Basketball jaded me this past season and I have been fortunate enough to put it out of my mind. However, I have not forgotten about basketball...completely. The NBA Draft is tomorrow and we have two, one, 1.5 Yellow Jackets on the NBA's Draft Board in Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors.
Derrick Favors
The New Jersey Nets seem to have a dilemma on their hands and must pick between Favors and DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky. Both players worked out for the team on Monday. Here's the video from NBA.com.
From John Schumann of NBA.com:
New coach Avery Johnson wants team defense to be the foundation of his team, so a more mobile and athletic big like Favors would be a better fit. Favors is an athletic freak and would come closer to giving the Nets what they've been missing since the Martin days. He also lacks the personality issues that come with Cousins.
Interesting. Favors has the potential in offense, but Cousins may have the results. Cousins doesn't have the defense, but Favors does.
Here is a video of Cousins and Favors working out for the Sacramento Kings:
Gani Lawal
Gani has been the forgotten soul with Derrick Favors taking all the headlines. However, never forget that Gani led the team last year in points and rebounding. He also improved in his free-throw shooting last year:
On June 17, Gani was invited to work out for the Atlanta Hawks. It would be fun to see him and Mario West play with each other. Various sites show have him mock drafted in the Top 30. If accurate, Atlanta could be a feasible home for him. NBA.com's video keeps giving me an error when I try to pull the Hawks video, so here's some Nets action as well for Lawal.
More in-depth talk tomorrow AM.