Will Psycho-T get the last laugh?

 

Tyler Hansbrough is becoming a hot topic at the NBA draft combine. Chad Ford writes in his most recent post on ESPN.com that Hansbrough is the big winner and could see his stock jump into the lottery.

Now I’ve been saying all along that this should be the case, that Tyler measures up with top lottery picks in recent years in stats and measurements, and it’s only now that NBA execs and media members are seeing this. Yet, no one mentions that he’s been overlooked because he’s white. Ford says, “The concern was always about his lack of size and athleticism.” But, how can that be a concern when he’s been playing athletic basketball pretty visibly for four years? Even Hansbrough agrees.

Please see pasted below for the portion of Chad Ford’s article referencing Hansbrough:

For all of you who wrote me all season furious that I didn’t have Tyler Hansbrough in my mock draft lottery … now’s the time to yell, “I told you so!”

I think it’s time to declare Hansbrough the big winner of the 2009 NBA draft combine. Although he was what you would expect him to be in the skills portion of the combine, he came out better than expected in the measurements and strength and agility testing.

Hansbrough measured a legit 6-foot-8¼ in socks and 6-9½ in shoes. He also had a surprising 6-11½ wingspan and a standing reach of 8-10 — one inch better than Blake Griffin.

He basically measured the same size as Kevin Love, Drew Gooden, Paul Millsap and David Lee.

But that’s just half the tale.

His vertical-jump numbers weren’t terrible, either. At 34 inches, he matches up with the combine scores of Emeka Okafor, LaMarcus Aldridge and Nene. And better than Chris Bosh.

His no-step vertical was a little more troubling at just 27½ inches, but that equaled or bettered Carlos Boozer, Aldridge and Charlie Villanueva.

Lateral quickness? His 11.12-second score was stellar for a big man. He bested Tyreke Evans, DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson and Earl Clark from this draft class. And he also was better than Amare Stoudemire, Bosh and Tyrus Thomas.

And his 3.23 three-quarter-court sprint? Another strong score for a big man. His numbers were better than Griffin, Jordan Hill and Michael Beasley.

In fact, if you want a good physical and athletic comparison to Hansbrough, try Beasley, the No. 2 pick in the draft last year. They are within an inch and a few half seconds of each other in virtually every category.

What does all this mean? We already know Hansbrough is a terrific basketball player. There was never a question about what he does on the court. The concern was always about his lack of size and athleticism.

Now that he has physically proved he’s a solid NBA-caliber athlete, will the objections to drafting him in the lottery start to fade?

Some early signs point to yes. I think a number of teams, including the Bucks, Nets and Pacers, will all give Hansbrough a closer look.

“I think we have to re-evaluate him,” one lottery-team GM told me. “You get used to seeing a guy through a certain set of glasses. This forces you to rethink and ask yourself whether you misjudged him. I think if you need a big, you have to consider him.”

The concern now for Hansbrough is to take this momentum and capitalize on it when he gets to the league. The luxury before was that there was no way he could have disappointed as an NBA player because there were no expectations for him, now as the general public builds expectations for him to be a Blake Griffin or Michael Beasley he’s going to need to live up to those expectations. But if there was one thing that I’m sure Hansbrough isn’t worried about,  it’s other peoples’ expectations.

The last time somebody expected Hansbrough to do something, he went and did it.