Which Carolina player is gone?

[moonpie23]

Is Lawson a lottery pick though? .

boozer was a 2nd rounder...

[eddiehaskell]

Is Lawson a lottery pick though? At the very least, Beasley, Rose, Gordon, Bayless, Lopez, and Mayo are ahead of him. I don't know the rest of the draft class that well, but Lawson doesn't strike me as a top 10 kind of guy. He's Speedy Claxton on a better college team.

Good point - he probably isn't a lottery pick. If he's a top 20 selection, he is probably looking at $1.5M or so. Of course if he waits, he could be a 6-10th pick next year and tack on an extra $500k-$1M. However, he knows what it's like to get injured and that could be running though his mind.

[Bob Green]

In regard to Lawson, his health will be a considerable factor in the decision. He looked slow down the stretch due to the lingering effects of his ankle injury at the hands of FSU's Mr. Reid. Even tonight, he played with a big brace on his ankle. Lawson has to impress the NBA staffs in pre-draft workouts to ensure he is a 1st Round pick and he can't complete that assignment if less than 100%.

I see Lawson, Ellington, and Hansbrough all back next year. As far as Danny Green is concerned, someone had better read him a bedtime story about Scotty Thurman's experiences with the NBA draft.

[kinghoops]

fwiw, gotlieb on espn radio post game show said hanswalk is gone, citing his age being the biggest factor, remember he is 23, lawson would go, and ellington was a maybe

[Duvall]

fwiw, gotlieb on espn radio post game show said hanswalk is gone, citing his age being the biggest factor, remember he is 23, lawson would go, and ellington was a maybe

I doubt Gottlieb knows anything.

In fact, I'm fairly certain he doesn't.

[bhop22]

Don't compare Lawson to Speedy Claxton. No way he has as many nice siuts as Speedy. The Hawks have seen about 2 years worth of them from Speedy.

[Coballs]

Don't compare Lawson to Speedy Claxton. No way he has as many nice siuts as Speedy. The Hawks have seen about 2 years worth of them from Speedy.

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'd love to know.

[pete89]

fwiw, gotlieb on espn radio post game show said hanswalk is gone, citing his age being the biggest factor, remember he is 23, lawson would go, and ellington was a maybe

Citing gotlieb completely undermines your credibility. Lawson is probaly the biggest flight risk. I think Waynes decision will reflect Henderson's and vice versa due to their high school friendship. Who knows

[kinghoops]

Citing gotlieb completely undermines your credibility. Lawson is probaly the biggest flight risk. I think Waynes decision will reflect Henderson's and vice versa due to their high school friendship. Who knows

hey pete, i prefaced my post with, fwiw, which translates to for what its worth and i have no credability, i have no inside information, i was just passing on what i heard on the public airways

[eddiehaskell]

23 Nov 3rd, but yeah, that's gettin' up there for a rookie. He'd be a 24 yr old NBA rookie if he stays.

As a basketball fan, part of me wants to watch him more in college. As a Duke fan, part of me wants to see him long gone.

[dukemsu]

I would guess that Lawson and Ellington are gone. Hans should go, but will stay.

Why do I think Hans should go?

1. No way his stock ever gets better.

2. I know he got his 17 and 9 tonight, but KU rendered him largely ineffective for long stretches of the game. The template has always been there-throw a ton of bodies at him, stay physical and keep him off the foul line. KU was able to execute it, basically to perfection. Many of his points were on second chances. Other teams will copy this. Not all will be able to execute it, but the plan is out there.

3. There just is not that much for him to improve on, outside of range on his J and his passing (truly a weakness). He had the one nice assist tonight and I almost fell out of my chair in shock. He is an alarmingly below average passer out of double teams. That is about his only major weakness, but it is a big one. I do not see him drawing too many double teams in the NBA, so maybe it is not a big deal.

I admit that I am biased. I really enjoyed the play when he got his shot smashed back in his face (that is a sure sign of things to come) and also the fact that KU was every bit as physical with him as he is with everyone else.

The kid gives it all he has, as we have all heard ad nauseum. If he comes back for a title run, he has nowhere to go but down.

That all said, I would guess he still comes back to haunt us all for another season. But at some point his halo will go away-he will have to prepare for the inevitable backlash.

[Ignatius07]

Citing gotlieb completely undermines your credibility. Lawson is probaly the biggest flight risk. I think Waynes decision will reflect Henderson's and vice versa due to their high school friendship. Who knows

Did you not read the press release after Henderson's and LT's surgeries? Gerald is going to be out for 12-16 weeks. He is not entering the draft.

[kinghoops]

as far as danny green goes, i heard he had two offers,

1 to go on dancing with the stars

2 do the dance portion of pedros skit on napoleon dynamites sequel

[Matches]

My uninformed opinion is that Lawson is likely to go - from what I've heard he gave it some pretty serious thought last year as well. He'll be a 10-15 pick in the draft IMO.

Ellington I think stays. I just don't think he'd be a first-round lock at this point - perhaps next year.

Hansbrough is the borderline case. I could totally see him coming back, but I really do think he'd be picked around #20, I don't think he'll improve significantly on that next year, and he's going to be ready for retirement within a few years. I wouldn't be surprised either way there.

Green is of course staying.

[Karl Beem]

fwiw, gotlieb on espn radio post game show said hanswalk is gone, citing his age being the biggest factor, remember he is 23, lawson would go, and ellington was a maybe

Clever Hans had better go before arthritis sets in.

[davekay1971]

Psoupy T will be back...he knows what waits for him in the NBA (ie: Carlos Boozer and Elton Brand wearing him out for 48 straight minutes).

I think Lawson will be gone and Ellington will at least see where his draft position might be.

If those two leave, Carolina will still be a very good team. If they stay, Carolina will once again start the year as a favorite to win it all. Which begs the question: what kind of collapse do you think they can come up with next year?

[cbarry]

I am really surprised at the replies on this topic! I have a real gut feeling that Ellington, Lawson, AND Hansbrough are gone. Of those 3, Hans is the one I feel most likely to leave. Almost everyone else on this board thinks that 1, 2 or all 3 will return next year. Hansbrough has accomplished all he can (ACC Champs, FF, NPOY), and even if they got to the Final 4 in 09, there are no guarantees! He wouldn't raise his stock much higher than it is now (and faces the risk of injury... or an off year).

They're all NBA bound. Count on it.

[ikiru36]

I know that the way it was announced doesn't necessarily tip his hand but given that UNC has already announced its intent to retire Hans jersey, it seems weird his playing another entire season. I realize that they simply tied it to his receiving a National Player of the Year award, but it was still a bizarre thing to officially announce during the Junior season of a player who then stays for four years (should he stay).
(on a side note, given that the stated criteria wasn't even Consensus NPOY, Rasheed Wallace and a few other former peeps might wanna know why Hans-roseycheeks received an honor denied them?)
It's certainly no more than a clue as I can imagine opposing arguments (that he will stay) based upon the same information, but I do think that the timing of this announcement during this past season means something.

As for Lawson, I think that he was pretty definitely planning to leave after this year when the season began but as Roy clearly struggles to develop guards whom he's recruited at Carolina , Lawson's draft status has only slipped with each passing year thusfar (Ellington's too, actually. Dang you, Roy!). Ty, return again at your own risk!

Go Duke!!!!!!!!!!! Go Blue Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[budwom]

Just Q...

Tyler and Ty have both been said many times that they wont consider leaving until they win a NC. Plus considering how badly they played, there is no way any player on that team deserves a lottery pick. I'd be surprised if even one Carolina player is even projected in the first round

I understand your thought process, but I believe after four years they'll MAKE them leave...NC title or not...

[JasonEvans]

Can Lawson turn down 2+ million (lottery pick?) for a CHANCE to win it all.

(snip)

Now throw in Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis and Larry Drew. If just one of those can step in and play as well as a Singler - I wouldn't be surprised to see a final four appearance.

Lawson is not a lottery pick, though he is close. He is generally projected as a mid-first rounder. I've seen him as low as about 22 and as high as 15 in mock drafts. He'd have to go around #10 or #11 to make $2 million his rookie season.

No one projects Zeller, Davis, or Drew to be nearly the impact player that Singler was -- not even in the same ballpark. None of them are ranked nearly as high as Singler was nor are any of them presumed to be nearly as ready as Singler was. Additionally, the 2008 high school class is significantly weakerr than the strong 2007 class. A kid who is just top 20ish in 2008 would probably just be a top-40 or 50 kinda player if he was in the 2007 class or 2009 class.

What's more, Zeller and Davis are big men who can probably expect to be little more than backups to Stephenson and Thompson next year. Drew is the lowest ranked of the 3 and, as a PG, will only get minutes when Frasor is sitting next season. Heck, I don't think anyone would be hugely surprised if Roy gave Ginyard more minutes at the PG than he givs Drew next season.

That said, Carolina will again be a very strong team. Even if they lose all 3 of Hasbro, Ellington, and Lawson (and I hear Ellington is all but gone for sure while the other two are still unknown) they will have a strong roster with heaps of size. Thier worst case scenario is --

  PG- Frasor 6-3 with a nice outside shot
  SG- Ginyard 6-5 with stud defensive abilities
  SF- Green 6-5 and an All-ACC Player next year if he is a starter
  PF- Thompson 6-9 with a lot of potential to be a scorer inside
  C- Stephenson 6-9 with potential to dominate as a shot blocker
  Bench- 3 freshmen (Ed Davis will be the best) plus Graves and Copeland

--Jason "that's a pretty good team-- top 4 in the ACC probably-- and that is the worst-case scenario" Evans