Teague's Decision Becomes Even Tougher

HOOPSWORLD has learned that Wake Forest sophomore guard Jeff Teague strained his MCL and will be shutting down workouts for at least the next ten days. The injury, which occurred during a group workout in Minnesota with several other NBA teams in attendance, is not serious but will linger through the June 15th deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA Draft.

Returning to Wake Forest for his junior season remains a possibility for Teague as he has yet to hire an agent. However, Teague has quietly made it known that he's heavily leaning towards staying in the draft and according to his father this minor setback does not change that.

"I don't think this injury will alter that," said Shawn Teague to Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com.

What could possibly alter that is if in the next ten days Teague doesn't receive the kind of feedback he's hoping for. Being a top 20 pick is said to be the deciding factor for Teague and as of right now he's far from a lock to go that early. Luckily for Teague every team in the 13-19 range is a possible suitor whose interest he can gauge before making his final decision. In our latest installment of the consensus mock draft Joel Brigham has Teague going the highest at 15th overall while Alex Raskin, Steve Kyler, and I have Teague going in the 21-22 range.

The point guard position is by far the strongest in this year's draft and while Teague could go as high as 13, he could just as easily fall to late in the first round. Although Teague's interest in staying in the draft is strong, he has to be giving some strong consideration to returning to school for just one more season.

Just two years ago current Indiana Pacer and former Kansas Jayhawk Brandon Rush went through nearly the exact same predicament Teague is currently going through, only to a more severe extent. Rush tore his ACL while testing the waters, which practically made his decision for him. The torn ACL ended up being a blessing in disguise for Rush as not only did he improve his stock during his junior season, he also ended up winning a National Championship.

Waiting for Teague at Wake Forest is really an ideal situation that could produce similar results to what Rush saw. Teague has the luxury of being able to play both guard positions for Dino Gaudio and a very talented team that with him has Final Four potential. The Demon Deacons were extremely young last season and return future lottery pick Al-Farouq Aminu along with seven others from their top ten.

Teague tested out fairly well at the Chicago predraft camp last week, but didn't blow anyone away by any means. He came in a bit shorter than expected at 6'1.5" in shoes and was mediocre in terms of speed. Areas that he stood out in for his position were with his wingspan and leaping ability. Teague has a 6'7.5" wingspan and a maximum vertical leap of 36".

This year's point guard crop is highlighted by Ricky Rubio, Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry, Jonny Flynn, Tyreke Evans, Ty Lawson, Jrue Holiday, Eric Maynor, Darren Collison, Patrick Mills, and Nick Calathes along with Teague. Each and every one of them feels they are first round worthy, but we're talking about 12 point guards with only 30 picks in the first round. Only so many are going to be taken and inevitably some players are going to slip, with Teague being a prime candidate to do so.

The depth at point guard won't factor into Teague's decision at all though if he can get the highly-coveted promise from a team picking in the range where he wants to be selected. That would remove the uncertainty from Teague's status, but unless that promise comes Wake Forest is definitely his best option.

Focusing on Dozier

This is the time of year when we get to know NBA draft prospects pretty in-depth. Typically it's guys like Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, and Hasheem Thabeet that we learn the most about since they are about to become top five picks. Up to this point though the players that we may have learned the most about is someone whose name may not even be called on June 25th: Robert Dozier of Memphis.

Dozier, who just graduated from Memphis with a degree in interdisciplinary studies, never won less than 33 games during his four years with the Tigers and was a part of the NCAA-record 38 win team in 2007-2008. Dozier was a contributor from day one and eventually grew into one of the most versatile players in the country as an upperclassmen, but his participation may cause all of the Tigers' 137 wins from the past four seasons to be vacated.

Just like former teammate Derrick Rose Dozier is being accused of cheating on his SAT, having someone else take it for him in order to get the necessary score to accept a full athletic scholarship. Originally Dozier scored a 1,260 out of a possible 1600, an impressive score that didn't match up well with his academic history in high school.

Mark Schlabach of espn.com put together a very thorough and detailed rundown of the Dozier situation in its entirety. Dozier took the SAT for a second time because of questions surrounding his high score and only managed a 720.

In light of the pending investigation by the NCAA against Memphis athletics we've also learned that Dozier was denied admissions by Georgia and attended a prep school for one year that is no longer accredited by the NCAA Clearing House.

The timing couldn't be poorer for Dozier as he's doing his best to try to earn a spot in the 2nd round of the upcoming NBA Draft. Although this situation certainly doesn't help him much, it isn't going to completely scare teams away. More than anything it just prevents him from being able to focus on some of the most important workouts of his life and serves as a red flag for teams for possible character issues.

This situation all together is just very ugly to say the least. Even if Dozier is indeed guilty it's unfair for him to have his personal information and academic history brought out to the public, especially with the fact that he just graduated and earned a degree as a footnote. If he's innocent it's even worse and if you take Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson at his word then Dozier is indeed having his name dragged through the mud for nothing.

"We still feel comfortable about what we've done and that we've done all the do-rights, and time will tell. You don't want any of that stuff happening, but I'm pretty comfortable we've done all the things we're supposed to do," said Johnson to espn.com's Andy Katz.

If Johnson is incorrect then the last four years of Tiger basketball will basically be wiped clear of all the record books. It would be John Calipari's second Final Four appearance deemed invalid by the NCAA, but it would be unfair to punish Josh Pastner's Tigers for mistakes made by previous administration. Along with the 137 wins being removed the Tigers' admissions policy for student athletes should be carefully looked at and revamped.

As for Dozier specifically, what is there that you can do at this point? All the situation is going to do at this point is hurt the young man who is working hard on becoming a professional. The most beneficial solution at this point is to put a system into place where a situation like this can never occur again and move on. It isn't in the best interest of Dozier, Memphis, or the NCAA for this to drag on.

The KGuarantee

We still don't know who our champion is going to be for this season, but in case you're wondering who is going to take it all in 2010 AND 2011 look no further than the Boston Celtics.

"I talked to Kevin Garnett and he guaranteed the championship in 2010 and in 2011," Wyc Grousbeck said to Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe. "He was as fired up as he's ever been."

Kevin's determination and faith are as admirable as they are ludicrous. The Celtics are certainly going to a tough team for the next two seasons, but far from a lock to win back-to-back championships especially with all the question marks they have.

Along with injuries the Celtics' biggest Achilles heel this season was depth. They have a lot of work to do this offseason to put together a team that can hang with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic next season, let alone whoever comes out of the Western Conference.

It's hard to blame KG for trying to keep his bosses' optimism high, but the guarantee is laughable at best. Don't let KG's words sway you at all, the results of the next two seasons are WAY up in the air.

NBA Chat

It's that time of the week again. At 1 pm EST I'll be hosting my weekly chat so get your questions in here. I'll do my best to get to as many as I can, with the NBA draft coming up we've got a ton to talk about.