College basketball is having anything but a quiet summer this offseason with two of their top underclassmen's eligibility coming into question. First it was O.J. Mayo possibly receiving illegal benefits from a sports agency representative, and now there is supposedly proof of grade changes for Darrell Arthur in high school.
If Arthur ends up guilty and indeed ineligible to play this past season it would open up quite the Pandora's Box for Kansas. It's quickly becoming against these school's best interest to recruit these players that have no intentions of staying for more than a year or two. With professional basketball as their main focus, any harm they cause to the university is almost an afterthought. Like in the cases of Mayo and Arthur, they could both be found ineligible, their schools would have to forfeit their wins along with punishment from the NCAA, and it won't have any impact on their NBA stock at all.
Looking at Arthur specifically, the Kansas sophomore has a lot of potential at the next level. You won't find many better athletes than the 6'9 Arthur. The big man runs the floor like a guard, and possesses an extensive skill set like former Jayhawk forward and current New Orleans Hornet Julian Wright.
From a statistical standpoint Arthur did not produce as expected in his two years in Lawrence, but the occasional flashes of greatness he showed makes him a potential lottery pick. On a Kansas squad that was extremely balanced and unselfish, Arthur tended to blend in rather than stand out on most nights.
On the biggest stage though, Arthur was unstoppable. In the national championship Arthur put together a beastly 20-point, 10-rebound effort in which he hit several big shots to key their comeback victory.
The thoughts amongst NBA scouts is that Arthur has a lot of upside and could develop into one of the elite power forwards in the league with his combination of size, speed, and athleticism. He's still got a long way to go, but is definitely worth an investment in the lottery.
Because there are some questions about the effort and consistency that you're going to get on a nightly basis with Arthur, the top 10 is out of reach. However, at twelve the Sacramento Kings would really give Arthur some consideration.
As a team that battles size issues and is constantly outrebounded by the opposition Arthur is an ideal fit for the Kings. He'd give them a dynamic presence at the power forward position that they haven't had since Chris Webber's departure (sorry Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim). He isn't the passer that Chris was, but has a lot of similar strengths.
If he slips past Golden State at 14 though, it could likely be the earlier 20's before we see Arthur selected. Eastern Conference coaches have to be crossing their fingers that he doesn't fall all the way to Orlando at 22 and form a scary inside duo with Dwight Howard. Character issues would be the only reason that would drop him down that far though. It's important that he's well trained in the interview process, because it will be during that time that the grade issues and his consistency problems at Kansas will come up.
The sad part about it is that while Arthur may be found ineligible, he's going to become a millionaire this summer regardless. Kansas will possibly be stripped of a national title, but Arthur will be living the dream. Whether he's guilty or not, this is a system that is screaming to be fixed.
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