Jackie Manuel’s Posse

Bubble Bath For Tywon, Ice Bath for Danny, and Cold Shower for Wayne

From Chad Ford:

The best matchup of the night pitted UNC’s Ty Lawson versus Tennessee -Martin’s Lester Hudson. Lawson came in with the blue-chip pedigree but with a draft stock that’s taken a beating this year. Hudson comes from a small school and a checkered background, but he had wowed scouts and executives in the early drills.

Hudson’s stock looked to be on the rise while Lawson’s seemed to be free-falling.

Both players came off the bench at the 10-minute mark and guarded each other. The verdict was an overwhelming knockout for Lawson, who dominated Hudson on both ends of the ball. Lawson’s tenacious defense forced Hudson into five early turnovers and a couple of bad shots. Meanwhile Lawson kept pushing the ball and making things happen.

Hudson ended the game with four points on 2-for-6 shooting with five assists and five turnovers. Lawson’s numbers weren’t spectacular. He had 10 points, four assists and shot 4-for-10 from the field. However several GMs walked away impressed with Lawson.

“He came out with great energy and played like he had something to prove,” one GM said. “He kicked Hudson’s [butt]. I think he helped himself.”

As for the other two:

UNC’s Wayne Ellington may have had the worst performance of the day. He was just 3-for-10 from the field and had a Wednesday-high six turnovers. His teammate, Danny Green didn’t fare much better — also going 3-for-10 from the field.

Good to read that Tywon is showing what he can do. Poor Danny really can’t afford to be injured right now. Wayne probably just needs to relax, though ball handling is a legitimate weakness. Hopefully they’ll all have a great day today. Read more about the day here and here.

There seems to be some more confusion about what ‘testing the water’ means. I can certainly understand that. Is it an adventure sport? Is it a guideline for receiving matching federal election funding? Is it a condom examination?

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The three North Carolina underclassmen here aren’t testing the NBA draft process.

They want in. They want to be all the way in.

Oh dear. They’ve all signed with an agent.

The problem for sophomores Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and junior Danny Green is that finding a first- or second-round guarantee before the June 16 deadline to withdraw from the draft might not be feasible.

Definately a problem…maybe they should see how it goes and then decide.

But it could be a gamble that all might be willing to make if they can play well this week at the pre-draft camp and then during individual workouts for various teams around the league.

So, they are testing the waters! They don’t want all they way in yet. Very smart of them.

Lawson, the most likely of the three to be a first-round pick, said that North Carolina put out a statement that the players were testing the waters, a commonly used phrase for anyone who decides to declare for the draft but doesn’t sign with an agent.

“But that’s not the truth,” he said Tuesday. “Everybody is in the draft to stay in the draft unless [they get hurt]. Comments like that are misleading to NBA teams, to say we’re just testing the waters.”

Unless-except on the condition that : under any other circumstance than.

In North Carolina’s defense, the phrase is part of the vernacular among NBA teams and colleges at this time of the year. And NBA personnel are smart enough to know whether a player is just trying to improve his name recognition or truly wants to stay in the draft.

All three Carolina players said they want to stay in the draft. But they’re also realistic, and that’s why they didn’t sign with an agent. They understand they’re not a given to go high enough in the draft to warrant skipping out on their remaining eligibility at Chapel Hill.

In North Carolina’s defense, they understand what the moronic metaphor means.

Lawson mentions he wants to go in the top 20. David Glenn writes about why that matters. Tar Heel Fan blogs on the the fans dilemma. It is a good post and we can all understand the conflict that every Carolina supporter is dealing with. I’ll be very happy if they all come back and I’ll be very happy for them if they are drafted. They all want to make a living playing basketball and none of the three players has done anything deserving of our scorn. Danny has taken some heat and I think that is ridiculous. He and his father have been honest and even if you think his decisions have been foolish (I don’t), they are his decisions.

This is just stupid. Flopping is no worse than it was in the 80s. Many are blaming it on the foreigners like Varjejao which is really a small step away from xenophobia. Nats were completely outclassed. Project 2010 is right on schedule. I love the grizzly bear one.