Derrick Rose - Joey Dorsey - The NBA

The current NCAA number 1 team, the Memphis Tigers, has several NBA prospects on their team. Of the future NBA players on the team, I want to discuss the only two players who will actually stick around in the NBA. Those two players are Derrick Rose and Joey Dorsey. The Tigers have other player that will play in the NBA, but these two players, to me, will be the only legitimate household (NBA watchers) names.

Memphis has sent many players to the NBA in recent years, but none were "can't miss" prospects in my opinion. For example, Shawne Williams (1st round pick), Rodney Carney (1st round pick), and Darius Washington (undrafted free agent) are recent Tigers who are currently playing in the NBA. They were all considered superstars for the Tigers, but none have actually translated into legitimate players in the NBA.

The reason I'm singling out Derrick Rose and Joey Dorsey is because I honestly have no doubt these guys are future big name NBA ballers. I have current NBA players in mind that these players careers will mirror. I haven't watched a whole lot of college basketball this year except for a few Tiger games so I don't know what the game announcers are saying. All I know is what I see. And as I've stated in my blog before I feel as if I have an eye for projecting talent to the next level. I'm going to compare these two players into what I see their NBA careers to be like.



First, I'm going to talk about Joey Dorsey. He stands at 6' 9", 260 lbs. The current NBA player who I see him becoming is current Chicago Bulls player Ben Wallace . Wallace is also listed at 6' 9" (although he's probably closer to 6' 7") but he's a little lighter, weighing 240 lbs. Dorsey, to me, is actually more of a physical player than Wallace. Wallace is, what most NBA experts consider to be, a very physical player. Wallace, in his prime, was considered one of the best rebounding and shot blocking forces in the NBA. He was very athletic and and a unique player. I see Dorsey being that same type player. The only thing that will hold Dorsey back from becoming the next Ben Wallace is his tendency to get into foul trouble. Dorsey is more physically gifted than Wallace (that's saying a lot) but I question his basketball IQ. At any rate, Dorsey will stick around in the NBA because his physical gifts are good enough to overcome his short comings. There are great coaches in the NBA that can teach him. That's not a knock on Memphis coach John Calipari. I love John Calipari, and think he's a great college basketball coach. He's a great recruiter and motivator. He gets those kids to play hard. I just don't think he's the best teacher when it comes to elevating a player's game. In the NBA (most NBA teams anyway) the head coaches are great at making the best of a player's talent.

Now let me talk about Derrick Rose. I think Rose is the NBA draft's 1st selection this year. Whatever team drafts him will essentially be drafting, a slightly less physical and a more gifted shooter, Baron Davis . Rose is 6' 3" 190 lbs. Davis is 6' 3" 215 lbs. Anyone who's watched Baron Davis knows what kind of compliment that is. There's only one knock on Davis and that's his durability issues. So far Rose hasn't had those issues. Davis is a complete point guard. He can take over a game with his scoring and, at the same time, be unselfish with the basketball. Rose has those same abilities.

There are few NBA point guards in existence who have those qualities. Most point guards who have that unselfish mentality can't really shoot that well. And point guards who are great scores don't really pass unless they have to. There's a short list of guys in the NBA currently who have those characteristics. They are (in my personal ranking order) Steve Nash , Chris Paul , Baron Davis, Deron Williams , and Chauncey Billups . That's it. You can now add Derrick Rose to that group.

Rose is not only star for the Tigers, he's also a future superstar in the NBA. I'm not saying anything most people don't already think or know with that statement, but I am taking the how good he'll be to the next level. I haven't heard any 'experts" go as far into it as I have. And don't worry, anything I post as far as predictions go will become future posts to grade myself on. If you're a consistent reader of this blog you'll see me grade myself on all predictions.