Men's Hoops

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Damion James (pictured), Avery Badley and Dexter Pittman were all selected in the 2010 NBA draft. Bradley and James became the first pair of Horns to go in the first round since 1990 and Pittman, drafted in the second round, made it only the second time three Texas players were taken in the same draft. >MORE

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Dexter Pittman may be the luckiest guy in the world

- Dave Behr Hookem.com Content Editor

  • It’s been a fun couple of weeks in the pros for former Longhorn Dexter Pittman. Exactly RBB UT VS OSU 6two weeks ago he was taken by the Heat in the second round. It seemed like a decent place to land. Dwyane Wade, South Beach, Pat Riley, South Beach, 2009 playoff team and have I mentioned South Beach? Is there a better place for a big man to start his NBA career? I don’t think so.
  • Imagine now that you’re Pittman and you find out that Chris Bosh and LeBron James want to come play where you play. We already knew Bosh was on board to play for the Heat next season, but adding LeBron was a double-bonus for Sexy Dexy. Not only does he now have three All-Stars and the current league MVP on his team, but Miami likely has to give so much up to make room for those massive contracts that he could be the only true center left on the team. Not to take anything away from Pittman’s abilities but I’m pretty sure I could play center for that team and we’d be pretty darn good.
  • Free Agency Heat Basketball
  • As the country watched LeBron choose Thursday night, Dexter Pittman was probably a little more excited than the rest of us. After hearing that LBJ picked the Heat, Pittman probably reacted a little like this kid…

    Given what happened to Dexter Pittman personally a little over a month ago the guy deserves a break like this one. Celebrate tonight Dexter, for tonight you are one of the luckiest guys in the world.

A week from NBA draft projections still vary

  • The NBA draft is a week from today (Thursday, June 24th) and those of us excited to see where former Longhorns end up will probably still be guessing until their names are actually called. A quick look around the net at some “expert” mock draft have two Texas Exes going in the first round (Avery Bradley and Damion James) but there is absolutely no consensus at which pick they’ll be taken.
  • At one point Bradly was projected to go as high as 10th overall to the Indiana Pacers. All of the most recent projections I’ve found though have him going lower, some even have him much lower. ESPN’s Chad Ford (subscription required) has the guard going 13th to Toronto. CBSSports.com has three different projections where Bradley is going 12th, 19th and 24th. FanHouse likes him going 15th to the Milwaukee Bucks to play alongside Brandon Jennings.
  • Damion James seems to be a little easier to predict, sort of. James is at least projected to go mid-to-late first round where as Bradley is in the who-the-hell-knows realm. Chad Ford hasn’t had Damion James going anywhere but San Antonio at 20 since day one so he may know something on that one. The CBS guys have James going 16th, 30th and 21st (which is OK City’s pick and you don’t need me to remind you what that would mean) and FanHouse likes him at 18 to Miami but the “expert” doesn’t seem to confident the Heat will even use that pick.
  • We’re coming down to the wire for NBA teams to figure out what they want their future to look like. While they do their research we’ll fantasize about where the former Horns wind up. The speculation ends on June 24th.

Avery Bradley projected in top ten in newest ESPN mock draft

  • Former Texas guard Avery Bradley is a big question mark to many NBA experts. Some see the one-and-done player as a low first round selection, others see him going fairly high in June’s NBA draft.
  • ESPN’s Chad Ford, their Mel Kiper of the NBA draft, belongs in the latter of those groups. At least, he’s starting to think that way. Ford has bumped Bradley up to No. 10 in his third mock draft (subscription required). He is predicting Bradley will be selected by the Indiana Pacers although he says the Pacers are “one of the most difficult teams to peg right now”. (Sports Illustrated’s Ian Thomsen doesn’t even have Bradley in his mock draft.)
  • Avery Bradley has moved steadily up Ford’s mocks since the beginning of this month. He started at No. 25 to Memphis, then moved up to 13th to Toronto, now he’s sitting at No. 10 and he may keep moving. Ford says of Bradley, “More and more scouts and GMs believe he could be this year’s Russell Westbrook.” It is never a bad thing to be compared to a guy who made the All-Rookie first team and helped lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs in his second year (although he got a lot of help from some guy named Durant).
  • Though Bradley is the only Horn with potential to go in the top ten of this year’s draft he’s likely not the only one who will be taken in the first round. Damion James is still projected to go in the first. In fact, he hasn’t budged since the original mocks projected him going 20th overall to San Antonio. James would be incredibly lucky to wind up with the Spurs organization.
  • There will almost certainly be changes to the NBA draft projections before June 24th. I’ll let you know how these changes are affecting our former Horns so you can get ready to go out and buy that Pacers Bradley jersey, or not. But at least you’ll be ready.

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