LEXINGTON, Ky. — Before the NBA lockout ended, all 30 NBA GMs were slated to attend Saturday’s North Carolina-Kentucky game.
Now that the lockout is over, only 10 will be there.
Which of course begs the question: Shouldn’t those 10 guys be back in the office working the phones trying to assemble their teams for the start of the NBA season Christmas Day?
But I digress.
Ten GMs are expected to be on hand for a game that one veteran NBA scout told me will feature 10 potential first-round NBA Draft picks, plus a couple more possible second-rounders.
Asked if he’d ever been associated with a game loaded with so much talent, Kentucky coach John Calipari reflected back on his 1996 UMass Final Four team that lost to eventual champ Kentucky.
“Well, there had to be other games because Kentucky had nine pros on one team in ’96 and they played us,” he cracked. “We had one [Marcus Camby]. That would’ve been 10 right there.”
For Carolina, the NBA scout said Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson are likely first-round picks this year and Kendall Marshall, Reggie Bullock and James McAdoo are down the road.
He also likes Dexter Strickland as a possible second-rounder because “he can defend.”
Kentucky features the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft in Anthony Davis — he of the near-triple-double Thursday vs. St. John’s — as well as Terrence Jones, both of whom will likely go next year.
Marquis Teague and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are likely first-rounders at some point, the scout said, while Doron Lamb and Darius Miller could go in the second round.
Heck, Lamb, the Queens native, could move into the first round in 2013, the scout said.
“If Doron Lamb stays in school next year he’ll be the star of this team,” the scout said. “He’s very good offensively. He could be the leading scorer on this team.”
So, if you’re an NBA guy, what are you looking for in Saturday’s game?
“What you’re looking for as a coach always and probably an NBA team, you’re looking for guys who make other players better,” said Calipari, the former Nets coach. “They can play, but they make other players better.
“If a guy’s playing and he’s playing for himself, it just stands out in a game like this. They’ll be looking for who’s stealing the game and who’s making their teammates better.”
For guys like Lamb and Miller, it’s a chance to show the scouts up close and personal that they have NBA talent and might could possibly move up.
“We really gotta show that every game,” Miller said Friday.
“We can’t just focus on this game but we’re just trying to see where we’re at as a team, individually. Everything.”
