Marty Blake earned his NBA stripes as the general manager of the St. Louis/ Atlanta Hawks. From 1954 to 1970, Blake's team posted the second-best record in the league behind Arnold "Red" Auerbach's Boston Celtics. Blake lead the Hawks to seven division titles, finished second eight other times and beat Boston for the 1958 NBA Championship. The Hawks were one of two teams to accomplish that feat over a 13-year span. Marty's son Ryan Blake joined the company after six years on the ATP Men' Professional Tennis Tour, and together the Blakes form the recognized authority on NBA scouting as the NBA official scouting department.
"After he (Marty Blake) left the Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA, he started scouting for both the NBA and the ABA," says Ryan Blake, who joined his father in the scouting business fifteen years ago. "Then, when they finally merged, they just said 'Hey we're just going to make you the official scouting head.'"
Blake says predicting a player's future is difficult because of the different ways that prospects adapt to the NBA, not to mention the many routes players take in their journey to the NBA draft.
"When you go from one level to another, whether it's high school to college, college to pro, what happens is it's a big confidence factor." Ryan said. "Some people adapt to it and some people don't. Take Brandon Jennings. We don't know where he's going to go. You have a 6'3" guard who has a lot of physical tools and has a lot of upside but also you've got a guy who has not run even a European team, which is not an NBA skill level or set. You're looking at a totally different game at a totally different skill level and how is that going to translate to our level? How long do you want to wait for a guy like that to develop enough to run a team? Do you want to have this guy telling veterans what to do and what not to do, or is he going to need two years to get to that point? Who's going to make that investment, and what's the depth you're going to have on your team in order to allow that? Sebastian Telfair is a good example. Lou Williams, as well. Lou's had some success now, but he was also a second round guy. With Brandon Jennings, you have to realize that we don't have the time and the money to make that kind of investment high, so maybe he goes low. He'll have to go to a team that's going to field a summer league team so they can get a good gauge on him, and if they're not happy with what they see they don't have to offer him a buyout and they can let him go back overseas. I don't know if he got the right advice when he decided to go overseas because he's going to be an also eligible. Why would your agent put that buyout in there if you're already going to be entering the draft next year anyway? That makes me wonder who's giving him advice and if they're really looking out for his best interests. I've been told by reliable sources that that probably happened because there will be some incentives paid out to the agent on the buyout, as well. I don't know about Jennings, but I've been told that's usually the case."
So how does all of that figure in when people are doing mock drafts?
"I think nowadays, with so many internet outlets covering the draft, you know who the top draft picks are going to be just by looking at the media," says Blake. "You know Blake Griffin's going to be one of your top guys coming into this year because you've seen him play last year. For us to get a feel for who we want to go see - the guys we call 'must-tracks,' meaning we have to track them, get a look at them, monitor them because they're going to come out - last year that was Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, you know those guys are going to be up there. Then it's fueled by a lot of other scouts who actually go to a lot of games, and they're going to spit that out to the media, as well. In terms of people like Chad Ford, Chad has only a few people who will talk to him and that's where he gets his information because he doesn't go see a lot of games. Then you have Draft Express, with guys who are actively going out there, and they do a really super job with what they do. How accurate they are, you never really know.
"Here's a perfect example. BJ Mullens was projected to be a Top Five pick two years ago, but now you're looking at him and there's no way he can be. Last year we said DeAndre Jordan (35th pick in 2008 by the LA Clippers) wasn't ready, not close to being ready. He doesn't play with a sense of urgency, he's not adept in the low post . . .he had a lot more concerns than he did strengths. So a lot of times people rely on the hype surrounding a player when they're filling out a mock draft. Some guy will get in the news and then their mock draft stock will go up. We've never spent much time looking at mock drafts, but my guys in the office would. They always talk about how a guy moves up and he hasn't played or even worked out for anyone. But that's OK, because for the public eye it's fun to go out and look at those things. Other media outlets will go look at Chad Ford or Draft Express or HOOPSWORLD and talk about who might fit in where. But for us, I don't even want to look at them to get my opinion because I have to go see those guys for myself and form my own opinion."
Forming his own opinion includes scouring the dark corners of the basketball planet in search of hidden gems, as well as taking a look at the Blake Griffins and Derrick Roses of the mainstream world.
"I run my business like an NBA team," says Blake. "The only difference is I don't actually get to make the pick, and for a competitive person, which I am, that's the downfall of my job. It also gives me a little more security than other jobs would because I don't have to live with bad decisions (laughing). But that's why we're so focused on, for instance, small colleges. You might not find anybody in there, but we scour the small colleges. There might be someone out there at that level who still has those dreams and the ability, much like when we had high schoolers who could become eligible. Think about Amar'e Stoudemire. Here was a guy playing on a team that doesn't have any Division I talent, against other teams with no Division I talent, so naturally he's going to look good. John Wall? Brandon Jennings . . .I haven't seen them enough against good talent to even make a decision. Hopefully Brandon will play at the Reebok Eurocamp and people will get an opportunity to see him play there so they can make some kind of determination about where he is."
Marty and Ryan Blake won't be the only ones trying to form a better opinion of Brandon Jennings in that camp - with Jennings projected by many to be a lottery pick this summer, everyone's trying to get a more in-depth look at one of last year's most talented high school basketball players. But that's just another day at the office for Ryan Blake and his father, Marty.
For more information about Marty Blake and Associates, link here!
Up Close With Demar DeRozan
Reliable or not, almost every mock draft you can find at this point lists USC freshman shooting guard Demar DeRozan as one of the top two shooting guards in the 2009 NBA Draft. James Harden seems to be universally recognized as the best, but right behind him is DeRozan, who averaged 13.9 points per game on an extremely efficient 56% from the field. He's not much of a deep threat, but his mid-range game is lethal, as is his transition game and his ability to finish at the rim.
"I think I was about 13 when I started to really understand the game of basketball and how much enjoyment it can bring," DeRozan tells HOOPSWORLD. "I started to see how much it can offer you in the long run, and that was really interested me. I stuck with it, wanted to get better and better, and see where it could lead me."
Where it's most likely to lead him in the short-term is into the lottery on draft day, just a couple of weeks from now. It looks like DeRozan's hard work is about to pay off in a big way.
"As opportunities came, I took advice from a lot of people," says DeRozan. "I stuck with it, worked as hard as I could, and pushed myself to see how far I could go. It's led me this point, taking part in NBA pre-draft workouts, and I feel good about the future."
One rumor that's been making the rounds is that the Oklahoma City Thunder could make DeRozan the third pick in the draft, putting him alongside Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook in one of the most promising young lineups in the league. DeRozan likes the sound of that, even if it is premature to actually predict such a move.
"That would be great. It would feel good to be in a lineup like that. Kevin Durant's one of the best players in the league, and that would be an opportunity to help build a program from the ground up. I think we could put Oklahoma City on the map as a top team in the next few years. Playing with a star player would also really help my career. Playing with someone like Kevin Durant, who's been there and remembers what it takes as a rookie to get where you want to go, that would be great because he just did it. I'd love to play with Kevin and help him build his team up."
There is much to be decided in the next two weeks, with almost every team still making final decisions about who they will target when they're on the clock in New York. It's clear that Demar DeRozan will have a chance to hear his name very early on in the proceedings, as most teams across the league could use a little more mid-range in their offense.
Curry And The Blazers?
One of the storylines that has popped up over and over again since the end of the first round of the NBA playoffs has been that the Portland Trail Blazers will pursue a point guard this offseason. Visions of Steve Nash or Jason Kidd playing alongside Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge have had Blazers fans thinking championship sooner than even the most optimistic dared hope. You know, like next season instead of the following year.
The latest chapter in this particular rumor is that the Blazers are seeking to move up in the draft to get Davidson's Stephen Curry, the junior who averaged basically 26 points and six assists for the Little Team That Could. Most mock drafts have Davidson going somewhere between five and eight, with the Knicks being named more than a few times. New York is also looking for a point guard, and has been linked to talks involving Segio Rodriguez. While Rodriguez alone won't make this happen, the idea of Curry in Portland is an intriguing one - one that Kevin Pritchard could no doubt find a way to swing.
The real question would then be what to do about Jerryd Bayless. Bayless has been the subject of many trade requests, most notably (and consistently) from the Phoenix Suns, but the Blazers have been unwilling to entertain the option of trading him. If the Blazers were to acquire Curry they would almost certainly have to send out Steve Blake, as well, as it seems highly unlikely they would be able to push Bayless to the very end of the bench again in 2009-2010. He's far too talented to simply sit and wait, hoping for an injury to create an opportunity for him.
NBA Rumors Chat Tomorrow!
HOOPSWORLD's resident Fantasy expert and Eastern Conference guru Tommy Beer will be holding his weekly chat tonight at 8:00PM Eastern, and you won't want to miss out. Tommy will be talking playoffs, Draft, or anything else you care to throw at him, so drop your questions in now!
