some luck that happened to bounce their way.
Rajiv Leventhal's NCAA Basketball column runs every Tuesday. He can be reached at
Rajiv.Leventhal@UConn.edu.
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