2011 NBA Draft Senior Rankings (#6-10)

A week ago, I started this series by ranking the top 5 seniors in the draft. A week later, this have changed for the better for this senior class. The top 5 guys all look like first round picks now that Barnes, Jeff Taylor, and others have announced that they are staying. This makes these senior rankings all that more important. In one of the weakest drafts ever, seniors offer a sense of security with a pick, and the second round could end up looking like one from 15 years ago when kids stayed in school. This senior crop isn't great, but many of these guys can get drafted and take advantage of the lack of underclassmen entering.

 Top 5 Seniors

6. Keith Benson - I wrote about Benson in March.

There is no doubt that Keith Benson will be taking his talents to the draft, as he has already turned in 4 productive years in college. He has put up great numbers and has all the measurables, but it may not be enough to get him in the first round. One may blame it on the small conference, but it is obvious from watching him play that he could for put up great scoring numbers anywhere in the country. He is that talented offensively. He can shoot it, put it on the floor, and moves wonderfully for a center. The problem, though, is his strength. At the age of 22, he still lacks the muscle to hang in the post at either end of the floor. That will surely effect both his gaudy rebounding and block shot statistics, and probably make him more of a liability on defense despite a great wingspan. It doesnt help that he doesnt have the best BBIQ. Offensively, his strength is going to make him mostly and jump shooter and driver.

His weakness makes him a strong candidate for the D-League where he will almost certainly spend his fair amount of time over the next year or two. In the right organization, he can eventually work his way into an NBA rotation, maybe even as a starter. More than likely, though, you will still find him as a fringe NBA player years down the road. He reminds me of Courtney Sims of the D-League, who puts up excellent numbers each year, but never gets more than a 10 day call-up. To avoid being like Sims, Benson needs to gain that strength and become more gritty. OKC would be an ideal fit for both parties. They have their own D-league team and do a good job of developing their own players, while the Thunder would benefit by having an athletic big with a face-up offensive game. The Thunder love athletic, super long centers so it could be the perfect match. Right now, he would be a stretch in the first round.

The first round is more of a possibility now, as there aren't many options at center, especially if you want a athlete like Keith Benson. Lucas Nogueira and Nikola Vucevic are his biggest competition for a team looking for a center late in the first round.

7. Chandler Parsons - I'm one of the biggest Chandler Parsons supporters around. I think a key reason that people are underrating him is the perception that he can't shoot. He looks like a stereotypical shooter, but that has been his weakness - up until conference play this year. He shot over 40% from three in conference play and his stroke is fine. With the rest of his game, he can be an excellent role player if his shooting keeps up. He has a great feel for the game, showing excellent passing instincts (and unselfishness), and solid ball handling. It is impressive the way he impacted the game in many ways, while Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton controlled the ball most of the time. He was clutch his juniors year, but Walker and Boynton stole his thunder this season. He needs to get stronger, but he would fare well in an up-tempo system. I honestly see some Mike Dunleavy in him (beyond skin color, people!) with point forward potential.

8. Jimmy Butler - Butler is a guy I've thought highly of for two years. He is yet another Marquette player to look appealing to NBA teams for their role playing abilities (Wes Matthews and Lazar Hayward). He plays very smart - filling up the stat sheet while making great decisions that put his team in better position to win. It is no surprise that his team won the Portsmouth Invitation Tournament with their teamwork and togetherness. Butler certainly had a big part in that and led by example. He is a bit of a tweener, but if you ask me, he is a basketball player. He can defend multiple positions (see the Xavier game where he helped shutdown Tu Holloway), pass the ball, make open shots, and crash the boards. He may not be a lockdown defender or a guy you can count on for buckets, but he will be a guy that will fill his role and do whatever it takes to win. He's looking like a lock to get drafted now.

9. Kyle Singler - In a Singler versus Parsons debate, I like Chandler but Singler could fit better into a halfcourt offense. His toughness is unrivaled and he sports great awareness and intelligence. Early on at Duke, he looked great playing at the power forward while capitalizing on mismatches, but he is definitely a small forward in the NBA. His time playing small forward his last two years exposed some of his weaknesses, but in the long run, it will help him. He struggled at SF, especially last year, until Coach K made it a point to run screens for him to get him open shots. That will not happen in the NBA and I don't see him creating many shots for himself. His footspeed is average as well and his athleticism doesn't help him finish inside. There are a lot of things going against Singler, but he is a winner who will lay his body on the line every game. Can that body survive an NBA season?

10. Andrew Goudelock - Goudelock helped his stock a lot at Portsmouth as I predicted. He's a fairly simple player to understand - a combo guard with deep range on his jumper who can run the point at times. I believe his jumper and fearless mentality on the court is strong enough that he can help a team. With Goudelock, its as simple as that - make shots. His shot making ability can get him into the league.

Arizona and Derrick Williams' Statement Game

Derrick Williams shared the spotlight with his entire Arizona team after the win against Texas. It wasn't his best game, but he came up big at the end. His teammates showed what they were capable of by picking up the slack, most notably a 16 point performance by Solomon Hill, who channeled his high school basketball days against his SoCal peer - Jordan Hamilton. The game gained the attention of some after Derrick Williams hit a big shot a the end, but the attention was mainly focused on Rick Barnes being out-coached yet again.

Against Coach K and Duke, simply out-coaching the opponent was out of the question. Like Texas, Duke had more talent and also had a frontline that could give Arizona's star some trouble. Nobody picked Arizona to beat Duke. Derrick Williams would have to carry the load and then some. "He's good, but he's not THAT good" was the general consensus among the experts.

Well not only did Derrick Williams prove who the best player on the court was, but he did in fact lead his team to victory. He did it in such a convincing way that he has vaulted himself front and center into the draft spotlight. Before the game, he was a top 5 pick with an outside shot of going number one. Now he has two legs in the race and his head may be out in front.

Williams started off the game with two big three pointers and a thunderous dunk. He was matched up against Mason Plumlee for the most part, who did manage to block two of his shots in the first half. Two blocked shots were hardly enough to keep D-Will down. He battled his way against a bigger front line and a pesky Singler who tried to help with double teams. It worked - once. There were countless other times where he was just too quick, too strong, and too determined to be stopped. He scored 25 of his 32 points in the 1st half as he fought to keep his team above water. It was obvious it was his night as he hit a contested shot from beyond NBA 3-pt right before he headed to the locker room for halftime.

He had kept his team in the game, trailing by six at the half. Still, there was no way he could keep up his pace to score 50 points. He was going to need some help - he had to do enough fighting on defense and the boards. After halftime, he got some help with the aide of Momo Jones and company. It had seemed his magic had worn off on the rest of his team, like in the movie Space Jam when everyone got ahold of MJ's "secret stuff". Derrick Williams was posterizing people with athleticism that I could only explain by hypothesizing that Amare and Shawn Marion had an affair during their days in Phoenix. Derrick Williams is what they left behind as a gift to the state of Arizona. Suddenly, Jamelle Horne channeled his inner D-Will and served up his own facial to Kyle Singler.

A Duke team that looked to be too intimidating and big for Arizona in the first half, was now the team that struggled to get anything going. Mason Plumlee stopped boxing out. Nolan Smith was lost the entire game and Singler wasn't able to keep up his hot start. Many will blame the loss on Kyrie Irving, but the credit goes to Arizona who went straight at Duke and turned the tables around. The second half ended up being a dunk fest and Arizona came away with a 93-77 win.

Our hero only had 7 points in the second half. His job was already done in the first twenty minutes. He single-handedly gave his teammates hope going into the locker room. He did it all in the first half and when his teammates were ready to dig into a struggling Duke team, he focused on the dirty work.

Williams grabbed 13 rebounds in the game as Arizona out-rebounded Duke 35-26. More importantly, he offered reinforcement to the belief that he can play power forward. Not only can this guy play power forward, but he is perfect for what the power forward position is nowadays.

Williams is strong in the paint - he can finish with contact and with either hand. There is a reason why he drew more fouls than anyone else in the nation. His explosiveness isn't a bad thing to have going up against 7 footers either.

D-Will is also highly skilled. He puts the ball on the floor and gets fouled. He is a great shooter, it is time to give him some credit for his unbelievable 3-pt percentage. He was 5-6 tonight against a Duke team who is one of the stingiest teams around on the perimeter! Williams will be a matchup nightmare who can play some three, but will do more than fine against PFs too. He is a new age power forward who can stretch the floor and do whatever is asked of him. Tonight he was even seen dribbling the ball up the court on a couple of occasions.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Williams is where he started from. He was a second rounder before this season. He has put in an incredible amount of work to transfer his game. Not only has he become a better shooter, he has made himself into a better athlete! He has pretty much turned himself from a Derrick Brown level athlete to a guy that can hang with Blake Griffin. With his work ethic and current level of play, the sky is the limit and the floor is the ceiling.

Welcome to the big time, Derrick Williams.

Other Notes

- Mason Plumlee showed some impressive things and some not so impressive things. He had four block shots, including two on Williams and another one where his head came close to hitting the rim! He gets up and down the court well and can elevate with the best of them. Unfortunately for his stock, he also had the fire taken out of him in the second half. He didn't box out and didn't make his presence known around the hoop. As I said earlier, the second half became a dunk contest for Arizona. Plumlee leaves a lot to be desired in terms of competitiveness.

- Nolan Smith was completely out of sync playing with Kyrie Irving today. I feel for the kid. He had a great career at Duke and I wonder how he feels about having to change his style in the middle of the tournament after a great season on the ball. He was visibly disappointed after the game - no doubt he was more shocked than anybody that their run is over. He wasn't prepared for his career to end today. I wasn't either.

- Kyle Singler also had a great career ended today. While Im not high on his draft stock, he finished the season strong. I have many bad memories of him destroying Maryland due to mismatches. He looked his best in his early years when he could spread the floor at the 4 position. An absolute matchup nightmare. He has transformed himself into more of a three which will help his stock, but he's nothing more than a role player. I will always remember his toughness which was highlighted today when he suffered a cut by preventing Derrick Williams from getting an easy bucket.

- Kyrie Irving was overshadowed by Derrick Williams, but he played great. There will be more to said about his impact on the team than his actual performance today, but there is nothing he did wrong. Credit to him for making the comeback in the first place. He is still very much in the discussion for the #1 pick along with Williams, Barnes, and possibly Perry Jones and Kanter after workouts. The race is more wide open than I ever remember.