Sizing up 
tall expectations

By Steve Hummer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

They have been a part of the brotherhood of “bigs” for a major chunk of their young lives, bound by their Atlanta roots as well as that shorthand term basketball gives its chosen few.

Both listed at 6-foot-10, Derrick Favors and Trey Thompkins have the single attribute that triggers every coach’s salivary response: The great distance between their toes and their nose.

“I didn’t really have a choice,” said Thompkins. He points to his family tree and its exceptionally long limbs. A seven-foot grandfather. A 6-7 father (a Hawks ninth-round draft pick in 1981). A 6-2 mother.

Both Thompkins and Favors grew up (and up) in the Atlanta area, played some monster AAU ball together, then split on their choice of state schools. Thompkins took a chance on Georgia’s low-profile program in 2008, and tried mightily this season to lure his friend Favors — one of the most coveted recruits in the country — but lost out to Georgia Tech.

“I was in his ear every day,” Thompkins said. As a recruiter, he makes a fine power forward.

On the basketball court, height is pure gold. Basketball players are like lightning rods — the tallest ones draw the most sparks.

And expectations come relative to size. They form early and follow a player through each step of his development. Jammar Stegall helped coach these two to an AAU Under-17 national title with the Atlanta Celtics. He’ll tell you without hesitation: “Trey Thompkins has the most offensive skills of any [college] big man in the country today and Derrick Favors is the best defender in the game.”

With the tournaments nigh and the college shelf life of such talent usually brief, it’s a good time to take stock of the biggest men on campus.

Favors at Tech

Tech coach Paul Hewitt figures his guy is the logical ACC rookie of the year. Favors is third in the conference in blocked shots (2.0 a game) and sixth in rebounding (8.3 a game). He has averaged 17 points in his last three conference games entering Saturday (11.7 for the season).

The challenge has been to keep Favors on the floor. He leads Tech in personal fouls.

“He has he gone through some of the growing pains that young big guys go through with fouls,” Hewitt said.

“But the thing that I love about him is he’s so composed in the face of adversity. And he is very coachable. Extremely coachable. And that’s going to make him a great player.”

Favors has been absolutely placid through tough times this season. Asked the most difficult part of the transition from prize high school recruit to college freshman, Favors almost whispers, “The maturing part, like coming into a game and knowing how and when [to go for] the blocked shots. The mental part of the game.”

As a kid who dominated high school and won the state AAA title his final year at South Atlanta, Favors also has had to learn to deal with the kind of disappointment that comes with going 1-7 on the road in the ACC.

“I’m good at that. I got a real short memory,” he said.

Thompkins at Georgia

New Georgia coach Mark Fox sees Thompkins perfecting an expansive menu of skills in his sophomore year.

“He can rebound. He can score, can shoot the 3, can score in the low block, can get to the foul line. He can be a very versatile player. He’s making progress,” Fox said.

Thompkins was raised by his father to explore all avenues of his talent. “I wasn’t banking on his size,” said Howard Thompkins. “Back in rec ball, I encouraged him to handle the ball and shoot it. And everybody was screaming at me, ‘Why are you doing that? He’s not going to be a point guard.’”

The result has been a power forward who helps bring the ball up when breaking the press and who is the Bulldogs’ second most proficient 3-point shooter (21-of-50, 42 percent). He also is second in the SEC in scoring (17.9) and fourth in rebounding (8.1).

Just keeping Thompkins at Georgia was a victory. When Dennis Felton was fired and Fox brought in to replace him, there followed a whole re-recruiting process of the young star.

“It was a little rocky at first,” Thompkins said. But Fox grabbed him with a promise to create a new, positive atmosphere. And in fact, the Bulldogs (13-14, 5-9 in SEC) have been more competitive than last year, when they posted only three conference wins.

Traveling to Athens has become a pleasant experience for the Thompkins family. “Last year, it was literally painful,” said Trey’s father. “Now it is a good place to be.”

The NBA is watching

As for the view from the outside, Favors always has been the more keenly followed of the two players, by both college recruiting analysts and now NBA draft wonks. He is deemed the more physically imposing big man.

There is some surprise out there that Favors has not created more havoc in the college game, along the lines of Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins.

“He’s had a good year, not a great year,” said Chris Monter, of Monter Draft News and College Basketball News.

“He hasn’t broken out the way a lot of people hoped he would,” said Jonathon Givony, president of DraftExpress.com, and a draft analyst for NBA.com.

“I think it has been a tough situation for him at Georgia Tech, with no consistent point guard play and no offensive scheme,” Givony said. “I think it has been very different for him trying to play down low along with Gani Lawal [an issue that Hewitt has mentioned].”

Still, every mock NBA draft has Favors a top-five pick, reinforcing the likelihood of him being a one-and-done collegian.

Thompkins’ case is a little more complicated. His name does not even appear in some mock drafts. There has been only passing interest in him among NBA types, Givony maintains.

Thompkins is, by Givony’s reckoning, “a very impressive player, skills-wise ... a natural scorer ... a polished guy facing the basket or down underneath ... improved in his decision -making ... [but] a player whose defense needs a lot of work.”

Unless Thompkins can make some big noise at tournament time and dramatically raise his profile, Givony can’t see any benefit in him coming out early for the draft.

Take two young players who have grown up together, shared the same ambitions while developing widely different styles, and still are playing in each other’s extended backyard. It would be only natural for them to measure themselves, one against the other, as a season like this unfolds.

That hasn’t happened, Thompkins said.

“Honestly we’ve never done that,” he said. “If other people want to compare us, they can. We try to keep it as simple as we can and just be friends and leave it at that.”