<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vuchato @ Jan 17 2008, 03:51 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>BPA. unless you would rather have Wright than Granger.</div>
One...more...time: when Granger showed up for his workouts, he had a swollen knee from off season knee surgery. It scared most teams away from him. In some predraft mocks, he had been projected as high as #4, and based on talent, as we can all see now, he deserved it. But teams get scared by knee issues, for better or worse. Indiana took a chance, told him to take the summer off and rehab. Smart move. But I can find a lot of dumb moves by the Pacers as well over the last six years.
It is NEVER just about talent, or Zach Randolph wouldn't have been drafted after Jason Collins. It's about mental attitude, psychological testing, conditioning, injuries, maturity, etc. Boozer and Millsap fell to the second round because of conditioning issues during workouts. Both then went out and lost more than 20 pounds. Good for them, good for the teams that picked them.
The Nets would rather take a
reasonable chance on a player with character issues--Marcus Williams, Hassan Adams, Sean Williams, or emotional issues--Josh Boone, than a player with physical issues (although they did that with KMart). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
And by the way, there have been reports that the decision in 2005 was between Wright and Gerald Green, not Wright and Granger.