The Tywon Issue

[Shammrog]

News that Ty Lawson is staying made me think of this anew:

Anyone else here think it would be really funny if Tywon Lawson changed his name to "Formosa?"

[Olympic Fan]

It took me a second ... I had to pronounce the name Tywon before I got it ... good one.

And while we're talking name changes, anybody remember the former NFL all-star wide receiver named John Jefferson? Did you know that when he enrolled at Arizona State, his name was John Washington? He changed it in college (because his step father, who raised him, was named Jefferson). The point of the story is that a pro scout showed up one day to meet with John "Washington" ... when the kid explained that he was now John Jefferson, the scout said, without missing a beat, "How come you skipped Adams?"

Ba-boom!

FWIW: I remain a little skeptical about the Lawson news -- a rumor on Hoopsworld is hardly definitive ... especially when based on "sources close to the situation." That's hardly better than a message board post.

[MRJCAUDLE]

There are a ton of point guards in this years draft and it seems like they are all waiting to see what the other is gonna do. If it were me it seems the best thing to do is enter without an agent just to see if that breaks the point guard ice and see who joins

[Karl Beem]

It took me a second ... I had to pronounce the name Tywon before I got it ... good one.

And while we're talking name changes, anybody remember the former NFL all-star wide receiver named John Jefferson? Did you know that when he enrolled at Arizona State, his name was John Washington? He changed it in college (because his step father, who raised him, was named Jefferson). The point of the story is that a pro scout showed up one day to meet with John "Washington" ... when the kid explained that he was now John Jefferson, the scout said, without missing a beat, "How come you skipped Adams?"

Ba-boom!

FWIW: I remain a little skeptical about the Lawson news -- a rumor on Hoopsworld is hardly definitive ... especially when based on "sources close to the situation." That's hardly better than a message board post.

Points to the scout for knowing Sam Adams' cousin was #2 (and Jefferson was #3).

[BD80]

KU's Chalmers and Texas' Augustine have declared: possibly moving Lawson even farther down the list.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8065308

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8062014

[Bob Green]

Time is proving that Lawson is not Felton. Maybe he should have left last year. Lawson's NBA stock is falling, IMO.

[Shammrog]

Time is proving that Lawson is not Felton. Maybe he should have left last year. Lawson's NBA stock is falling, IMO.

Indeed, not Felton. FORMOSA!

[yancem]

Time is proving that Lawson is not Felton. Maybe he should have left last year. Lawson's NBA stock is falling, IMO.

I agree. I know that next year's draft is supposed to be weaker (especially at the point) but I'm not sure that he is likely to improve his draft status by sticking around another year. His problem is that he is short and not a terribly good shooter. His biggest asset is his speed and quickness but I'm not sure his passing ability is much better than average for a point and he doesn't seem to be great at running an offense. He doesn't even have the "he's a great scorer" thing going for him that some short quick pg have.

Bottom line, he's a solid to very good college point guard who looked like a solid pro prospect based on potential. The problem is that when you reach your junior and senior years, potential seems to start to evaporate and your left with what the player can do now.

[Scoring Point]

I'll go a bit further. While Lawson has a great first step and terrific straight ahead speed, I have never been convinced that his LATERAL quickness is anything more than very good - it is certainly not exceptional. To me, this was exposed in a big way by the Kansas guards, especially Collins, and I think it is a prime reason why his defense has never seemed commensurate with his overall rep for athleticism.

There have been lots of successful PGs who lacked great lateral quickness - Kevin "KJ" Johnson was a prime example - but given the other weaknesses in his game noted above, Lawson's status as an NBA prospect seems pretty mixed to me. He's certainly not the sure fire lottery pick that many had him pegged for over the past 2 years.

[dukelion]

I'll go a bit further. While Lawson has a great first step and terrific straight ahead speed, I have never been convinced that his LATERAL quickness is anything more than very good - it is certainly not exceptional. To me, this was exposed in a big way by the Kansas guards, especially Collins, and I think it is a prime reason why his defense has never seemed commensurate with his overall rep for athleticism.

There have been lots of successful PGs who lacked great lateral quickness - Kevin "KJ" Johnson was a prime example - but given the other weaknesses in his game noted above, Lawson's status as an NBA prospect seems pretty mixed to me. He's certainly not the sure fire lottery pick that many had him pegged for over the past 2 years.

Great points....financially he screwed himself by not leaving last year when his stock was hot....sort of like McRoberts should have after his feshman year.

He also should have realized that Rose, Gordon, Bayliss and Augustine were likely to come out this year.

Another thing to consider is that his 3pt shot is shabby at best....while most players can improve their shooting from year to year his shot showed almost zero improvement from his freshman year (.356) to his sophmore year (.361)...not a good sign and with the line moving back that number might actually go down.

Scouts have a saying...."give us a thousands days and we'll find a thousand flaws".

[jma4life]

He has hurt himself no worse than McRoberts. Also, the supposed person who has stated that only one heel will test the waters is widely believed to be the relative of a recruit (if not a recruit himself) and has correctly called many recruits before they happened over the past year.

[Edouble]

He also should have realized that Rose, Gordon, Bayliss and Augustine were likely to come out this year.

I'm not sure he could have forseen how good those guys would be this year, as three of them are freshmen. I had no idea that Bayliss would be that good, and I would not have believed last year that Augustine would possibly leapfrog Lawson. Lawson's injury hurt his draft status a lot, and it was not helped when Carolina didn't faulter in his absence.