Next year's McGrady will be a lot harder to find

Sporting News, The, July 7, 1997 by Mike DeCourcy

Tracy McGrady called it "the best day of my life," although the truth is he hasn't seen enough days for there to be much competition.

Without having spent one of those days in college, McGrady, 18, was chosen in the first round of the NBA draft by the Raptors. The only surprising thing about this development, apparently, was that eight players would be taken ahead of him.

For a measure of how the basketball world has changed in a short time, one needed only to be among the crowd in Charlotte Coliseum for this year's draft. Two years removed from when the Timberwolves were viewed as daring for taking established prep talent Kevin Garnett with the fifth overall pick, draft observers began to stir when McGrady, a raw 6-8 small forward from Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C., still was available when the Raptors picked.

McGrady became the fourth high school player in the past three seasons taken in the first round. One year earlier, as high school guard Kobe Bryant and forward Jermaine O'Neal were becoming first-round choices McGrady was unknown to nearly every recruiting analyst, college coach and NBA scout. His play in one week at the adidas ABCD Camp last July established McGrady as one of the top talents in the nation.

Those hunting for the next McGrady at this year's elite camps--ABCD in Teaneck, NJ., July 7-10 and the Nike All-American Camp in Indianapolis July 8-11--likely will not find anyone capable of progressing from nowhere to an NBA roster.

They might see a player or two who will enter the draft next summer. The candidates include 6-6 shooting guard Vincent Yarbrough of Cleveland, Tenn.; explosive 6-6 scorer JaRon Rush of Kansas City, Mo.; 6-9 forward Stromile Swift of Shreveport, La.; and 6-8 forward Korleone Young of Wichita, Kan.

But at least as interesting will be the search for those with little or no national reputation capable of approximating McGrady's sudden rise to prominence. To find those guys, scouts will have to look a lot harder, but here are a few to use as a starting point

Rashard Lewis, 6-10 center, Houston. Lewis runs and jumps beautifully, shoots with point range and has a promising post game with a nice jump-hook. He needs to mature and improve his defensive timing to be a monstrous prospect. So how come more people don't know him? They will, soon enough.

Ladarius Halton, 6-5 guard, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. Almost no one has him ranked among the top 50 prospects, despite his remarkable body control. Halton, whose recent commitment to Florida is more significant than many realize, can elevate for a shot, consider its possibilities as he rises and change his approach if circumstances dictate. Lots of players can jump high enough to do this; few are able to adjust as they fly.

Ontario Harper, 6-5 guard, Clinton, Miss. The school that presented Jerod Ward to Michigan (and the world) will try again with Harper, who played well at the Nike camp last summer. Harper is an eye-catching scorer who is equally effective shooting the midrange jumper and taking the ball inside.

Michael Causey, 6-3 guard, Gainesville, Ga. Touted as a player to watch at ABCD, Causey has the size pros like at the point but is enough of an athlete and marksman to be a shooting guard prospect.

Tomekio Dandridge, 6-9 forward, Memphis. There is pure greatness in this lean package if only Dandridge could discover what to do with it Dandridge has so much to learn about how to play, but before leaving for the Celtics, Rick Pitino had made Dandridge a recruiting priority for Kentucky.

Parting shots

Forward Damion Walker, who announced his decision to transfer from TCU after two seasons, is considering New Mexico and UNLV for his next stop.... Former Brigham Young guard Robbie Reid, who spent the past two years on a Mormon mission, will decide in July whether his transfer will take him to Illinois, Stanford or perhaps Utah. Robbie's father, Roger, was fired as BYU coach early last season. Illinois is considered the leading contender.... The conference champion for the NBA draft was the Big 12, which had five first-round picks. The Big East had seven overall, five in the second round.

Mike DeCourcy, covers college basketball the Cincinnati inquirer E-mail him at decourcy@sportingnews.com and see his responses at www.sportingnews.com and on our AOL site (keyword. TSN)