THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030557
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
Who will be the next PIT superstar?
That's the question asked in ads promoting the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which begins today at Churchland High. It's a question that keeps fans coming back each year to watch 64 college seniors play in front of NBA scouts.
But given the recent history of the PIT, a better question might be: Who can name the last PIT superstar? Or even: Can there be another PIT superstar?
Anything's possible. But it's been a while since a future NBA all-star played in the PIT. From 1984-89, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Tim Hardaway, Dan Majerle, Jeff Hornacek and Muggsy Bogues all played in Portsmouth.
Since then, the best player to pass through Portsmouth may be Bobby Phills, a solid wing player for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Other young veterans on the All-1990s team: Popeye Jones of Dallas, Elliot Perry of Phoenix, Brent Price of Washington and David Wesley of Boston. Recent PIT alums like Greg Minor ('94) and Theo Ratliff ('95) have also shown potential.
All are serviceable NBA players, and one or more could possibly develop into all-star caliber performers. After all, it took Stockton, Pippen, Rodman, and company three or four years to fully hit their stride.
But no one has stepped forward yet. The last six PIT MVPs - Eric Meek, Askia Jones, Mark Bell, Marlon Maxey, John Turner and Dave Jamerson - have not made it in the NBA. Why? Scouts and executives say there are three main reasons the PIT has not produced the same caliber of player in the 1990s as it did in the last half of the '80s.
Scouting of college players has improved. There are fewer ``sleepers.''
The best players are reluctant to attend pre-draft camps and tournaments.
More underclassmen are entering the draft.
In scouting, ``There's a sophistication now that we didn't have in the 1980s,'' said Lee Rose, vice president of player personnel for the Milwaukee Bucks.
In the mid-1980s, most teams had one full-time scout and maybe a part-timer or two. Today, most teams have three or four full-time scouts. Plus, there are more college games on television than there were 10 or 12 years ago. Many more. Not as many players are ``discovered'' at Portsmouth.
``There's so much exposure today, it's hard for a kid to be unknown by March,'' said John Nash, general manager of the Washington Bullets.
That wasn't the case a dozen years ago.
``I would venture to say that in 1984, when John Stockton came to Portsmouth, well over half the teams in the NBA hadn't seen him,'' said Gary Wortman, director of scouting for the Atlanta Hawks.
Stockton played at Gonzaga, in Spokane, Wash., an out-of-the way school in the obscure West Coast Conference. But this year, in a sign of how things have changed, another player from that conference, Steve Nash of Santa Clara, has been so well-scouted that he didn't need a PIT invite. Nash is going straight to the Desert Classic in Phoenix, the second step on the NBA's audition circuit.
The upshot is that if Stockton were playing today, he might be well-known enough to be able to bypass the PIT as well.
``That's certainly possible,'' Nash said.
Players are certainly more willing to bypass tournaments like the PIT these days. This year's pullouts are Jason Sasser of Texas Tech and Jerome Williams of Georgetown. Last year, Junior Burrough of Virginia and Randy Rutherford of Oklahoma State bailed.
``It's true not the same level of player is coming to Portsmouth, but they're not going anywhere,'' said Jerry Reynolds, director of player personnel for the Sacramento Kings. ``The agents are talking them out of going, trying to establish the value of the players without them having to prove themselves.''
In the past few years most of the top 20 or 22 potential draftees have not attended any camp, Wortman said.
``When I started scouting in the early '80s, guys saw these postseason tournaments as opportunities to really show themselves,'' Wortman said. ``Now there's a mentality that `If I go there and don't play well, it's going to hurt me.' ''
Agents are blamed for keeping players away from the camps.
``It's one word: money,'' said Yale Dolsey, co-chairman of the PIT player selection committee. ``Kids won't go anywhere, whether it's Portsmouth, Orlando, Chicago or Timbuktu.''
With so much cash at stake, it's as if players are involved in a high-stakes game of blackjack. More are choosing to stand on what they've done in college rather than take another card and risk busting.
Occasionally players do hurt themselves. Rashard Griffith, a hulking center from Wisconsin, was considered a possible first-round pick until he played poorly at the NBA's pre-draft camp in Chicago last year. He slipped to 38th in the draft and is playing in Turkey this year.
The PIT was never intended for top draft prospects, anyway. It's always been intended for players trying to play their way into the first round, or even the draft. But increasingly, players who think they have a decent shot at being picked even late in the first round aren't coming.
It's not a stretch to suggest that if Pippen (drafted fifth in '87), Majerle (14th in '88) or Hardaway (14th in '89) were playing today, they would not come to Portsmouth. Burrough, picked 33rd last year, didn't feel he had to play. Neither did Rutherford, who went undrafted. Both might have benefited from playing.
``Players are getting bad advice,'' Reynolds said. ``That's why I'd be surprised in the next five or 10 years if the trend doesn't start the other way. A hundred guys have been told they'd be drafted in the first round, 50 have been told they are lottery picks.
``I'm not a math major, but that seems difficult to me.''
You don't need to be a math major to spot another draft trend: a larger percentage of the top picks these days is underclassmen. Last year, a senior wasn't taken until the sixth pick, when Bryant ``Big Country'' Reeves went to Vancouver.
The influx of underclassmen has thinned the pool of players available to tournaments like the PIT.
``Today, the guys who are seniors are usually seniors for a reason,'' said John Outlaw, director of college scouting for the Denver Nuggets.
Many of the top players leave early, the top seniors often bypass draft camps. That leaves the PIT with the longshots.
That's not to say NBA executives are down on the PIT. Far from it.
``I've always been a big proponent of Portsmouth,'' said Gary Fitzsimmons, director of player personnel for the Cleveland Cavaliers. ``Portsmouth is a tournament where you can find guys who can play in the NBA.''
Scouts like Portsmouth because players are taken out of their college systems, and matched against others of equal ability.
And over the past six years, 77 PIT players have been drafted, 12 in the first round. A couple were even taken higher than Stockton was in 1984. Dave Jamerson, PIT MVP in 1990, was selected 15th that year. Randy Woods was taken 16th in 1992.
Neither player made an impact in the league, but few would have guessed that based on their PIT performances.
``At this point of their careers, these guys today are just as good as (the players from the 1980s) were,'' Dolsey said. ``It just depends on who develops.''
Hornacek, picked 46th in 1986, was able to develop. So was Rodman, who was taken 27th - then the second round - in 1986.
There's always a chance that a second-round pick from this year's tournament could end up an all-star five years down the line.
``Sleeper?'' said Nash, from the Bullets. ``That's always a possibility.'' MEMO: 3 reasons the PIT has not produced the same caliber of player in the
1990s as it did in the last half of the '80s.
Scouting of college players has improved. There are fewer
``sleepers.''
The best players are reluctant to attend pre-draft camps and
tournaments.
More underclassmen are entering the draft. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
It's been a long time since top-rung NBA talent like Dan Majerle
graced the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, and it's possible the
tournament may never again see such high-caliber players.
by CNB