Tough break for Jackie Manuel, who
broke his foot at the NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago. His odds of
getting drafted probably just went down.
On the other hand, anyone who watched him saw a kid who is an excellent
athlete, takes defense seriously, and can subordinate himself to a greater
good. There are places in the NBA who look for players like that, not
least of all the Spurs, who have made brilliant late picks in recent years, and
maybe the Bulls, where he'd fit in well with the team ethos. He'll never
shoot as well, but really, his role model should be former Lakers great Michael
Cooper, who made a living out of coming off of the bench and frustrating great
offensive players.
In other ACC draft news, Manuel's injury opened a spot, Will
Bynum is making the most of it.
Jackie says that this happened for a reason, an admirable optimism in the face of terrible luck. But what if the reason was to get Bynum a break?