Josh McRoberts Robs Himself

Now I bet people are saying what is Lance talking about now, well you’re about to find out. Duke sophomore, Josh McRoberts the 6’11, 245 pound frontcout player, has declared for the draft and signed on with agent Arn Tellem, assuring everyone he has no intention of coming back. Again, as I have expressed in previous articles about big guys leaving too early, I think this might be a costly mistake.

Had Josh stayed for another year or two, I truly believe he has the talent to be a top 5 pick. But by leaving early he is a mid to late first rounder, which isn’t the end of the world, but I feel he is losing out by being in this years draft. Josh had a struggling second year in college, which hurt his stock, he was very inconsistent this year. Had he come back for atleast one more year, he could really develop as a dominant big man, and become more NBA ready. No matter where you’re drafted at in the first round, you make decent money, so that’s not too big of a factor, but he could possibly lose a couple million dollars, if he falls between 20-30.

Josh has great perimeter skills for a player his height. He finds the open man with his court vision and passing skills that are better than most point guards. He can beat you off the dribble. He has a nice Kareem hook shot from both hands. He is also very athletic. Josh also has some holes in his game, like defense he really needs to improve on that, and he is a very average rebounder, who doesn’t always play well vs big men. He doesn’t show alot of effort to box out. Josh isn’t a consistent scorer, he can mentally drift off during the game at times, he doesn’t like to make too much contact on the floor. Josh also has an Antonie Walker mentality when it comes to three pointers, he just wants to jack them up, even though he’s not very good at it.

So my point is if Josh is this inconsistent at a young age in college, what makes him think, it will change by going to the NBA this year? It’s going to take some time for him to develop into an everyday big man, he has to get his mind ready for it, before he can even truly make a difference. If and when Josh McRoberts becomes a mature player, he has Chris Webber like potential, but for now he’s not even at his own potential, he is trying to move ahead to fast, and he may or may not regret it.