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Noah opting for the NBA would please many pro scouts (10.04.2006)
BY DAVID ALDRIDGE
Knight Ridder Newspapers
PHILADELPHIA - For those of you who think there is nirvana in the draft for the Sixers, you better hope that Joakim Noah changes his mind.
Because Noah is exactly what the Sixers need.
And even if they don`t draft him, his presence in June`s draft will push more good players down to where Philadelphia is likely to be drafting - the middle of the first round - if it doesn`t catch lightning in a bottle and get one of the top three picks.
Right now, Noah, the Gators` outstanding forward, is saying that he`s going to return to Gainesville for his junior season. He`s very close to his teammates, especially the fellow sophomores who helped lead Florida to its first national championship last week. The Gators dominated throughout the NCAA tournament, and the 6-foot-11 Noah was the most dominant.
His performance against UCLA in the championship game - six blocked shots, a record for a title game - completed his two-month meteoric rise to the top of draft boards throughout the league. You may have to go all the way back to 1987, when an unknown forward from a Division II school, Central Arkansas, got invited to the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational tournament for NBA prospects and exploded onto the scene, going from nowhere to the fifth overall pick.
That was Scottie Pippen.
Noah, though, is on his own rocket ride.
"On my list, he`s not top three, he`s top one," says a veteran NBA personnel man, who, like everyone else in the league, cannot talk about Noah for attribution because he`s still an underclassman.
"The growth from late November to March has been remarkable for this kid," the personnel man said. "Remember, Florida played in Madison Square Garden the first week of the season (against Wake Forest and Syracuse in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic) and he barely played. Scottie`s (rise) was understandable, because he was an unknown to everybody. We knew about (Noah)."
Indeed. Noah`s been part of the basketball scene since he was a kid. Growing up, one of his best friends happened to be Patrick Ewing Jr., the son of the famous Knicks center. Noah went to several basketball camps run by Ewing`s coach, John Thompson - who promptly nicknamed Noah, the son of tennis star Yannick Noah, "French Toast" in honor of Noah`s French-Cameroon heritage.
But still. He played a grand total of two minutes for Florida in last year`s tournament.
"He has opened up a lot of eyes
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here," says another personnel man. "You don`t see guys picking up 10, 15 spots in the draft this time of year. It`s like the old (Bill) Parcells line - you are who you are at this point."
Noah`s game brings to mind that of Marcus Camby, who went second overall to Toronto in 1996. Others think of Kenyon Martin, who went first overall to New Jersey in 2000. Martin was certainly viewed as more physical and tougher than Noah when he came out of Cincinnati, but Noah`s quickness and passing ability is superior to Martin`s.
"I think Kenyon can make a 15-footer," yet another veteran personnel man said in comparing him to Noah. "I`m not sure this kid can. But if you look at Kenyon`s rebounds per minute, I think this kid is a better rebounder. And he`s a better shot-blocker."
Noah is also intriguing to pro scouts because, while he has a European bloodline - his mother, Cecilia Rodhe, is a former Miss Sweden - he`s familiar with the rough-and-tumble of the U.S. game. He spent last summer playing in the Rucker League in New York, where he got a nickname ("Sunrise") and more than held his own against the likes of Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley.
He plays with emotion and fire, and we haven`t seen too much of that around the Wachovia Center this season, have we?
He would be an active big man on a team that thought it had one in Samuel Dalembert. But we haven`t seen much of that from Dalembert all season. And as we`ve said all season, the Sixers` problem isn`t scoring - it`s at the other end of the floor.
But even if the Sixers can`t get Noah, he`ll push other good players further down in the first round. The presence of underclassmen like Noah, LSU freshman forward Tyrus Thomas and Duke freshman forward Josh McRoberts would mean that Philly could have a better shot at talents such as University of Washington guard Brandon Roy or Villanova guard Randy Foye. (Thomas, who`s also flown up the draft boards in helping LSU to the Final Four, has not said whether he`ll come out. Neither has McRoberts.)
To be sure, Noah doesn`t need the money. And he`s having a blast with his friends. But with the presence of high school center Greg Oden looming in future drafts - Oden will have to play a year at Ohio State next season, but is likely to be the first pick in the draft whenever he decides to come out - Noah may not ever have a better shot at being a top pick.
The Sixers need a break. Noah pulling a 180 and opting for the pros would be a big one - one way or the other.
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