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Monday, February 26, 2007
Is it one-and-done for Crittenton?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Not surprisingly, inquiring minds already wish to know if Georgia Tech’s Javaris Crittenton will join the likes of Greg Oden and Kevin Durant as one-and-done dribblers in college basketball.
Not surprisingly, Crittenton says that he only is concentrating on the Yellow Jackets’ next “X” or “O.” That is, when he isn’t studying for stuff involving his major in International Affairs.
Not surprisingly, more than a few folks don’t believe him.
I believe him.
“You’ve got to take care of what’s in front of you today, and what’s presenting itself right now,” Crittenton told me recently, with his team in a frantic search to reach the NCAA tournament. His last outing notwithstanding (seven misses in 10 shot attempts, one assist and four turnovers at Virginia on Saturday), Crittenton has been Tech’s catalyst as its latest freshman point guard of significance.
He ranks either one or two in the ACC among all freshmen in scoring, steals and assists. He also continues to mature by the moment as a leader for the young Jackets.
“So if I take care of my business now and take things step by step,” he added, “everything else will fall into place.”
Crittenton’s reference was to life in general. Not necessarily to a trip to the NBA draft this spring.
Still, this needs to be said.
Don’t go.
“I told him that the NBA isn’t going anywhere, and once you go, you can’t come back,” said Dennis Scott, who definitely knows. He bolted the Jackets a year early after the 1989-90 season to enter the draft following that Lethal Weapon 3 spurt to the Final Four.
He stayed in the NBA for a decade to become one of the league’s all-time prolific shooters from long distance. He also became one of the league’s all-time prolific observers.
There was Scott’s stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves, for instance, after he spent the bulk of his career with the Orlando Magic. He noticed Kevin Garnett’s anguish whenever Scott and others discussed their days on campuses.
“You could tell he felt bad about not being able to add anything to the conversations,” said Scott, now a Hawks radio announcer, referring to Garnett’s emptiness after leaping from high school to the NBA. “Finally, I asked him about it, and he said, ‘Yeah, it crosses my mind sometimes that I missed out by not having that college experience.’ “
In contrast, Crittenton already has that college experience, with more to come on the court through the ACC tournament and beyond, but that’s not the point. Just listen to Mark Price, among those who dribbled during the Neanderthal days of college basketball, when great players mostly stayed until graduation day.
So you know what Price wants Crittenton to do when it comes to his alma mater. Or do you?
“Well, I mean, it’s hard to say what he should do, because there is so much money involved these days,” said Price, who spent 12 years in the NBA. “If a guy has an opportunity to get drafted high, it’s hard to tell somebody not to go.”
Then Price quickly added the truth about the former star at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, who already is resembling his predecessors with the Jackets at point guard named Jarrett Jack, Stephon Marbury, Travis Best, Kenny Anderson and, yes, Price.
“I think Javaris is still in that learning curve, so to speak, at that position and at what it takes to really be a great point guard,” Price said. “He came in with more of a shooting-guard mentality, probably at a high school that required him to do a lot of shooting for them to win, but another year or two [at Tech] would really help him tremendously as far as his development in that position.”
Yes, it would, which brings us to a couple of things. First, Anderson is among Crittenton’s idols. “Stephon was great, but I love Kenny, and I watch Kenny Anderson tape all the time,” Crittenton said.
Second, Anderson stayed with the Jackets through his sophomore season. Like model, like disciple?
Which brings us to a final thing. Said a high-ranking NBA scout about the possibility of Crittenton entering the draft now instead of later, “A ton of kids are in his boat. They can roll the dice, and they might go in the first round, or they can roll the dice, and they might go in the second round. But if [Crittenton] sticks around for at least another year, there’s no question he’s a first-rounder, and maybe a high first-rounder.”
Then case closed.
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