Judgment day has arrived for NBA Draft hopefuls.
Only 57 aspirants will hear their names called tonight in the 2002 NBA Draft at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Former MSU point guard Marcus Taylor will be among the many prospects hoping to be selected. He will be watching the draft with his family from his Lansing home.
Tony Mejia, a staff writer for CBS SportsLine.com, said he thinks Taylor could go anywhere between No. 30 and No. 50 overall. In his mock draft, he has Taylor going No. 35 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He said the 6-foot-3 point guard has the size NBA teams desire.
“Taylor has the frame that everybody wants,” Mejia said. “He’s a big point guard. Marcus probably played decently enough to be selected there.”
Mike Kahn, executive editor of CBS SportsLine.com, praised Taylor’s range of selection.
“He hasn’t quite established himself as someone that an NBA team wants to give a guaranteed three-year contract to,” he said. “It’s possible he could slip into (the late first round) - that would surprise me.”
Despite the forecasts, Taylor remains confident. He wrapped up his personal workouts with the New Jersey Nets on Monday, and said each workout has been a good experience.
“I’ve been getting nothing but positive feedback,” Taylor said. “Wherever I go I’m just going to go in and work hard.”
Taylor finished his career as only the second player in Big Ten history to lead the conference in scoring and assists, averaging 17.7 points and five assists per game.
While Taylor’s draft status remains unknown, the first three picks do not.
Foreign phenom center Yao Ming, former Duke point guard Jason Williams and former Duke forward Mike Dunleavy have settled into most experts‘ mock drafts as the first, second and third picks, respectively. Ming’s selection at No.1 would make him the first foreign player taken at that spot in the history of the NBA Draft. And there could be more to follow.
A CNNSI.com mock draft has 10 foreigners being selected in the first round. CBS SportsLine.com’s Kahn said he expects a quarter of the first-round selections to be foreign players.
“Their skills are more developed,” Kahn said. “Their level of competition is much higher when they are younger. They are more ready-made to contribute.”
Kahn said the NBA Draft is becoming similar to its NHL and MLB counterparts.
“(Teams) are drafting strictly on what might be,” he said. “It used to be the NBA and NFL drafts were great because you knew there was going to be impact.”
