Youth Makes This Draft Irresistible

Even the Boston Celtics’ Rick Pitino calls the NCAA tournament “the greatest month in all of basketball.” Of course, as David Stern might note, what does Pitino know about the NBA playoffs these days?

In any case, we present our annual salute, a mock draft of the 29 best players in college, or in this case the best 26 in college and three in high school.

With players coming out younger, the process has been supercharged. Of this year’s 29, 22 weren’t on the list last season.

Five from last season--North Carolina’s Brendan Haywood and Ed Cota, Michigan State’s Mateen Cleaves, Connecticut’s Khalid El-Amin and Ohio State’s Michael Redd--dropped off.

The real draft is skewed toward size, so Minnesota’s 7-foot Joel Pryzbilla, Georgia Tech’s 7-0 Jason Collier, Vanderbilt’s 6-11 Dan Langhi and Kentucky’s 6-10 Jamaal Magloire all figure to be first-rounders, although none figures to be a star.

This one, however, is skewed toward the future. With the help of four general managers and personnel directors, here goes:

1. Kenyon Martin, 6-8, 230 pounds, senior, Cincinnati. This is going to be even tougher than they thought-- the only player who inspired much enthusiasm just suffered a broken leg. Barring complications, he’s a high-bounding late bloomer, who, says a general manager, “should be in the top three in blocks the next 10 years.”

2. Chris Mihm, 7-0, 262, junior, Texas. Now it’s every scout for himself. Mihm, once considered soft, has come a long way. Skilled offensively but no dominator.

3. Loren Woods, 7-1, 230, junior, Arizona. Shot blocker, good athlete but a reedy one.

4. Courtney Alexander, 6-5, 200, senior, Fresno State. Jerry Tarkanian retread--convicted of assault, transferred from Virginia, refused to play two games as a junior, says he learned his lesson. Teams will have private detectives talking to everyone he ever met, but he has the body and the game.

5. Eddie Griffen, 6-9, 200, senior, Roman Catholic High, Philadelphia. Big small forward with a complete offensive repertoire. Thought to be leaning toward keeping his commitment to Seton Hall.

6. DerMarr Johnson, 6-9, 200, freshman, Cincinnati. Thin, do-everything wing. Questions about his want-to as a prep, but he has been in a protected situation with Martin and Pete Mickeal carrying the load, so it’s hard to tell. Shooting 39% on three-pointers, a nice start.

7. Morris Peterson, 6-6, 215, senior, Michigan State. Some thought he was the best in the Big Ten, coming off the bench as a junior. Good athlete, shooting 41% on threes.

8. Stromile Swift, 6-9, 210, sophomore, Louisiana State. Terrific athlete, coming fast after playing one semester as a freshman.

9. Marcus Pfizer, 6-8, 250, junior, Iowa State. Powerfully built, coming fast with a string of 30-point games. Questionable rebounder, may really be 6-7 or 6-6.

10. Mike Miller, 6-8, 215, sophomore, Florida. Our first repeater from last year. Admirers see Tom Gugliotta, but better.

11. Darius Miles, 6-9, 190, senior, East St. Louis (Ill.) Senior High. Big wing player, said to be considering making the jump.

12. Gerald Wallace, 6-7, 205, senior, Childersburg (Ala.) High. Major athlete, also said to be considering it.

13. Etan Thomas, 6-9, 247, senior, Syracuse. Nice power forward prospect.

14. Troy Murphy, 6-10, 230, sophomore, Notre Dame. Smaller Raef LaFrentz, right down to being left-handed. Major producer in his second year. Scouts like his fire.

15. Desmond Mason, 6-6, 207, senior, Oklahoma State. Great athlete with 38-inch vertical leap who made a big jump as a shooter this season.

16. Hanno Mottola, 6-10, 240, senior, Utah. Repeat selection. Questions about toughness, but Rick Majerus runs a hard-nosed program and his players have surprised to the upside.

17. Keyon Dooling, 6-3, 184, sophomore, Missouri. Pros like this athletic point guard and two freshmen, Duke’s Jason Williams and Cincinnati’s Kenny Satterfield, more than the older (smaller) Cleaves of Michigan State, Scoonie Penn of Ohio State, Erick Barkley of St. John’s and Matt Santangelo of Gonzaga.

18. Jason Williams, 6-2, 190, freshman, Duke. Another fine young point. Looks like he’ll be better than his predecessor, William Avery, who was the 14th pick last spring after leaving as a sophomore.

19. Quentin Richardson, 6-6, 215, sophomore, DePaul. He was in the top 10 when the season started, but is struggling with the transition to the perimeter.

20. Terence Morris, 6-9, 205, junior, Maryland. Last season we had him at No. 6 when he was the second-best Terrapin to Steve Francis. Now he’s second best to Juan Dixon, a 150-pound sophomore point guard.

21. Casey Jacobsen, 6-6, 195, freshman, Stanford. The pride of Glendora joined a veteran team that was atop the rankings much of the way and led it in scoring, shooting 43% on threes.

22. Carlos Boozer, 6-9, 260, freshman, Duke. Not Elton Brand-dominating, but a force.

23. Jerome Moiso, 6-10, 230, sophomore, UCLA. On size, athleticism and skills, he’s in the top 10. Young and has time--but has to make more progress than recent graduates of the program have made.

24. Shane Battier, 6-8, 230, junior, Duke. Hard-nosed competitor who defends.

25. Eduardo Najera, 6-8, 235, senior, Oklahoma. Tough guy with big heart. Should be first Mexican-born first-round pick.

26. Gilbert Arenas, 6-4, 189, freshman, Arizona. With more range--he’s at 28% on threes--the youngster from Grant High can be the next Michael Dickerson.

27. Steven Hunter, 7-0, 215, freshman, DePaul. He’s a long way away, but, says a general manager, “In 20 years, he might be the guy on this team people remember.”

28. Jason Kapono, 6-7, 210, freshman, UCLA. He’ll be a marginal athlete at the next level, but with his feel for the game, he’ll be there. If he becomes a dead-eye shooter, he can be somebody.

29. Dan Gadzuric, 6-10, 245, sophomore, UCLA. You can’t ignore someone his size with his ability, who plays as hard. But he’d have gone in the teens if he’d turned pro out of high school and has spent two years going backward.

FACES AND FIGURES

Doesn’t seem he’s going to let Dennis be Dennis any more, does it? Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban fired Dennis Rodman, who led the Mavericks to nine losses in 12 games and even further out of playoff contention, which existed only in their minds. Cuban said it was only coincidence that Rodman blasted him for hanging around the players the night before. . . . Meanwhile, the players who voted to bring Rodman in said they were disappointed that he ignored them (Cedric Ceballos: “He never said anything to us. Basically just, ‘What’s up?’ I just wanted more.”), as if he had been some other way in San Antonio, Chicago or Los Angeles. Rodman (“What am I doing wrong?”), of course, was mystified.

In other words, they all got exactly what they deserved. It would have been neat if Rodman had kept his big mouth shut long enough to get a contract for next season, so he could really torture them, but it was fun while it lasted, as long as it was anywhere but here. Also, now we know how smart you have to be to get rich on the Internet.

Still has that same old fire: Elden Campbell skipped a practice, telling Charlotte Hornet teammates, according to the Gaston (N.C.) Gazette, that he “felt like taking a day off.” Coach Paul Silas fined him $2,500 and didn’t start him the next game. Campbell expressed surprise at being disciplined as well as fined.

Not that the Detroit Pistons are desperate but: Did Grant Hill get nice-guy Coach Alvin Gentry fired? The Detroit press corps, which adores Hill, said Hill was informed beforehand but took no part. Insiders, however, say it was rookie personnel boss Joe Dumars’ idea and Hill supported it. Other players celebrated openly. “I welcomed the change,” Jerry Stackhouse said. “George [Irvine, the interim coach] is consistent and he is hard-nosed. They say a team is a reflection of its coach, so maybe he will do a good job for us.”

Things are looking up in Milwaukee: “There are a lot of good things there right now,” Coach George Karl said after the Bucks had lost their eighth of nine at home. “It’s very hard for everybody to see it, but I think we’re getting better.” Or maybe they’re not: “Our heart was very soft tonight in a game that was very important for us to win,” Karl said four nights later after a loss at Boston. “It disgusts me.”