ESPN NBA Draftnik Chad Ford, who answered media questions during Friday’s NBA Draft media call, did some Q&A on the Kentucky Wildcats, Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray, Skal Labissiere and Alex Poythress and more. Here’s transcript of the Ulis and Poythress Answers via ESPNmediazone.com
Go here for the Murray analysis and here for the Labissiere vivisection. So will Tyler Ulis and Alex Poythress, two former McDonald’s All-Americans, even get drafted tomorrow night? Do you even lift bro?
Well, maybe on the latter question and yes, sometimes occasionally on the latter query.
Q. Can you run me through the latest on the four Kentucky guys, Murray, Labissiere, Ulis and Poythress and especially any health concerns with Tyler Ulis that may have popped up late?
Chad Ford: “As far as Tyler Ulis goes, teams are all over the board on him just because of his size. At 5’10”, 150 pounds, there’s not a lot of precedent for guys that size excelling in the NBA. And people point to Isiah Thomas, but Isiah Thomas is a good 30 pounds heavier than Ulis is, and he’s more of a scoring, super athletic stocky guard and there is some precedent for guys like him, Nate Robinson, in that role succeeding in the NBA.”
“Ulis is going to be — he’s going to be a bit of a trend setter there. But he has elite court version. He is probably the best passing point guard in this draft, and I think that intrigues some people.”
“As far as the hip goes, I’m still trying to collect information on how big of an issue this is.”
“When you hear those medical reports, it’s difficult to ascertain how serious these sorts of things are down the road because they go through these prospects with such a thorough look that any little thing that has happened in your entire life would show up.”
“If you broke your arm in second grade, it would be there on the report, and there might be a certain level of concern about it, how it healed. If it’s something small like his hips are tight, the muscles are tight, I’d say that’s 80 percent of the NBA, these players struggle with hip tightness, calcification of the hip, things like that.”
“It could also go the other way. Kevon Looney last year slipped all the way down to 30 last year because there was a concern he would have to have hip surgery, which obviously turned out to be true and he’s had it this off-season, and that’s obviously a more serious concern.”
“The feedback I’ve gotten from teams is they’re aware that there’s an issue, and there’s varying degrees, depending on doctors, conservative nature of things, on how concerned teams are, so it’s really hard to pick where Ulis goes.”
“But I think he either goes somewhere in the 20s or he ends up going somewhere in the 30s. But I think he’s going to get drafted, and I don’t think it’s going to torpedo his draft stock.”
“Poythress, I think he’s a possible second-round pick because he’s an elite athlete and I think he can defend multiple positions and I actually hear he shot it pretty well in workouts, and that’s what he projects as a guy coming off the bench, playing great defense and hitting some spot-up threes.
“If he can just do that I think he has a long career in the NBA. It’s the question about will he be a great three-point shooter that teams are concerned about. He shot it really well his freshman year, kind of went down from there, but I see — I watched him work out several times in LA. I think I see the potential there for him to become that, and you can’t teach his athleticism.”
Here’s where we have Tyler Ulis slotted in our latest NBA mock draft. We do not have Poythress slotted anywhere.
31. Boston (from PHI)-Tyler Ulis, PG, Kentucky, 5-10, Soph.
Ulis is a terrific playmaker and creator and although he stands just 5-10, he knows how to run the point. The Clips have a couple free agent guards and no true backup to Chris Paul. Go here for more on Tyler Ulis.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
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