One of the basic tenets of draft prognostication is that the NBA’s version involves far less guesswork as far as which college players will be successful at the professional level than its football, baseball and hockey counterparts. Predicting where that young talent goes, however, can be a tougher nut to crack. And with this year’s class of point guards being as deep as its been in recent memory, the possibilities for Jonny Flynn seem endless.

At first considered a fringe lottery pick, Flynn has impressed enough scouts and coaching staffs to have the honor of being included in the draft’s Green Room on Thursday, reserved for those perceived as the top 16 picks. On top of that, mock drafts across the blogosphere have Flynn going no lower than 10th overall to the Milwaukee Bucks. Dollar dollar bills, indeed.

The most preferable situation appears to be Flynn going 8th overall to the Knicks. He loves the big-city spotlight and let’s just say he’s used to playing in Madison Square Garden. To boot, he would have the giddy alumni base of New York City in the palm of his hand once again, and could be the key to the Knicks returning to contention as Mike D’Antoni pushes for the pieces that fit his uptempo style of play.

Somewhat more surprising has been the show that the enigmatic beast himself, Paul Harris, has put on in workouts and camps. While it doesn’t look like his jump shot will ever drop, coaches have found it difficult to turn their backs to the strong defender and his seven-foot wingspan. Harris has been very busy this week, working out for New Jersey, Dallas and Utah all since last Friday, and could end up going in the second round.

If he’s drafted, you have to give credit where credit is due, even if you’re in the camp of those who saw his departure from SU as basketball career suicide. I’m not saying he’s going to stick around in the NBA, but just to be drafted would be one of the more remarkable achievements, given his perceived status as a disappointment at Syracuse.

Such fate does not appear to be in the cards for Eric Devendorf. Though he still had a year of eligibility left, you can see his reasoning for leaving early given the care he must now provide for his daughter, the negative offcourt attention he received (legitimate or not) and that he’s earned his degree. He didn’t appear on anyone’s draft board all spring and while he has been given a handful of workout opportunities, all signs point to those chances being out of courtesy more than anything else and will probably be bound for a ride across the Atlantic. Hey, if you could make six figures playing basketball in Europe, wouldn’t you? And if Devendorf continues to perform at a high level and plays with that classic chip on his shoulder, maybe he gets a longer look at the NBA sometime down the road.

Until then, ‘Cuse fans should take pride in the fact that two of their own could have their name called by David Stern for the first time since 2000.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 10:48 pm by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.