It has been more than two years since Bobby Gonzalez last coached Jeremy Hazell or Jordan Theodore.
But Gonzalez is still rooting for his former players and hoping they find their way to the NBA.
Gonzalez recruited Hazell and Theodore to Seton Hall before he was fired in 2010 and replaced by current coach Kevin Willard.
Now doing some TV work for NBC and hoping to get back into coaching, Gonzalez said he thinks there’s a place for the 6-foot-5 Hazell somewhere in the NBA. As first reported by SNY.tv, Hazell was invited to mini-camp with the Atlanta Hawks next month and then to join their Vegas Summer League team.
“Jeremy carries himself with kind of air about him that he thinks he belongs in the NBA, so he’ll probably go to the Hawks camp like he should be the starting two guard,” Gonzalez said during an exclusive interview with SNY.tv Monday.
“I know sometimes that can be a dig at him, but at that level sometimes it could be a positive because you need to believe that you belong there. That’s half the battle because you’re playing with the best players in the world.”
A 6-5, 180-pound guard, Hazell played briefly with Lucentum Alicante in Spain. An All-Big East Third Team selection, Hazell averaged 19.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.4 steals in 18 games his senior season in 2010-11. He finished his career ranked third all-time in scoring at Seton Hall with 2,146 points and set a Big East Conference record with 201 made three-pointers in conference games.
“I think Jeremy is going to eventually find his niche because he can make shots,” Gonzalez said. “It’s all timing, luck, finding the right system, the right coach. Somebody has a need for a guy like Jeremy to come in, instant offense.”
Gonzalez compared Hazell to MarShon Brooks of the Nets — an NBA All-Rookie Second Team selection — in terms of his ability to provide “instant offense.”
“In the Big East, they were both wing guys who could really score,” he said. “He’s a very good player, MarShon. He’s a better all-around player than Jeremy, but I think Jeremy’s offense can maybe get him a place [in the NBA]. He needs to go to a team that needs him and then get into a big game and make shots.”
Theodore had his first team workout Monday when he worked out for the Knicks, along with former Louisville guard Chris Smith.
During an interview with reporters afterward, the 6-foot Theodore sounded confident and told Josh Newman of the Asbury Park Press he believed he was the best point guard available in the draft even though he is projected to go undrafted.
“I’m just working out every day at (New Jersey-based) Larry Marshall Sports and hitting the beach and doing little things to improve my game,” Theodore said. “I took a lot out of the mini-camp. I got a lot of feedback on things I need to work on and I think today, I showed that I got better and I proved some things.”
Gonzalez recruited Theodore out of Paterson Catholic and said at the time he believed Theodore was the best guard coming out of a New York/New Jersey crop that included Kemba Walker, Tyshawn Taylor, Erving Walker and Darryl “Truck” Bryant.
“I got in many arguments with people telling them that I thought we signed the best point guard in the state of New Jersey that year,” Gonzalez said of Theodore.
Theodore had a solid career at Seton Hall but was unable to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament despite the team starting off 15-2 during his senior season.
Theodore averaged 16.1 points and 6.6 assists last season en route to second-team All-Big East honors.
Gonzalez said he believes Seton Hall fans will end up appreciating Theodore more after he’s gone.
“I think the fans at Seton Hall — and I could be wrong — I think it’s one of those things where you don’t know what you had till he’s gone,” he said. “I thought he was a lot more of an important, impactful recruit and player at Seton Hall than a lot of people I think realize.”
Gonzalez said he wished he had had the opportunity to coach Theodore through his senior year.
“One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t get to coach him as a senior,” he said. “That’s one of my biggest regrets, that I didn’t get to coach Jordan as a senior.
“Well, actually all those guys. I didn’t get to coach Jeremy Hazell. Jeff Robinson I only had for a semester. So Jeff and Jeremy and Herb [Pope] and Jordan, those four, were probably four of the best players we brought in and I never got to coach those guys as seniors and that was probably one of my biggest disappointments or regrets.”
