Derrick Rose. Tyreke Evans. John Wall. Brandon Knight. The lineage of John Calipari-coached point guards is beyond impressive. That tradition continues with McDonald’s All-American and one-and-done Marquis Teague from Kentucky.
Teague is one of six players from Lexington who were drafted this year. He was joined by fellow Wildcats Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (who went one and two), Terrence Jones, sharpshooter Doron Lamb and versatile wing Darius Miller. Teague fits in as that typical Gar Forman/John Paxson draft pick: big name school with a winning tradition. So when the Chicago Bulls took him it made perfect sense.
Because of the team he played on, Teague has gotten a bit overlooked by NBA scouts. But he started all 40 games for the nationa champions.
“Playing with Anthony Davis, he gets a lot of attention cuz he’s so dominating. And Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, it’s hard to show as much,” Teague said at NBA Combine media day
(This is a Paul M. Banks and David Kay collaboration.)
A consensus top ten recruit, Teague was considered by most as the top point guard in the 2011 class. So it is only fitting the Indianapolis native chose Kentucky, where he won a national title, as his college destination over Kansas, Purdue, and Louisville which is especially significant since his father played for Rick Pitino at Boston University in the mid-1980’s. “Fits my style of play best,” Teague said at the MAA media day. “There’s a lot of talent there. I want to be around talented players. Coach Cal, he had Derrick Rose, Brandon Knight, John Wall. It’s hard to say no to that.”
And it’s fitting that we bring up Derrick Rose, since Teague will have to fill his shoes at point guard next year. Rose isn’t expected back until at least January or February. And his back-up C.J. Watson may not be re-signed. So they still need more veteran point guard depth. Gar Forman said so at the post draft media opp. The Bulls will look at acquiring a free agent point guard.
At 6-2, Teague brings great size and strength to the point guard position. He is lightning with the basketball especially in the open floor and shows great poise and court vision for a young floor general. Athleticism is another one of his strengths as he can be explosive at the rim when attacking off the dribble. All those traits made him the ideal fit to run the show for Calipari.
“Point guard might be the most important position, you’ve got to be a coach on the floor, and keep everybody happy, and pretty much run the team, everything has to go through you,” Teague said at the Combine media day.
The younger brother of former Wake Forest point guard and current Atlanta Hawk, Jeff Teague, Marquis tries to emulate his game after a different NBA point guard. “I like Russell Westbrook a lot. If I had to say anybody I like to model my game on him; athletic, quick, fast.” Like Westbrook when he first entered the league, Teague listed his jumpshot as the area of his game that he is trying to improve the most.
Marquis talked about what Jeff advised him on regarding the combine.
“He just told me come to these workouts, be in shape and be a vocal leader and knock down shots.”
Teague is a rare prospect who filled both a need and was “best player available” at the same time.
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.
You can follow him on Twitter at DavidKay_TSB.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, MSN and Fox Sports
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too
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