Points to consider for Hawks at guard By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 06/18/06 Tonight is the deadline for the 92 underclassmen who've declared for the draft to make a decision to stay in or pull out, making this a big day for quite a few people. For Hawks fans, however, Monday morning is much more significant. That's when point guards Marcus Williams and Rajon Rondo and combo-guard Randy Foye will hit the practice floor at Philips Arena for a much-anticipated workout. Hawks officials must decide if there's a guard available in this draft worth selecting over one of the more highly rated forwards that should be available with the No. 5 pick. It's significant for other reasons as well, and none more glaring than the potential man-to-man matchup between Williams and Rondo, considered by most to be the draft's premier "pure" point guards. While neither is a lock for the top five — and Rondo is aa long shot if you use the plethora of mock drafts as your guide — Monday's showcase could be one of the few times the top players in this group occupy the same floor at the same time. And for Williams and Rondo, the common ties run far deeper than that. Not only do they share the same dream — of being the first point guard drafted — but they share the same agent (BDA Sports' Calvin Andrews), the same high school alma mater (Oak Hill Academy) and staunch supporters named Josh already on the Hawks' roster. Josh Childress knows Williams from their formative years — both are Los Angeles natives — and Josh Smith played with Rondo at Oak Hill. "This whole thing has gotten more and more strange as Rajon's stock has risen," said Andrews, who also represents Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony. "He's being compared a lot closer to Marcus than even we expected. We've done a good job of keeping them away from each other in workouts until now. "But the teams we're doing it for are in the top five [Williams and Rondo are also scheduled to workout together for Toronto next week], so we can't avoid them. You've got to sell them. And they both want [to be in the] top five and the teams want to see them, so you have to go handle your business." The business side of things is where this situation takes its most interesting turn. It's hard enough to market one elite player in this Internet age, where everyone with a computer thinks that they possess unique draft expertise. But try doing it for two elite players at the same position. Henry Thomas did it two years ago with Shaun Livingston and Devin Harris, who were drafted fourth and fifth, respectively, in 2004. Andrews: "It worked out well that year, so we'll see how it works this time around." When asked to sell both players, Andrews described distinctly unique talents, each of whom could help a team in desperate need of a talent boost in the backcourt — a teams like the Hawks. "If you need a guy right now, and I mean today, to help clean up your team and manage it and get people going in the right direction, you've got to go with Marcus," Andrews said. "If you've got time and can develop a kid, a kid who can be pretty special in this league, but will take some time to develop, you take Rajon." If last year's draft is any indication, a point guard's impact on his team — with the league's rule changes freeing up perimeter players — is glaring. The two teams who experienced the greatest improvement in the win column just happened to be New Orleans (with rookie point guard Chris Paul) and Utah (Deron Williams). "That's why I think [Williams and Rondo] are getting so much attention," Andrews said. "People realize what type of impact a pretty good point guard have on a team. Whereas before, teams were drafting on size and measurables and all that stuff, Chris Paul and that group showed that if you need a general or someone to lead, you better get him because those guys are rare. "I was talking to someone the other day, and we agreed that you can count the number of true point guards in the NBA on one hand. There are five or so true point guards that are doing the things to change a team's fortunes. That's why I believe if you get a guy like Marcus, who I like to call a point guard's point guard, it doesn't take long to realize that he could be pretty valuable to whatever team takes him." Draft rumblings ‧ The one player quietly moving his way up most teams' draft boards is the one player who seems to be the least talked about — Texas center/power forward LaMarcus Aldridge. "It's fine with me," he told reporters at last week's pre-draft camp in Orlando. "I don't take offense to not getting as much ink. I don't need to be in so many articles. Everything is just going to take care of itself. ‧ While the draft's truly elite talent usually eschews workouts for a bunch of teams in favor of a handful of carefully selected workouts, Villanova's Randy Foye has bucked conventional wisdom. His anybody-anywhere-anytime approach to his situation has been refreshing. "I have to," Foye said in Orlando. "A lot of these guys, basically they don't have to have many workouts. They're working out for teams that are in their range. They don't have to work out for nearly as many teams as I have. My stock is more up in the air, anywhere from seven to maybe 17." ‧ The best data to come out the pre-draft camp was released Friday when the actual heights and weights of all the prospects who attended were released. Of interest to Hawks fans should be the measured size of Duke power forward Shelden Williams, the player discussed as a possible target on draft night. He measured 6-7 1/2 in socks, 6-8 1/2 in shoes, and 258 pounds. 資料來源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0618nbanotes.html --

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