UCLA, USC Draftees No Sure Things Now

Their college careers complete, now USC’s Brian Scalabrine and Jeff Trepagnier and UCLA’s Earl Watson are anticipating one of the biggest events of their lives--Wednesday’s NBA draft.

But they and other area draft-eligible players also face one of their biggest challenges--making an impact in the NBA.

UCLA has had 62 players and USC 26 who have spent at last one season in the NBA.

Bruins such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Gail Goodrich, Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes and the Trojans’ Paul Westphal had outstanding NBA careers.

But when the 2000-2001 regular season ended, only eight of the 29 NBA teams had a UCLA or USC player on their rosters. And outside of Baron Davis, who appears to be a rising star with the Charlotte Hornets, and Reggie Miller, who has averaged nearly 20 points a game in 14 seasons with Indiana, none is part of the NBA elite.

Robert Pack, toiling for the Denver Nuggets, is the league’s sole Trojan. Along with Davis and Miller, Bruins in the NBA this past season were Tyus Edney (Indiana), Don MacLean (Miami), Darrick Martin (Sacramento), Jelani McCoy (Seattle), Jerome Moiso (Boston) and Tracy Murray (Toronto).

Bill McKinney, a former Northwestern star and now executive vice president of the Seattle SuperSonics, says that traditional powers such as UCLA don’t have the recruiting advantage they once did.

“When I grew up, UCLA, Notre Dame, Kansas and North Carolina were the places you absolutely wanted to be recruited by,” McKinney said. “Now you have so many schools offering the same opportunity that recruiting is as important as tradition.

“There was a period when lot of West Coast players went East because the Big East was on television all the time and the Pac-10 was perceived not as strong. Now many other programs have become more attractive, even the Iowas and Illinoises.”

USC had only three players drafted in the 1990s, with Pack being a free agent, signing with Portland in 1991.

Harold Miner, the Trojans’ all-time leading scorer, was touted as “Baby Jordan.” Miner, at 6 feet 5, 214 pounds, won the NBA slam dunk competition in 1995 but averaged only 9.0 points in four seasons.

Duane Cooper, who like Miner was drafted in 1992, lasted two seasons. Rodrick Rhodes, drafted in 1997, made it through two seasons and one game into his third.

USC’s lack of NBA player output is not that stunning. The Trojans do not have the same legacy of basketball excellence as they do in football. Last season was the first 20-victory season USC had in eight years.

UCLA had 13 players drafted in the last decade, six in the first round. But only five are still in the NBA, and MacLean was the only one to average as many as 18 points for a season.

Jeff Weltman, director of player personnel for the Clippers, said finding impact players has been a problem for the NBA, not only UCLA and USC.

“An impact player is someone who is being part of your core players who get consistent minutes nightly,” Weltman. “With all the basketball played why aren’t there that many? It’s a tough question.

“When I look at our scouting reports, what I look for is something that gives us insight in assessing how that player is going from college to NBA. Does the program they come from always give you that insight? No. Just because a school has produced a lot of NBA players in the past, there is no standing on how the NBA looks at the group of players today.”

Then there’s the nature of the draft itself, which has undergone a fundamental change.

“The draft has changed with [all] the undergraduates coming out,” Weltman said. “When players stayed four years, they would [usually] be high picks. The four-year players were physically and more emotionally ready for the next step.

“Now the draft is a talent hunt. Teams go into it with the understanding that they may have to wait two, three years for a pick to be ready.”

Scalabrine, Trepagnier and Watson are not the only Southland college players drawing NBA attention. Others include UC Irvine’s Jerry Green, Cal State Northridge’s Brian Heinle and Pepperdine’s Brandon Armstrong, although underclassmen Green and Armstrong were urged to return to school.

The most highly regarded Southern California player in this draft is Tyson Chandler of Compton Dominguez High, a probable top-five selection.

Scalabrine and Trepagnier are projected from the late first round to the early second round.

But both had something to prove to NBA scouts after USC’s 24-10 season and run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. Scalabrine showed the ability to score inside the key as well as from three-point range in averaging 14.7 points, but needed to improve his lateral movement and defensive reaction.

Trepagnier, who averaged nine points in 21 games of a troubled senior season, needed to develop a consistent jump shop to go along with his explosive drives to the basket.

Both of them gave the scouts what they were looking for at draft camps in Phoenix and Chicago.

Trepagnier may have made the biggest leap, when he went from a questionable shooting guard prospect to the most valuable player of the Phoenix camp.

“He has a chance to play in the league,” said Marty Blake, director of NBA Scouting. “Jeff is athletic and showed his athleticism as is good as his basketball. He can beat people off the dribble and he can shoot. He could have moved into the first round.”

That’s the kind of reaction Trepagnier was looking for after enduring an up-and-down senior season marred by a stress fracture and a NCAA suspension that cost him 13 games.

“I had been working out two times a day on my shot and ball-handling. I knew I had to play well in the camp just to get looked at,” Trepagnier said.

“During the first scrimmage I hit my first two shots, and that pretty much carried me through the whole tournament. I just had a whole lot more confidence in my shot. I felt comfortable doing whatever I wanted to do.”

Scalabrine participated in the Chicago and Phoenix camps, showing better footwork and an all-around game.

‘He was a different player in Chicago,” said Blake, who also watched Scalabrine in Phoenix. “He had lost weight and was quicker. He was able to put the ball on the floor, was fearless, and he can shoot. He really helped himself.”

Said Scalabrine: “I’m confident there is a NBA general manager or scout that will like me and want me on their team. I know it comes down to winning, and I feel there are a lot of teams out there I can help. With the work I’m doing I’m even more confident in what I can do to help teams win.”

This year’s draft has enough players available for its two rounds to fill a grain silo. Of the 28 first-round selections, six could be high school players, which would be a record. Another four or five slots could go to foreign players.

That doesn’t leave that much for the rest of the talent pool, which could include as many as 47 undergraduate players.

You now get the idea of the size of the mountain Watson has to climb.

Despite a career in which he was the fourth Pac-10 player to be in the career top 10 in assists and steals, Watson fought the perception he was merely average as a point guard.

He battled similar views of his talent in Phoenix and Chicago.

“Earl is a tough kid and a tough competitor,” said a West Coast scout. “People wanted to see if he could run a team and settle them down, and he did that. I don’t know if he’s a first-round pick, but he sent a message that he can play point guard.”

Was anybody convinced?

Watson thinks so.

“I’m not concerned with where I’m going,” Watson said. “I will have a job. I can’t control the draft but I control the way I play. Once I get to a team, I’m confident I can take care of business.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Southland Connection

Players with college and/or high school basketball connections in Southern California who are eligible for Wednesday’s NBA draft:

*--*

Player School College and/or High School Gilbert Arenas* Guard Arizona (Van Nuys Grant HS) Brandon Armstrong* Guard Pepperdine Nick Burwell* Guard Orange Coast College (Inglewood HS) Tyson Chandler* Center Compton Dominguez HS Eric Chenowith Center Kansas (Villa Park HS) Jarron Collins Forward Stanford (Harvard-Westlake HS) Jason Collins* Center Stanford (Harvard-Westlake HS) Jerry Green* Guard UC Irvine (Pomona HS) Brian Heinle Forward Cal State Northridge Tony Key* Forward Compton Centennial HS Brian Scalabrine Forward USC Jeff Trepagnier Guard USC (Compton HS) Earl Watson Guard UCLA

*--*

* Early entrant to NBA draft